The following excerpt and comment have sent me off to a contemplative mood for awhile. The first one from FV’s news department himself, Ding G. Gagelonia:
But times have changed.
Instead of reporting on the news, it seems, journalists are losing their detachment and are becoming self-obsessed, not unlike the political and social bigwigs they cover.
Why is this coming to pass, I ask myself?
Without absolving the personalities who become entangled in such concerns, methinks the problem takes root when news organizations given multi-tasks themselves put on a secondary hat of marketing not just their journalistic outputs, but their journalist-talents.
Not to say that this can’t be done in an atmosphere of level-headedness.
But as the journalists turn into celebrities and ratings-builders, the hubris and self importance that is developed can balloon out of proportion.
Even more so with the revolving door that now link media stars with politics.
The other is a gem (certainly not because he’s referred to me several times) from ubiquitous UP n:
One of the things that is evident by all the blog-comment crossfire of the past weeks is this: Different folks, different strokes. The manner by which Abe decided (first on Mar then on Noy) is different from the way that BongV chooses, or the way benign0 believes or the way that manuelB believes that folks should choose.
What is also evident is that Abe is not some lone-wolf weirdo (others believe in Abe’s choice; there are also others who believe not only in Abe’s choice but in Abe’s way of making choices). The same can be said about BongV, benign0, Primer, and many others who have their own particular ways (different from Abe’s) for evaluating and deciding.
What is also true are making trade-offs and choosing a candidate even if the candidate has chinks in their armor, or worse, even if there are serious philosophical differences. If it is not Abe, then it definitely is Governor Panlilio – the trade-off of choosing a candidate even if said candidate is opposed to a personal belief about farmers’ rights, Hugo Cnavezism or about reproductive health and religion.
What the above tells me (especially because 37% is enough to win) is that machinery and those ocho-ocho fiesta meetings will do their magic.
I’m at a loss as to who to respond to with this post, so I making a separate entry instead.
What we seem to be witnessing is the phenomenon of modern democracy mimicking the market where candidates for public office are packaged, advertised and sold to voters like commodities. Under such a system, media plays the key role. And (news) media whose romantic role (old school journalism) is to gather news and reports it to the public (because middling citizens have other things to do than being “watchdogs”) has now donned a “secondary hat” – operating a business to make profit. So, media, stripped of its romance, now becomes absorbed – even when really engaged in the dynamics of the electoral process – into the realities of the market.
What’s somehow known moreover is that media in general has meager interest in such things as the political platform matrix of our FV colleague, bO (unless of course assuming that not being merely a phony show and tell, the project promises to capture the depth, subtlety and nuances of the many relevant issues and his lonely advocacy has caught the nostrils of some media’s high priests). This is so for the simple reason that the market in which to ply bO’s (fragrant?) idea is very limited – like the FV niche where many Pinoy political jesters and junkies (please pardon the metaphor), and certain well-intentioned journeymen, mill around.
Run-of-the-mill voters won’t spend the same amount of time and efforts FV warriors (happy now for such an appellation?) would to make an intelligent choice (although some FV regulars are seemingly dyed-in-the wool partisans immune to rational persuasions just like Americans who continue to reject their President and Commander in Chief simply because he’s black, at least according to their former president, Jimmy Carter).
It sounds almost “elitist” (I’ll try to show below the difference between elite and elitist) but the fact of the matter is that getting informed in the way bO wants it so as to cast the right vote is of little or no benefit at all to the general electorate in a cost/benefit equation. If not simply following the dough which in the very short term puts them on the plus side, these voters fall instead for name recognition, image, and other outward traits (e.g., youth, toughness, glibness) that the media and “network stars” sometimes at the bidding of some fat cats liberally dish out to them. It’s easier, even fun, that way given the fiesta atmosphere of the campaign.
So now, I go back to this proposition: Are we better off if we simply hearken to our innermost gut instead of being framed by professional charlatans out there? After all, it’s not always the case that our choice of leaders would in the end be the perfect embodiment of all the causes dearest to our heart.
Let me illustrate: one may imbibe the politics of Noynoy (save perhaps for his stand on the Reproductive Health Bill) but buying into a happy tradeoff he goes for Noynoy anyway as a “package deal” (just like when marrying your not so better half) because his gut tells him Noynoy who is born an elite but not an elitist is the leader to trust in the fight for social justice more than any of the other candidate.
What’s your gut telling you so far?
Popularity: 2% [?]
“…Noynoy who is born an elite but not an elitist is the leader to trust in the fight for social justice more than any of the other candidate.”-Abe
*falls from chair*…’elite’ now means; ‘born with golden spoon in the mouth’. Joe, if this goes on, I think I’m giving up on English.
Bert,
ahahahahah,
you have to see the humor in it or go crazy,
hang in there . . .
a word means whatever you want it to mean,
from Alice in Wonderland . . . Lewis Carrol
Joe
abe, if my gut tells me “noynoy”, i’ll go for the toilet seat.
That would be a good gut decision, Bencard. For all we know, many of the great decisions in history have been arrived at while the “decider” sat on the potty.
’elite’ now means; ‘born with golden spoon in the mouth’. Joe, if this goes on, I think I’m giving up on English. – Bert
Bert, don’t. I suppose this is more politics than English.
My take is that you are an elite if you belong to a class in a society that determines decisions to negotiate with rebels or not, to raise prices or interest rates, what news to report on primetime, what values should be taught in schools, what new products to ply in the market, whether to contain “brain drain” or the OFW phenomenon, etc. If you are basically in the receiving end of these decisions, you belong to the non-elite class.
You are an elitist if you hold that the above decisions should be done essentially by the competing interests within your (elite) class.
Now, even if you are an elite but you believe in the participation of every component member of society to make those decisions, such would define you as a democrat rather than an elitist; or if at least you believe in bargaining, accommodation and compromises among various interest groups outside of the elite class, you are basically a pluralist despite being an elite.
Simple Abe:
(1) Going “with our gut” is pretty much how it’s been done for the last 50 years.
(2) By encouraging everyone to “go with their gut” you are therefore proposing that the same approach to selecting a president be taken, yet again.
(3) We all want to see some kind of change happening over the term of whoever’s gonna be the next president.
(4) Change entails that different results be achieved.
Therefore it comes down to this, pops:
How do we expect to see DIFFERENT results if we plan to apply the SAME approach?
Take the Edsa II “revolution” that catapulted everybody’s favourite bogeyman Gloria Arroyo to power in 2001. What was that all about other than a demonstration of millions of people following their gut onto the streets of Edsa?
And here you are telling everyone ONCE AGAIN to “follow their gut”.
Explain, plez, where in all of what you say does sense come into the picture in light of every Filipino’s dream of seeing REAL CHANGE happening sometime in the future?
I’d rather gain my sense from someone who makes the following SENSIBLE proposal — no, challenge — to all those who truly want CHANGE:
Again: Are Filipinos, their Media, and their politicians up to stepping up to the REAL CHALLENGES? Or are we simply trading in horsemanure as we have been for the last 50 years?
millions? did you say millions? that was just a text party congregated because of a concert at edsa.
here’s the electoral process: the multitude elects, the elite selects.
