People say that the Internet is the great equalizer, giving opportunity for everyone to do almost anything. This of course also means that "anything" can be rather annoying most of the time. Here are the 8 most types of people you find on social media that make you just want to face-palm the Internet.
Newcomers learn right away that many on the internet lack basic writing skills. Many posts on the web are hard to understand, because of wrong grammar that borders on nonsensical. Sometimes the message is obvious, but the errors are still funny: "I didn't yet lost my virginity".
What are worse though are Pinoys who mock others for getting it right. It's like insulting people who say the earth is round. The prime example: the idiot who bashes someone else writing "it's mine", insisting that it should be "its mine" and wondering whether the target of his scorn actually went to school. It's as if certain Filipinos online want to show how good their English is. The problem is that they're wrong.
(Oh and before you ask: Use "it's" if you're contracting "it is", and "its" for the possessive. "The cat was very mindful of its path". "It's ok" is a shorter version of "It is ok".)
Some observers wondered whether the proliferation of free self-publishing tools on the internet (like blogs) would make it easy to trick people into believing false information. The worry-warts were right, as the rest of us underestimated just how rare common sense is.
Years after I wrote about the Philippines buying a US aircraft carrier on my tech blog (as an April Fool's Joke), readers still drop by and blame the government for irresponsible spending and lack of forethought. Worse, they hold up such over expenditure as yet another reason behind our country's problems.
It seems that some Pinoys don't realize that just like in any other medium, you shouldn't always believe what you read. Many on the internet mistake satire for truth, but the Filipino tendency of not only treating fiction as fact but getting really angry over it as well is annoying.
You always see these annoying Filipinos online after anyone with even a hint of Filipino ethnicity achieves success on the world stage. "Ganyan talaga ang galing Pinoy!" they exclaim, as if the success of one person validates the existence of an entire country.
They are also quick to attack anyone who criticizes the Philippines, even if it's done in a tongue-in-cheek manner, and even if the criticism has merit.
But by far the worst kind of Grandstanding Patriot is someone who turns criticism of
themselves or what they're offering into a blanket condemnation of the Philippines. It's a logical fallacy along the lines of: "You're criticizing me. I'm Filipino. Therefore, you hate the Philippines."
Remember Christopher Lao? He was the unfortunate law student who was filmed driving his car into deep floods. His insistence that he "should've been informed" about the flooding made him an object of scorn. Filipinos are used to finding out things for themselves, and Lao's insistence that authorities should've taken steps to protect the general populace came off as entitled.
Yet for every one Filipino netizen who mocked Lao for asking for better public services, ten more simply rode the so-called hate bandwagon. Think of them as the mean version of the usiseros who crowd around an accident, boldly throwing out insults because they remain anonymous online.
It doesn't even matter whether they know what happened or not, just as long as these bandwagon haters can share their hurtful comments and be seen "contributing" to a hot-topic issue or controversy.
Today, Chrisopher Lao is an Internet celebrity.
Maintaining an unpopular stance takes some courage. Just ask my college professor who questioned the wisdom behind Erap's impromptu impeachment in front of the university president and his fellow teachers. The key is that these unconventional opinions are always followed with clear and well thought out explanations.
Opposite that are Filipinos who just take the unpopular stance because they want to be "different" from everyone else, reason be damned. If you say Ferdinand Marcos' presidency was good for the Philippines, despite the institutionalization of graft and corruption during it, prepare good arguments. Otherwise, you're just looking for attention, you annoying wannabe.
Where would some clueless fool post pictures of a poor puppy he clipped on to a clothesline, or write about crushing a defenseless kitty to death? In the Philippines of course! I've also seen another Filipino write about physically abusing his then-girlfriend. I mean … really? Come on!
Any knowledgeable online veteran knows about the troll, an anonymous online personality who has nothing better to do than look for others to anger or irritate. The classic troll seeks to push your buttons, spouting outlandish and confrontational statements without merit designed for maximum impact. If you react negatively, they win. Some Filipinos are annoying because they don't understand that.
Until a few months ago, you would see a YouTube user calling himself "No Steve No Point" leaving comments on all Arnel Pineda videos, smugly asserting that Pineda was a terrible singer for US rock band Journey (the former vocalist of the group was Steve Perry) without giving any valid reason for his opinion.
His statements provoked numerous angry replies from Pinoy supporters (most likely grandstanding patriots, see #6) who fed the troll. These troll feeders not only wasted their time, they probably made an idiot feel good about himself.
Many local TV shows and music acts suffer from the impression that they're rip-offs of things foreign. While such a criticism is true for creative works that lift foreign concepts and translate them verbatim, some Filipinos don't seem to understand that there are really no original ideas.
So you'll find many Filipinos online bemoaning how local TV and music just have no originality—when chances are they've never come up with a truly original idea themselves. Worse, these people are also usually grandstanding patriots (again, see #3). For many local acts, it seems that they have to move abroad before they can achieve local respect.
Disclaimer: This does not, in any way, support plagiarism
