The News UpFront: (TOP STORY) as of Thursday, November 11, 2010 

A hand of friendship. That's what journalist Jesse Jose of Seattle, Washington, did Thursday to end the acrimonious exchanges with another journalist, Don Azarias, of Chicago, Illinois. The two journalists par excellence had been sparring a great deal a few days before boxing champion Manny Pacquiao could begin his own bout in Arlington, Texas, on Saturday. The betting for or against Pacquiao started it all. And though Pacquiao could knock out his opponent with his powerful fists, Azarias and Jose were trying to outshout each other with the vilest invective available in the dictionary, thus providing cyberspace with a good curtain raiser for the Pacquiao bout.  Azarias has not responded to Jose's overtures as of this writing. Here's my personal commentary.

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WORD WAR IN AMERICA - A CURTAIN RAISER FOR THE PACQUIAO BOUT

Waging Acrimonious Fight Across Cyberspace

By ROMEO P. MARQUEZ

Member, Asian American Journalists Association

T ORONTO – The heated exchanges between journalists Don Azarias and Jesse Jose had caught me in a bind. The fire has somewhat eased but the flares continue to cast an uncomfortable light. 

Neither deserved to be bad-mouthed by the other, yet there they were jousting with the best acidic tongues and the worst offending words.

These gentlemen are two of the best friends I've never met in person.

I got to know them, first in Bart and Yoly Tubalinal's weekly MegaScene newspaper, and later, in cyberspace - Pareng Don in Chicago, Illinois, and Pareng Jesse in Seattle, Washington. For a time we three shared the same newspaper page as we dished out our weekly columns.

Then there's Bobby Reyes' MabuhayNewsRadio.com website where no-holds-barred is the rule and satire is celebrated as much as investigative pieces, as if they are a way of life for true journalists who pound the streets and corridors of power in pursuit of good stories.

How we manage to end up calling each other "pare" is a story in itself.

"Pare" means sharing many private, and sometimes personal, things like the almost clock-work e-mail blast of Pareng Don involving erotica and triple x pictures. How's that for caring and sharing?

"Pare" also means trusting the other person in a way that a spouse would not . . . with amorous secrets and escapades narrated in colorful language re-live in English and Tagalog expletives.

"Pare" signifies a friendship like no other. Peer to peer. Colleague to colleague.

True gentlemen, true "cowboys" in the Filipino slang, Pareng Don and Pareng Jesse command my respect with the way they write and the manner with which they convey their messages to the world.

My friendship with them is something to uphold and fight for, for they mince no words in telling when a wrong is committed and when an apology is the only decent and honorable thing to do.

Delivering Stress of Living and Relief from Stress

As the Greek philosopher Plutarch said: "I don't need a friend who changes when I change and who nods when I nod; my shadow does that much better".  Pareng Don and Pareng Jesse are definitely not shadows.

Pareng Don is more reflective, a true economist no less. Pareng Jesse is the humor-laden type whose journalist persona is best exemplified by mock ridicule.

Reading Pareng Don would give one insight, and sometimes the creeps for the seriousness of a given situation. Reading Pareng Jesse would give one stomach ache for the tons of air that needed out from unstoppable laughter.

In a way, one delivers the stress of living; the other, relief from that stress. One exudes the confidence of an expert economist; the other expertly mocks that confidence, all in the spirit of free-wheeling fun.

Despite accusations by one against the other of plagiarism, none holds water, for the body of work they write and publish and have accumulated speaks of them as being journalists of the highest caliber. Both had the education, the training, the skill, the experience and the by-products of those years of writing.

One gauge to prove this contention is originality of ideas. The thought process involve in the writing is reflected in the written article. And that can be gleaned from the sometimes-very long essays of Pareng Don and in the stinging, irreverent parody of Pareng Jesse.

Where Pareng Don tends to structure his articles in a scholarly manner, Pareng Jesse would just defy form for his less-pompous content. Either way, both conveys their messages just as effectively.

Judging from where they came from originally in the Philippines, I have no doubt that their firepower comes not only from being adept at guns but also by the high intensity of their curses. Suddenly, Mr. Webster is at a loss as to how to demonstrate the viciousness of an f-word or an s-word.

Pareng Don would let loose a barrage of unprintables and Pareng Jesse would just as quickly repel them. That's a draw in word count. In impact, however, neither wins.

But what it tells me is that these two friends of mine are at their core true friends. That is, if I would allow Ralph Waldo Emerson to have the last word on this, thus: "It is one of the blessings of old friends that you can afford to be stupid with them". 

And if that's not enough of a reminder, let Oscar Wilde tell us: "True friends stab you in the front".  # # #

For other stories and photos, please visit: 

1. http://currentsbreakingnews.blogspot.com/ 

2. http://torontonewsroom.blogspot.com/

3. http://timecircumstance.blogspot.com/

4. http://travelsthemes.blogspot.com/ 

5. http://gotchajournalist.blogspot.com/ .