I read Marck’s Tyranny and the Image with interest, specifically when it came to the passage: “politics in this country is not a “personality cult,” but a “cult of imagery”. I thought, well, in fairness to Pinoy society (and I’m a bit out-of-character here), the power of images had been demonstrated in so many forms across so many cultures in history. Think swastikas, hammers-and-sickles, sphinxes, crucifixes, etc.
I will, however, have to agree on the aspect of Marck’s assertion specifically pointing to the use of photos of politicians to propagate the imagery cult. Note (and I’m getting back in-character here), that Pinoys differ in this aspect. Whereas Nazi Germany and Communist Russia goose-stepped to conceptual imagery (the ones I cited above), Pinoys dance the ocho-ocho on the streets to the sight of personality imagery — photos of personalities rather than abstract symbols like swastikas.
And that’s the whole trouble with us as a people. Personalities come and go. But concepts transcend their creators.
Far more occassions of passion, conquest, achievement, change, and killing across history and cultures have been incited by the mere sight of swastikas, crucifixes, hammers-and-sickles, statues of liberty, red crosses, and peace symbols — among many others — both during and beyond the lifetimes of the people who originally created and/or championed the causes they symbolised. The belief systems spawned by the likes of Jesus Christ — and Adolf Hitler — were kept alive by the powerful abstract symbols that branded their causes.
Lets set the focus back onto the Philippine setting and ask ourselves this question:
Are we a society that marches to abstractions or to personalities?
The answer to this question goes to the very heart of why stumbling from one Philippine election year to another feels like a scene from the movie Groundhog Day — except that unlike Bill Murray’s character in that movie, we as a people did not progressively master our destinies and gained wisdom and perspective as we woke up from one re-run of our lives to another.
Out of the multitude of political parties that have seen the face of a campaign poster in the Philippines over the last twenty years, can we cite even one that invokes the memory of an idea or concept? Are there any abstract symbols that have endured beyond the brief (and not-too-brief) episodes in our history dotted by the Marcoses, the Aquinos, the Ramos’s, the Erap’s and the Arroyos? Whereas cretins like Trillanes claimed to be fighting for “something”, where is the embodiment much less the symbol of this of this “something”?
Eleanor Roosevelt was said to have said:
Small minds discuss people.
Average minds discuss events.
Great minds discuss ideas.
We Filipinos need to find our own Statue of Liberty, Red Cross, Hammer-and-Sickle, or Swastika. We need to have a collective opinion rather than a mere collective chatter about people and events, year after year, after year. We cannot fault our political parties for their inability to stand for SOMETHING because they merely reflect how we as a people apparently stand for NOTHING.
The real challenge for our society is not politics. The real challenge lies in a yet-to-be-seen effort to give meaning to a bunch of rocks on the South China sea brought together and named after an obscure Spanish king.
Popularity: 2% [?]
So true.
I wonder, what should this image be?
Historically, Nazi Germany, Soviet Russia as well as the People’s Republic of China and Militarist Japan (with its Emperor worship) were also oriented towards cult of personalities (Hitler, Stalin, Mao & Hirohito respectively). They existed side by side with their worship of abstractions. What they had in common was their sacrifice of individuals in the name of these abstract objectives and for the sake of the personality who represented their nation (whether it be the Fuhrer or the Emperor).
As for our own ‘imagery’, the Philippine flag is good enough for me. It beats the swastika any time of day.
cvj, kung baga, pwede na yan, di ba? ;)
In a manner of speaking, yes. It’s what we put into the imagery that matters.
So what does the Philippine Flag mean to you then?
Note that what it might mean to you does not necessarily reflect what is generally accepted or generally perceived to be what said flag stands for.
Wouldn’t you rather have a flag AND a babe? (as the symbol for our motherland) This is what France has as the symbol of their republic.
The Philippine Flag stands for everything our heroes fought for, all the good that i now see in our people, and the promise of what we Filipinos could become once we overcome the elitists and get our acts together.
Suggested images:
1. The Jeepney
2. A Carabao
3. San Miguel Beer logo
moya,
All of which are symbols that show why we aren’t progressing.
benign0:
Thank you for your thoughtful response to my entry.
I would like to point out a phrase, that we are a culture dominated by images. And as it seems, it is “out of character” for me to agree with you on one point: we do not need a mere image or an icon or a symbolism.
What we need is an idea that the people can stand behind, not an image people can gawk at.
