The search for “parallelisms”. It’s almost like a sign of desperation in the face of a consistently flaccid public response to tired and increasingly trite calls for expressions of “indignation” against the Arroyo administration. Sure sure. Gloria is “evil”. She cheated. She is a power Klingon. She is this, she is that. She is planning to do this, and planning to do that. Yadda yadda yadda ad infinitum.
Ok, I get that, esteemed people of the “Opposition”. So show me the money.
As I wrote in a recent article,
The Philippine “Opposition” has failed in the last several decades to offer an imaginative or visionary alternative to Filipinos. Instead all we continue to see is an n-th iteration of an approach to “reform”.
[...]
It continues to use 1986 thinking to battle a 2009 issue.
So what do the esteemed mouthpieces of our “Opposition” do as part of their futile quests for relevance? They look overseas to scavenge for “parallels”.
Earlier it was a search for inspiration from the unrest gripping Iran, that belligerent desert kingdom where an innocent bystander was murdered during a protest rally and then summarily proclaimed a “hero” of the moment. Some people then siezed upon it as an inspiring reminder of our own ten minutes of glory more than twenty years ago, unfortunately to the point of bad taste.
Having tried that to no avail, we then set our sights upon the Honduras whose president Manuel Zelaya was ousted in a recent military coup. Again, true to form, some bozo quips:
Kung nabasa ni Gloria Arroyo ang nangyari sa Honduras kahapon, dapat manginig siya sa takot.
[Translated: "If [President] Gloria Arroyo read what happened in the Honduras yesterday, she should be trembling in fear now.”]
Indeed, it “could serve as a stern warning” to the President and, get this folks, “perhaps an encouragement to the [Philippine] military” postulates Jun Bautista in a thinly-veiled incitement of rebellion titled “Honduras May Embolden GMA” — an article that comes across more like a lame attempt at reverse-psychology.
Dumb and dumber.
Sad and sadder.
There is nothing more poignant than the sight of a people gripped by a crisis of relevance and meaning, trying to mitigate their pathos by identifying with or drawing parallels from success stories, champs, and heroes.
Iran? The Honduras?
Those are not parallels.
But this one is:
Sports Fan Psychology
The exploits of our sports heroes on field invoke some form of primal tribalism within us — the kind that could be behind violent hooliganism often seen in spectators of soccer matches. We feel “emboldened” to “take control” as we gawk at that flying tackle, that double pump lay-up, that cross-field shot. We suddenly feel the urge to break away from, well, something.
And what is that something? As our thoughts come back to our immediate circumstances, we seize upon what we see — our humdrum day job, our obscure suburban existence, the speed limit we need to observe — things that are of our own making or are the outcomes of our own decisions (or indecisions) suddenly feel like a prison. That’s the effect that media-induced adrenaline coursing through our veins has on our minds. It messes with our perception of what is real and important.
Suddenly we cut to a commercial break where the effects of that hormonal cocktail is harvested. Someone behind the scenes is laughing all the way to the bank.
Those on the right side of the equation live happily ever after.
Those on the wrong side go on and scrounge around for other “parallels” to fill the void where imagination should have been.
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I was never a sports fan and I never believed that there are good parallels. Unfortunately, you are right… Filipinos sure are like the sports making a show of everything without realizing the implications of what they see. Must be the usisero mentality too.
Benign0,
You, I am sure, miss the Paquiao fights shown here on GMA.
(BenC, I exaggerate here, applying some small artistic license, for effect. I enjoy the Paquiao fights, keep score of every round, root for Pac Man, am not insulting the Filipino nation, think Manny is one skilled dude, love those spit buckets, etc., etc., etc.)
But anyway . . .
A 3 minute round of boxing stokes the passions like wildfire, as Manny P. is either on the edge of pummeling someone’s brains out, thus raising Filipino pride to orgasmic ecstasy, or on the edge of getting a whipping himself, putting the entire Philippine nation on the brink of despair. Then GMA cuts to 7 minutes of commercials. After all, the whole thing is taped, and most know the outcome by the end of GMA’s second round.
I work my crossword puzzles during the commercials, for, after all, how many repeats of the same ad can the brain take before it turns into some kind of inert, cold, grey mush? I’m surprised there are no public service warnings to this effect . . .
A contrived people’s protest is rather like a cross-field tackle that went awry, pretty for the arching body flying through the air, but rather dismaying for the cloud of dust choked up during landing, as the runner has simply dodged left.
A respectable election would, on the other hand, be well worth cheering about.
Joe
Hmmm, a personal confession?
I have been waiting for one or more of the political experts in this country to make the parallel between what they imagine might happen here and what actually did happen in Honduras, because I was convinced that the wrong conclusion would be drawn. And of course, I was not disappointed. The people here are, as usual, missing the point. In Honduras there was a president – by all accounts a thoroughly detestable and widely unpopular one – who got the bum’s rush in the middle of the night by the military. What should deeply dismay and cause all the rebellion-inciters here to rethink their wishes is the reaction of just about every other country in the Western Hemisphere. Yes, President Zelaya was a greedy pig, and yes, he was a close ally of that idiot Hugo Chavez, and yes, he was scheming to try to remain in power. But he was still the legal, elected ruler of the country. Did any other country hail the coup as a victory for democracy? They did not. They booted out the Honduran diplomats and suspended trade in protest, and with few if any exceptions, called for Hondurans to follow their own laws and put Zelaya back in office.
