I made the following comment on Torn And Frayed in Manila’s post, Erap: It never happened:
Nothing surprises me in Philippine politics anymore, torn. I think you should get used to it — in a morbid kind of way — like a coroner getting used to the dead.
and it irked a fellow named Cogs:
That’s the spirit, Jon boy! Show ‘em that nothing can tame that great Philippine apathy.
I wonder, have I really become apathetic?
It’s not the first time I was told that. A few years ago I had a few dates with a girl who was an activist, and a staunch believer of the Leftist movement.
At the time I acquired disdain towards the Leftist movement because I’ve gone tired of all its “ibagsak!” mentality. I had initially been attracted to it — being a college journalist exposed us to the openly leftist College Editor’s Guild of the Philippines. During Erap’s time I had attended rallies, been at Liwasang Bonifacio, marched to Mendiola, and was at EDSA when the military announced its withdrawal of support.
What admittedly little exposure I had to the Left was enough to turn me off. The constant barrage of complaints, the constant exposure to the rottennesses of the system, as well as the lack of any genuine solution other than the usual information collection, propaganda, and protest action came across as futile right from the start. While in the case of Erap’s ouster the protests worked, it is obvious that it takes a lot more beyond such actions to be able to affect genuine reform — solutions that I found the Left ill-equipped to even begin imagining. What happened after Erap went down? He got replaced by another rotten egg anyway.
Needless to say it led to arguments with the girl I was dating, and that was the reason why the dates stopped at few. But I digress.
Even in forums and mailing list groups I have been accused of being apathetic, whenever I state my tiredness for complaining. They never understand that the ugly truth remains — people’s voices will get hoarse from shouting, with hands calloused from writing and feet calloused from marching — but it rarely affects change. Unfortunately people still continue complaining, hoping against hope that things will change. There’s a name for the phenomenon wherein a person does the same thing over and over and expects a different result, however — and no I don’t want to become insane.
So I have stopped complaining, but that never ever meant that I have become apathetic. It simply means I have refused to succumb to analysis paralysis. I felt that it was time to look for solutions that are doable, that are realistic, and will genuinely affect our own lives so that in turn it might positively affect the lives of other people.
Call me apathetic if it means I spend more time finding solutions for the problems of a few, so that the few may help the many later on.
Call me apathetic if it means that I find ways to build the beautiful, rather than find ways to bring down the ugly.
Call me apathetic if it means I stop trying to change things that I cannot change and start changing the things that I actually can.
Seriously, if becoming apathy means becoming action — becoming the spark that ignites genuine change and not just a deafening howl that fails to move anyone anyway, then I’ll gladly wear the badge of the apathetic Filipino.
UPDATE: For posterity, I’m putting here what I intend to be the last comment I post on torn’s blog regarding the issue:
cvj, torn, Cogs,
After sleeping this issue over and letting my emotions calm down, I reexamined my statements and found that what I was saying could be misconstrued as saying that public opinion was not necessary.
As with many things in life, a balance has to be achieved somehow, somewhere, in the sense that while we as the “little people” voice out our opinions we must also make our own lives work. On one end of the spectrum there’s the perceived apathy where public opinion will only seem to matter when it has become an issue subject to outrage, just like the EDSAs were. On the other end of the spectrum there’s the very real possibility of being used as pawns for various political agendas in the chessboard of public opinion under the altar of politics — which was what I was griping about.
Indeed I feel I was pawned in EDSA Dos, and my statement with regards to improving our own tangible lives first is a statement of refusal to be merely a pawn, that is, I’d rather be a bishop or a knight, or better yet a queen by trekking the path of prosperity and achievement. What I perhaps failed to recognize is that there is a reason why there are 8 pawns and only 2 of the other pieces, and only 1 queen and 1 king.
There’s a delicate balance to be achieved between the two sides of this coin, but while we can enjoy the relative ease of inciting people to move, voice out, and protest, we must likewise encourage them to act within their “own universes” and not rely on improvements of the economy or the government for the betterment of their lives.
11 responses so far ↓
1 Call me apathetic - PinoyBlogoSphere.com - Pinoy Bloggers Society (PBS) | “Anyone* Can Blog” // Sep 25, 2007 at 6:31 am
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2 cocoy // Sep 25, 2007 at 8:37 am
*nods in agreement*
3 bugsybee // Sep 25, 2007 at 10:39 am
You said it!
If I can change myself and become a better citizen because I am a better teacher, a better doctor, a better street cleaner, a better tax collector, then I will have been able to contribute to a better Philippines. We can work from where we are without having to shout ourselves hoarse at a rally.
