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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