Nalito Atienza; Watchful nuns
“Hello, M’am?”; Romeo Macalintal settles in
Razon’s bravado; Razon’s pensiveness
The aggrieved Senate sergeant-at-arms; Razon seeks comfort from the lawyers
Madrigal schmoozes; Razon betrays lack of confidence
Lights, camera, action; Mascarinas the admin’s muscle
Mike Defensor does his job; Bautista the Hutt arrives
Actor Pen Medina; the admin lineup
Gloria’s Dragon arrives; Bautista the Hutt in admin huddle
Hutt ogles Loren; Loren pose part 2
“We swear to tell lies and only lies, so help us M’am”; La Salle brother
“Are we still on script?”; Bautista the Hutt naps
Bautista the Hutt; Gloria’s Dragon huddles with the Hutt
Mike D’s wife after bringing back the cash; Hutt and Gaite huddle: Mike D. reports to M’am?
The Palace was certainly between a rock and a hard place going into yesterday’s Senate hearing. If it stonewalled, it could deny its critics evidence and at least prevent its factotums from further incriminating the administration. But it would leave the public with no other story but Lozada’s. Or, the Palace could come out swinging in the hope that it would thereby fortify the determination of its allies to stand by the President, and possibly confuse things enough to prevent a total collapse in public confidence.
The Palace decided to come out swinging but got a beating. That’s because it has mastered situations it can totally control, but has never quite figured out how to handle situations where the advantages enjoyed by officials end up stripped away by public interest and some common sense questioning.
A former member of the cabinet, and as shrewd an observer of our politico-human condition as any I’ve ever met, once told me there is a very simple line that separates the haves from the have-nots in Philippine society. That line, he said, is transparent spontaneity.
The middle and upper classes instinctively wall themselves off from the rest of society, and have an innate sense of privacy that is impossible and even unimaginable for the majority of our population. The ordinary Filipino has little to no privacy, knows instantly what the rest of the family is doing, and what the neighbors are up to, from defecating to love making to quarreling and gossiping.
And so, they are keenly aware of anything that smacks of posturing when, for the walled-off minority, what is ingrained in them is a strong and unshakeable belief in certain things being for public consumption while other things are not. And so, when someone displays emotion, runs the whole gamut of emotions from terror to anger, it resonates; when someone confesses to a reality that most everyone is aware of (though posturing politicians pretend ignorance and then shock), it resonates and adds to credibility.
Maintaining a stiff upper lip in the face of pressure is an alien concept except to those who uphold the values of the upper class.
There is another line that separates the haves from the have nots, not in the sense of those who lack and have money but rather, political power (besides the other kinds of power that exist, such as economic power): and it is, having experienced intimidation.
I’m willing to bet that those who remain skeptical of Jun Lozada’s motives and statements have never experienced the full panoply of official and social intimidation that comprises life for most of our countrymen. This is because the skeptics have always been in the position of being immune to intimidation or who blithely take it for granted as a kind of necessity to keep uppity underlings in line. Or who have lived such insulated lives that it frankly amazes them when someone claims they didn’t have options to explore in their self-defense.
In other words, their inability to fully grasp what Lozada’s gone through is a failure of the imagination. Of empathy.
But it is a situation most Filipinos can appreciate, because they have encountered it on some level at some part of their lives. Whether a slum dweller at the mercy of urban gangs, predatory police, bodyguard-protected officials, or Chinese Filipinos subjected to the BIR, PNP indifference to kidnapping and extortion, the middle class person subjected to mulcting cops, bureaucrats on the take, judges for sale, the appreciation of official intimidation is something that crosses ethnic and economic lines.
But it can also be something that varies in degree and method, and so for some, being subjected to the combined squeeze of the executive and legislative branches as described by Lozada -and floundering in it- seems inconceivable and thus, unbelievable. But for the rest, they know first hand how official intimidation takes on many forms, not all of it overt, most of it calculated on the premise that a reminder of the resources officialdom can mobilize in its own interests and defense is enough -and much more than any one person or family can, or should, resist.
