Filipinos are crazy about basketball and their politicians. In some ways, Filipinos view basketball and their politicians as one subject of interest. Unlike the politics in the United States, where people would follow politicians based on their views on a particular issue, some Filipinos would follow the politician who is the most popular, whoever is the most controversial, or whoever gets the most media coverage, same can be said for basketball. Although politics is NOT basketball. There would always be times when both mix with one another. It can be seen in the tweet posted by our very own Senate President.
Vicente “Tito” Sotto III, a former TV co-host and also the current Senate President of the Philippines, made a tweet about the controversial basketball game played by the Philippines and Australia in the FIBA World Cup Qualifiers last July which erupted to a massive free-for-all after an incident involving a Filipino and Australian player.
We thought that he was trying to capture the hearts of each and every one of us. He was trying to convince us that what the players did was right. He was trying to address us, Filipinos, and the entire basketball community that what the Filipino players did was not wrong. He was trying to defend the Filipino players who fought for a fellow Filipino because they believed that they had quite enough of the bullying they got from the Aussies and the officials of the game.
Although the tweet came from the official Twitter page of the Senate President, we don’t think that the number of likes, shares, or retweets make the post credible. The post has no credibility because, first of all, the tweet was made by a politician and a former entertainer who has no proper knowledge or lacks the proper knowledge in things related to the event discussed.
The persuasive quality of the post would not change even if it was posted in an offline medium because the post lacks the proper credibility for it to really persuade its intended audience and the post does not have the proper structure to be considered as a proper sentence, which is sometimes needed to determine whether the tone of a post is serious or should be viewed in a satirical way.
Estil, Mark Angelo
Jamera, Cedric
Nobleza, Angelo Raphael
COMM10porary 