Walang hanganan ang takbo ng isipan kung ang sinusulat ay nobela o may temang pantasya. Ito ay nakapaloob sa kategoryang kathang-isip. Ngunit pag ang tema ay komentaryong pang lipunan (social commentary), may kaakibat itong responsabilidad at dapat maging maingat sa pagsulat. Dito ang obserbasyon at kongklusyon ay dapat sinasaliksik at pinag-iisipan. Dahil ang nakasalalay ay pangyayaring apektado ang alin mang tinutukoy na sektor ng lipunan at posibling gawing batayan sa pag buo ng isang opinyon. Ang kwentong pinamagatang Tsokolate ay gawin nating halimbawa para malinaw ang ating pagtatalakay.
Paglalahat (Generalizing)
Tama ang pangungusap na “Ang lahing Negroid ay kulot ang buhok, maitim ang balat at makapal ang labi.”. Ngunit ang diwa sa pangungusap na “Ang Africano ay kulot ang buhok, maitim ang balat at makapal ang labi” ay mali. Dahil karamihan sa nakatira sa hilagang bahagi ng Africa ay mapuputi ang kutis at hindi kulot ang buhok.
Dito madalas nagkakamali ang manunulat, lalo na’t kung ang kaalaman sa tinatalakay ay hindi lubos o kapiranggot lamang. Sa ating halimbawa;
“Isa lang (ang) dahilan kung bakit nagpapaalipin sa ibang lahi ang mga Pinoy. PERA.”
Iwasang gumamit ng mga katagang pangkalahatan kung ang tinutukoy ay iilang tao lamang. Sa pangungusap na ito, kasama ang may akda sa nagpapaalipin sa ibang lahi at mukhang pera.
“Ipinapanalangin kasi ng isang OFW na tumaas nang tumaas nang tumaas ang halaga ng dolyar laban sa piso.”
Merong ilang kababayan na may ganitong pag-uugali, ngunit ang karamihan ay hindi. Kahit gumamit ang may-akda ng pang-uring “isang”, umani pa rin ng batikos dahil binanggit nya ang katagang "OFW" - ang pangkalahatang tawag sa mga Pilipinong nagta-trabaho sa labas ng Pilipinas.
Eksaherasyon (Hyperbole)
Ang eksaherasyon ay ginagamit para makakuha ng reaksyong emosyonal. Kadalasan ang layunin ng may akda ay magpatawa at maturingang masiste (witty). Ngunit sa mga halimbawang ito;
“Gustong-gusto kasing maging Victoria’s Secret ang ginagamit na pabango ng asawa na dati’y White Flower lamang.”
Layuning magpatawa ang may-akda kapalit ng pagsangkalan at pag-alipusta sa pamilya ng tinutukoy.
“Nagkasya kasi tayo sa mga second choice dahil ang mga de-kalibre, naroon at kasalukuyang minumura ng amo kapalit ng dolyar. Bayani ka bang tatawagin kung humahalik ka naman sa paa ng mga dayuhan?”
Mali. Dahil hindi lamang nilahat ng may-akda ang “mga de-kalibre”, gumamit pa ng “hyperbolic statement” na “minumura ng amo kapalit ng dolyar” at “humahalik ka naman sa paa ng mga dayuhan”. Imbis na matuwa o humanga ay nainsulto ang mga OFW, dahil sa pagmamalabis at hindi makatotohanang pagkakalarawan ng kanilang pagtatrabaho sa ibang bansa.
Pagsasalungatan (Contradiction)
Ang opinyon ng isang manunulat ay dapat ayon o kaalinsunod sa iba nya pang opinyon.
“Ikakatwiran na walang pag-asa dito. Mahirap ang buhay dito. O talagang mahilig lang ang iba sa “piso tamang barko”. Meron din naman dito. Kaya lang, ang mga bagay na narito, ayaw naman natin. Para lang din sinabing “walang akong magawa”. Marami ka naman pwedeng gawin. Kaya lang, itong mga bagay na available na gagawin mo, ayaw mong gawin, tinatamad kang gawin o may iba kang gustong gawin.”
“Ang problema, kapag mataas ang halaga ng dolyar, mababa ang halaga ng piso. At kapag mababa ang halaga ng piso, ang ibig sabihin, mababa rin ang ekonomiya ng bansa. At kapag mababa ang ekonomiya ng bansa, mataas ang mga pangunahing bilihin at siyempre pang apektado ang mga karaniwang manggagawa na sumusuweldo ng mababa dito sa Pilipinas.”