We are a story-telling culture, an aural and oral culture, sensitive to the nuances betrayed by one’s conversational style, constantly trying to situate people in our society’s landscape: we look for what a person’s accent betrays in terms of background, what one’s storytelling style tells about them, constantly forming and reforming a mental image of the story being told and whether it makes sense. Gut feel becomes a sort of scientific method. And in a society that profoundly distrusts all institutions, the arena in which contending forces clash, and public opinion is formed, and where the advantages of the powerful are blunted, is an instinctive form of checks-and-balances the public craves.
Even the best-honed script, by its very nature manufactured, can be torn to shred and wily lawyers, for example, foiled in the face of hammering away at testimony yet failing to get a witness to recant or contradict previous testimony. Which is why these hearings tend to take a tremendous amount of time and why appeals to leave things to the courts leaves the public cold.
Oh. And in case you missed it, Unseating of Panlilio as governor starts.
hvrds,
If you don’t mind…
…Brilliant description; flawed prognosis.
A downsizing of the government (reduced overhead, increased efficiency), a stronger balance sheet (reduced debt, stronger peso), a radicaly healthier P&L and cash flow, and the rapid growth of a white collar, BPO industry (no, don’t just think call center at 3am) will most likely result in a reverse brain-drain.
The only limit to BPO/KPO/O&O growth here is the number of qualified workers available for the exploding demand.
The pump-priming in the infrastructure sector also offers the skilled OFW types a new chance to get lucrative jobs here. Remember: Many contracts went to international entities and they surely value internationally-experienced engineers/skilled labor…who are from the host country and will accept a non-“hardship” wage.
No sir, the most likely future development is a rapid increase in the middle class sector and a rapid re-patriation of “overseas” Pinoys (regardless of citizenship status).
That’s the positive development that might get aborted by all this political BS, by the way. That’s why I get pissed off now and then.
@brianb
“hvrds, all and well but this does not explain why the VAST majority are not fighting back. Naloloko lang ba, natatakot?”
Natatakot siempre. Kaya nga we are all here Not using our real names when we post.
At least we are semi-vocal about our displeasure. Maybe when those people who go abroad and live in places where standards are high come back home, they will notice the difference and not put up with it.
We can perhaps see what is happening in the South of Italy today. With people traveling and working all over the world, they come home and suddenly realize “Teka, bakit ako magbabayad ng lagay sa Mafia to protect my business? Wala namang ganun sa Canada ah…”
BrianB:
I don’t think it is the place of the VAST majority to fight back.
A favorite phrase I read in Dune, I think, applies:
“A world is supported by four things… the learning of the wise, the justice of the great, the prayers of the righteous and the valor of the brave. But all of these are as nothing without a ruler who knows the art of ruling.”
Those in the lower classes deserve to be led and managed properly by those above them. Meanwhile, those in the lower classes deserve to have a say on who will lead and manage them.
My hope is that someone from the lower classes will emerge braver, wiser, more righteous and greater than our current crop of elite as a result of our national experiences right now. Until that time, those of us lucky enough to be in the middle and at the top of our society have the obligation to be the answers to the prayers of those below us.
Similarly, we can say waitaminute…why do I have to put up with GMA? Ano ba ranking niya among national leaders? A bit higher than Mugabe, but definitely waaay lower than Helen Clarke in terms of integrity.
I just watched ANC’s Strictly Politics show hosted by Pia Hontiveros.The comments by the Presidential Deputy Spokesperson were so pathetic:
1)She claimed there were different variants of the Truth.The truth according to the government,the truth according to Jun Lozada,etc.Since when did The Truth have variants?
2)She claimed that the airport video showed that Jun Lozada was walking freely together with his captors.He was also free to use his cell phone.Yeah,right!
3)She claimed that the “president can’t be distracted and will be focused on the economy”.Of course,she had to add “let’s move on!” .(This is always the Step 3 of the Palace after every scandal).Translation:Let’s forgive and forget!
