I gotta hand it to J for being consistent in his ability to keep me on my toes (as well as honest) in my efforts to “get real” and spread the mantra of “getrealism” to the rest of Pinoydom.
In my previous FV blog entry where I shamelessly promote our latest video, J highlighted an aspect of the video’s message that he found disturbing:
[...] But I didn’t like the way [the video] generalized that all actors/actresses are clueless in running the government.
Fair enough. And I also take on board his assertion that my plan to nevertheless continue to propagate this generalisation (words I used in a subsequent response) is downright wrong and can be even be an “insult to the intelligence of some people”.
[Note, for the sake of full disclosure, that what follows was cannibalised from my further response to J.]
In terms of insulting peoples’ intelligence, well let’s take FPJ (god rest his soul). I dare say that there was a bit of intelligence-insulting on his part (and in those who encouraged him to run for President back in 2004) when he actually made his bid for the highest office in the land and expect the electorate to actually overlook his obvious lack of ability to do the job well.
And then there is Erap. The fact that a character of his track record and CONVICTION record is still galivanting around making political and even moral/ethical pronouncements is an affront to the sensibilities and DIGNITY of EVERY Filipino.
Maybe propagating that generalisation of showbiz-people-as-morons can be considered irresponsible. But downright wrong? I don’t think so. Politics is a mean and dirty business. Part and parcel of the process is campaigning. And we all know how misleading many campaigns are. If we label my generalisation that showbiz people are political morons as wrong, then we may as well label all campaigns as wrong.
It’s time we evened out the playing field a bit in favour of the Intelligent Choice.
Showbiz people have an unfair advantage over the Intelligent Choice in that:
(1) They have a headstart that pre-dates their politics (their pre-political showbiz careers);
(2) They have emotional influence over people that all but SWAMPS (we could even say shortcircuits or even paralyses) the critical/intellectual evaluation faculties of the electorate; and,
(3) They work in a society where a pre-occupation with showbiz is just about the only AFFORDABLE indulgence of the masses.
When we were kids, a choice between a chocolate bar and a piece of brocolli would have been a misguided no-brainer. Therefore it was imperative for our carers to paint a really bleak picture of sweets in our young underdeveloped minds.
Juxtapose that with the immense marketing, branding, and sales infrastructure that supports the effort to pitch sweets and junkfood at the hapless consumer, and we can easily see the parallelisms with the sad situation of the infestation of Philippine politics by showbiz personalities and other celebrities.
Showbiz personalities are eye and brain candy to an intellectually-challenged electorate. The same industry that contributed immensely to the intellectual degradation of Pinoy society now has the gall to produce its politicians and leaders. It’s a COLOSSAL DISASTER and a situation of profound shame for us if I ever saw one.
I cited in my book back in 2006 what Isagani wrote in an INQ7.net article back in the 16th of June 2006:
The Philippine entertainment industry is not only a vast wasteland, as television has been described in America, but a vicious instrument for the abatement of the nation’s intelligence. The shows it offers for the supposed recreation of the people are generally vulgar and smutty, usually with some little moral lesson inserted to make them look respectable, but offensive nonetheless. On the whole, they are obnoxious and unwholesome and deserve to be trashed.
The indiscriminate audience eagerly laps them up because it has not been taught to be selective and more demanding of better quality shows for their pastime. In fact, the easily satisfied fans have been taught the exact opposite reaction — to accept whatever garbage the industry offers them and, to add insult to their injury, to pay for it too.
The leaders of the entertainment industry are supposed to be responsible people but they have evaded their duty to elevate the taste of their mostly unthinking supporters. They have instead cheapened them into a mass of automated individuals whose ultimate joy is to roll up in the aisles at the lewd jokes of potential senators.
Shall we add to the litany of “whatever garbage the [showbiz] industry offers [Filipinos]” to include the politicians they now add to our leadership options as well? Yes, “and, to add insult to their injury, [we] pay for it too”.
So, I suppose, in the same way that we were indiscriminate in our choice of substances to ingest back in our early youth, there is some merit in the assertion that an indiscriminate electorate needs, for now, to live off a perception (with its attendant casualties of exceptions to this perception) about certain politicians that are of a certain industry background.
If we want real freedom, we need to grow up and understand our options clearly first. That is a simple but often misunderstood condition to enjoying the priviledge to be free.
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Your post exhibits precisely the kind of elitist ‘educate the intellectually-challenged electorate‘ attitude that prevents genuine communication between the classes. If you really believed in your oft-repeated mantra of getting people to think, then you would not have needed to resort to such campaigning via stereotypes.
cvj, how else does one describe an electorate that elected a guy like Erap to the highest office in the land (and seems to be on the verge of doing that moronic act again in the event he manages to make another bid for that post).
Let’s also not forget how we also came scaringly close to an FPJ Administration if not for a couple of twists in the political circus (as well as fate) that quashed that bid.
Besides, as you are wont to point out, I do not really claim to be the originator of what to you seems to be the shockingly preposterous idea that Pinoys are collectively intellectually bankrupt, as this article — written way back in 2000 — demonstrates (excerpt follow):
Read on if you dare. :D
Ok, benign0. Let’s assume that the masa is stupid. But don’t you think it’s better not to exacerbate their stupidity by presenting generalizations instead of sending your message across through means that are different from those the politicians you so despise?
Sure, politics is dirty. But that’s the point. I thought you want to change the way Pinoys think and the way our politics is conducted? By playing the politicians’ and the showbiz people’s game, it makes you, I think, less different from them.
Benign0, i also did not agree with the choice of Erap but that is no reason to call the masa stupid. We all make mistakes in our choices. What i think is stupid is the way the middle class opposed Erap in 1998 focusing on superficial aspects like his being an ‘actor’, something which you are repeating a decade later.
Furthermore, it is not a foregone conclusion that FPJ would have been a ‘stupid’ choice as compared to Gloria Arroyo. In fact, areas such as >food security, FPJ had the right strategic vision unlike the current occupant of Malacanang.
On the practical side, how can you convince your target audience if you don’t even have basic respect for them? Is that what they taught you at the Ateneo?