In here and there, I received two comments similar in toto from one Winston Frobs. While I absolutely agree with François Marie Arouet—or Voltaire, take your pick—when he said that I may not agree with what you say but I will defend to death your right to say it, still, I cannot help but disagree with Winston's verbal diarrhea. Whoever she or he is, she or he appears to be claiming to know the panacea to the problems that have been ailing the Philippines for so long. I wonder how Winston came to arrive at his own conclusion. Certainly, living in the United States or some other part of the world while theorizing with one's Mac about the ways on how to mend a very distant country like ours does not carry with it the weight of prudence. It is akin to suggesting how to fix your neighbor's living room when one barely knows what is in it. On the face of it, I surmise she or he has toured the Philippines long and hard enough to say with conviction that "the people there in general are stupid". But apparently, that is all there is to it; the face of it. To say the least, it reflects audacity of unparalleled proportions. You want to fix this country? Well, to begin with, you might want to fix your grammar first. Then we can talk.
Or maybe we can talk right now, despite having to deal with bad grammar.
First of all, we deserve this government. It is this administration that we do not deserve. Understand that the "government" is entirely different from the "administration". Stretching things further, we deserve this democratic government and no less than that. This administration is the exact opposite of all the semblances to the power of the people. This is a regime whose only source of authority is Garci, having confused Garci for god. More to the point, this regime owes its strength to the theft of the vote, having done so roughly five years ago when the people's mandate has been bent to favor the current illegitimate occupant of the Palace. Or years before that, Gloria ascended to the throne by claiming the fruits of the second EDSA revolution after the dust has cleared. She waited for the right place at the right time to unravel before her foot while remaining impervious to the struggles of the people. As if that was not enough, she thereafter broke her own promise of not running for the same office, perverted all the more by the luster of power that momentarily rested on her hands. She is the very last person on the plains of the earth that people would want to trust. We did not put her into power. Garci did. Now you tell the people where democracy lies therein.
She it was who constantly traveled overseas at the expense of the public coffers, sucking the very juice out of the treasury for purposes of making deals unbeknown to the diligent tax payers. She it was, together with her loyal minions, who lavished in the glory of fine dining while her fellowmen back home had to deal with anorexic servings of food on their plate. While at that, she it was who, by the thickness of her skin, scurried to meet the first African-American president of the United States after he was sworn to office. Unfortunately for her, and fortunately for us, her pleas were ignored by the White House. But rejection did not put her eagerness to rest. On the contrary, it bolstered her clamor all the more until her dire wish was granted just so to punctuate her delusion that Obama has the same amount of zeal to meet her in person. She met him, yet again at the expense of our pockets. There is no sense of propriety there. Or forget propriety, just mind a sense of decency. For all the people's hard work, these are where our taxes go.
Second, I do not understand where Winston got her or his idea that "people there in general are stupid". Of course, it is only natural for people dubbed as stupid to defend why they are not stupid. Why exactly should we just accept that baseless and horrific claim hook, line and sinker? Certainly, what is stupid is to call someone else stupid and to force that someone to just accept that fate, as if it was handed to him as a gift that he should willfully and gleefully appreciate.
True, this is not a country where all people are genius. The same holds true for America and so for the rest of the world. Same difference. Now, I do not know which side Winston belongs to, whether the genius side or the side which she or he calls stupid, but that's beside the point. Going back, to sweep the general populace under the same rug begs another question, which is this: stupid in terms of exactly what? Failing to act on something or someone that needs to be badly replaced or thrown outside the window completely is not stupidity. Or if you have allergy to metaphors, failing to depose Gloria and all the problems she has dragged into this nation is not stupidity. It may be apathy, which is the very marrow of the cancer that strikes this nation deep and hard. We have acted in the past, to no avail. Some others have continued to fight the good cause, but some others have resolved to live the day and wait until the national elections. Both have their own reasons that only someone suffering from a serious and incurable insanity will fail to comprehend. Quite on the contrary, I fear it is the height of absurdity, if not dementia praecox, to suggest to not to pay SSS, PAGIBIG, or PhilHealth. God or Allah or Bathala or Dawkins knows what will happen to the hapless and dying and senile who depend their few remaining days on the trickles of benefits that they receive from these institutions. Never mind the BIR and the Catholic Church. Not all people on this side of the world are Christians. And not all deserve to pay taxes before a rotten administration.
