It was easier, I’d imagine, in 1986. The battle line was between good and evil. It was an epic battle for the ages: Marcos versus Cory, winner take all. It was Dictator versus Housewife in a battle between excesses and moral compass. It was an epic struggle of a totalitarian regime versus the promise of freedom, of democracy. It was easier to know who you’re fighting against. It was easier to cast 2004 as the day evil won like it is far easier to wallow in the mistakes of the past. Just as it is easier to let our anger fester at the abuses, arrogance and lack of propriety of Arroyo and her ilk. Thus, both our past and present continue in their quarrel unabated.
Amidst Population, Development, the RH Bill, Knock Knock Bernardo Villegas, and the stranded cost of incompetence is where we are, while this single mom put up a blog for her five year old who is waging an epic battle against cancer. Speaking of cancer, women should go see their doctor about vaccination against cervical cancer. On a less serious but likewise important matter, will you also take this challenge for bloggers?
As we near the end of the road to 2010, voices cry out in the desert saying, “Rock the Vote!” It is a call to change the course of our society, to shift a lack of propriety towards a more civilized society by engaging our leaders through an election. It is our civic duty, after all and we’ve surrendered much by not being part of society already. If these summons, heard you have, then what? Here are a few words on dealing with black box amidst calls to elect a new Senate president to avoid a possible power vacuum, should there be failure of elections, next year.
Where does the Road to 2010 lead us? Whose banner do we flock to? Whose flag do we raise? What is this War we’re fighting for in 2010?
In light and darkness, Manolo Quezon wrote: “…at the heart of it, is the real referendum this election will be about: to care so mightily about the country one can still dare to hope, or to surrender to the past while cloaking it in appeals to pragmatism.“
Is it easier to subscribe to an uninspiring candidate? How about the unknown politician whose pathway to power is to subscribe to the policy of the old guard? If you side with them, does it make you a cynic hiding behind a mask of pragmatism?
Is it easier to subscribe to youth that thinks superheroes are there to hold our hand like a power that descend from the sky to set things right rather than to inspire human achievement, to catch us only when we fall? Is it easier only to subscribe to hope and a certain moral compass, while that voice continue to remain silent on ways to solve real problems? Where then is the imagination? Where then is the dream? Where then is the Will to turn that dream into reality? Will Hope be joined by Willpower, because Hope is empty without the latter?
Should we stop at defeating cynicism and pragmatism? Should we stop at hope?
In the 1960s, John F. Kennedy spoke of a new American Frontier. He said: “We stand today on the edge of a New Frontier– the frontier of unknown opportunities and perils, the frontier of unfilled hopes and unfilled threats. The New Frontier is here whether we seek it or not. Beyond that frontier are uncharted areas of science and space, unsolved problems of peace and war, unconquered problems of ignorance and prejudice, unanswered questions of poverty and surplus. It would be easier to shrink from that New Frontier, to look to the safe mediocrity of the past, to be lulled by good intentions, and high rhetoric.”
The next election is not about good and evil. This is where the Philippines is. It stands on a crossroad between embracing a new frontier or to remain standing still. It is a choice between ending the quarrel of our past and present or continuing on the same tired path. The election of 2010 is a War between The Armies of Cynicism and Pragmatism versus The Forces of Hope and Willpower in an epic battle for Tomorrow.
Winner take all.
this post was first published on my tumblr.
Popularity: 1% [?]
Yes, interesting perspective, cynicism vs. hope. And you can be for either candidate and attach to one or the other points of view. I hear both rattling around in my brain, depending on the hour and the latest news. But I shall focus on the reality of assessing the candidates for character, capability and intent, and give the winner the benefit of the doubt. That is, stick with hope. And with a lot of words of advice from the blogging peanut gallery.
Joe
Indeed. we should all use our heads as much as our guts.
It is choice whether to make the Philippines work or not. There are questions that Senator Aquino has to answer like what is his stand on the much needed changes to the number 1 legacy of Mom,the 1987 Constitution.
