Respect my opinion.

By our national elections, Filipinos at the age of majority who have registered with the Commission on Elections get to choose those who hold high political office. 

That’s the academic definition, but our elections are much more than that. 

Sometimes, our elections are nothing more than a clown parade: a contest of who among the political elite can demonstrate that by degrading their own dignity in cartoonish ways that they, too, are part of the fellow downtrodden. Sometimes, elections are our way of asking people if we wish things to continue the way things are, or if we desire to put forward someone who can brown nose the powers that be better than the incumbent. Sometimes, elections are an easy cash grab for people who treat these things as nothing but spectacle. Sometimes, elections are all of the above. 

Whatever it may be, elections have lasting consequences. 

An old friend, a political survivor in the mold of a cockroach, believed that our structure of government meant that at each Presidential election cycle we get to choose our dictator for the next six years. Once chosen, my friend opined, we then owed absolute obedience to the most powerful clown until the circus returns. 

He’s not wrong: elections for Congress have always been a contest of whose mouth kisses Presidential ass best. This is true in the time of Manuel Quezon; it remains true today. 

If we take this view as that of the ordinary man, we haven’t moved from the prescription of constitutional authoritarianism as the solution for all our ills, have we? Lasting consequences, you see.

The circus allows us to ignore these consequences; we are lost in spectacle. Entertainment, above all.

The circus now bears tricks from the time of Goehring. It is not enough to debase yourself; years of conditioning have people vulnerable to those who look to a fictional ancient time of plenty. Lying is a participative act that appeals to what is yearned for the most.

To condition: to create aspiration. Flood their feeds with stories of our champions and triumphs. Praise bending the rules for you and your tribe. Tout the virtues of patronage as a means to survive this bleak winter. Dismiss naysayers as unsympathetic people working to deny you your time at the table. Feed them non-stop with this diet of self-esteem candy. Have them worship power. It’s addictive.

Condition their minds, and they will make a narrative for those who appeal to that vision of lost glory. Feed their anger at those these people claim to be holding us down. Who needs the truth when you have anger?

When that time comes, watch those under their thumb say that they know this politician to be true. Watch them defend this politician with their own blood. Watch them find those opposed to this politician as people who have never done anything right. Watch them struggle to find reasons. 

“Respect my opinion.” 

It is what it is; we are all the poorer for it.

Our problem isn’t human rights, it’s conflict resolution

I once heard somewhere that democracy, and by extension, human rights, is something you afford. In other words, you need to have your social institutions in place before you start demanding things like “fair play” be in place.

I keep wondering if we should be like Japan, where they have turned a blind eye to prosecutor misconduct. Conviction rates in Japan are through the roof! Yet no one questions the fairness of the system or how effective it really is. They say you can leave money out in the street in Japan, and no one else will pick it up. However, the levels of corporate misconduct, when revealed, are staggering.

We seem to have this notion that when we deny something, it does not exist.

ICT and the 2016 Elections

It appears that the Inquirer has collated the ICT development policies of the front runners in the race for the Presidency.

Thanks, guys.

Now, here’s my two cents as a guy on the front lines.

On why the Supreme Court didn’t overlook the Administrative Code

In Raissa’s latest post, she laments that some lawyers have had one of three reactions to her earlier post where she argues that the 1987 Administrative Code qualifies the President’s Constitutional power to augment: (1) the Constitution is clear; (2) the SC decision is unanimous; or (3) she’s not a lawyer.

Following Elmore’s Rules

The rains were heavy and hard that bleak Los Angeles night. They usually were, after the war that blackened the sky and sent the more well-off to far colonies to have their every whim served by short-lived, purpose-built androids who didn’t know any better.

Forty years ago, more or less.

Address of then President Ferdinand Edralin Marcos on 23 September 1972, at 9:00 p.m. announcing that the Philippines has been placed under Martial Law (unofficial transcript of video from ABS-CBN archives).

—

Segunda Mano

SPOILER ALERT. You have been informed.

By joining, I agree.

I hope this is short. Longer reads are for more important things, other than worrying about the little fiefdoms of social influence in Philippine cyberspace. Certainly, a national association of social media users doesn’t deserve as much attention as… say… the situation of nuclear reactors in Fukushima, or of nuclear energy as a whole.

So, here’s the short of it.

I’ve given some thought to joining a nascent group of bloggers based in the Philippines, the idea of which was again brought to my attention when the online equivalent of fisticuffs erupted over a certain manifesto that went around via email. The manifesto can be seen at the websites of Janette Toral at digitalfilipino.com and of Tonyo Cruz at tonyocruz.com. (No hyperlinks necessary; they should already be on your RSS feed).

While I have some reservations about some of the specific ideas in the draft, such as creating and enforcing a unified code of ethics (a can of worms too lengthy to discuss for the purposes of this post), or a claim of representation on behalf of all social media users (who died and made Me king?), there can be no doubt that the authors of the manifesto only had the best interest of the anonymous poster in mind when drafting those articles. Good is supposed to come out of it, and only insofar as the intentions of those joining this nascent group are as pure as their manifesto purports to be.

I understand that there were attempts several years ago to create something similar, but the project fell apart at the end when things became a little too personal between key personalities within the group. I figure that if we advocate for stronger institutions that veer away from personality cults in our day to day lives, we would be hypocrites if we let strong personalities put color in social institutions of our own making – one that web writers, social media users, and other similar stakeholders are trying to create.

The manifesto isn’t, by any means, precise. Not by a long shot. However, as the intentions are pure, I figure they’re going to need help along the way. Maybe I can be of some assistance. After all, I do make my living out of making words fit the idea in a precise, tailored manner, out of making the ideas march in single file, ready to attack and destory the contrary meme.

So, at this very moment, I hereby declare I am part of what may be known as the National Bloggers’ Association of the Philippines.I am part of it now so that later I do not complain that it does not represent me. I am part of it because now I have the opportunity to do so. Some things just cannot be done from the outside.

As with all things in social media, it’s a work in progress. The going may be slow for a few months, but that’s okay. One must have patience in building social institutions, especially after the institutional wreckage of the past few years.

God (or whatever deity you believe in) help us.

To Anna and Zeke, on the occasion of their wedding

On Interstate 5 the other day, I saw a billboard for that new Paul Rudd-Reese Witherspoon-Owen Wilson movie, “How Do You Know”.

If you haven’t seen it, it features headshots of Reese, Paul, Owen, and Jack Nicholson, and the words “HOW DO YOU KNOW” in large type, with the word “KNOW” in boldface.

I think the copy is genius. With only four words, you get the point of the whole movie. Everyone just KNOWS the question. The answer, from what I know of it, is just as cryptic. As my me and my wife or any old married couple will tell you, sometimes, you just know.

Quiet, I’m praying.

The Jesuits believe that it’s only when you’re alone and in absolute silence that God speaks to you. So once a year, they talk to God. To do that, they stay absolutely silent for forty days. Their eyes only read the Bible, and their ears only hear the sounds of the passing day. They do not talk or communicate with another soul. No touching other people. No eye contact. Nothing.

Maybe they’re right. Vows of silence are known across other religions: Hinduism, Jainism, Buddhism, and Islam. They all have their own followers of silence.

So it was that I found myself somewhere in Tagaytay, contemplating silence one summer in a three-day retreat, Jesuit style. Read: in absolute silence.