Third, we cannot allow a Singaporean to run this country, absolutely not for five years, and not even a split second. To suggest so is the height of idiocy. No need to pardon my French. It's my second language. For the most part, the 1987 Philippine Constitution does not allow a foreigner to lord over this country. For practical reasons, there can be no one better to lead this nation than a child of this land, for she or he knows the predicaments of this country more than someone who was born and raised in, say, the state of Georgia. The Filipino who did bear witness to the tribulations and triumphs of the land understands through the pores of his skin the curse plaguing us. What better way to lead a nation than to have someone at the helm who belongs to the same race, or whose veins pulsate the same ethnic blood as the one everybody else here possesses. And the last time I checked, the Philippines is not Singapore. You have two very different circumstances there. You do not fit a triangle in a circular hole. You do the math, genius.
This inevitably pins us back as to why Winston's panacea is as alien as fish is to land. You cannot help but wonder why someone residing in foreign shores has the gall to say that Filipinos are stupid and that his suggestions are the best way to deal with all the knee-deep organic fertilizer we are in. I can only surmise that her or his mind has caved in to the Western world, fully embracing it like air is to lungs, which most probably has also gotten high up on her or his head. I say these things because, at the very least, I have respect for this country and for my fellowmen, living with them and still preferring to do so from womb to tomb. I say these things because I am not a coward but someone who has optimism and confidence that this division shall no longer be multiplied by the time we are awakened by the fact that others are very eager to shove before our very throats a solution they concocted in some distant country. It is a solution that is inspired by madness, or perhaps by that part of the body where the sun never shines.
And finally, it is the likes of Winston who should continue to talk the walk so that we may finally realize that some others are victims of their self-proclaimed genius. This Winston mentality is exactly the very reason why young Filipino students should diligently pursue their education, so that one day they will not have to wakeup in a suburban jungle somewhere in America thinking that they already know the brightest answers to life's toughest questions. This Winston mentality is exactly the same reason why young Filipino students should be brought closer to their national roots, so that they may take pride of the fact that they are Filipino, and so that at the end of the day we do not need to find ourselves asking the most suitable question to that same mentality.
What?
Or maybe we can talk right now, despite having to deal with bad grammar.
First of all, we deserve this government. It is this administration that we do not deserve. Understand that the "government" is entirely different from the "administration". Stretching things further, we deserve this democratic government and no less than that. This administration is the exact opposite of all the semblances to the power of the people. This is a regime whose only source of authority is Garci, having confused Garci for god. More to the point, this regime owes its strength to the theft of the vote, having done so roughly five years ago when the people's mandate has been bent to favor the current illegitimate occupant of the Palace. Or years before that, Gloria ascended to the throne by claiming the fruits of the second EDSA revolution after the dust has cleared. She waited for the right place at the right time to unravel before her foot while remaining impervious to the struggles of the people. As if that was not enough, she thereafter broke her own promise of not running for the same office, perverted all the more by the luster of power that momentarily rested on her hands. She is the very last person on the plains of the earth that people would want to trust. We did not put her into power. Garci did. Now you tell the people where democracy lies therein.
She it was who constantly traveled overseas at the expense of the public coffers, sucking the very juice out of the treasury for purposes of making deals unbeknown to the diligent tax payers. She it was, together with her loyal minions, who lavished in the glory of fine dining while her fellowmen back home had to deal with anorexic servings of food on their plate. While at that, she it was who, by the thickness of her skin, scurried to meet the first African-American president of the United States after he was sworn to office. Unfortunately for her, and fortunately for us, her pleas were ignored by the White House. But rejection did not put her eagerness to rest. On the contrary, it bolstered her clamor all the more until her dire wish was granted just so to punctuate her delusion that Obama has the same amount of zeal to meet her in person. She met him, yet again at the expense of our pockets. There is no sense of propriety there. Or forget propriety, just mind a sense of decency. For all the people's hard work, these are where our taxes go.