Do we really have to go through this complicated process? My gut feel tells me to go for Gibo. He leads Noynoy in all counts. A bit of the ancient and the modern in me… I think.
taxj, but someone’s gut, forgoing the same complicated process, may also tell: Gibo will allow Gloria et al to avoid prosecution, and he carries heavy Marcosian baggage (his uncle and patron Danding, a crony of the dictator, and running mate Puno, a Marcos protégée). It may tell him too: At least consider Villar.
Gibo may be decent as an individual but he is in the service of evil. That makes him no different from the Puno family.
@Abe,
Verbosely encouraging Noypis not unlike yourself to rely less on their heads and more on their innards isn’t just irresponsible, it’s revoltingly lazy.
No matter how eloquent the delivery, if the message is inanity, the result is still rubbish.
So if you want to pick your president the way apes decide who their alpha male is, it would be much appreciated if you didn’t drag more people into it.
Imagine this: all the candidates running for the office of the President of the Republic on air over free TV and major AM radio stations, live, with no assistants, for three hours and with no commercial breaks; each candidate will have 8-10 minutes to introduce his/her platform, then be interpellated by one randomly picked co-candidate for three minutes on the speech for the platform. Once all candidates have spoken about their platform, an impartial moderator will then ask pertinent questions about the Presidency, and shall give five minutes for each candidate to formulate a response to each question. – bO
If that happens, that would be great, benigs.
But here’s a guy (Francis Valera) who would go for Noynoy, even if the above may not occur. He writes:
What do we see Valera’s gut telling him after his musings: “Noynoy will be good for business, the economy and development.” Does he care for now if Noynoy will be more interested in condoms than in running after plunderers? Or whether Noynoy will turn out to be pro-China, consider sovereign default or debt moratorium, be more favorable to SMEs rather than conglomerates, or wire the barrios to bridge the digital divide?
We’ll I monitored the deliberation on JPEPA (Japan Philippines Economic Partnership Agreement). Noynoy voted NO to that agreement because it is grossly disadavantageous to the Philippines. Other senators who voted No are Jamby, Chiz, Jinggoy. Pia and Loren who already left the Senate went back just to vote for YES. That can be read in the records of the Senate during the voting of JPEPA last year. Certainly money went to the pockets of those who voted in favor of JPEPA.
So, Noynoy is more of nationalist and in protecting local industries and Philippine patrimony. The way I see it Noynoy does not support full liberalization which could result to dire consequences in our few standing local industries and entry of foreigners on our national patrimony.
On the other hand, Gibo is in favor of Chacha and entry of foreigners on our national patrimony, i.e. land ownership and interest on natural resources. Manny Villar seems not clear on this area.
Well, I go for NOYNOY.
“Manny Villar projects himself as a poor boy who did well, an image that does not really define him as president”. Francis Valera as quoted by Abe Margallo.
that’s got to be the most disingenuous statement that could originate from fuzzy thinking. in the first place, villar DOESN’T “project himself”. he is in truth and in fact used to be a “poor boy who did well”, period. in the second place, he is NOT yet a president. how can any image define him as such?
the truth is that no one can say anything of substance against manny villar as a person, a public official, a family man, or a presidential candidate. he has ALL the necessary qualifications and qualities, and none of the disqualifications and defects, to be a great president.
Bencard, I know for a fact that M. Villar’s wife congresswoman cynthia villar receives money from contractors who are undertaking her pork barrel projects. Most of these pork barrel projects are used to provide road to their personal real estate development projects. If you want to know further, dig up her records on utilization of pork barrel so you will know where all those roads using pork barrel leads to.
Do you still believe they are clean?
Abe: Pinoy buzz has an answer to Francis:
with all due respect mr. margallo your recommendation for a gut-based selection process just won’t do. i dare say that this is a rather irresponsible suggestion. this is even far worse than the character-only assessment espoused by some people.
but thanks anyway for saying your piece. you have provided the readers of this blog a clear example of how to vote like an idiot. i trust that most people here are smart enough to see how wrong this is.
correction. i just realized it’s not even a real process.
Hi Sir Abe,
What I hear you saying is that our ‘gut feel’, the male paraphrase of female intuition (which is vastly unerring), is usually right.
Right?
Better gut than gutter :)
I am not sure that Abe’s blogpost really says for all to follow intuition. The post’s action-recommendation is …. “..If your gut tells you Noynoy, go for it”.
Won’t surprise me if next month or come year-2010 to see an Abe blogpost saying “Mag-isip isip pa kayo!” to Phil Manila (who likes Gordon) or to Manny Villar fans.
From the outline, I think that this best describes this evolving ‘mania’ for a Noynoy – “rolling rock gathers no moss”.
Noynoy is like a ‘rolling rock’ and quite logically, he will gather no votes.
Place your bets.
Gut-based action works best in fight-or-flight situations – not in activities that afford us the ample opportunity for careful consideration.
The reason humans are comfy with gut-based action is that we all evolved over millions of year under an environment where circumstances were for the most part fight-or-flight. As such, our “gut” is a primal form of impulse and a legacy of that evolution over those enormous timescales.
Our intellectual faculties, on the other hand, developed over a mere 10,000-50,000 year timescale –infinitessimal compared to the headstart (measured in the hundreds of millions of years) gut-based behaviour had over it. However, it is what we developed over those precious 10,000-50,000 years that SETS US APART from not just from the rest of the animal kingdom, but from our pre-civilisation ancestors.
Gut-based action is what hollow-headed advertising and marketing exploit (quite effectively, actually) and what beholds us to certain brands whose value is derived primarily from perception rather than real economic value.
So, Mr. Margallo, are you telling your compatriots to approach this coming election like cavemen?
And to you all here, do you all accept this call to apply the SAME primitivist approach to exercising our democratic rights in 2010?
Or are we all up to the challenge of STEPPING UP to doing things differently this time around?
Or do we prefer to live out the rest of our lives as pathetic victims of clever marketing and spin?
The choice is quite simple, really™.
Abe,
I learned from BongV that I don’t after all go with my gut on decisions, I satisfice . . . it is a much more intellectual reading of the intestines as they respond to the overwhelming slam of information coming at us from biased news stations and people with an agenda and the candidates themselves . . .
Punting is another popular option in football mad America . . .
Might be useful here . . .
Joe
That’s fine Joe, if you have the luxury of time (and by “punting” you mean gambling intelligently) you can always go one step up.
We have no shortage of people with guts to run for presidency (in fact, in Noynoy’s case, not guts but obedience to the expectations of his political party may have been enough.) What is lacking are people with guts to go against the grain or bandwagon, and actually present a concrete platform by which people whom they have a duty to serve can actually hold on to. It’s easy to say that one is for Truth, Justice, Democracy and so forth, but what precisely is the content of their understanding regarding these concepts? Are the people supposed to be simply given the song and dance, but left in the dark as to their real intent or motivations?
We got some definitional problem here. You use “guts” to mean “audacity.” But seeing what we are seeing, my gut tells me Noynoy has the “guts.”