4)She claimed that there is no evidence to link directly the President.Is she saying that Mike Arroyo is not a direct link to Gloria?Have they finally divorced???
5)She said that Jun Lozada is answerable for the “petty scandals ” linked to him by Miriam in his Phil.Forest job.(How about the MEGA Scandals linked to GLORIA?)
This lady,Lorelie Fajardo was probably reading the script of Bunye (“How To Deny,Deny Deny To the Bitter End”).
mlq3: nitpicking … it’s romulo not romeo. He has the height of one and he sometimes thinks he’s the other. 😀
Yes, nash, exactly.
The global winds are blowing just right for everyone here. The reverse brain drain will ride in on the investment inflows and will participate in the expansion of the domestic economy. Smart, global money (that includes any Pinoy that’s been overseas, btw) will place bets on the prospects of extended double-digit growth. (It already has)
And yes, these new economic forces will not be beholden to the traditional powers-that-be; nor will they be muzzled or controlled. And that’s how political changes occur.
And that’s why we might be best off trying to maintain the structures of the institutions, rather than once again throwing the rules out the window…only to go back to zero…negative zero. Maybe it’s better to just win the votes the next election.
Open the economy to the world, corral the outsourcing jobs, and ride the Next Wave of the new Megatrends revolution.
Or not.
brian, no. a strong sense of privacy and the belief one should maintain a stiff upper lip in public isn’t that. it’s an aspect of a particular kind of culture, the way delicadeza is: this is randy david’s point about the old feudal virtues, which respected obligations on both sides.
“Those in the lower classes deserve to be led and managed properly by those above them.”
The lower classes are getting smarter. The rich dumber. Even with their Harvard degrees (probably got in because of donations) I find many of the elite undeserving of the intellectual respect the wider public gives them. In Southeast Asia we probably have the most mediocre elite. Our middle class and lower class can beat their counterparts.
And shit, I use my real name.
Geo:
I don’t doubt that your strategy for economic development is viable.
What do you propose we do about the NBN affair? I personally don’t think it should be business as usual.
“mediocre elite”
oxymoron ha. 😀
please, let us stop using the word ‘elite’ to refer to the rich and the politicians.
I use my real name here…
Manolo, this attitude may not have been hypocritical in those times but in these, er, democratic times, it is. You have a lolo, I have a lolo. I remember he once told me how the rich pols would bribe people. Many would not accept but had to eventually fearing they’d be resented. That’s how they conditioned Filipinos to be enthusiastic bribe takers.
The Equalizer :
Every single scandal of the PIDAL COUPLE follow a clear pattern.Here are the three (3) basic STEPS:
Step 1: Anomalies, Scandals EXPOSED
Step 2: Brazen Lies,Briberies,Cover-ups,Deceptions
Step 3: C’mon,Let’s Move On! We can’t be distracted!
Then another mega scandal,repeat steps 1 to 3!
Why are the PIDALS getting away with it,over and over again?
—-BECAUSE OF PEOPLE LIKE BONG AUSTERO,BENCARD,THE CAT, ALEX MAGNO,ATIENZA, ERMITA, GONZALES, etc multipLIED many times over!—
JMC,
Investigate and prosecute (if there’s a viable case).
you know…all this talk about the elite and the powerful reminds me of the pre-martial law years. a new elite came out during martial law…the cronies and the inteligentsia …the bright young boys of Marcos – remember?
gosh, it’s a vicious cycle we have to learn how to break or else we’ll have another golem on our hands…
Mita, Marcos was one man, his cohorts a few man. few bad apples don’t mean we’re an orchard of evil.
BrianB:
“In Southeast Asia we probably have the most mediocre elite. Our middle class and lower class can beat their counterparts.”
Restoring trust between all stakeholders in the Philippine society is a difficult thing. I find Lozada’s performance in the Senate to be a great source of inspiration. What better way to go about restoring trust than telling the whole truth and nothing but the truth?