Ang dalawang talatang ito ay magkasalungat. Sa una, pinapangaralan ng may-akda ang mga taong nangingibang bansa. Subalit sa ikalawang talata, alam nya rin pala ang dahilan ng kanilang pag-alis. Walang pinag-iba ito sa tanong mo, sagot mo.
Respeto at Opinyon
Ang opinyon ng isang tao ay dapat ginagalang. Subalit ang pag buo ng isang opinyon ay dapat may sinasandigang ebedensiya ng katotohanan. Dahil ang isang opinyon na walang basehan ay masasabing kathang-isip lamang at makakaranas ng supalpal sa mapagtantong mambabasa.
Ang respeto ay ma-ihahalintulad sa salubongang daan. Para maka-iwas matikman ang maaanghang na salita, siguradohing ang sinusulat ay pinag-isipang mabuti, sinaliksik at tinimbang ang positibo at negatibong aspeto ng usapin. Matutong mag-obserba sa mga pangyayari na walang kinikilingan. Ito lamang at masasabing ang manunulat ay mayroong malawak na pananaw at may kakayahang mag himay sa mga usaping pang lipunan.
Pag-ako Ng Pananagutan
Natural lamang sa isang tao ang nagkakamali. Natural din sa tao ang humingi ng paumanhin sa hindi sinasadyang kamalian. At natural din sa tao ang magpakumbaba at magpatawad. Subalit ang taong sobra ang tiwala sa sarili, hindi tumatanggap ng kamalian at walang paki-alam sa kahihinatnan ng kung sino mang masagasaan ng kanyang ginawa ay tanda ng hindi balanseng pag-iisip. Magkahalintulad sa simtomas ng isang “sociopath”.
Panghuling Salita
Ang mga alituntuning ito ay gabay lamang kung ang punteryang mambabasa ay mga propesyonal, edukado at malawak ang pananaw. Pag ang estelo ng pagsusulat ay katulad sa ating halimbawa, makakatagpo ka ng sumasang-ayon dito na pareho ang ugali sa diwa ng salaysay… makitid ang pag-iisip at pananaw.
Galing! Maraming salamat po sa post niyong ito. Siguradong magagamit ko itong gabay sa aking pagsusulat.
ReplyDeletehehe, simple lang ang banat, pero malalim ang sugat!
ReplyDeletesa pagsulat natin, minsan man ay may nasasaktan ngunit ipakahiwatig ang nasa isip at puso, yan ang totoong diwa ng pagsusulat.
ReplyDeleteKayo naman, magaling nga sya magsulat eh lolzz
ReplyDeleteMay natutunan na nman ako, salamat Blogusvox
Sometimes I wish I am like you, the way you write and think, and the way you express things smoothly and audibly.
ReplyDeleteWhile I was reading your post, I feel a tremendous feeling of joy, assurance and gratitude, as well as sweet pride that you're my friend.
I know you will come in your own way, and you did, quietly but powerfully.
Saludo a usted mi amigo.
ReplyDeleteLalo mo akong pinahanga sa galing mo sa literary analysis, bro!
I wasn't able to look for the other figure of speech in the article... hindi ko na inabot yung sabi mong hyperbole and contradictions. i was enraged by his generalization of the ofws and that was unfair. he was trying to make a lame attempt to sarcasm but that too failed to be funny.
Anyhow, as you said, the bottomline for us is to take responsibility for whatever we write.
I read the blog post (kasalanan mo, dumami tuloy traffic nya, he he) and I saw nothing new with his assertions. Ibig sabihin, these lines have been mouthed by many other "bleeding hearts"-kuno and the writer just picked them up and spiced them a little, to make them seem his own. From what I sense, he's deeply hurt - siguro me masama siyang karanasan sa buhay OFW (di natanggap abroad kaya sour graping? he he). Kaya hayaan mo na siya, o silang me ganung pananaw. Ika nga, kanya-kanyang drama lang talaga yan sa buhay.
ReplyDeleteI admire the way you dealt with this issue. My comment is the same as the one that I left in Kenji's earlier post.
ReplyDeletenagtataka ako bakit ka no. 3 last year.. dapat no. 1 rin... hehehehehe!
ReplyDeletesalamat sa pakikiisa kuya.
RJ, natutuwa ako at meron kang napulot na aral.
ReplyDeleteAnonymous, ha? wala akong pinapasaringan. Kung merong tinamaan, siguro nauukol ang ipinukol. : )
sheng, ika nga, you can't please everbody, pero as much as possible we should be responsible to minimize the damage.