Nope. Audacity is not what I meant, because I don’t think those other candidates are audacious. Instead of hiding behind ambiguities, why don’t YOU give your precise definition of the term as you specifically use it in this essay of yours?
Maybe by “guts” you mean “nerve” or “temerity” as used in your sentence?
For “gut” as used in my post, rego and cvj have provided links to certain discourse expounding on its inner workings in us. Check them out here and here.
I agree with BongV here. This is not the type of situation where one goes with what this so-called “guts,” as you attempt to describe or define, tell you or prompts you to do. Rather, it should be wisdom on the highest level (not necessarily the wishes of one’s political party or the clamor of the bandwagon or your kumare or kumpare.)
Having said that, I’m curious if he also has the “guts” to put together a decent political platform. But then again, people rather gamble and guess than deliberate intelligently. Intuition requires less effort than actually thinking things through.
Asia West,
To me, going with the “gut” does not mean guessing. It means my brain has processed a zillion pieces of information, digested them, and come up with a conclusion. It is impossible to explain how this conclusion was arrived at because each piece of information, on its own, is immaterial. The whole, being the sum of the immaterial details, is, however, material. That whole is what comes out of the “gut”.
It is a step beyond a rational process, an improvement. Only people with huge brains can do it well.
Joe
Filipino guts are easily corrupted… besides guts are not connected to the brain. They’re connected to your poo bucket. So when you use your guts, you know what you get.
Is this article basically saying that there’s just too much information out there so let’s just ignore all of it and vote Noynoy?
Sounds to me like it’s another metaphor in the making…some people don’t want to know how sausages are made so they can continue to eat them.
A certain survey may have colored Abe’s recommendation.
UPn,
Thank for posting this. I already see this coming. This will turn into battle of surveys, And gues what will happen next, the civil society supporting Nonoy will easily claim that their manok was cheated becuase he is leading in the survey. Then we will have another six year sof “fake” president. Rallies rallies , protest everywhere..
And with this artcile from abe. what changes can you expect? And The irony of it is that Abe , Manuel Buencamino, CVJ and the rest , belong to that civil society crowd who was advocating “change kuno”, but are employing very old trick that has an expected the same result from the past.
I agree with the message that Pinas citizens have to diligently protect their votes come May2010.
I resent the message that Noy loses only from cheating.
Even worse the message that cheating can be so sophisticated (plus-13′s across thousands of precincts) that it becomes undetectable when Noy loses.
there are times to use gut – this is not one of them.
if one goes by the the rule of thumb of “get one good reason and ignore the rest of the information.” – the question still lies on – what’s a good reason. what’s good enough for one individual is not good enough for another individual – and in reverse, what’s not good enough for one is good enough for another.
after 9/11, americans stopped taking planes due to their gut feel – fear that there will be more attacks. a year afterwards, highway deaths increased by 1,500. this could have been avoided.
after Marcos was ousted, the landlord wing of the anti Marcos coalition hijacked the participatory mass movement and piggybacked Cory. through a combination of mass media channels – print, radio, TV – and bombarding the public with soppy EDSA melodrama – the vacuous were conditioned to the “gut feel” that Cory was “the one” to set things in order. for all the “gut feel” – the public got Hacienda Luisita and a bungled CARP.
“gut feel”? fool me once shame on you. fool me twice, shame on me.
one goes for honesty. one goes for performance. which leads to qualifying the gut feel. in qualifying such, “gut feel” ceases to be such.
There’s the rub UP n (and yes, rego) you have the rapid response unit of one political operative demanding a re-interpretation of certain numbers presented by other professionals by exhibiting their own. Will the run-of-the-mill voters invest their time to investigate who is reliable?
Or should they rather rely on some other estimation as did Mr. Valera?
I know sausages and hotdogs are made out from recycled newsprint and cardboard, but Noynoy, having born an elite, I’m sure is made of the real stuff, so I guess Abe is correct in saying that all it would take to decide is simply gutfeel.
All the while I thought you were anti-elite because you keep harping that b0 is an elite and you keep dismissing his views.
My metaphor on sausages refers to the author of this article not wanting to digest further information that will undermine the candidacy of Noynoy because he thinks it’s pointless and his views on Noynoy will not change anyway.
Noynoy is born an elite, ergo, he is made of the real stuff! Please stick to pure gut. At least nobody can say you acted on the wrong premise.
Villar 23%, Aquino 11% (plus-or-minus 6% survey error)
http://manilatimes.net/national/2009/sept/18/yehey/top_stories/20090918top2.html
—
Friday, September 18, 2009
Villar leads in new survey of 2010 bets
…Sen. Manuel Villar Jr. topped a new survey of likely presidential candidates conducted by the Issues and Advocacy Center, even as his party confirmed that it was considering a tandem with Vice President Noli de Castro.
Villar led the latest survey for the 2010 presidential race with 23 percent . . . followed by Sen. Francis “Chiz” Escudero with 17 percent; former President Joseph Estrada, 15 percent; and Vice President de Castro, 13 percent…. Aquino . . 11 percent.
bloody scam….is that a 6% margin of error?
you are so full of propaganda UPn.
If your gut tells you something, it’s just a message not a command. So, think… if you can.
if your gut tells you something, go to the bathroom and do your business there.
hehehe.
if one has to categorize the present denizens of FV, there are two kinds of groupings: 1.) group with sense of humour, 2.) the grouchy=no sense of humour group, heheh.
to benignO’s credit, he belongs to group no. 1, the tseware-warewaps to group no, 2, heheheh.
I’m an FV denizen, too, albeit only lurking. :) And I believe I belong to Group 1, just like my idol Benign0, who Dean JB calls Malign0. :lol:
We put too much hopes on our politicians. As if, they have all the
solutions to solve our problems. And make our lives happy ever after.
We put them on the pedestals. Worship them like gods. They enjoy this also. After the election is over. We discover they are humans
like us. They have quarrel with their wives. They are tempted to steal. They cannot control their followers to misbehave. So, we
prepare again for EDSA to throw the rascals out. It is a cycle we
go around and around since Marcos was thrown out.
What does your gut tell you about this one?
Doctors put a tooth into a blind woman’s eye to cure blindness. And it worked!!!! Fooled you!
http://news.aol.com/health/article/doctors-use-tooth-to-restore-sharron-kay/673634
so it IS true.
you have given up on voters education.
No Gabby. What I’m also saying is it’s not always the case that a voter is fortunate enough to find a candidate who perfectly embodies his views on all issues; hence, picking a candidate requires tradeoffs. So if the voter’s priority is to address the extreme poverty in the country, he will probably allow his innermost emotions to guide him choose between a candidate that has a passion for distributive justice and one who champions the ideology that progress happens when one pulls his own bootstrap. If such priority is so high in his hierarchy of concerns, he will likely pay little attention (or not invest time to get educated) on the issue of whether the use of condoms is a moral or an economic issue.