Marck, very true; substance behind the form being the key. It’s easy to cite the flag or whatever else “symbol” to ‘gawk’ at. All we can come up with when ask what they stand for is some headscratching. Worse, the present ones we cling to as Jon Limjap pointed out now actually symbolise what make us continue to fail to this day.
Substance.
This is a word that needs to be given its proper place in a society that struggles to grasp its meaning.
What’s “ocho-ocho”?
Re: “The real challenge lies in a yet-to-be-seen effort to give meaning to a bunch of rocks on the South China sea brought together and named after an obscure Spanish king.”
Such disdain!
Ocho ocho is a Filipino folk dance used to entertain street rallyists to ensure that they stay on the streets long enough for the official headcount to be recorded and reported by the Media. ;)
I stand corrected, our symbol should be the Number 8 na lang.
Anna, thus is the hallmark of benign0, love him or hate him, but damn he’s controversial in his statements..
But, there is truth in what he speaks about, but a few things that I would regard as an almost “disdain” for his nation..
I think his following question is a relevant one though…
But substance… as in “freedom” or “patriotism”, or “love of country”, aren’t those too abstract, and are those the same slogans used for those who do not wish to discuss issues?
Again, we need not look for a symbol, we only need to look at the collective nation, The Filipino People, the face of a Filipino child, the face of Rizal, of our flag…
It’s hard enough to encapsulate one individual, let alone one nation..
I don’t think the Philippines is a hollow concept, the fact is, The Philippines is a complex concept.. our history proves this, and our uncertain future also proves this.. we grapple with our identity because of complexity not because it is hollow..
The important point to make is that, in such a malleable state of question and nothingness is the opportunity to define ourselves as a nation.
The problem right now is that everyone is trying to push away the other in the place of which clay potter’s hand will mould the pot, while everyone else is giving up before they can even begin to form an image on their minds as to what they would really want to become.
So in that sense I agree that right now “The Philippines” is a meaningless concept. Question really is: when will we stand up to the challenge of giving it meaning?
Jon, i think Benign0 has to qualify the statement The Philippines is a meaningless concept…to Benign0 because it does have meaning to a whole lot of others. I think this is one of those issues that he has to work out on his own. I agree with Nick that the ‘Philippines’ (as is the ‘United States’ or ‘Japan’ or ‘Singapore’) is a complex concept so it cannot be further reduced into a formula.
Anna, yes that’s the benignO style. I for one, still reads his pieces IN SPITE of his style. I think it’s unfortunate that readers have to wade through the outrageousness to get to the insightful gems.
I salute everyone who made their comments to Benign0, but in my humble opinion we all should agree that “The Philippines – a meaningless concept” plainly means we as a people has lost it’s soul a long time ago. We just need to search it within ourselves to bring it back again….
What is our concept of a Filipino nation? A friend pointed out that the local Filipino word for nation is “bayan”, which in English will roughly translate to a smaller political unit that of a municipality. The same is true in Hiligaynon (the language spoken in the majority of Panay and eastern Negros) the word “banwa”, also the word for nation which when translated to English will yield that smaller political unit. If you ask an Ilonggo, “Sa diin ang banwa mo?”, he would say Miagao or Iloilo, but never the Philippines.
This maybe a simple observation on the use of language as regards the word nation (bayan or banwa) or language per se but it has repercussions on our imagination of what comprises the Filipino nation. If we see our bayan as Miagao, Polomolok, Calamba, etc., and not the Philippines then we shall never see ourselves in context more so using the larger more complex community of Filipino people as a vantage point.
This can prove dangerous. The nation is already becoming obsolete, out-dated, and stale as the emergence of supra-national organizations such as the European Union, Mercosur, or ASEAN is becoming the menu for the day and homogeneity the hors’ oeuvre. We can just as easily fall into this trend, after-all the whole world is moving into it. But that is going to be a sad thing. These countries have established their national identities and have worked hard to maintain it. We are a people mired with multiple personality disorder, or worse have gone amnesiac and forgot who we really are.
http://johnryanrecabar.wordpress.com/2008/06/08/imagining-the-filipino-nation/
I think the complexity starts when we compare the Philippines’ history, nature and development with other countries. What did we conquer? What war did we start or initiate? Are we up there among the top 10 or 20 countries in terms of military and economic strength? Is Marcos really comparable to Hitler or Stalin or Hirohito?
I don’t mind comparing oranges and apples so long as we give stress to their similarity, that is, their all fruits of different kind. For countries, you don’t make comparison in order to knock down the other. You compare the Phil. with other more developed and progressive countries for what they will be and not what they are not.
The Phil. is a meaningless concept ONLY because the concept arose from a confused one.