@mita,
now i realise i’m using the wrong definition of elite. i’m so young kase (just turned 17, pwe) 😀
anyways, yeah ‘elite’ is such a bad term (sina joma kasi!)
i think we should elevate the word ‘elite’ to it’s once lofty status; ie when we say ‘elite athlete’, or ‘elite leader’ or ‘elite doctor’ we mean ‘worldclass’
With this usage, we should all be elitists (don’t tell that leech joma, he still alive apparently living off the welfare system of a non-commie nation)
at ikaw naman, mita nga real name mo, eh ang daming ‘mita’ ano. so you are still semi-anonymous.
Because IT 👿 is not the truth unless it passes the test of TRUTHINESS???? 😉
brian, what they are are no longer effective. i’m working on an article where my assertion is, delicadeza as an effective concept died on a particular day: when emmanuel pelaez said he preferred to lose the nacionalista party nomination rather than do certain things to get delegates’ votes. other politicians of a traditional mold knew what marcos had in him and were trying a last-ditch effort to keep him from the final leg of his path to the presidency. when people heard about pelaez’s self control, it they stampeded to marcos’ side. twenty years later, pelaez was being rushed to the hospital, riddled with bullets, and making that famous complaint, “what is happening to our country?”
i had an interesting talk with alan peter cayetano who after all is always nice to everyone and gamely talked to me about my criticisms of him. one story he told me struck me, though. he said he discussed whether it would be a good idea to restore the two party system, to restore some sort of party cohesion to the senate. and roxas replied, “mahirap. natikman na nila eh.” referring to the way each senator views himself as a independent power.
what’s supposed to replaced informal cultural traditions -that certain things may be legal or illegal but what matters most is that certain acts will subject one to the contempt of one’s peers- is an impersonal law, etc. then it becomes neither a question of taste, taboo nor tradition but simply, a matter of the rule of law.
but, well… instead of the rule of law we have legalism, which is different.
“This is because the skeptics have always been in the position of being immune to intimidation or who blithely take it for granted as a kind of necessity to keep uppity underlings in line. Or who have lived such insulated lives that it frankly amazes them when someone claims they didn’t have options to explore in their self-defense.”
He, he. I’m glad someone thinks this way. This is so true. When I was in college I was often amazed of how clueless some people there was about their own country. But, then again, I actually never allowed myself to be fooled. I know these people know they are perpetuating the culture of our undemocratic past every day when no one is looking or at least when they are with peers. In class they are so knowledgeable about equality and injustices in South Africa and old US of A but somehow it never seemed to hit them or at least they didn’t mind that they are doing something very similar in their own back yard.
Brian,
It’s not just Marcos. It’s the REPETITION of events and circumstances that led to martial law which bothers me. Don’t get me wrong, my belief is people will not stand for another martial law so I don’t see that ever happening…
It’s just – this repetition points to a deeper dysfunction than mere politics – it’s society, it’s the Pinoy mindset to take your share of the pie when the opportunity arises…it’s that feeling of entitlement for being the smarter one, the one in power…
I’m not putting it well at all…I’m no writer and my vocabulary is limited…but there it is…
“instead of the rule of law we have legalism”
Legalism happens because we lack the most precious fundamental in a free society… thorough grounding in our Bill of Rights. Like I keep repeating, school kids should learn the B of R by heart.
@UP n,
Ikaw ha, Colbertista ka pala.
“I’m not putting it well at all…I’m no writer and my vocabulary is limited…but there it is…”
He, and my subject-verb agreement suck when energies is low.
Reads my comment prior to these and see where I’m getting at.
Geo, regarding your recommendation above of “ downsizing…government“, i’m reminded of this comment from Dani Rodrik’s blog:
Those who believe in the ideal of a minimalist government that doesn’t get in the way of individual enterprise need to bear this in mind.
How about ‘elitist’?
