NOW PANIC and FREAK OUT!

Posts tagged pinas

Whom the gods wish to destroy they first make mad.

In this case, however, Willie Revillame’s been mad for a very long time.

Do I believe he had any intentions of truly harming or hurting the child? 

No. 

Up to this point he’s still arguing that he didn’t abuse the child, and that he never forced the child to dance lewdly. 

The videos were spliced to make it look like the child was coerced into dancing repeatedly, he said.

The thing, though, is that the fact that he didn’t force the child doesn’t make any difference. 

Willie Revillame had one fault in the whole dancing child debacle: he didn’t stop it.

He could’ve stopped it.

Right after the child danced for the first time, he could have recognised the impropriety of this performance. He could’ve refrained from making equally lewd statements, likening the child to Burlesk Queen. He could’ve refused to let the child dance again and again and again.

Nobody forced the child to dance, but Willie Revillame could’ve handle the situation better by doing the following:

- not making crass and malicious remarks

- not allowing further and repeated performances of the lewd dance

- not putting the child on an elevated platform while adults fawned and screamed like women in a gay bar

That said, I honestly believe that this would not have been such a big issue had he simply apologised and admitted a lapse in judgment. A lot of people who saw the episode still don’t understand why letting a young boy dance like a macho dancer is wrong. Willie could have apologised and people would’ve understood.

But he has remained arrogant, unapologetic and angry. 

Mad with power, drunk with the belief that people love him rather than the money he throws at them.

The only people who still take his side are those who would willingly humiliate themselves on television for a few bucks.

The rest of us? We’ve recognised his madness a long time ago.

A lot of people in this country like to say that they’re nationalistic.

When you ask them if they’d rather be patriotic, you get a scoff, something of a smirk, and a condescending “well isn’t that the same thing?”

No sweetheart, it definitely isn’t.

Benedict Anderson in his “Imagine Communities” defined the concept of “nation” as a community based on shared history, tradition or race, among other possible factors that may influence a sense of belonging.

It is not a legal entity, in the same way that a country is.

Its boundaries are flexible and impossible to define, possibly spanning continents.

It is — most important of all — imagined.

This is why Koreans will continue to believe that they are one nation, despite the fact that the Korean War is technically just suspended but officially still on-going. This is why Koreans will leave no stone unturned working to re-establish the peninsula as one country, antics of Kim Jong Il notwithstanding.

Jolly well and good, seemingly, but what happens when the basis for this shared community is weak and fleeting?

Therein lies the rub.

For everyone in this country is Bisaya first, Tsinoy first, Ilokano first. Everyone in this country is Atenista first, Lasalista first, Tomasino first. We are Kapamilya first, Kapuso first, Kapatid first.

The problem with our nationalism is that it lies squarely on reasons so very tenuous that the briefest challenge can render it asunder.

Internationally recognized achievements seem to be the bar upon which we currently peg our nationalist fervor. Manny Pacquiao, Charice Pempengco, as well as random successful people who may or may not have 0.0001 chance of Filipino blood inspire loud cries of “Proud to be Pinoy” with their every achievement.

Ah, but the flip side exists.

The moment some poor Pinoy sap commits something shameful, these “Proud” Filipinos disappear in the blink of an eye. Kabayan? We’re having none of that.

I cannot tell you how many “thank god I have a *insert foreign country here* passport” status updates appeared in Facebook after the hostage-taking clusterfuck at the Quirino Grandstand.

But apart from this, I suppose there is another basis for our nationalism: the so-called victim mentality.

We are a poor country, hence we are often trampled and tread upon. Boohoo.

Our default response to the (then) impending execution of three convicted drug couriers: maawa kayo. Have mercy.

Ignore the law. Ignore their crimes. They are Filipinos, they are poor and they are deserving of pity.

Essentially: we are deserving of pity.

This constant notion of victim-hood rears its head every so often, with disparaging remarks from foreign television shows, comedians, writers etc garnering incensed responses and calls for boycotts, protests, and congressional inquiry.

But none of these help us become better citizens striving for the improvement of our country.

Nationalism, though imagined, can be useful. It allows people to find unity and strength in their community, giving them the inspiration to work together for mutual betterment.

Our nationalism consists of incendiary tweets, blog posts, protests, rallies and demands for public apology. We then congratulate ourselves, basking in our nationalistic fervor, not realizing that all we’ve done is raise a ruckus over things that are honestly fucking pointless.

Our nationalism does not inspire us to be law-abiding citizens, or helpful members of society. It distracts us from our true responsibilities as people of this country. It allows us to congratulate ourselves every time some kind of online protest goes viral, or when our drama hits the news and foreigners are forced to offer us a halfhearted apology to soothe our wounded amor propio.

It prevents us from going further, from recognizing that superficial acts to prove one’s nationalism are little more than cute little pieces in a circle-jerk of sisyphean proportions.

You want to wear clothes with the Philippine map or the famous three-stars-and-a-sun emblem on them? You want to protest every perceived slight against us? You wear some baller band to show off your nationalism?

Fine.

But please, do not expect us to believe that you are a better Filipino for it.

…that just as we are about to “celebrate” our own People Power revolution again this week, people all over the world are re-discovering their power and fighting for their freedom.

We’ve been taking ours for granted. 

Maybe instead of saying pithy things like “we started People Power”, we should start by shutting up and thinking very, very, very hard about what happened to us along the way, somewhere between that euphoric moment of 25 February 1986 and TODAY.

For Egypt, Libya, Bahrain, Morocco and everyone else fighting to regain their lives as free men and women. 

For freedom.

It’s about time.

This is probably going to be a mad ramble, so apologies in advance.

These past few months I’ve been wondering why we keep reinforcing the idea of rich-vs-poor in this country.  Granted, the socio-economic gap is growing growing growing daily, but I don’t see why we have to feed the fire.

See, I know there’s a problem when rich people who buy million-dollar bags and poor people who can barely have three proper meals a day coexist in a single country. 

The thing, though, is that we seem to be making it a crime for people to not live below the poverty line.  “You’ve never known what it’s like to be poor” is said with so much scorn that people now start inventing stories of poverty just to hide their shame.

What I think, though, is that we’re not doing anything but reinforcing class guilt.  You know how the Church (and your average pseudo-activist) keeps telling us that it’s our obligation to help our fellow men?

I don’t like it.

Not one bit.

Because when you say “obligation”, you make it sound like it’s something you don’t really want to do but have to. It becomes a giant ball of hypocrisy that we keep on feeding because it’s born of good intent anyway. It’s not like there’s something wrong with wanting people to be more charitable.

But that word “obligation” makes it seem so forced and contrived and something we’d all drop if we weren’t obliged to do it in the first place.

Personally, I don’t think people who have more should give to those with less because they’re feeling guilty about the inequality of life.  It’s nothing short of a sham, really, guilt-tripping people into doing something noble.

I’d rather people volunteer and help and be charitable because they know it’s the right thing to do, not because society is watching and fuck if I’m going to let people mock me for not having watered down corned beef.

You know how some kids go on immersion trips and come back all excited and go “I’m totally transformed OMG OMG”?  We’re kidding ourselves. We’re not actually doing anything to change this world. We’re just feeding that guilty feeling gnawing at us, and once we get to do some sort of token “charity” work or show some “empathy” for the less fortunate, we get to sit back all smug and fulfilled.

It’s a fucking joke, except it’s not very funny.