CM, walang ano man.
Kenjie, sabi nga, practice makes perfect. Salamat, masyado mo namang pinapalaki ang tenga ko. : )
NJ, de nada. Ni menos, gracias me amigo.
R-yo, wala bang "originality"? : )
Ms.Jo, thank you! That's the only way I could think of without looking like I'm running amok.
Azel, wala kasi akong kurbata at sariling bahay. : )
wow! i wish every blogger gets to read this. you've pointed it out so well. kakalungkot kasi dami pa rin ang iresponsable.
ReplyDeleteAng galing ng banat mo...parang isang article na rin hehehe
ReplyDeletenakakapikon talaga pag nabasa mo ang isang blog na may "mababaw" na pananaw sa mga OFWs; dami kong natutunan dito, pero mabuti na rin yun di mo binanggit ang pangalan kasi sumisikat siya hehehe kahit ako di ko sya kilala at ayoko nang kilalanin pa siya, yun naman ang pananaw ko.
Salamat sa mga alituntunin na iyong ibinahagi at nawa'y maisapuso ko ang bawa't aral na hatid nito upang maging isang responsableng manunulat.
ReplyDeleteKung ang lahat ng manunulat ay yayapusin ang nakalahad na pamantayan sa pagsusulat, magiging isang mapayapa at masayang komunidad and ating blogsphere.
Isang pagpupugay sa isang makabuluhang panulat.
tama ka sa observation mo na minsan merong manunulat na ang pakay eh makapagpatawa at magpaka-witty. ganon nga ang ginawa ni mike, pero at the expense of the OFWs.
ReplyDeletetsk tsk. wala na akong masabi. natumbok mo na lahat pards.
donG, all it take is good breeding ang common sense.
ReplyDeleteSardz, salamat. Sikat sya? As in famous or infamous?
Pope, salamat. Yan din ang wish ni donG.
ardyey, pwede namang mag joke na walang nasasaktan. Siguro idol nya si Joey at Willie.
Para akong nagbasa ng isang libro sa balarila. At gaya ni Azel, nagtatanong din ako: bakit hindi No. 1?
ReplyDeleteMaraming salamat sa post mo. Gagamitin ko sya sa as guide although patawarin mo ako dahil mas madalas kaysa minsan, walang batayan ang aking opinyon sa maraming bagay-bagay. Huwag mo akong susupalpalin (what a word!) ha. Hehehe.
Nebz, magdasal ka lang ng limang "our father" at anim na "hail mary", abswelto ka na. : )
ReplyDeletebagong daan po...
ReplyDeletesigurado ka bang engineering ang course mo at hindi journalism? effective kasi ang ginawa mong analysis sa editorial este, blog nung akda ni MA. bawat talata ay nahimay mo ng husto. this is informative and every blogger should learn from this post.
ako po si enjoy, ofw mula sa singapore. ako yung 3rd picture dun sa kablogs badge mo :)
keep blogging!
Ay, I can't read the Tsokolate article.
ReplyDeleteWhat I love about this post is the way it educates the reader about good approaches in writing, at the same time proving such strong points.
apieceofkeyk, welcome ang thanks for dropping by. hehe, although I'm an engineer by profession, journalistic work is no stranger to me because I'm a member of our university newspaper in my college days.
ReplyDeleteKat, salamat. pinotakti kasi ng batikos kaya "by invitation na lang". : )
kamusta na pards...hope na maayos din lahat ito para sa mga blogger,di lang kasi ofw ang apektado dito,kasama na ang bansa natin.bago ako umalis ng pinas gusto ng sarili ko na maging sikat ang bansa natin,dahil kailangan tayo ng ibang bansa..kaya tayo naging ofw.
ReplyDeletegawin nalang nating mas malawak ang diwa natin kesa sa pag-iisip.
saludo ako dito sa post nato.
kailangan lang ng malawak na obserbasyon nung may akda ng tsokolate...
ever, long time no hear ah! ok lang kami.
ReplyDelete"gawin nalang nating mas malawak ang diwa natin kesa sa pag-iisip."
ang lalim nito pards, hindi ko ma-arok.
Ang lalim ng Tagalog mo bro, bilib ako :)
ReplyDeleteMagandang reminder yan , na maging objective tayo sa ating pagsusulat. Minsan dahil so over-reaction natin sa mga issues, hindi natin maiwasan ang maging makitid ;)
basta't isa lang ang paniniwala ko, ang pagsusulat ay may kaakibat na responsibilidad. Unang una na ay ang pagsulat ng katotohanan at pangalawa ay ang pagsasaad nito ng maayos at hindi ginawa upang makasakit ng sinuman lamang.
