Text Appeal

Cut up letters and paste them onto a piece of paper. Leave the note to your desired target, hide behind the post and wait for the results. This is so cute! Is this a death threat?

I used to receive death threats over the phone specifically intended for my dad. The more I talk to the caller, the more unsure he sounds. What can you get by taking someone's life? Just recently, my co-workers have taken the liberty to send annoying text messages with the hopes of getting someone fired. That's what cowards and envious people do but I don't let it bother me. Let them spend money on loading up their text messages, after all, we need to move our economy.

* * *

Text and the City

Finally, the mayor and his wife got their culprit in jail for sending nasty messages. What got my attention was the mayor's inability to 'forgive' even after due process of law. Forgive people who do not know what they are doing. These people are really confused but it doesn't mean they can escape punishment. For cases like this, imprisonment doesn't do much justice. The offender's thumb should be chopped off, ala Yakuza style.

* * *

Text Instructor?

In Washington, D.C., a physical education instructor at a Northeast middle school has been charged with "enticing a minor to sexual rendezvous" by having sex with a 14-year-old female student in three different motels. The girl told D.C. investigators the relationship started when she began text messaging the instructor on his cell phone and he would pick her up from the corner of where she lives. Police learned of Mr. Jones' relationship with the student after an adult overheard a student talking about a female classmate having sex with the gym teacher.

Maybe having sex isn't the word to describe what they were doing. It's taking classroom learning a step forward by actually demonstrating different gymnastic positions -sort of an after-school tutorial.

* * *

Text Abuse

According to Solidarity Philippines Australia Network (SPAN), the SOS Short Messaging System for OFWs in Distress (SOS SMS) is a 24/7 text-based ICT mechanism conceptualized and developed by OFWs (Overseas Filipino Workers) and implemented in cooperation with the various Center for Migrant Advocacy (CMA) partner NGOs worldwide, as well as with the DFA's OUMWA (Department of foreign Affair's Office of the Undersecretary for Migrant Workers' Affairs) and the OWWA (Overseas Workers Welfare Administration).

It states: "For Immediate Relief/Action on Request for Assistance, text and send to +63 9209 OFW SOS (+63 9209 639 767)".

This service is meant to address the OFW's most pressing work-related concerns, especially when their lives, safety or well-being are in jeopardy. So please, no texting Game Ka Na Ba or Pinoy Big Brother.

* * *

Text Sells

Media companies promote text as a convenient way to enter competitions. Text messages ease the tedious routine of entering a competition via a phone calls and are also faster and cost-effective than snail mail. The U.S. has been slow in adopting text voting because programmers have to deal with several time zones and several different wireless network technologies.

In this world of instant gratification, young people favor instant messaging and SMS over e-mails. E-mail has become the new snail-mail. Who would want to open their inbox only to find more junk mail? "Don't want to see someone? Then call them. Don't want to call someone? E-mail them. Don't want to take the trouble of writing sentences? Text them," says Matthew Felling, an admitted "serial texter" who is also the spokesman for the Center for Media and Public Affairs in Washington. "It's the ultimate social crutch to avoid personal communication."

So, my dear readers, have you got text appeal? Text the Freeman if you still want me in the opinion section or would you rather see me in the lifestyle section.

* * *

Email: [email protected]