@Abe
your post contradicts itself.
you write: “It sounds almost “elitist” (I’ll try to show below the difference between elite and elitist) but the fact of the matter is that getting informed in the way bO wants it so as to cast the right vote is of little or no benefit at all to the general electorate in a cost/benefit equation. If not simply following the dough which in the very short term puts them on the plus side, these voters fall instead for name recognition, image, and other outward traits….”
getting informed is of NO BENEFIT… in a cost-benefit equation? cost-benefit is nothing but the realization that there are trade-offs — there is no perfect candidate.
therefore you dont believe in voter’s education, correct?
just use your feelings, NOT INFORMATION, to assess the trade-off is your conclusion.
sorry, but thats sad.
indeed, its very sad especially when you look at Abe replies to some criticisms and clarifications…ewww!
its simply is an over sell. I just wonder, if noy is really an excellent presidential candidate. does abe really need to flood FV with this kind of articles?
GabbyD, if you check the link, you’ll find that this is how I explained about the “cost/benefit equation” (where in fact I was as unflattering about the political sophistication of Americans):
rego, I just thought I’m sort of being engaged in some educative discourse with some well-meaning colleagues in FV. I can’t help it if you find it saddening although I welcome you to enliven the process anytime.
now you are in favor of vote buying? what does this mean…
“we could say that there is then a rational basis for the low level of political sophistication of Americans: the cost of being educated about how politics works outweighs the benefits; (unlike FILIPINOS who gets to experience firsthand “wealth redistribution” during elections) ” [emphasis mine]
experience wealth distribution firsthand?!
so, information has no value in voting, AND giving out money/favors prior to elections is a GOOD thing?
this is sad and scary.
GabbyD, here’s an old “sad and scary” post of mine (about the dismissal of the tax evasion case versus Lucio Tan owing to the ineptness of the Estrada administration) that hopefully will explain to you the context of what I call “wealth distribution” during elections in the Philippines:
Please try to be more diligent now. Thanks.
i dont understand. please be more diligent now?
was my interpretation of you comment on September 19, 2009 at 8:35 am wrong?
you said americans were unsophisticated, coz they dont experience the “benefits” of elections firsthand, and the costs are too high?
does that mean filipinos have a “sophisticated” understanding of politics?
vote buying makes filipinos politically sophisticated? is it a good thing?
its confusing, coz later, you call vote buying is part of a vicious cycle. then its a bad thing?
what do you really think. is it good or bad?
@GabbyD,
It’s no use. He won’t admit to the faults you’ve found in his assertions. He even tries to make you look like the goof in this exchange. We get your point though. Please keep it up.
=====
@Abe,
This is how following your guts to end up picking Noynoy is summarized in three words: Aiming Low, GLORIFIED. What a waste of linguistic and intellectual faculties to have made such an irresponsible proposition.
For shame.
thanks filo…
i think that one of abe’s points is uncontroversial — there is no perfect candidate that embodies what we want. its obvious.
what is strange is that he claims informations won’t help make the trade-offs of the choice clear.
whats even MORE strange is he (appears to be) extolling the value of vote buying.
“What’s your gut telling you so far? ”
There’s no fact that filipinos voted in the past using his/her gut. Although it’s a fact that filipinos can be bought during an election therefore the question should have started from there. The “gut feeling” question can be provocative . Often, a provocative type of question focus on failure ( gut feeling/ emotional type of decision) or betray that the questioner has an agenda. It can also be a disempowering question that undercuts the confidence of the person to whom it’s asked and sabotages her/his performance.
maybe we should focus on questioning candidates on how are they going to finance their campaign and how are they going to get their money back knowing that their total salaries cannot provide a positive return. one reason why most of them have no agenda, the answer is obvious, they don’t and they can’t….
basic rule: no reasonable person will invest money on something without getting something in return. if money is invested, it must be paid in cash not chicken.
here are my questions? which governmental department is responsible to account for funds use for campaign? how are they going to implement it? what are the penalties? what are the rules and regulations?
will Noynoy use a lot of his own money for campaign to win?
who among the candidates will use all of his resources in terms of money to win? if you know who he is, then stay away. he will use our money to pay him back.
private corporation supporting any candidates thru sponsorship and endorsement is a crime. Conflicting interest will influence policymaking. The negative consequence will be paid by the people’s tax and more debts for the country. Negative leveraging has been the style of winning in Philippine politics including buying the people now and let them pay later.
NO GUTS, NO GLORY! We vote Noynoy with our guts, so there will be glory for our country.
Yes, use your guts. Thinking is such a waste of time, more so if it is alien to your nature.
noynoy may not use his own money but there are many private corporations that may support him. it is crucial to account for transparency. private entities are not allowed to donate more than what is allowed by the law. No brand name products must be attached to a candidate’s name at least it is donated at the allowable amount. Now this country’s legislation is weak and there’s no independent body except for comelec ( commision on election).. What’s the senate doing and the head of comelec? don’t they have brains and “gut feeing” to assess their own performance standard. Of course, when one has no proper knowledge and skills in the application of basic Management theory and governance in public service, one will use his gut feeling alone and the people will follow. The result the people will become at fault and will be used as an excuse.
Going back to benigno’s plumber. I made a comment about the needs for the plumber to follow requirements before he can advertise and practice as a plumber. That requirements must be followed. And I am expecting that these requirements must be implemented and carried over by Comelec.
Abe, what is Noynoy’s philosophical stand on the issue of monetary policy?
Does he favor the continuation of the monopoly control by private capital of the credit creation mechanism in the banking system with the implicit backing (fiat currency) of the nations taxpayers in a country with a primitive economic accumulation process?
Does he believe money to be a commodity?
After almost 50 years of continuous financial blowups under this system do you think this guy could be the guy who could start the systemic change necessary?
To be fair neither has any of the so called candidates for President? Where can we access their thoughts on these most crucial issues?
Since too many Filipinos have relied on their gut and have made the country what it is today, I’m all for their disembowelment. hehehe.
Sepukku harakiri!
Nice one, Chino F.
Hehehe… But don’t we wish…
“rego, I just thought I’m sort of being engaged in some educative discourse with some well-meaning colleagues in FV. I can’t help it if you find it saddening although I welcome you to enliven the process anytime.”
Abe,
so using your gut feeling is now educative?
Hmm… seems I confused gut with guts in my first comment… which many people do. Gut = mere feeling, intuition; Guts = courage.
I think it’s better for the people to have the guts to not follow their gut, and instead use their brains.
Ben Kritz demonstrates that creating a platform is not rocket science.
What he does in creating an example platform is indeed inspiring and for me specially so, considering that some of my work contributed as input into his methodology. A platform does not even have to be a 100-page document. It just needs to have:
(a) specific positions on relevant issues that;
(b) imply achieveable initiatives which could then;
(c) potentially lead measureable results.
How hard can coming up with something like that be?
Check out Ben’s sample platform. If he can do it, certainly it would be reasonable to expect our presidential candidates to come up with one.
Benign0,
Thanks for the link. I found Perlas’s platform more organized and to the point than Ben’s, and more “measurable” as to comparing results to stated objective. I also found his attitude more constructive than Ben’s name-calling. So my “vote” would go to Perlas instead of Ben, no matter the effort Ben put into it.