ReplyDeletewith great power comes great responsibility, ika nga ng angkol ni spidey. and writing is a powerful tool to win or loose readers, visitors, followers, et al.
ReplyDeletebw, that's why I don't write when I'm angry. It muddles my thinking process eh.
ReplyDeleteKa Rolly, my principle in writting exactly.
bing, to some people "truth hurts". But as long as we write responsibly, I don't mind if it means a decline in readership. IMO, it's one way of filtering out narrow-minded readers.
Indeed, your post is very timely and a high impact one. I'm late for the discussion but I hope I can still butt in.
ReplyDeleteActually, I sometimes unconsciously commit those slips. I'm very appreciative of those people (readers) who call my attention on those items. In my part, I would humbly put up the correction or provide supporting information to clear up the issue. (There were times where I also include the definition of a word in my blog commenting just to avoid being misinterpreted).
If I can burden your readers with some more which others might find OT, I'd like to share my insights further on the topic as in the below -
You can't just use figure of speech or exaggerations to add cosmetic touch on a written item for general circulation and expect its artistic intention will be comprehended the way you expected it to be. Readers are more forgiving with one's grammar and more often with one's spelling but not with information's accuracy or shall we say one's bias (bias is to the eyes of the beholder??). There are those who were caught with their pants down and still will not admit to the mistake. Instead, LOL, they'll invoke the notorious defense- "taken out of context" phrase or it's "mischaracterized" shortcut word as a face saving way out.
It's not really a big issue for me if a blogger intentionally or unintentionally misinform/disinform blog readers or to some extent defame somebody based on his/her agenda for the day . By right, it's his/her blog. In its extremity, I can say that he/she can do anything with his/her blog limited only by owning the full responsibility of whatever he/she has done. He/She is not obligated to post comments that are contrary to his/her interest or agenda. Perhaps this is one of the reasons why one would find bloggers and his/her commenters seem to be kissing each others' asses. No diversity in comments. (Diversities are expunged outright?). One can compare these popular political blogs in the US: the liberal Daily Kos and Huffington against the conservative Newsbusters and American Thinker. Or even the ultra liberal Amanda Marcotte and ultra conservative(?) Michelle Malkin. (Take note of who are the fact-challenged ones.).
My comment to continue...
Continuation of my comment...
ReplyDeleteIt's a different one with our MSM which is day to day bringing the news in our doorstep. Even though majority of them are privately owned, they have the responsibility though not obligated to correctly inform the mass media consumers (it’s always their agenda first. Jeez.). This is very evident in delivering the news. It seems to me that they are more inclined in delivering the news out rather than delivering the news right. We have junk food, junk science, and now junk journalism. Judgmentalism instead of journalism. They are not just reading the news anymore. Take note of their ad-libs and their patented face contortions while reading news to the point that one would think it is news crafting instead of news casting. To put it mildly - an editorial masquerading as real news.
Case in point: There was a news item that the incumbent president was the most corrupt among the Philippine presidents according to one local survey. (There was also a local survey that 40% of Filipinos believe in Cupid). Heh, in one TV morning newscast, the female newscaster was ad-libbing the news with glee. However, came the next day, another news item was reporting that it was not the incumbent but the other president who has been convicted of corruption crime BASED ON THE ESTABLISHED FACTS as the most corrupt Philippine president .
That same female newscaster did not at least give the issue the benefit of the doubt but insisted that she was correct. According to her math, that former convicted president was in power much longer than the incumbent who was just starting her second term. For her, the loot must be divided by how long one has assumed power in order to quantify the magnitude of corruption.
Her male counterpart on editorializing a news - he has an ultimate solution of shortage of local nurses due to their unusual high numbers of migration for much better salary - local employers to increase their salary. Deep within me, I'm sure this newscaster has a solution for labor unrests in our country. That is increase everybody's salary.
Seriously, this newscaster should just stick to his interpreting the time in Chinese for those Chinese who do not know Pilipino and who will take the pain of watching their program just to know the time.
Thanks for the time.
trosp, long time no hear ah! pwede ng gawing post ito sa haba ng comment mo. : )
ReplyDeleteheny way, welcome back!
He he he. I've been busy with a special project. Actually, I've read this post a week before I posted my comment. I've to get back on my journal to recall some info that was why it has taken some time for posting my comment.
ReplyDelete