Student Activist by Day, Keyboard Warrior by Night: A Carlosian Struggle

Illustration by Eduard Jude Jamolin

Hello to my readers! I’m finally back to blogging after a month-long hiatus. I hope my title is enough to tell you why I had to abandon this blog for a couple of weeks. It’s really tough to be a Carlosian student nowadays. It’s even tougher when you live two different lives in a university that sucks the life out of its students. Nonetheless, here I am writing this post hoping to find a reader who can understand what it’s like to be me.

As you all know, my academic program is — oh, just click on the “About Me” button at the upper left of this blog. I’d rather not disclose it in this blog post because when people know what I major in, I can get all the hate in the world in a snap. And, oh, we are also stereotyped as “student activists”. That’s a MAJOR hint.

Moving on, let me tell you about our latest protest. You see, we’ve tried a lot of different things, starting with silent protests. We still get haters. And then we try noise barrages (the most recent one!). We still get haters. Even if we don’t wear our uniforms, we still get haters. So really, there is no point in trying to impress anyone here as long as we are against illegal drugs and stand firm on upholding the rule of law and the dignity of every human person. That totally felt like a line from our department’s position paper. Fun fact! I can type our position paper with my eyes closed. That shows how our beloved department and professors have molded us, ha!

Okay now, about our most recent protest, we were louder with our stances on three of the most pressing issues of today’s Philippine politics. LITERALLY LOUD. Something about how they were there to implement projects and programs that are timely, relevant and responsive to the needs of the Carlosian.

During the noise barrage, we screamed the words “Busina! Busina! Para sa hustisya!” at the top of our lungs. Drivers passing by would honk their horns as an affirmative gesture, and we would all rejoice. Yet I think they were only being sabay sa uso here, duh. These are the very people who put our president where he is now. If these pangmasa people did not vote for our president, I wouldn’t be managing the student activist life and the

After what felt like an eternity of screaming the same words over and over again, the rally was finally over. We went back to our respective classes and proceeded with our day. But of course, we had to suit up and face our worst nightmares. Nightmares that take the form of long comments that illogically debunk everything we have ever learned in college. It first started with attacks on why the university is focusing on external problems instead of internal ones like TOFI and inconsistent uniform policies. I couldn’t agree more!!! But why fight for these issues when it might lead you to be suspended or worse, getting kicked out of the university, right?

Then the army of DDS (Die-Hard Dijong Supporters) attacked. They had their usual arguments on how drug users deserved to die and that EJKs and the death penalty were the means to achieve it. They attacked us for defending human rights and due process of law because like drug users, we deserved to die, be raped or whatever criminals do to innocent people when they are under the influence of illegal drugs. Even so, we weren’t gonna back down that easy. cited our reliable sources! After posting our comments, they attacked us with “BOGO” comments. Well, we are all stupid in our own way, theirs is just at a different level.

Next came the army of Carlosian parents. And what’s even worse than parents commenting? Teachers and alumni showing strong disapproval of the rallies. .

Lastly, there were guys who posted photos of themselves showing placards that said, “Attendance ray amoa” during the noise barrage. I was super annoyed because they really didn’t have to tell the netizens that we needed the attendance. We didn’t just need the attendance, we DESPERATELY needed it. It was our only chance of increasing our class standing for that sweet 3.0 grade at the end of the semester.

Days went on like this. The “rally culture” has become the university’s pride because, for once, the university is finally taking action on national issues. However, for some, it is a total embarrassment to be enrolled in a university with such ridiculous political stances.

Nights also went on like this. Keyboard warrior against keyboard warrior. And after every battle led to the debris of a failed citizenry. Every battle led to me forgetting to do homework — sad reacts only, please. Being a student activist and a keyboard warrior surely does compromise one’s academic life, but I wouldn’t trade it for the world. I know I’m part of a cause founded on the love for democracy.

That is all, for now, my dear readers, till our next rally!

<3 Love, Juanita.

JuanitaDelMar.wordpress.com