For the past few days, the Pinoy blogosphere has been abuzz with various issues that are, in one way or another, connected to the recent disaster that was Typhoon Ondoy (Ketsana).

There is that supposedly insensitive Filipina from Dubai who wrote “buti n lng am hir in dubai! maybe so many sinners back der! so yeah deserving what happened!” which literally adds insult to the “injury” suffered by the flood victims and their loved ones. Along with her are two other inconsiderate assholes young men who had the wrong choice of words at the worst of times.

There is also that Korean girl who (also supposedly) made multiple tweets regarding the floods, using words like “third world country,” “filipino monkeys” and “die in floods.”

Hopefully last, of course, is the photo/video that (again supposedly) features presidential son Mikey Arroyo buying liquor in the midst of the heavy rains and rescue-and-relief efforts.

Now, I’m not one to judge quickly regarding these matters. In fact, posts on my Facebook news feed which featured these “celebrities” were left unclicked and unexplored because I for one believe that such, at a time like this, deserves not a single ounce of attention.

Be that as it may, with the skies clearing and hope slowly but surely being restored by the very dedicated and passionate volunteers, I find myself having a few minutes to spare to click on Mikey Arroyo’s lash out response at the Daily Tribune – the gist of which is that he was at the palace during the crisis trying to mobilize rescue and relief operations.

His bottom line calls for the Internet to be regulated, which I think is madness. Yeah, I said it. You don’t prevent someone from saying ill things about you, but you can take them to court when they do, most especially if it’s not true. And this option is still open for offended parties to pursue.

At the end of the day, the Internet is still just truth or gossip made easier to access and disseminate. And the decision to believe either still rests with the users themselves, as is the same with ordinary hearsay, “chismis” and “mga kwentong barbero.”

Sure, there have been a lot of cases where reputations have been damaged by an angry blogger, a media uploader, or a common troll. But if the offended party has exercised responsible use of the Internet (and responsible, non-Internet behavior as well), then issues like these can be prevented. There would be no scandals uploaded if there was no scandal in the first place; no identity theft (or at least minimizing it) if you keep a private social network; nothing to criticize in your actions during a catastrophe.

Don’t put the blame on other people if you lacked enough initiative to be a responsible person, in the Intarnets or otherwise. For even if people put ill-things about you in their blogs, if your behavior demonstrates otherwise, people can and will come to your defense.

The damage may have been done. But then again, if you’re “worthy” enough to have your reputation damaged in the Internet, you’re worthy enough to be gossiped about offline without you even knowing. At least in the Internet, you become aware of what’s being said. And so will the people who can rush to your side and defend you.