To Pandering Politicos: If You Can’t Do It Then Don’t
Aside from the blatant use of the memory of dead people as campaign foundation, there is another campaign trend all voters should be wary of. It’s that cheesy use of the “Hindi ko ito kaya mag-isa pero sa tulong niyo magagawa ko” (I cant do this alone but with your help I can) line not a few politicians like to use for dramatic effect and to prop up their substance-free campaigns.
Now I don’t know about you but for me this is simply unacceptable. Nakakainsulto eh. Obviously, politicians who run their campaign on this crap think voters are stupid. I know I’m not. How about you?
On second thought maybe these politicians do have basis to think such empty rhetoric can still work. I won’t single out any one particular person but in this blog alone a few commenters have been displaying their voting immaturity. You can easily recognize the type. They are those who rabidly defend certain candidates against — of all things — legitimate calls for platforms. These people are so juvenile they are easily convinced to support certain candidates as if there are already enough relevant information with which to base their decision on.
Ok, I may be generalizing too much. Not all of these premature supporters lack the necessary intelligence to vote wisely. Some of them are actually smart — smart enough to act like real supporters when in truth they are actually paid hacks. Some are smarter even in that they are backing up this or that candidate not for loose change but for political leverage. Btw, these people are quite easy to detect. They are usually involved in high-level “volunteer” work for the candidates. Some of them serve as spokspersons or advisers. Afew are public personalities themselves who are now also being tagged for inclsion in their candidates’ respective line-ups. I don’t want to insult creepy crawlers but these characters can easily be likened to leeches.
But enough about these shady characters. Let’s go back to this “Hindi ko ito kaya mag-isa pero sa tulong niyo magagawa ko” drama. If you really think hard about it you’d probably realize that a politician who wants to lead on a national level shouldn’t really be using such a line. Think about it. What kind of a president would such a candidate be? Di pa nga nagsisimula alam na niya na hindi niya kaya. If he/she can’t do it on his own then he/she has no business running for higher office. Of course, the rabid supporters of such candidates will simply say their bets are just being humble. Puhleez. Ever heard of false humility?
What’s even funnier is that these non-thinking rabid supporters lap up such lines even though their candidates do not really say what exactly it is that they cannot do on their own. Apparently, these people are real suckers for vague statements. “Hindi ko ito kaya mag-isa…” What does “ito” refer to anyway? Ask 10 fanatics and you can be sure you’ll get 10 different interpretations. Even then they still think they are all on the same page. I think they call that unity.
“Hindi ko ito kaya mag-isa pero sa tulong niyo magagawa ko”
Seriously, have you ever encountered a politician who turns to his/her constituents for advice or support after they get elected? I know I haven’t. Let’s be realistic here. The only time politicians find us useful is during the election season. After that they simply forget we exist. I don’t know about you but I don’t really care if a politician turns into a snob after he or she is voted into office as long as he/she is competent and confident enough to lead with or without my support.
I liked what I have read so far. I really liked it. And you are so right that the electorate – those who can read blogs and those who have not touched a keyboard other that those they picked up from the garbage mound they call “our livelihood?” – is sadly bereft of any idea what a solid and doable platform is.
I can only offer one *guess* – all their lives, pasimula mga lolo sa tuhod – they have not experienced any comparative platform to use as a yardstick if what is being offered is the better one. In short, election after election, pahirap at pahirap ang pinas.
As to your chagrin about “Hindi ko ito kaya mag-isa pero sa tulong niyo magagawa ko” – well, aside from the *need* of the campaign HQ to justify where the campaign *donations* go, the majority of the voters are not buying into this. This is not exactly a good sign. Cynicism.
Mahirap ipaliwanag sa nakakaraming gutom kung bakit sagrado ang boto nila. Kaya kung nais nating maunawaan nila ang maayos nating pagpapaliwanag kung ano nga ba ang kagandahan ng plataporma na isang kandidato, we have do to our own small bit to alleviate the famished will of the people.
When all we had was BBS, that’s electronic bulletin boards, predecessor to the Internet as we now know it, I was young enough and naïve enough to believe that *perceived* honesty is enough , and I literally marched with the “yellow fever.” I am much older now, wiser too.
We kicked out KBL and Marcos. They are back. Cory, because “we” believed she was better than Marcos, we “tolerated” her Kamaganak, Inc., so we tolerated her anointing Tabako. Tabako? He did not even get slapped on the wrist for that Expo white elephant and “what happened to the AFP modernization fund?” *They* kicked out Erap, we got Gloria, with Tabako right behind her back, for now. Now, Erap is back. Everybody who raped the people is back, and they now have a younger generation of *leaders* wanting to do *better.*
The country has been so debased by our socio-political system that we have been reduced to a romanticized zombies, waiting for that *hero* who can show us how to leave this dungeon of encompassing [body, mind, soul] poverty.
Magbabago ang Pilipinas *kapag* hindi lang gusto na ng mga Pilipino ay ang mabago ang takbo ng bansa, kundi kapag alam na nila na ang pagbabago ay kailangang magumpisa sa bawat sarili.
