Cheap Populace

I can still remember Rico Yan's death from a few years ago. Not that it held any special meaning to me, it's just that media has made it so sensationalized, and the mass lapped it all up. "Nagluluksa ang buong bansa" said Boy Abunda on the feed. I certainly wasn't. Sure I felt sadness for his untimely demise, but I wasn't mourning for him. He did not hold any special meaning to me, other than that he was a young actor.
This is what irks me. There are certain aspects of Filipino society that cheapens its identity as a nation. We are so immersed with misplaced pride, drunken with drama, and live on apathy, but to which we rabidly react if we find any manifest blurbs subtle or not against our downtrodden country. We, like I've previously pointed out on my other blog, are fame parasites. We feast on the scandals, we make it our own. We lose the ability to delineate reality from the telenovelas bombarded by our local networks. And so, their story becomes our story. In the end, we wallow in self pity, because we feel that others are unjust.
The now defunct Wowowee showcases such examples of ludicrous showmanship of an ordinary Pinoy. Funny, that these foolhardy folks never had any second thoughts in telling the story of their lives, which for the most part are about suffering, always, always with tears in their eyes when they stand in front of the camera, that whatever they say is almost close to your staple telenovela its sickening. I've never had any qualms in telling everyone I know about the abhorrence I feel whenever the subject of wowowee came up. It's just media profiteering, filled with vulgarisms and so-so performances.
Enter the movies, there are so few, few which you'd consider as original, or at least thought provoking. Indie films are sadly, not as Indie films should be. They are porn in disguise. Mainstream movies are all about your sappy love stories it borders monotony. Gahd, I'm thankful of foreign films that seem to fill the gap for the need for quality films, which I'm sure cannot be appreciated by the masses. I hate to mention it, but pinoy films are vacuous and non-cerebral at the most. Its always your run of the mill pa tweetums movies that make me gag at best. Storylines that are recycled over and over, everything falls into predictability, that all of which changes are the title, and the names in the story.
I miss the old films, those which are the masterpieces of Lino Brocka, Ishmael Bernal and the likes. They were truly socially relevant. But then again, Pinoys of that generation haven't fallen into apathy, and they faced the harsh realities of everyday life with might and great forbearance. Not this generation. We are inundated with unprecedented corruption, year after year, our core values eroded, and all that is left is a numbed society drugging itself with make believe puke worthy love stories and certified copycat ideas (imortal-makes me wince bigtime). Where do we go from here?
The music, oh, we still have some original pinoy music. BUT, (a very big but), we are also saturated with rehash, remake, (whatever you'd like to call it) of old foreign songs, that are either binibirit, or were popular 2 or 3 decades ago. What's with that?
(will continue-in other words, abangan ang susunod na kabanata...hahaha, I miss that sitcom)

Nakikisakay atbp.

Fame parasites, sometimes I see us Pinoys as fame parasites. Masyadong gutom ang mga pinoy sa world recognition, na sa bawat ugong na nagawa ni ganito at ni ganire, basta makabitan lang ng Filipino ang lahi, kahit pa 1/16th lang ang halo, aariin pa rin natin as atin, "we're so proud of you" ibabandila pa natin. Kamukat-mukat mo, di naman pala alam ng pinag mamalaki natin na may lahi pala siyang noypi, tapos kapag nalaman niya, at nakita niya sa mga social sites like twitter, facebook, friendster, myspace etc. at ipinagbandila pa sa TV Patrol, 24 Oras at mga local news, bigla siyang magkakaroon ng tv guestings and press conferences. Biglang magnified ang pagka-pinoy at na itsapwera na ang other 10 blood lineages (you get my point).
Come Charice na nagkaroon ng pagkakataong lumitaw sa palabas na Glee, at sa marami pang shows, samantalang dati virtual unknown lang, di rin pinapansin locally, eh nang magpakitang gilas sa isang korean TV show, biglang umugong ang pangalan. Salamat sa Youtube. "Go Charice, we're so proud of you!" now we are recognizing her, wow.
O si Manny, nakikisakay na naman tayo sa panalo niya. Pati ang nanay niyang si aling Dionesia, sikat na din. Only in the Philippines, Nakuha pang manalo yata sa pulitika at the same time. And of course TV shows. Sa kaganapang mga ganito, magaling ang mga local channels para makabangko sila ng malaking pera. Sikat eh, e di agawan sa mga personalidad na ito habang mainit pa ang pangalan. Bibigyan ng pelikula kahit parang mas magaling pang mag acting si bantay na na train mag "sit", "rollover" at "jump". Yung kamag-anak isinama na rin for comedy shows, kahit ang nakakatawa lang eh ang pagmumukha. So now, thinking about it, makikita mo ang quality ng nakikita mong palabas sa mga channels na ito. Titirik na lang ang mata mo.

Sa ibang issue...
And to set things straight lang, may iba pa akong nakikitang issue, na ramdam ko kahit wala ako sa Pinas ngayon. Madali raw tayo mainsulto, kasi konting kurot lang ngumangawa na tayo at sumisigaw ng foul. Well this is not always true. In the event of the actress na gumaya kuno sa accent ng pinoy, may pagkakataon siguro na di rin naman ako magre-react, pero in the context na tahasang pagtawanan, after the host made her imitate American, and then the British accent, both of which are predominantly English speaking, tapos yung sa Pinoy, and it's deliberate ha, siyempre, it will rub you the wrong way. Yung kay Claire Danes naman when asked about Manila, (I think she said it's a horrible place or whatever), totoo naman yun eh. Kahit saan ka pa mag-ikot, makikita mo basura nakatilapon sa kung saan-saan, mga umiihi sa daan, tingin ka sa manila bay, mga plastic bottles at kung anu-anong basura ang makikita mong lumulutang, mga pasaway na drivers, mga saksakan dito, nakawan duon, snatching at pickpocketing sa divisoria, etc etc.. Idi-deny pa ba natin yun? But that doesn't mean na US is a perfect place. Musta naman yun. Kung anung meron tayo, meron din sila. Pero ang punto, Claire was just stating what she observed. Period. And she answered it not make fun of us, but rather to state candidly how she felt.
to be continued...

Foiled well meaning plans makes me think that life is out there to get me. I think this has long been discovered by those people in the looney, they knew about it, got stuck with the thought and abandoned their sanity.
My plans are on queue. I'm borrowing that word from an e-mail correspondence I had this morning. The future, my future, is slowly but surely becoming a cloudy smoke of uncertainty. Hope right now to me is just an ontological curiosity. When things get bad, they turn for the worse. Faith I have, and hope too. I think they are in a place where I can't see them right now. I have very confusing thoughts as well, and feelings. I dread the mornings, but I also anticipate them. Failed expectations do that. Everyday I'd wake up praying each day will be better than yesterday, either that it won't suck as much or a good news will remind me that life still smiles upon my poor old me.
Questions drum in my mind, "Did I make a hasty move?, Do I have regrets with the decisions I made?, did I do the right thing?", by putting it bluntly, did I screw up big time? Oh dear Lord, I hope not-(hmm, was that a prayerful expression?)
What I'm most scared about is my life spinning out of control. I don't know what's going to happen, and I don't know what to expect. I feel like a kid whose favorite toy has been snatched forcibly from his hands not knowing when it's gonna be given back. I don't like the waiting, time for me is either too short or too long, and that's one hell of a perspective.
This is frustration. A big one, and it's been building up for months. I heard someone say that we don't actually get what we deserve, we just... get. I wonder if that makes sense...
(will continue)