“i’m working on an article where my assertion is, delicadeza as an effective concept died on a particular day:”
These obligations you mentioned are utilitarian. In times of rapid change, these old obligations mutate into something our generation are very familiar with: opportunism. I think you are wrong in thinking the old way was a way of virtue, that delicadeza is a true virtue. Delicadeza has always sounded like an ad hoc version of ethics to me. It worked for an era, but it doesn’t work today. I’m looking for a deeper virtue, a virtue that does not change with the time because it is universal. Call it the Bill of Rights, the Ten Commandments, being Christian. Were the elite ever any of these?
cvj,
I was talking about the monthly costs/expenditures. I don’t think anyone will argue that there’s no fat to trim in the gov bureaucracy. This country can’t succeed until its finances are in order.
Change the economic dynamics, change the political dynamics.
Manolo,
that is what I’m looking for. I believe rights and civil liberties as written in constitutions all over the world should work in any era, whatever the limitations. These old ways and old codes are simply how things were. That they seemed better than what we have today is, I’m sorry, but a myopic POV.
Geo, if you really believe in ‘trimming the fat‘ from government, why then are you opposed to investigating the ones who are most responsible for it? That 329Million USD worth of fat right there.
Sen. Joker Arroyo said that Jun Lozada appeared to be a credible witness but he needed to present documents.
Okay, the following have been presented in connection with Jun’s account of the kidnapping:
1. A handwritten request for protection that Jun said he was forced to write inside the car while under the custody of his kidnappers. Stupid Razon. If Jun really wanted police protection, he would have asked his wife to write a request well ahead of his arrival. In forcing Jun to write a request for protection after he arrived and was already in police custody, Razon created the absurd situation where “protection” was given even before it was requested. Stupid Razon, as in stupid reason.
2. An affidavit that was drafted by Atty. Bautista on the instructions of Atty. Gaite and which Jun was forced to sign with reservations. The affidavit could not be notarized because the falsifiers could not find a notary public willing to ratify the document in the absence of Jun.
3. A typewritten request for protection that Col. Mascarinas forced Jun’s sister Carmen to sign. When the media started pointing out the absurdity of the police’s giving “protection” before it was requested, the stupid police forced Carmen to sign an antedated written request.
What possible document does Joker expect Jun to submit that will prove that he was seized upon exiting the plane and driven by his captors all the way to Los Banos?
If Joker means documents that will prove that FG and his gangsters were out to collect commissions from the NBN deal, everybody knows that grafters and corrupters don’t keep minutes of meetings or sign memorandums of agreement. This sordid business can only be proved by corroborated testimonies by witnesses with direct knowledge. That’s how they nail down Mafia’s goodfellas. That there were commissions on the ZTE-NBN deal has been proven by the corroborating testimonies of JDV3, Romy Neri, and Jun Lozada, all credible witnesses with direct knowledge of the matter (although I wish Neri would be so shamed by Jun’s courage and take his testimony to its logical conclusion).
Atty. Fely Arroyo a human rights lawyer? What kind of human rights lawyer is she who obstructs justice by advising a possible witness against testifying truthfully in a Senate investigation? Now, Joker claims that this thing about his wife is a personal matter. Excuse me? He’s a senator of the Republic investigating a corruption case and when his wife talked with and gave advice to a possible witness in the case, he calls it a personal matter? Should I believe that Atty. Fely didn’t discuss the meeting with Sen. Joker while, maybe, in bed before dropping off to sleep?
At the very least, Atty. Fely Arroyo should be investigated.
@cvj
élite in old french- selection, choice; that which is chosen…which if you dig for the latin root comes down to elligare “to elect”
So we should all be ‘elitists’ and select only the best and the brightest….
Diba? Tayo ba ay magpapagamot sa duktor na hindi magaling? Ganun rin sa gobyerno, hindi pwede ang pwede na.