I wish you well.
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admin Reply:
November 7th, 2009 at 12:40 pm
mon,
thanks. my hope is to see more people especially those of us who are educated reaching out to poor communities and providing proper voters education. the way i see it the less educated need only be informed that they can help themselves starting with using their votes wisely. we should make them see through the standard political lies and motherhood statements and teach them how to properly assess each and every candidate.
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I wholeheartedly agree with your assertion; the people must be informed and educated. For this is the only way to empower them. For those who have the wherewithal to extend their positive influence a bit wider, then I wish them the best.
The good news is the people are very much aware that they are being taken for a fool. The bad news is, like them, I also cannot see any candidate who can rise from the putrid political landscape that has the qualities of a genuine leader, because the very system we all find ourselves in have been designed to thwart critical thinking and people empowerment.
Thus, the bulk of the struggle as I see it is how do we dismantle a system that is so deeply entrenched and well-oiled by unfathomable capitalization to perpetually bombard the people with disempowering fill-in the blanks….And dehumanizing fill-in the blanks.
This is going be gross, but, it is akin to being gang-raped continuously. Alam ng biktima na mali ang ginagawa sa kanila at alam nila na kailangan nilang pigilin ang mga gumagahasa, kaya yung may pagkakataon, tumatakas. OFWs. Ironically, after the figurative rape, the literal rape continues.
A man is lying on the pavement, his jacket is on fire. To save the man, we need to extinguish the fire, and remove the jacket from him. Then we can start applying all the necessary treatment. How do we address the flaming jacket? We who can, do what we can to protect ourselves, so we can help the man.
If one really wants to hear how the poor folks make a living, then get off that couch and talk to them *out there.* Then make a commitment, “which of my wants am I willing to forego, and how much money from that foregone want am I willing to put in *their* mouth [through educational subsidy], so that they can at least have the intellectual foundation to even consider the value of what I want to tell them?
Listening to the plight of the poor so we can do something tangible about the situation is good. Not doing anything about it and finding it “entertaining” is well, what can I say?
Without transforming walk-the-talk, there is no empathy.
So far most bloggers I have encountered find something *new* in Mr. Perlas. Yet, how many are willing step out of the comfort zone of betting on who is good for the country, and who is winnable? Eh, kaya nga hind maging winnable ang pagbabago, ang madami eh gusto doon sa lumang bago.
Also, assuming I am better educated, this does not in anyway grant me the power nor the right to illumine anyone who does not see the value of my being “better educated,” or wish to be “educated.” All I have is a choice if I wish to sell my ideas to those who are willing to consider it.
It’s a chicken and egg thing. The voters are wise, but the system has been rigged so well that wise candidates are sidetracked. The moneyed and the media owners, they groom, feed and provide maximum media coverage for their *manoks* who can ensure the status quo stays.
Now I know hindi ko dapat bitbitin ang hindi ko kaya. I need my energy so that with the little sphere of influence I have around me, I can o what I can.. Hindi man makadagdag sa solusyon, eh makabakawas man lang sa problema ng bayan.
The people already can see the duplicity and hollowness of our politicians. What they need is breathing space. How? Mahabang proseso.
Stay well and be well.
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admin Reply:
November 8th, 2009 at 8:31 am
mon,
i beg to disagree many voters are still unwise. i can cite specifically those supporters of noynoy and chiz. it really boggles me how these people can say with all certainty that noynoy and chiz are the best candidates for the presidency. where did they base their decision to make these two platform-less candidates their choice? in noynoy’s case it’s obviously the yellow fever. for chiz, it’s his boy-next-door looks. yun lamang naman talaga yun. now to me supporting these candidates with only that as basis is truly unwise.
there really is no better way to see who can lead our country best than to check the candidates’ platforms. unfortunately, most if not all of our presidential hopefuls would rather regale the public with their drama, pandering statements, empty promises and other crap. the quality of the political debate should be raised, i’m sure you’ll agree. the only way that can be done is by focusing our analysis of the candidates on their platforms. may the candidate with the best set of clear-cut plans win.
the absence of platforms is exactly why i and several other netizens are constantly making noise about the need for platforms. we hope to get more people to join us in this call. it has not been easy but we feel we are slowly getting our message across even to mainstream media. unfortunately, there are still some netizens — specifically those who think noynoy’s honesty and chiz’s good looks are enough qualifications for them to be elected president — who continue to resist the idea that platforms are the best indicators of future performance and therefore the best guiding information that would help us determine who really is the best person that should lead us.
i’m not sure if you have a blog of your own. if you do i invite you to help out in the growing clamor for platforms.
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Now, isn’t that ironic? The “manila girls” and “manila boys,” that is the “non-jologs” are mesmerized still? Yet, here in the province, even our high school students, they are have more piercing questions, judging from my day-to-day conversation with them.
It is the “imperial manila” syndrome.
I used to have an active blog, but the only reason I have this time to do this is I am down with the flu
But I do my small part. I have direct contact with more than a thousand students. Whoever is willing to listen, I share with them my lessons of forlorn radicalism of decades ago.