Second, I do not understand where Winston got her or his idea that "people there in general are stupid". Of course, it is only natural for people dubbed as stupid to defend why they are not stupid. Why exactly should we just accept that baseless and horrific claim hook, line and sinker? Certainly, what is stupid is to call someone else stupid and to force that someone to just accept that fate, as if it was handed to him as a gift that he should willfully and gleefully appreciate.
True, this is not a country where all people are genius. The same holds true for America and so for the rest of the world. Same difference. Now, I do not know which side Winston belongs to, whether the genius side or the side which she or he calls stupid, but that's beside the point. Going back, to sweep the general populace under the same rug begs another question, which is this: stupid in terms of exactly what? Failing to act on something or someone that needs to be badly replaced or thrown outside the window completely is not stupidity. Or if you have allergy to metaphors, failing to depose Gloria and all the problems she has dragged into this nation is not stupidity. It may be apathy, which is the very marrow of the cancer that strikes this nation deep and hard. We have acted in the past, to no avail. Some others have continued to fight the good cause, but some others have resolved to live the day and wait until the national elections. Both have their own reasons that only someone suffering from a serious and incurable insanity will fail to comprehend. Quite on the contrary, I fear it is the height of absurdity, if not dementia praecox, to suggest to not to pay SSS, PAGIBIG, or PhilHealth. God or Allah or Bathala or Dawkins knows what will happen to the hapless and dying and senile who depend their few remaining days on the trickles of benefits that they receive from these institutions. Never mind the BIR and the Catholic Church. Not all people on this side of the world are Christians. And not all deserve to pay taxes before a rotten administration.
Third, we cannot allow a Singaporean to run this country, absolutely not for five years, and not even a split second. To suggest so is the height of idiocy. No need to pardon my French. It's my second language. For the most part, the 1987 Philippine Constitution does not allow a foreigner to lord over this country. For practical reasons, there can be no one better to lead this nation than a child of this land, for she or he knows the predicaments of this country more than someone who was born and raised in, say, the state of Georgia. The Filipino who did bear witness to the tribulations and triumphs of the land understands through the pores of his skin the curse plaguing us. What better way to lead a nation than to have someone at the helm who belongs to the same race, or whose veins pulsate the same ethnic blood as the one everybody else here possesses. And the last time I checked, the Philippines is not Singapore. You have two very different circumstances there. You do not fit a triangle in a circular hole. You do the math, genius.
This inevitably pins us back as to why Winston's panacea is as alien as fish is to land. You cannot help but wonder why someone residing in foreign shores has the gall to say that Filipinos are stupid and that his suggestions are the best way to deal with all the knee-deep organic fertilizer we are in. I can only surmise that her or his mind has caved in to the Western world, fully embracing it like air is to lungs, which most probably has also gotten high up on her or his head. I say these things because, at the very least, I have respect for this country and for my fellowmen, living with them and still preferring to do so from womb to tomb. I say these things because I am not a coward but someone who has optimism and confidence that this division shall no longer be multiplied by the time we are awakened by the fact that others are very eager to shove before our very throats a solution they concocted in some distant country. It is a solution that is inspired by madness, or perhaps by that part of the body where the sun never shines.
And finally, it is the likes of Winston who should continue to talk the walk so that we may finally realize that some others are victims of their self-proclaimed genius. This Winston mentality is exactly the very reason why young Filipino students should diligently pursue their education, so that one day they will not have to wakeup in a suburban jungle somewhere in America thinking that they already know the brightest answers to life's toughest questions. This Winston mentality is exactly the same reason why young Filipino students should be brought closer to their national roots, so that they may take pride of the fact that they are Filipino, and so that at the end of the day we do not need to find ourselves asking the most suitable question to that same mentality.
What?
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