Joe
Benigno,
When will yours come out?
It was quite a nice effort on the part of Ben K. You agree too since you seem to have set aside your “Spending more on this or that” and ““Strictly” enforcing this or that” issues.
Though I have some misgivings on some proposals (though I’ll admit that I don’t even have the faintest idea on some of the others); it would be interesting when he explains more.
Hmmm…. obviously, Filipino politicians have no cause at all, aside from going against another politician.
Gut feeling just like self-consciously rational deliberation originates from the brain. One form of thinking is not inherently superior to the other.
I think what you are saying is “.. if your decision originates from the brain”, then go for it.
I think that Abe says similar, except he begins with the conclusion.
Abe to Gov. Panlilio : “If your gut tells you Noynoy, go for it”, even if you realize Noy is for ReproHealth and your conscience tells you that ReproHealth is wrong.
Abe to cvj: “If your gut tells you Noynoy, go for it”, even if you know that Noy is an oligarch.
Nope. What i’m saying is that both gut-feeling and self-consciously rational deliberation originates from the brain. One form of thinking is not inherently superior to the other.
from psychology today ..
Intuition really does come from the gut. It’s also a kind of matching game based on experience. There are times when trusting your gut is the smartest move—and times you’d better think twice.
http://www.ask.com/bar?q=what+is+gut+feeling&page=1&qsrc=0&ab=3&u=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.psychologytoday.com%2Fnode%2F32697
ahhh..very elementary. try studying MBTI to assess a person’s management style. my gut feeling tells me that you are ? never mind…. pildi lang maglagot.
my kayabangan is normal. it is my state of mind at that time. it means i can defend myself. LOL .. bring some good stuff here rego. i need to hear more from you.
your gut feeling is your own state of mind but it must be convincing to others. have a good day…
here a better link…
http://www.psychologytoday.com/articles/200704/gut-almighty
Excellent link Rego. You should read it.
Also interesting is Torr Norretranders’ “The User Illusion” which explains how much slower conscious thought processes are compared to the subconscious. Here’s short review. It even explains kung bakit palaging nauunahan ng bida ang kontrabida sa paghugot ng baril…:
I did read it CVJ but even my gut is telling me not to vote for Noy. And the reason was explained by the articele itself. “previous expereinces” you know.
Rego, that article did not mention Noynoy.
oh, laughter is banned here, too?
I believe that Abe is working a different game. His blogpost starts from the conclusion — Noy.
Abe to Gov Panlilio: “If your gut says Noy, go for it even if your conscience tells you “NO”/Noy is for reproductive health.”
Abe to cvj : “If your gut says Noy, go for it even if you have a twinge about Hacienda Luisita oligarch.”
I really don’t see Abe saying “go for it” to this.
“My gut says go into this vrooom-vroom-vrooom weekend with Marita. Gonna be hot, hot, hot!!! So she’s married to ManuelB’s cousin, but they are having problems. It’s still okay, right?”
I really don’t see Abe saying these.
“If your gut says Villar, go for it even if you are pro-Reproductive Health.”
“If your gut says Teodoro, go for it even if your parish priest says Noy is the better candidate.”
Abe and cvj responding to someone who says “… my gut says go with Gibo.”
http://filipinovoices.com/if-your-gut-tells-you-noynoy-go-for-it/comment-page-1#comment-97176
Up n,
Or maybe Abe’s brain works so fast he digests everything he knows, comes up with his conclusion so fast that you think he starts there, and then decides it is not possible to express, via words, exactly how he got there. Especially when others are so pedantic as to want trivial details, each detail of which, on its own is irrelevant.
Joe
Noynoy stole the thunder from the 40th day of Cory and then opened the doors of all convents and seminaries to lead a flock of priests and nuns and religious folks to rally behind his self-fulfilling dream to become the next president.
RP is predominantly Catholic and Noynoy contemplates to make Catholicism a political apparatus to boost an otherwise personal goal to protect the interests of the leading oligarchs which includes no less than the Cojuangcos.
Grip to power is not synonymous with one’s religious grasp as indicated by Noynoy’s stand on the reproductive health bill. If Tony Abaya were to be believed, there is only form but no substance if people have to vote for Noynoy.
Then, we have what benigno may have always feared – the BOZO.
Does (Noynoy) favor the continuation of the monopoly control by private capital of the credit creation mechanism in the banking system with the implicit backing (fiat currency) of the nation’s taxpayers in a country with a primitive economic accumulation process? – J_ag
I’m glad you ask this question, J_ag, because, in the end, my post boils down to this.
To be honest, I only have the faintest of idea about “credit creation mechanism in the banking system” to be rationally responsive to your question. I’m hoping Noynoy, who has a degree in Economics from one of the country’s top universities, can intelligently wrestle with it.
But do we expect Mang Pandoy to grapple with such or similar issue now (if it happens to be contained in one of the cells of bO’s platform), or make one last cold calculation about it the night before filling up the ballot (or, alone on the polling booth, overcoming his anxiousness of the strange electronic voting system, when he finally decides to push the button to register his choice)?
I will then give the honor to bO, BongV and BenK to engage you in this discourse. If I begin to become a bit more confident I’ll just chime in.
Anyway, UP n is of the view that Americans sent Obama to the WH because of “No War” cry. And I say that this is just one way of stating that America voted with their gut in 2008 (which would confirm Joe Am is an honest guy, after all).
Indeed, millions of Americans also listened to the presidential debates (I said above I agree with benigs that a similar process would be great if it materializes in RP) but I don’t remember a question of this nature was taken up during the debates. If it was asked and I missed it, how many Americans do you think followed the discourse, and post-debate, made the cold and cerebral calculation before arriving at what they think was the appropriate political decision?
Abe,
Why, thank you Abe. I strive to be. Sometimes it is difficult when one smacks up against the expectations or browbeating of others.
I appreciate the discussion you managed to stir up. Heh, you do this better than most . . . stirring the cerebral mush.
Joe
Don’t mention it, Joe. But I’d rather you charge it to . . . well, my gut.
“Give me control of a nation’s money and I care not who makes her laws.”
Mayer Amschel Rothschild
Abe, that was the honest answer I was expecting from you. Unfortunately for a people that have been colonized for most of their formative years till the present they have not learned as their masters made sure they simply learned skills but were not taught how to think…
No matter the good intentions of many in the country they do not know that they are trapped in a box of their own making..
The Pinoy to a large extent has still not been able to define the problems besetting his own country.
The last year produced a massive shift in awareness concerning the “world economy” and the Philippines is still stuck in the quicksand of its own history.
let’s be aware that oligarchs fund elections and use politicians and government to influence policymaking for their benefits ( booty capitalism)
farther observations: I’m wondering whether there is a correlation between grouchiness and a complex of superiority in individuals because, readings from comments here in this thread and other FV threads, some commenters seem to display both characteristics. Maybe our own rego here might enlighten us on this since he dabbles also in psychoanalysis. Yes, rego?
Bert,
I hope rego responds. For myself, without wanting to make generalizations that wrap everybody up in the same cloth but wanting to be responsive to your observation that there is a tenor of grouchiness and superiority here, I give my two pesos worth.
