Commentary / Opinion Archives

Pinoy Humor: The Proud Moment of Jo Koy?

25/03/2024

Joseph Glenn Herbert, who goes by the stage name “Jo Koy,” is a Filipino-American stand-up comedic/actor who started his career at a comedy club in Las Vegas way back in 1994. While people find him hilarious, he usually gives credit to his mother, whom he says is where he got his comedic and acting talents from. Frequently, in his shows, he tells stories about her mom about how she encouraged him, supported him, and motivated him to join and perform at different occasions for their family and friends, as well as school events. She instantly became his number one fan, which inspired him to move to Los Angeles to take bigger steps for his career. Before he stands where he is today, he was a regular guest at Chelsea Handler’s “E!’s Chelsea Lately.” He also performed at “The Tonight Show with Jay Leno,” “The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon,” and released a Netflix original comedy special titled “Jo Koy: Live from Seattle” on March 2017, “Jo Koy: Comin’ in Hot” on June 2019, and “Jo Koy: In His Elements” on July 2022, featuring some Filipino-American comedians such as DJs and B-boys. The most memorable milestone for him was when he announced that he would be hosting the 81st Golden Globe Awards in 2024. On January 7, 2024, via live broadcast, Jo Koy made a controversial joke in front of a very large actual audience and a whopping 9.4 million viewers in a television broadcast in which he stated, “The big difference between the Golden Globes and the NFL (National Football League); On the Golden Globes, we have fewer camera shots of Taylor Swift, I swear.” While this joke is meant to make fun of the NFL, it seems that more people took it as an insensitive joke on behalf of Taylor Swift, who is seen sipping her drink while giving a death stare at the camera after Jo Koy mentioned her in his stunt. According to the social intelligence report of Capstone Intel, Jo Koy garnered a 106,409.4 engagement score for its 571 total post count, which yielded over 596,750 total reaction count. When broken down, ‘likes’ account for 47.2 percent of the total reactions, with 281,485. Followed by 210,258 ‘love’ reactions, which account for 35.2 percent; ‘haha’ reactions with 90,978, which account for 15.2 percent; “sad” reactions with 6,364, which account for 1.1 percent; ‘angry’ reactions with 5,286 which account for 0.9 percent; and ‘wow’ reactions with 2,381, which finally account for 0.4 percent. Jo Koy earned 55.8% of unfavorable mentions, while the remaining 44.2% were also bad. This indicates that the majority of the article’s mentions of Taylor Swift were negative, but the positive mentions are also important to understand because the numbers almost equaled the negative ones. Capstone Intel’s data also indicates that the stories mentioning Jo Koy’s controversial joke about Taylor Swift are responsible for the majority of the negative mentions. Being a true Filipino, we are a natural comedic; the majority of us usually have a good sense of humor, which is why we have multiple comedians on television and even in vlogs making their way to the top. There is no denying that Jo Koy made us proud by being selected as the 81st Golden Globe Awards host. It really is a big thing after all; he is the first Filipino-American comedian to host such a grand event. However, we should also instill in our minds that we have different takes on every joke. It may be better not to incorporate someone for the intent of ‘fun’ and ‘entertainment’ to avoid disappointment, hatred, and making other people feel hurt. May this be a lesson to always think before you speak because you will never know what goes on in the minds of others. Let us always choose to be kind to everyone.

The Irony of Online Deception: A Look at the Prevalence of ‘Fake News’