Likewise, we’d like to know what Aquino thinks of the much needed social reforms that would lead to redistribution. Holy Cow, just giving up Luisita just because it loses money due to labor problems isn’t enough!
Hope should be supported by real pillars. In this country cynicism is built on real rocks!
Blackshama, I do not blame the cynics. They’ve a lot of reason to be, well cynical. I believe the next election is an opportunity to start changing it. Whether or not that happens, well, we’ll just have to wait and see.
If Noynoy’s survey ratings are improving it will help his boat to sail lighter and faster if he jettison asap the baggages aboard his boat. And that Hacienda Luisita of his family is a lotsa baggage.
other heavy baggages: a.)kris b.)kamaganak, inc.
I actually think Kris is more asset than baggage. At least one knows she’s a straight shooter.
Heheh, ‘Coy, like Imelda was an asset to Macoy.
Sorry to all, I’m getting ahead of time. I want to take that back, sorry.
I’d say it’s still too early to make any decisions on who to support. All we could do for now is to keep an ever more watchful eye on the whole picture and never get distracted by the details.
Though clinging to hope has always been a step in the right direction.
Jhay, re: clinging to hope step in right direction, indeed.
As long as you are not feeding the people with FALSE hopes.
I fully agree with your second to the last sentence but disagree with your last sentence that it is ‘winner take all’. More important than whoever candidate wins is ensuring that the elections reflect the will of the people.
BTW, thanks for the link.Your link to the ‘Economics of Science Fiction’ is very interesting.
LOL @cvj, I knew you’d get a kick out of the economics of science fiction.
Here is great economics. Noynoy should give HIS SHARE of Hacienda Luisita to farmers. [He can let Satur Ocampo or Gabriela decide which farmer or farmers get the ownership.]
UP n grad, sorry, I really have to disagree.
cocoy: Why? Do you think cynics will interpret it (giving away free land) as a slick kind of vote-buying?
UP n grad, not at all. call it my personal, pro-capitalist bias. I’m worried about the eventual consequences of such a move. I look at it (Luicita) as a business. Obviously, it is up to those who own it to do what they want with it. And I’m unfamiliar with the law and how it actually relates to the farmers. But I think CARP is totally borked and needs through review on how to fix it. If Luicita actually made money… would it be better for farmers? I don’t know. And if it did make more money, would that in turn be beneficial to more people because it could employ more, create productivity? I don’t know. I just have this nagging sensation that the Farmers are biting the hand that feeds them.
If the hand is feeding them right, how could they bite it? If the corporation is making money and they are receiving their share of the profits, how come they are complaining?
cocoy:
there is a hand – but it is not feeding them – it is a hands that pulls the trigger – and leaves dead farmers in its wake.
while, the corynuts go nuts over cory’s death – where where they when the farmers of hacienda luisita were shot? that ain’t cynicism – that’s life, responsibility, accountability.
noynoy talks about holding the corrupt accountable – he can’t even clean up his own backyard. sheesh
Cynicism still rules because the most unreconstructed serf owner remains to be Noynoy. The battle lines are being drawn amongst the strict constructionists in Philippine society. A replay of the Marcos-Aquino feud.
The Aquino will be hard put to reverse the most wicked thing that Cory did. She emasculated the lynchpin of distributive justice in the country.
That would have been the foundation for strengthening the foundation for participatory democracy. It would have increased those vested with economic power.
Someone should start an ISGMAACROOKMOVEMENT. She is simply a thief… A very smart thief who was steeped in the culture of feudal lords. All power emanates from her and that power entitles her to take what she wants.
Will this son of the wicked now seek redemptive justice or simply continue the very system that proved to be the undoing of the EDSA upheaval?
The rational market theory is based on the selfishness (wickedness) of individuals. Kris Aquino the very epitome of the self absorbed individual.. We must allow this wickedness free play.