I think a lot of it is a natural function of age. How it works is unclear to me, but as I am moving through an “advanced” stage myself, I have some ideas.
After a lifetime of living, there is a tendency to become intellectually calcified through and through, for it provides security; to let go of this lifeline of rigid perspectives means a sharp drop to the rocks of reality, and perhaps the realization that “I did not live life the best it could be lived,” or, “oh, shit, I am not such a good person after all”, or “how did I ever accomplish so little?” So the tendency is to defend one’s place in life, defend one’s perspectives, and reject challenges, snarling at those who would put this self-justification, or the legitimacy of one’s opinions, at risk.
Another twist on it is that an old person generally has confidence that he sees things correctly. After all, he has been there, done all that, and stands as bent and grey evidence of this passage through time. So young whipper-snappers who have not been through the wars have no standing to criticize. Thus, the superiority that emerges in expressions.
I see in myself my father, a highly intelligent, shrinking, ever grouchier old man, hardening and narrowing before my eyes. That scares me to death, so I do things to stay out of the box he shrank into . . . like move to the Philippines to live, a sharp out-of-the-box experience if ever there were one. And I comment here, to grow instead of shrink, to stay limber instead of calcify.
But, as you have observed from the tone of my comments, I am not hesitant to provide my reading of things in a rather “know it all” tone. That is a function of having been through a lot in my time. I hope to acquire more diplomacy of expression, but have more work to do, for sure.
That said, I do read, listen, and reflect, doing my best to stay flexible, and to grow.
Others are on the same journey, perhaps, and ought to be excused if they occasionally seem cranky and or above others. They spent a lifetime getting to where they are.
Curiosity: Are you under 45 years old, or over 45?
Joe
im under 45. And I dont understand why you want me to respond to this comment….
Joe,
Firstly, I have to make it very clear that, basing from my readings of your various commentaries, you definitely belong to category no. 1, meaning you’re not grouchy at all, you have a very keen sense of humour, and, I don’t discern any superiority complex in any of your statements (btw, Joe, what differentiate superiority complex of an individual from that of his being a superior individual?). Am I talking sense, Joe?
Secondly, I believe that grouchiness and superiority complex have nothing to do with age. What better proof of this than here in FV where some of the really bright guys are ‘jolly good fellows’, some young some not-so-young, humble but full of fun (some full of sarcasm, too, hehehe), some not-so-humble but jolly just the same…not grouchy.
I am a little over 45, Joe. Do you think I am grouchy?
Bert,
ahaha, you are one of the most un-grouchy people here; congratulations on your distinction. I guessed you were about 45, which was the reason for throwing that out there. That is still young, by my grouchometer, which correlates age and grumpiness.
At risk of receiving various brickbats, it seems to me that Filipinos adhere to their starting positions rather like superglue, as if letting go would cause the sky to fall. Having learned from BongV that the Spanish cultural overlay was actually a tad superficial, I attribute this to some kind “loss of face” syndrome, which I cannot quite grasp. Therefore, I grasp at straws . . .
A superiority complex belongs to someone who thinks he is better than others, but is not. A superior individual is indeed better at something, such as Manny at boxing, but I personally do not believe there is such a thing as a superior individual, myself. We all stand equal, no matter our distinctions.
Thank you for the kind words.
Joe
psychoanalysis is what took carl jung deep down–6 feet under. jung thought he was hearing voices. it’s like someone’s ego wondering why he’s been asked his age when–he wasn’t.
bert, Im a keen oebserver of all the commenter’s behaviour here but I dont really worry for them to spend time analyzing their respective behaviour.I realized that a comment is a reflectionof you own personality. Thats the real you and I respect that. Most of the time Id rather keep to my self my personal impression of everybody.
Minsan kinakalabit ko rin pag medyo excessive na. Pero kung ayaw naman makinig hinahayaan ko. Baka yun naman ang nag papasaya sa kanila
Im actually more on analyzing my own behavior that other people’s behaviour.
I’ve met people in some barangays in the provinces who think Noynoy will just continue with the worst aspects of CORYISM. They expect a more malevolent Kamagnanak Inc. better described as Kamaganak sole proprietorship!
a barangay swallow doesn’t make a spring. or is it a springing swallow doesn’t make a barangay?
i’ve seen a large congregation in a mindanao city being entertained not too long ago who thinks villar will make wowowee the national and official noontime required viewing. and then c5 will link the entire archipelago.
you don’t need Villar to make WOWOWEE the national and official noontime required viewing – it already is the de facto national nooon-time show – courtesy of ABS-CBN, owned by the Lopez landorld family, who is a Kris Aquino groupie.
having a C5-type express way to link all the archipelago ain’t a bad idea – for a faster flow of people, goods , and services. i presume you prefer to swim?
i bet every wannabee covets support of the wowowee crowd. i think, regardless of abs-cbn and kris, the fans will go for VILLAR, as the majority of the country will. so far, i have not heard anything negative about the senator other than the nebulous c-5 accusation. but, more importantly, he goes about his quest for the presidency with class, and without resorting to flamboyant but empty pronouncements, in imitation of the much-criticized “trapo” style of campaigning.
btw, who can complain against infrastructure that would “link” the entire archipelago?
oh no, swimming is what this serena from a mati barge wants to do.
a c5 of dubious funding will not actually make the link if you read the irony, unless there’s camella housing in between rough seas.
what’s next from you?
blackshama,
Let me tell you what my gut says is the possible locus of those barangays: Marcoslandia or GMA’s bailiwick.
but abe: The best of the survey numbers should tell you that two of every four from Tarlac/Nueva-Ecija/Metro-Manila would say NO to Noynoy.
Then the “other survey” says that 3 out of 4 says No to NoyNoy.
But if your gut tells you there is lot more rah-rah-excitement-for-NoyNoy, go for it.
Oh, you’ve been to Brgy. Concepcion, Lubao, Pampanga, blackshama. When you return there, pls. give my regards to Bong Pineda, a local businessman.
my kayabangan is normal. it is my state of mind at that time. it means i can defend myself. LOL .. bring some good stuff here rego. i need to hear more from you. – leytenean
huh? defend your self for what? what are the good stuff that brought you have brought here? paki enumerate nga pls! and why the need to hear more from me?
I dont know but I think you are weird!
rego,
of course, she is blonde,
ahahahahahaha
Joe
(with apologies to all three of my daughters, all blonde and brilliant . . . and each a tad weird, now that I think about it . . .)
I’m reading blogs again…and surprisingly, it’s still about personalities. What about the welfare of the country? If we’ll all use our guts to make our choice, Erap wins again, with or without Ping Lacson. As much as we hate to admit, the majority among us have slim, noisy guts and very few candidates appeal to them – like Erap.
Can’t we use logic in choosing? Can’t we make up our own checklist of what we want the next president to be? The checklist can be based on what we want our country to be by the end of the next president’s term…and which candidate fits the bill to lead the country there.
If we start with a checklist, rather than a name…we might surprise ourselves by our choice.
