Jon Effemey : Freelance Writer

ivyemaye's comment was picked on Sexy and Social: why Manila is the selfiest city in the world.

14 Mar 2014 7:15am

 

 

Reading the comments here...yes Makati and Pasig in Metro Manila are the selfie number ones.

This news was out a few days ago here in the Philippines.

As I have been living in the Philippines now for nearly two years I am more than familiar with the selfie or selfie selfie. Yes the Philippines are the biggest texters in the world.

This is very much a social expression. You go along to a social event. There is mandatory karaoke. Nearly all Pinoy have extended families and many contacts. After doing your bit on the karaoke you form a group with every one else, and out come the cell phones. Will it be a "Wackie wackie" selfie selfie? with everybody pulling funny faces. Or may be the peace sign, the victory V will be used? Big smiling groups or maybe individual groups......you can not escape it, anymore than you can escape a shot of brandy or the karaoke.

(For reference the second selfie at the top of this piece is a wackie wackie, none with peace signs Guardian?)

My partners daughter was given a cell phone from her friend.....there must have been 600 selfie shots on it...the odd thing was the girl who gave it did not seem too bothered, by now she may well have a few thousand new selfies on her new cell phone.

Face book is full of them. Go along anywhere, an art exhibition and music gig, out comes the cell phone held in front of the face and yes a selfie shot!

There is a huge market here in cell phones. I know of at least three Pinoy cell phone manufactures. Samsung and Apple are by no means dominate. Many Pinoy have two cell phones, one for Globe and the other for Sun, the two many network providers. Small cell phone stores are everywhere in most Malls. The basic Noika is still around too and many clones of this.

Vincent is correct. The Philippines has a very sociable communal culture. It can be very extrovert.

As a retiring Englishman I was at first somewhat taken aback by the selfie obsession. I am no George Clooney to look at and rather like images of myself kept to an absolute minimum. Fat chance here!

As a fellow blogger states here, the gist of this is about sharing experiences. This is what is so important in this culture. You are part of a family and a social group.

As for Makati and Pasig, these are big business centres along with having a number of shopping Malls, many people commute in and out every day, so the high number of selfies there do not surprise me.

Regarding general comments here about the Philippines. Yes there is a huge gap in wealth between the very rich living in their gated communities and the very poor in make shift dwellings. These problems are being addressed here, possibly too slowly. The Pork Barrel hearings are continuing about corruption.
There is a huge legacy from the past that needs addressing but I feel President Aquino III has started this process of change, yes a wee bit too "pinoy time", but there is an awareness. 
Yes, Metro Manila is some what lacking in coherent planning, and that is putting it mildly. But there is an energy and optimism here, which I really like. The "selfie" is very much part of that. People live their lives and enjoy being with each other in social gatherings. Very few hide behind net curtains here. I live in a local community not in some closeted ex pat condo and I know the realities of life here very well now. It can be tough but the pinoy are survivors. They know how to "party party' and take a few "wackie wackie", "selfie selfie" pics on their cell phones, so they can later down load them all onto Face book or Instagram etc. It is all about sharing!

A bit late Vincent, this is old news here, but I was expecting the Guardian to get round to doing something about this, thank you for this article!

 

 

ivyemaye's comment was picked on Every family has first world war memories. These are mine.

14 Feb 2014 10:49am

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The photograph I use here is one of my grandfather George in the centre, Great Uncle Sid on the left, and Great Uncle Will on the right.

I am guessing this was taken at the end of World War 1.
My father left me taped records of this period. I also have strong memories from my childhood. I am 60 now.
Sid was in the Anzas and unfortunately I have no memories of him or recollections. He had already emigrated to Australia.
My Grandfather was involved in Gallipoli. My father told me he was wounded in a charge up a hill at a Turkish machine gun post. The rest of his platoon were killed.

As he was Plymouth Brethren he was teetotal. My father recalls he drank a flask of rum for "dutch courage" and fell at the back of the advance drunk!

Will on the right only entered the war right at the end. I have a memory of a very shy old man. He never married and lived with his sister. I distinctly remember him using the word "fall" for autumn in a very soft southern Hampshire accent.

Both Great Uncle Will and Grandfather George were very shy retiring men. Very much men of the New Forest. There were family connections with London and the West country but I doubt if they traveled much further. Many young men must have been like this then. To be wrenched away and deposited in a trench waiting to go over the "top".
They never talked about the First World War, my father an ex POW in a Polish Stalag couldn't stop talking about his experiences.
Thank you for this article Polly.