I also send out “primers” on what to ask themselves in choosing a candidate through their Friendster account
These are “kids” who may not be as articulate as their peers from the city who can afford better schools, but these are kids who are impassioned because they are from the real working class and our college students are mostly working students, they are the more affected, and effective stakeholders.
It is an uphill climb. But we must not lose patience. We are attempting to scrape off mult-century thick worth of socio-cultural-political infirmities. Mahirap bulabugin ang kultura, kasi pasalubong tayo sa agos.
What I have learned is, I need to stay on the high ground, avoid getting sucked-in to the vortex of the euphoric and/or angry mob. I need to distinguish between my advocacy and me, the person.
It is not easy for me to maintain an impassioned objectivity in my passionate subjective sense of what is good for the country.
Hindi din productive to be too confrontational with pinoys, or to anyone for that matter. Yes, there is the unmistakable rush in painting a demagogue into a corner, but that is all there is. We helped one to feel stupid. And we end up wasting our energy.
Focus on the message.
I would suggest for a collective “wish list.” A short list of specific items we believe the candidates like Manny, Erap, Chiz, et al, must specifically address?
The eventuality that we do manage to extract a platform from any of the candidates, the next bigger challenge I see is how do we make them accountable for it? Pagpumalkpak sila, okay lang sa kanila, kasi matagal pa ang eleksiyon, they continue raking in the loot, yet the suffering and betrayed people once again must recover from the trauma of perpetual betrayal of their leaders.
The rahrah boys and rahrah girls of any of those candidates? Let them be. Address those who are not mesmerized yet. Address those who are uncommitted. There is also a need to be a bit sensitive that we are dealing with a fragmented and aborted culture. Walang cookie cutter approach dito. Hindi kasi productive pilitin ang sino man.
My take is, we are not lacking in solutions. Matagal na, at madaming ng creative and doable solutions ang mga naihanda.
When I was more eager and younger, Mr. Ding Lichauco would tell me stories how they came up with economic plans.
It boils down to execution and implementation.
What you and your friends are doing here is integral and necessary. Keep it up. But we also need to have a good grasp of history as to what brought us here, and what gave us a system that has been designed to be a dysfunctional democracy.
I admire your passion. You have an acute mind. Keep it polished, and maintain your eagerness in keeping an open mind. But be patient. That is the hardest part.
Knowlege and wisdom comes to those who seek it. We cannot drum this into anyone’s head.
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admin Reply:
November 8th, 2009 at 11:00 am
mon,
it’s encouraging to know that students in your area are wisening up. i don’t know if you’ve seen it but i have a distrubutable voters education file. you can see it in these links:
http://www.scribd.com/doc/15457533/Hindi-Ako-UtoUto-Movement
http://www.betterphilippines.com/voters-education/introducing-hindi-ako-uto-uto-movement/
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ni-fzvcxMmo
you may be able to use it. : )
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Politicians who tell you: they need your help. Are not
ready to be elected for the positions they are running for.
They dont have programs to solve our problems. They dont
have political, economic and social agendas to pursue.
And no Blueprint to do a good job.
You elect them. They dont know what to do!
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Our political redemption cannot be procured for us by anyone. Anyone who claims, directly or indirectly, that he can do so has to be downright dishonest. An indio of the first class who would become the first Filipino once intoned that “An immoral government is matched by a people without morals; an administration without conscience, by greedy and servile townsmen, and outlaws and robbers in the mountains”. Exiled to a lonely island, this very same indio vigorously turned down an offer from the supremo of the Katipunan to lead the revolution. He gives us the reason why in one of his letters:
I have turned half-physician, half-merchant. I have started a mercantile company here; I have taught the poor inhabitants of Mindanao to unite in order to do business so that they can make themselves independent…and thus be less exploited…. Fortunately, the company prospers; we are making some profit, and the poor Dapitanos have become active and content.
After a stellar career as a propagandist for reform, a career that made him a byword in the nationalist movement, Rizal could only tell us that our biggest enemy is ourselves — our lack of civic virtue. To Mr. Aquino and his friends we say this: No matter how you and your friends despise the current dispensation the forthcoming elections is not going to be an epic battle between the forces of good and evil. This is the real world of politics, not Lord of the Rings. Our problem is lack of citizenship, and it is this affliction that turns our elections into circuses and government into a ship of fools.
Instead of posturing as our redeemer perhaps Noynoy, if he has but a fraction of his father’s conviction and his mother’s moral courage, should say to our people that while it is the duty of government to be accountable, it is the people alone who can enforce that accountability and bring about good government. And perhaps, even with great difficulty, he should accept that the solution to poverty and inequality in this country is not a government of even the most upright among us, but only the kind of entrepreneurial spirit that turned Rizal’s exile in Dapitan into an unprecedented exercise in people empowerment.
Political and economic citizenship, civic virtue in all its forms — these alone can bring about our political redemption. Once more, the great indio: “When a people reach these heights, God provides the weapon, and the idols and the tyrants fall like a house of cards, and freedom shines in the first dawn.”
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