Mita:
Some would rather use “gut” than logic, which leads the Philippines to the gutters.
Speaking of a checklist check out – http://filipinovoices.com/ktand2010elections
@Mita
“Can’t we use logic in choosing?”
Use logic AND gut feel. This country deserves what it gets because the population repetitively votes poor leaders into office. Logic exists among a minority of voters (like here), but their contribution is woefully inadequate and inconsequential in the face of voter illiteracy on a massive scale. Unless you can educate tens of millions of people to make a selection based on a candidates proven character or track record of responsible morality, you can forget about any real change in this country.
I’d say a third of the voting populace makes a selection based on recall of a candidates media blitz. PiaPiaPiaPia was amazingly effective and perfectly illustrates the easy sway we’re up against (though i have nothing against P.C).
Nonoy could be a good selection but if he spends most of his term undoing the legacy of those before him or becomes obsessed with establishing his own, he will face bitter opposition throughout his term which ultimately corrupts and inspires reprisal. This has happened time and again. There is never any political continuity.
Make your best judgment and hope you don’t regret it.
“Intuition requires less effort than actually thinking things through”- AsiaWest
Too right. We might as well adopt the game eeny, meeny, miny, moe in choosing a president if we follow the gut feel logic.
As in, My favourite shoe store has a sale today. My gut tells me that if I don’t buy the pair I like now, it will be out of stock in no time. But when I think about it, do I really need to buy it or am I just being fooled into thinking that I should grab it now while there’s a sale?
llda, the best time to buy the shoes you like is when there’s a sale. the worst reason to buy your shoes is when you don’t like it but buy it just the same, hehehe.
Such an appropriate analogy. The voter’s last second decision while in the booth is often based on who is most fashionable at the time. Just beware of the candidates on “sale”.
Btw, i think Abe used his ‘gut feel’ while choosing this post caption. Behold the cost.
Peace, Abe. Sometimes it works, sometimes not.:-)
And, llda, in the election, it’s the other way around. it’s the ‘shoes’ who will try to buy you. if you’re “on sale” then the ‘shoes’ will get it’s bargain then snuggle up your feet like a leech. Good if it fits, if not your toes will hurt, and will really hurt bad. Sabi nga ng Lola ko, “Ang sakit ng kalingkingan ay sakit ng boung katawan.”
Nightwish, Ilda,
Please excuse my double-post; I’m too lazy to think twice.
To me, going with the “gut” does not mean guessing. It means my brain has processed a zillion pieces of information, digested them, and come up with a conclusion. It is impossible to explain how this conclusion was arrived at because each piece of information, on its own, is immaterial. The whole, being the sum of the immaterial details, is, however, material. That whole is what comes out of the “gut”.
It is a step beyond a rational process, an improvement. Only people with huge brains can do it well.
Joe
@Joe
Your expressed innerworkings of the ‘gut’, along with intuition and sensibility… these factors are irrelevant unless the general voting population is educated. That’s the point. Most voters in this country make decisions based on catchy campaign jingles, or whoever pastes the most pictures on walls. That’s the most galling aspect of local politics. You can definitely hate Philippine politics and voter dynamics in the same breath.
“Only people with huge brains can do it well.” Try not to be TOO snarky, old timer.
Nightwish,
Ahahahaha, “Snarky”. I deserved that.
I think education is very very important. But I think a lot can change in the Philippines based on the simple knowledge of the difference between right and wrong, and commitment to RIGHT.
I learned today that the city where I now live, Naval, Biliran, is fundamentally a non-corrupt city. How did it get that way? A strong candidate for mayor ran on the platform of ending corruption. He had specific things he wanted to do, which obviously worried those who were corrupt. He went to Cebu to visit his family. On the way home, he was assassinated.
The people of Naval were sad, and outraged. They had hope, you see. So they convinced this man’s wife to run for office, which she did, on the simple platform of JUSTICE for her husband. As I said, the city is now clean.
Education is great. What is necessary, however, is sometimes readily knowable by those schooled and those educated on the streets or seas or fields.
Noynoy Aquino may be raising the same kind of determination and hope broadly in the Philippines today.
Joe
Joe w/this: “A strong candidate for mayor ran on the platform of ending corruption”
There are those who try and even less who succeed, but most give way to human nature. We are reaching a threshold with all the political nonsense not just locally, but around the globe. It’s pretty palpable. Another round of a GMA or Bush will have scary consequences, no?
Nightwish,
Yes, indeed. The demise of civility in the US Congress is palpable. And, indeed, another Bush would drive the US globally into being one of the most hated nations since, oh, probably Germany WWII. Another GMA will not have global implications, but peoples’ awareness in the Philippines is catching up to the leeches who daily suck up their wealth off the backs of the poor. It cannot continue. I agree.
Joe
Exactly.
Moreover, I don’t consider decisions based on catchy jingles and name recognition as “gut” reactions – rather these are Pavlovian conditioned reflexes arising from decades of conditioning – first by the colonizers, then by the local economic elite who have assumed the mantle of colonizers.
Hope the following summary of the post will help:
1. Big media has taken over political campaigns and conducts them as if candidates for public office are detergents or athletic shoes.
2. Voters in general are either too preoccupied with other things or lacking enough interest to vet thoroughly and intelligently what’s stated or promised in political platforms.
3. Often, voters fall for sound bytes and other forms of political gimmickry dished out to them by the media.
4. Candidates do not embody all the political choices preferred by voters and therefore voters choose a candidate as a “package deal” (with chinks in the white armor).
5. Otherwise well-intentioned projects like bO’s ‘platform, plez’ will reach only a very narrow segment of the electorate – like FV regulars who, fairly informed of the issues, may have already formed their biases in favor of certain candidates/issues. Hence, over-analyzing the candidates’ position would be more like an exercise in “mental eroticism” than something truly instructive for the purpose.
6. Since FV or similar forums are unavailable to the run-of-the-mill electorates who are prone to the manipulation by the media, the suggestion is: it might be better for voters to just rely on their lifeworld experiences than expect to get educated by crusading people like bO or Benk in making political choices in the same manner that it would be better for consumers to rely on the experience of buying a pair of shoes that doesn’t cause discomfort or soap that doesn’t dry the skin than allow themselves to get mesmerized by the commercial hype on those commodities.
“Since FV or similar forums are unavailable to the run-of-the-mill electorates who are prone to the manipulation by the media, the suggestion is: it might be better for voters to just rely on their lifeworld experiences than be expected to get educated ”
so now its clear… you have given up on voters education…
GabbyD, if you don’t sliver the thoughts being conveyed, I’m sure you will get a different read.
So, go over them again.
I hope this will help further: according to Habermas lifeworld is the shared common understandings that develop through face to face contacts over time in various social groups, from families to communities, with all the assumptions about who we are as people, our values, beliefs, aspirations, desires and what offends us or drives us to sacrifice to which end, etc.
Abe:
within the context of this thread, the commercial hype metaphor would apply to b0 or BenK if they were peddling a candidate – but they aren’t pushing a candidate – at all.
and that makes for the difference – where one author is already pushing a candidate based on gut or whatever – the metaphor of commercial hype applies.
in their case, they are not endorsing a candidate – rather they are providing a framework for evaluating candidates. period.