So in the scheme of things Villar seems to be the lesser evil… He is a player in the dysfunctional exchange economy that exists in the country. He has proved himself to be quite successful. Off course he is wicked. Just look at the trapitos all around him.. Tamayo, Cayetano and Remulla. All trapo wannabes. Look at Noynoy’s impending challenger from the government. His own cousin..
The next few months will see the predators (vultures & scavengers) who have lurked in the shadows come out of the woodwork. They can smell blood and will gather at the foot of the table of the likely winner of the coming election.
Will Noynoy redeem the evil that his Mom has wrought. One can only strengthen institutions by making a clear unequivocal admission against ones interest in favor of the common good. That would mean his entire families interest. Can he destroy Kamaganak Inc? Can he destroy that most evil primitive culture that is holding back societal development in this country? Can he destroy feudalism?
Right now the U.S. is probably fighting the last battles of the Civil War.. Many thought that when Johnson passed the Civil Rights Act the Civil war was finally over.
The feudal structures of the U.S.A. was imbedded in slavery. Racism the religion.
Noynoy used the exact same argument versus land reform that the slave owners used against emancipation. The slaves or serfs cannot handle freedom.
Give me choices or give me death… The struggle continues..
There seems to be no hope…When the globe is facing a most important structural shift to an algorithm (Software and IT) based society and the technology based deflationary forces have once again been unleashed onto the planet the country is still embroiled in the struggle for land.
Hey Cocoy to pun his bO’s favorite slogan get real…
Noynoy get Real Fast….
This country desperately needs retributive justice then distributive justice then social justice to redeem itself.
Not Kris and Boy….
J_ag,
The fringe elements of the weekend protest in Washington of Obama’s spending plan suggest racism is alive and well, overtly and possibly tacitly fueling some of the angers evident during the protests. Just as they fueled some of the 45 million votes for John McCain.
As for the Philippines, your mandate to Noynoy is worth recording and repeating:
“This country desperately needs retributive justice then distributive justice then social justice to redeem itself.”
Joe
“This country desperately needs retributive justice then distributive justice then social justice to redeem itself.”
Are we seriously hoping that he can deliver on this ‘mandate’? That he can go against the kamaganak inc? Well even if he tries,I think he will fail, starting with Kris. It is more likely for Kris to change (influence)him than the other way around.
to rochelle (hearty’s haven blog):
basically, vaccination is “pre-exposure” (as some vaccines are given “post-exposure” to possible germ threat), thereby preventing one to be sick of a particular germ to which the vaccine is for.
hence, anti-HPV vaccines are best given prior to engaging in sexual intercourse. products Gardasil and Cervarix can be given as early as nine (9) years old (and even effective to as old as 55 or 56 years of age).
inasmuch as Gardasil* protects an individual to several wart-causing strains (not only cancer-producing strains), it’s best given to those who are virgin to any form of sexual activity.
whereas, Cervarix is best given to individuals who had prior exposure to HPV strains but still wants protection from the dreaded cervical cancer. here’s hoping that they haven’t contracted the cancer-producing strain yet and if so, hasn’t yet evolved into causing cervical cancer.
—–
*to those young boys who are still virgin (perhaps your boyfriends), i suggest you consult your doctor if they may be given Gardasil too before engaging in sex…
Noted, Baycas. i’ll be sure to point her to your comment. Also, I hope everyone consults their physician for everything related to medicine.
We have to go beyond the politics of destruction. We go to the
politics of construction. We have to find solutions to our pressing
problems. Or remain in the rut we are all in.
I have never, for a moment, doubted the resiliency of the Filipinos to confront, or even suffer, from the “lapses in judgment” that presidents do during their watch.
Cynicism is therefore crowding in a place called rhetorics – time and oft.
One thing is deftly sure, this so-called war between FM and Cory is all over. It does not make sense therefore for Noynoy to claim to continue to fight of Ninoy. This is the height of stupidity, come to think of it.
What fight of Ninoy is Noynoy still talking about that they have failed to accomplish in the whole term of Cory? This is political madness, unparalleled.