😀
Nash
President for the Movement to Return “elite” to its positive definition.
delicadeza died the moment “practicality” was born in the pinoy psyche.
delicadeza died for me the moment i heard my parents say: aanhin mo ang idealism mong yan kung wala kang ipapakain sa pamilya mo?
there. now we know why our society is so screwed. every filipino thinks that way.
because, higher than delicadeza, filipinos value their family the most. so damn everything, and sell one’s soul, just so in the end, one’s family gets by. isn’t that admirable if it wasn’t so tragic?
brian, my view is the virtues don’t mutate, they are discarded outright, either replaced with something better or worse. or they can evolve, particularly if adopted by more who then give them a broader meaning.
we differ on the value of tradition but i do believe the more useful search is for something that is less subjective than a cultural norm. because as there are more of us and there’s less and less of a chance any particular kind of culture will be dominant, well, what can be the pluralistic values then?
one person one vote, basic concepts of human rights, etc. they all have ancient origins, but have been refined or expanded over time.
my point was that the old values did much to enforce self-control but they stopped working at a certain point and like virginity, once lost, old values can’t be restored. at least not a large scale. in which case the search for something more workable. but to understand why we’re looking for that something new requires recognizing both the positive attributes and weaknesses of what came before, in particular, why some, at least yearn for what once was, and yet which has so thoroughly disappeared.
that’s what we’re still trying to figure out.
@devils
“delicadeza died for me the moment i heard my parents say: aanhin mo ang idealism mong yan kung wala kang ipapakain sa pamilya mo?” – lalo na kung sampu ang anak mo naaayon sa turo ng mga obispo….
shaman, you’re letting the drama get to you….the senate hearing is for NBN … let’s not lose sight of that or we’ll get sidetracked. there are other issues attached to the testimony which matters to the country more than a purported kidnapping of a man who is now safe. there’s the issue of systemic corruption in government for one…
cvj, all this time geo has been posting here i don’t recall him ever saying he was opposed to investigating anyone….the issue has always been (for me anyway) – will it lead to anything?
cvj,
Who said I was against investigating fraud/corruption? I recently said “investigate and prosecute”.
with my limited vocabulary – all we need in every Pinoy is PLAIN DECENCY…
“By contrast, mainstream economists argued, a technologically advancing industrial society was bound to be different. First, the key resources that command high prices and thus produce wealth are not fixed, like land, but are variable: the skills of craft workers and engineers, the energy and experience of entrepreneurs, and machines and buildings are all things that can be multiplied. As a result, high prices for scarce resources lead not to zero- or negative-sum political games of transfer but to positive-sum economic games of training more craft workers and engineers, mentoring more entrepreneurs and managers, and investing in more machines and buildings.”
“Second, democratic politics balances the market. Government educates and invests, increasing the supply and reducing the premium earned by skilled workers, and lowering the rate of return on physical capital. It also provides social insurance by taxing the prosperous and redistributing benefits to the less fortunate. Economist Simon Kuznets proposed the existence of a sharp rise in inequality upon industrialization, followed by a decline to social-democratic levels.” J. Bradford De Long from”In Marx’s Shadow Again
Development is a slow evolutionary process from the land to capital. That is the heart of capitalism. Industrial Capitalism. This has transformed the land and urbanized a large part of th planet. Financial capitalism or financialization is about future values. The monetization and commoditization of optimism. All supported by the strong state apparatus of a fiat currency system under rules of law concerning contracts and property rights. The heart of economics.
Where is the Philippines in this evolutionary process. The political institutions of state and effective and weak states themselves are a product of this evolutionary economic developmental process. The Marxists or Communists who run the People’s Republic of China are pragmatic theoreticians of Marxist thought. They have not raised Marxist analysis to a dogma. In the Philippines the distorted model of development affected by the accidents of history.
What you are seeing is the effect of this distorted unequal distribution of assets. The word land or argrarian reform is a misnomer. It trivializes and narrows the focus. Economic development is possible only where governments redistribute assets. Asset reform – public infrastructure (including the avialability of reasonable credit terms) and social spending to build up human capital.
This only possible thorugh economic nationalism of which monetary nationalism is an integral part. The reason for armed conflict in the 20th century was extreme nationalism and protectionaism practiced by the industrial economies. Imperialism was practiced and now we have a dominant force after the armed struggles that have moved to international forums and armed conflicts are less total wars but smaller conflicts.