Students from many Philippines colleges and universities are putting effort going into the poorer communities to null out what you are trying to say that the poor should do. The students not only are getting the poor registered, the students are crusading against lack of information.
Apparently, Abe, there is a conspiracy against you.
The media controls people’s mind. Advertising sells from shoes to votes. If you want to know the history of why Santa Claus wears a red suit and a white beard, it was a Coca-cola advertising that started it all. Ever since then, his presence has dominated the silly season.
Now that Kris Aquino has shed her crocodile tears announcing that she plans to sell her house just to help fund his brother’s campaign, every single person who falls for the trick will donate money to the campaign.
It is so easy to win the election in the Philippines. All you need is a lot of media exposure and the Filipino gut feel will take over. You don’t even need a platform.
UP n grad, why don’t you tell your UP friends about Benign0′s tagalog comic strip tackling the election and the need for a platform?
Maybe distribute it to the masa. Cheers
UP n,
I actually like that kind of educational campaign for voters, having been an active student volunteer myself to a similar project during the election of the delegates to 1971 Con-Con.
The experience from that volunteerism is however one of the things that’s in fact informing my lukewarm attitude to the plan of bO, BongV and BenK. The reason: you could only hold to a certain point the attention span even of “educated” crowd when giving lectures for instance about the potential implications of constitutional making or charter amendment versus ordinary lawmaking. In the far-flung barrios where some of those in the audience were toothless, shirtless and shoeless – if you know what I mean – you’d get blank stares just by emphasizing the fundamental character of the constitution.
So, our campaign was reduced to what is now called “sound bytes,” as in a slogan that said: “Don’t vote for politicians or protégées of politicians because this election is no ordinary election but about changing the highest law of the land.”
Now, think if you were in our position then talking instead about “IMF-backed SBE” or “debt-for-equity swap” to explain a platform item addressing the country’s external debt.
“The experience from that volunteerism is however one of the things that’s in fact informing my lukewarm attitude to the plan of bO, BongV and BenK. The reason: you could only hold to a certain point the attention span even of “educated” crowd…”-Abe
How true. We don’t even have to cross boundaries to know that even the best platform is useless whether it be on the toothless and shirtless barrio folks or on the elites right here in FV. Primer is for Bayani, Bencard for Villar, Abe for Noynoy, benignO and Ben K for Gibo…so on and so forth. The divergence applies to all demographics. If Ben K’s platform is understandable to the elite then it should follow that Gibo should get an unanimous vote here among FV’s elite. There is no unanimous vote therefore Ben K’s platform is either not understandable or useless to the electorate.
to abe and to Bert: You’d wish that “unanimous choice” comes from all having access to the same amount of information. But it is not so.
If the 1978-to-2008-graduating classes of UP Diliman, La Salle Taft, Ateneo Katipunan, PUP and UST were all to have the same information about Buddhism, Roman Catholicism, Shia Islam, Iglesia ni Kristo, Hinduism, Sikhism, Shintoism, Baha’ism, Calvinism, Sunni Islam, Judaism… some will be Sunni, some will be Roman Catholics, some will be Buddhists and some will be agnostics.
“The experience from that volunteerism is however one of the things that’s in fact informing my lukewarm attitude to the plan of bO, BongV and BenK. The reason: you could only hold to a certain point the attention span even of “educated” crowd when giving lectures for instance about the potential implications of constitutional making or charter amendment versus ordinary lawmaking…. ”
wow, ang high-tech naman ng tinuturo mo…
what does voter education mean?
is it teaching these big principles?
or is it teaching people to think about how politicians and policy affects their lives?
You have a point there, UP n.
That means that the bible is not effective on the Shia Islam and no effect on the agnostics, the koran not believable to the Iglesia ni Kristo and the Catholics, and Ben K’s platform is effective only on those who will vote for Gibo but not on those who will vote for Erap or Noynoy.
What should this tell us?
This should tell us that Abe is right after all.
Go with your gut. Ahay, hehehehehe.
That’s true… But then, maybe not and “go with your gut” may not be for a lot of Pinoys. “Uninformed” can keep one shackled. Just think the number of uninformed UST-students whose DNA meant for them to be Jews had they taken three semesters to understand the Torah. Or the UP Diliman grad whose bloodline tracks back to paganism.
Wouldn’t you think that Abe raised his hand to become a US citizen because he got better informed?
UP n, don’t you think Andres Bonifacio one of the ‘uninformed’? Did he allow that handicap to keep himself “shackled”?
I don’t know why Abe raised his hands, but I have relatives who went and became US citizens, not because they’re better informed, but because they have this gutfeel that America is a good place to fill their…well, gut.
Well, UP n, without using my gut this time, I think you’re right. Abe, I’m sure, raised his hand because he got better informed, exactly the reason why I’m always agreeing with his views here in FV.
Hindi ba Andres Bonifacio was one of the poor?
He got himself informed.
Andres Bonifacio found himself on the wrong side
of Pinoy ilustrados.
Hindi ba Andres Bonifacio was killed?
Yes, Mike, Bonifacio was killed because of politics, but that’s beside the point. He was of the ‘masa’ type who started the KKK because he does not want to be ‘shackled’. The “ilustrados” reap the fruits of Bonifacio’s labor but that’s alright for heroes, the interests of the Motherland is paramount. We patriotic citizens might be killed too, but we will die trying.
There’s another one, Joe.
Bert,
heh. Maybe not.
But stay in the hunt, for sure.
Joe
“UP n grad, why don’t you tell your UP friends about Benign0’s tagalog comic strip tackling the election and the need for a platform?
Maybe distribute it to the masa. Cheers”
Whaaaaat? UP n go to Payatas? No way.
News item:
Benigno “Noynoy” Aquino III is the top choice for president in the May 2010 election even in the administration-dominated House of Representatives.
The Liberal Party’s presidential aspirant emerged as the number one choice of about 100 congressmen, some 50 went for Senator Manuel Villar of the Nacionalista Party (NP), and another 50 said they are for the preferred standard-bearer of the administration party’s Lakas-Kampi-Christian Muslim Democrats, Defense Secretary Gilbert Teodoro.
“I think this is more accurate kasi galing ito sa puso nila (this is from the heart),” Cuenco, a member of Lakas-Kampi-CMD, described his “informal survey.”
Sounds familiar?
Well… crocodiles shifting allegiances to another crocodile.. what else is new?
Is Cuenco believable?
No matter how eloquent the delivery, if the message is inanity, the result is still rubbish.
http://filipinovoices.com/if-your-gut-tells-you-noynoy-go-for-it/comment-page-1#comment-97178
Noynoy is hinog sa pilit. He is not ready for the presidency. He was push out front by a bandwagon calling for him to run. Poor guy.
presidency is one’s conviction….he did not even plan it…unsa cge ingon og laban laban laban,,,ulila…pangilad man na…kinsa lagi iyang kontra? mura man siya makig away…og debate dili motunga kay dili man katubag…maayo pa pahuway na siya..