Media Censorship Revisited

By: May Anne Uy


“Nobody can take away the one thing I can depend on, which is enjoying the music.” Say’s Eric Johnson on his December, 1982 interview on “Guitar Player” magazine. On a personal level, I can really identify with him on how music affects our lives. But there’s a monster out there that refuses to die that could ruin our enjoyment of music. Censorship is back, with a vengeance. My best friend, who grew up in the 1980’s has wrestled with this beast most of his life. He’s an aspiring musician whose love for music is a zen-like transcendence. He’s been through the PMRC (Parent’s Music Resource Center) fiasco back in 1989. Back then if you are into music that’s been labeled as a degenerate art by the Catholic Church, like Heavy Metal or Wagner’s Operas, you’re just labeled weird. Then 1999 came, the Y2K Bug, and Jesus don’t like Metal (?) attitude made hip by weak willed degenerates as a fashion statement du jour. Then came 9 / 11, as the Catholic Church became “Talibanized” for five years running, this monster got a new lease on tenure to make us music lovers suffer. Today, you could get fired if your employer finds out that you’re into “degenerate art”. And they say that media piracy is killing the music industry worldwide. Is the future of media censorship painful or interesting? I just hope I can live through this.

So, I’m Time Magazine’s Person of the Year

Is this a good thing to put in my resume when I apply for a job in the future, or the best thing since free money?


By: Vanessa Uy


Time Magazine’s cover concept for this year’s installment for “Person of the Year” is a “modern” p.c. with a mirror mounted on the monitor. For me “I view this concept as a mirror located in an unexpected location. When I do check myself there and see myself unexpectedly, I wonder for a moment, ‘Is that really me?’ “

Growing up in an oriental culture, my “cultural universe” revolves around “feng sui” and for many years I’ve glanced into many a mirror placed in unexpected locations. Every time I asked “Is that really me?” Then Time Magazine returned “Is that really me?”

The “muses of inspiration” often dwells in the unexpected; I’m surprised these days the speed of the concept of ad infinitum turns into ad absurdum and even into ad nauseam. Come on, people: In the long run, this will not be an idea empowering the disenfranchised to embrace “representative democracy” but a faux egalitarianism bought about by most people’s misconceptions on the “information superhighway.” And it is a very tired idea. The accolade should be dedicated to the brave souls who exposed the scandal in Abu Ghraib a few years ago.