Let us look at the people who are calling for change -Cory, Maceda, Guingona, Erap. The crooks in the Palace to be replaced by a familiar but the same philosophical mindset.
Can these so called leaders call for a revolutionary change that is necessary to strengthen the institutions of state primarily by becoming hard nosed about collecting taxes and enforcing the laws to do it. When it comes to fiscal policy the state has to become a facist state. The hand of steel should be prevalent only in that agency of the state.
Singapores main road to success is their policy of forced savings. The prevalence of all those public assets came from that policy. Subsidized housing and health care came with that policy.
That is what asset reform has wrought. Unfortunately all institutional build ups happend only during times of extreme crisis. That is when elightened leadership stepped in to intervene in the inevitability of historical forces.
Push the envelope and strive for substantive change but do not allow the same type of people to take the lead.
It would be preferable to leave Big Mike and GMA in charge as they will surely blow themselves up anyway because of their arogance and greed.
My wet dream is seeing their entire family in the bright colors of a prison outfit in handcuffs walking the walk of shame.
People need symbols of statepower and the power to dispense equitable justice is paramount to the building of a nation state. That is the heart of a classless society. Equal opportunity and equal before the law.
@UP n
I hate to engage in “truthiness”, but that’s pretty much all I got.. 😉
hvrds:
“… Push the envelope and strive for substantive change but do not allow the same type of people to take the lead. …”
From where we are, what next?
BrianB, Agree with you that children should know the Bills of Rights by heart and practice them too..I don’t know if the term “delikadeza” or Pride are one and the Same, but if someone ask why even with very Lenient Penalties and enforcement of most minor offenses here are spotty, still people just don’t go out and break them, we just simply answer we have PRIDE..
Manolo, are you sure you do not confuse etiquette with ethics? The old elite is as rapacious as the new. They probably stole more. The process was merely straightforward. Where I come from it’s called “turo turo.” The well-placed would point at the horizon then trace the land to as far as his eyes could see and call it “his land.” Of course conscience-wise those old thieves were less burdened compared to the new thieves simply because of their old belief that education and culture gave a man more right.
brian, i suppose so if you subscribe to the concept that property is theft.
this is a simple case of taking the logical events to its conclusion.
good people, don’t kill. bad people do.
good vs bad, good loses. bec they always get killed.
so bad people stay on top, and sometimes even multiply, because good people getting killed is a reinforcing lesson on semi-bad people and on semi-good people.
that being good is bad for your health.
so more step over to the dark side.
the level of education of an individual is inversely proportional to the number of kids they will produce.
and the more kids an individual has, the lesser chances these kids have of acquiring a higher or even the same degree of education their parents had. since this is a spillover cycle, succeeding generations would elicit a vicious cycle. having had less or no education, they reproduce even more. and their kids, even more!
dumadami ang pobre, kumokonti ang edukado.
media is powerful. BUT media, panders to the masses. the least of the educated. so, media, the ever powerful brainwashing machine, not only dumbs down the already dumb poor, but affects everyone else tuned in to it. including the rich brats who’ll someday take control of their parents empire. so stupidity though not medically contagious, spreads like the black plague.
it’s a dynamic combination! more miseducation, more unwanted population! we’re nicely coming along in the words of the revelation. it’s spinning out of control too!
more unwanted population? the more quality of education falls, the better breeding ground for more unwanted population! isn’t this what the church wants? and why not? it’s God’s word! we’re only fulfilling the end as prophesied.
and its not only the religious who gets to say “i told ya so!” but even those who believe in science. for this is evolution at its finest. man, edging out, marginalizing, the best and brightest, the kindest, most good, visionary gene-carriers among them so that the vile, stupid, cruelest, myopic gene-carriers can thrive.
i think it won’t be long before we beat the cockroach at their own game.
Nash, i don’t think modern society with its level of functional decomposition has room for the elite or elitists. That’s a pre-modern concept. Instead, what we need in good measure are specialists and generalists.
Say, tonight’s news had something about a rally on Friday. What’s being planned, Manolo?