But, the local opposition might well protest, the Honduran coup was staged by the military. It wasn’t People Power, like we do here. To which I might quite correctly point out that neither of your successful People Power exercises achieved their goals until the military got involved. You want to have a coup, you need soldiers at some point, no matter who starts the ball rolling.
This is obviously no longer the world of 1986 or even of 2001. Even if the opposition could clearly state at least one unquestionable act of wrongdoing on the part of the sitting President – something that in five years I’ve yet to hear, although the rumor, innuendo, and histrionic accusation machine has been running way over the red line all that time – AND, more importantly, offer the people a clear and substantial alternative, as in someone who will DO something differently, rather than just BE someone different; even if those two conditions were met, the world would still probably react in just the same way as they have to Honduras. Because the rebellion would not be seen as a rejection of a person (no matter how much he/she may deserve it), it would be seen as a rejection of the democratic system. That is what happened in Honduras, and that is what anyone with a brain here should probably try very hard to avoid, especially in a country whose economic and emotional well-being depends so much of what the rest of the world thinks of it.
The unknown factor should be the worry of Gloria Arroyo. The opposition cannot present something exciting to the Filipino people.
Unlike Barrack Obama of U.S.A.
Everybody wants to become President. All they have is to demonize
Gloria Arroyo. We want some unique and easily implemented programs
to solve our present problems. Our economic condition is “tagilid”.
INTEL CORP. has just closed its manufacturing facilities. Other
foreign companies may follow. More unemployment.
Our OFWs are not protected well in their contracts. This MOBILE WORK
FORCE (OFW) is now part of the employment landscape of the country.
We have to make it work better. Benefits and pay should be improved.
As well as protection from exploitation of our contract worker from
their employer.
We have not yet exploited fully our Natural Resources. And use our
Brain Resources. Foreign countries are using our Brain Resources.
These are just a few Key Result Areas that the opposition can look
into as political platform to present to us voters.
The opposition cannot present something exciting to the Filipino people for the reason that their only difference with Arroyo is that Arroyo is “in” and they are “out”.
But when it comes to transactional politics and corruption, the perception is that there is no difference between the administration and the opposition – pare-parehong magnanakaw.
That certainly seems to be the case, doesn’t it? Judging from Hyden’s comment, it seems at least some people actually want to hear a platform. So who’s the problem? Is it really the politicians, or is it a population where there are still too few Hydens and too many people who are satisfied with the likes of Erap and his jeepney, and Manny Villar dancing with fish?
We can be Positive help of change. Or become Cynics thruout our lives. We dont have to curse the darkness. Light a candle. Pass the light on to fellow Filipinos. Soon everything will be illuminated.
Take the case of Europe during World War II. Half of Europe was
occupied by Hitler of Germany. The other half was under his grasp.
A few Brave Souls worked and won. They did not curse where they
are. They rolled their sleves. Took to the task and made results.
These are the brands of winners and champions in life. Filipinos find
ways to survive. Just look at the OFWs.
Hyden,
Let’s walk your talk – I have a couple of non-profits down south who can use volunteers and partners overseas – take your pick – education, environment, values-formation, reintegration of rebel returnees, and community development.
The network of non-profits have been operating for years, and since it appears there is a lot of talk from FV – I guess you wouldn’t mind if you, would like to join others who have been walking your talk years before FV existed.
Remove first that Evil Unano. We dont like her face…nor be a part
of her Enchanted Kingdom.
“A few Brave Souls worked and won.”
3 million Chinese. More than half a million each from the US and the UK. Over 25 million Soviets. 700,000 Frenchmen. Almost half a million Poles.
A few brave souls don’t get the job done. Whole countries working together get the job done.
In a democracy, what rules is essentially what is popular.
That is what it means when we say that power comes from the “will of the people” — that favourite slogan thrown around by political “experts” and self-described “revolutionaries”.
But then here is what that quaint slogan really means:
:D If having some semblance of a platform underpinned by coherent ideas is what is popular (and presumably what attracts voters to a party), then the political landscape will reflect that.
…however;
:D If having no semblance of meaning or substance whatsoever underpinning party is NOT a factor in winning elections, then the political landscape WILL reflect that as well.
Which one of the above two reflects the reality of Pinoy society?
Tough questions require tough reflection. :D
It’s simple, really™
And herein lies the irony that so completely escapes the vacuous minds of today’s “Opposition”.
The position they so laughably take is pitched as a “defense” of our democratic ideals, yet in practice it is actually a rejection of what The Vote has unleashed in Government, just as the 2001 “revolution” was a rejection of what the People had voted for legitimately.
Stagnation of approaches to thinking — and the habitual missing of points that accompanies it — is a renowned trait of a backward society. :D