09/09/2023

In the most sarcastic tone possible, “isn’t it crazy that strangers can lie on the internet?” That line is a personal favorite because of the irony that it places forth. With the anonymous nature of the internet, it is generally expected that, despite being a platform rich with information with no form of safeguards in place, there will be areas where the information may be less than truthful. More colloquially known as “fake news”, this has always been a point of contention, especially in the Philippines. Fake news has always been the buzzword or the alleged reason for several other issues in the country. It has been alluded to as the catalyst for controversial election results, propaganda as a whole, misinformation, and every issue that is rooted in either knowledge restriction or otherwise. This, more so, has been amplified due to how easy it is to hide one’s identity on the internet itself, and continues to pose a problem today. The best way for us to combat any form of fake news is to properly understand what it is in the first place. The skill of thorough discernment is one of the most important things to hone and utilize when navigating something as dynamic and volatile as the internet. If we look at its core and the number of repercussions that it could lead to, fake news can either be used to push an agenda or to cover up an event. Its nature evolved this way due to what social media has become in recent times. It has become somewhat like a dystopian wasteland where rules no longer exist and the rarest commodity everyone craves is attention, clicks, and engagement. On one hand, it’s easy to push a certain agenda online because of how easily people tend to accept and believe information if they are exposed to enough of it from multiple sources. With how easy it is to post on the very public social media platforms, this is simple to do. On the other hand, with the same measure, it is just as easy to cover up information or events with the right falsified stories. Even the slightest rumor from one well-known social media account would be able to turn the tides of the conversations either away or towards a certain agenda. Public perception can also be altered in this way. With how fake news is, it’s important to understand and realize that no matter how chronically online an individual may be, they are not immune to fake news. Confirmation bias is still something to consider when trying to discern what is fake from what is real. It is important that there is importance placed on joint efforts to combat this, such as X’s community notes, where people may fact-check each other’s tweets on the platform. Even without features such as the community, it is important that the skill of fact-checking be developed. Double and even triple-checking information should come as second nature whenever we reference any bit of information or make any strong claims. It’s a small effort, but it would help make the Internet a safer place. — The preceding statement relates to a press release from Capstone-Intel Corporation.

DOH Proposes to Recruit Unlicensed Nurses for Public Hospitals, But Execution Remains a Concern

07/09/2023

There are many aspects of society that were highlighted or emphasized over the course of the pandemic. One of those aspects—and one that was extremely crucial, especially at the height of COVID—is the situation of the healthcare system in the country. The once-hidden cracks in healthcare due to other more pressing national issues have burst open, and the damages of time have come to light. Less than favorable wages, a lack of hazard pay, and less than ideal workplace environments, among other factors, have caused a number of healthcare workers to leave the country and seek better opportunities elsewhere. In place of understanding and addressing the issue of the less-than-par treatment of the workers, the proposal of utilizing unlicensed nurses was made. For this project, the Department of Health (DOH) has proposed to recruit unlicensed nurses in order to fill vacancies in a number of public hospitals, as well as those who have nearly passed the board exam and may be granted temporary licenses. In a perfect world, this would be a decent proposal, as the idea behind it is logically sound. Giving nursing students an avenue to experience the field that they have yet to enter in an on-the-job training type of way. However, the Philippines is no stranger to having projects with great concepts but terrible execution. If this were to push through, it is important to be extremely meticulous about how it pushes through. A key point in pushing for this is that the students would have improved chances of passing their eventual licensure exam in the future. However, it should be emphasized that this is done through hands-on experience and not through the connections made while participating in this program. Issues such as overworking the students, guaranteeing the quality of work, and the overall safety of all parties involved are also points of contention that need to be thoroughly addressed before this comes to pass. Though the biggest issue in the proposal would be the granting of temporary licenses to those who scored between 70 percent and 74.9 percent in the board exam. This opens another slew of issues involving patients hesitating to accept the care that these individuals can provide due to their inexperience. Additionally, this would set the precedence and have an unexpected ripple effect amongst other professions that require an exam. Should there be a lawyer or engineer shortage in the country, will the same methods apply? The repercussions of such actions should be studied further, as this may reshape the country in ways that no one would expect. At the end of the day, before even considering this proposal and addressing any concerns that come with it, it should never be forgotten that this is a band-aid solution for a historical national issue. Rather than focusing on short-term solutions, the DOH needs to focus its efforts on improving the overall healthcare system and situation in the country. They need to work on ensuring healthcare workers do not have any reason to search for better opportunities abroad. This goes for all band-aid solutions proposed by the government to cover up their inadequacy. No amount of proposals should ever cover the fact that problems should be tackled at the source and never danced around. If the DOH really wants to take steps to address the issue at hand, they must look inward and acknowledge the issue at its core. — The preceding statement relates to a survey conducted by Capstone-Intel Corporation.