I abhor rallies organized at the drop of a pin (which I think is what the ibagsak-people do for a living) … I would rather hold classes so my students can have better chances of passing the board exams. Is that apathy? We do discuss national and local issues. We discuss ethics and good governance. We discuss life. And, when it is time to move, we move. I brought my whole class to the plaza - even if it was raining- to join the multitude of people shouting for the ouster of Erap. But we can’t afford to do this every week.
Better to change a few so the few can multiply to many.
4 Prudence // Sep 25, 2007 at 11:19 am
“At the time I acquired disdain towards the Leftist movement because I’ve gone tired of all its “ibagsak!†mentality”
— Yup, I agree. I’ve also gone tired of those who kept on rallying on the streets with every controversial news that comes up. Yes, it does bring the issue to the attention of some, but mostly it just disrupts the orderly lives of those who already know the issue but chose to do something else that could lead to the betterment of their lives and those that they care for.
I agree with bugsybee that we would be better off improving ourselves so that we may contribute to the welfare of our country. And I think most importantly, we would be better off improving ourselves than be routinely putting down others by condemning them while we, ourselves, are not being productive at all.
5 cvj // Sep 25, 2007 at 4:26 pm
I think you have to revisit your assumption that when you march, you have to march under the banner of the Left. You can also march in the name of basic human decency (against killings, against corruption, for integrity etc.) Contributing to the welfare of the country in our private capacity (by improving ourselves, looking after our family and local community) is no substitute to our responsibility towards the country as a whole.
6 Jon Limjap // Sep 25, 2007 at 5:38 pm
cvj,
But then my problem always is, how do I know that marching and voicing out per se actually contributes to the welfare of the country when there are no tangible results? And when results contradict what has been marched for?
I have said it in the other blog, the two EDSAs only served to put into power systems and people who are not very different from the systems and people they served to remove — and those were the largest and most tangibly effective protest actions we have taken.
How can you prove to me and assure me that it is not a waste of my time and effort when historical evidence points in that direction?
7 cvj // Sep 25, 2007 at 7:57 pm
Jon, i remember sometime back (over at micketymoc’s blog), i told you that there are no guarantees. Since politicians are people with a mind of their own, it’s naive to expect one. We have to keep lending our voice not because what he hope to achieve is easy, but because it is hard.
Given our present system, the odds are that our politicians once in power would tend to put their interests above that of the people. They do this because they have learned that they can get away with doing so. If we ignore them, then this learned behavior is rewarded and reinforced. Only collective action in the face of betrayal of public trust will force them to learn otherwise.
Practically speaking, our leaders only listen to us if we speak and act in sufficient numbers, that is, if they see that public opinion is overwhelmingly not on their side. If people like you who know right from wrong keep silent, then that is one less voice who could have added to that number. Multiply that a few million times, then you get the culture of impunity that we have now.
8 Kris // Sep 26, 2007 at 4:59 am
I don’t think you are apathetic. You just don’t agree with the unorginal protests that Filipinos love doing(kahit walang maibigay na concrete solution but a rather recycled one which proved ineffective). I used to believe in protests back in high school because of ‘brainwashing’. But the moment I stepped in college, I was totally turned off. Most protesters, I have observed, are not genuinely concerned about the general welfare but merely their faces. I’m so sick of the student council bashing the school admin these SC people are not ‘cleaner’ than the one they’re bashing The people behind have their own personal agendas(exposure, nice thing to put on their CV, etc..). Now, I realize that the problem of our society is so deep that the best solution is to start from down there rather than up there. Why do we have so many bad national politicians? Because at the lowest level(student council, organizations), politics is already VERY DIRTY. The officials of these little orgs hide behind the mask of “democracy” for their personal benefit. Not really different from the national politicians, no?
We’re not apathetic. We just have different approach on how to contribute to the society. Like me, I practice waste segregation even if it’s not strictly enforced.I don’t think it’s even enforced! I use the pedestrian lane and pedestrian overpass an do not jaywalk even if it would take me ten minutes to get to the pedestrian lane. I don’t go down/ride public transportation right in front of a sign saying “No Loading/Unloading”. I don’t buy ukay-ukays and second hand cellphones because these businesses do not help the economy –only the selfish ‘businesspeople’ and smugglers. I don’t think I am apathetic just because I don’t protest with these groups. You see, I acknowledge than there are major flaws in the educational system. But a huge contribution to this is on the part of the students. I mean, look how many of them do school work for the sake of passing it. I know many who would cheat just to pass or to get a high grade. Isn’t it better to be a better student in helping reform the educational system rather than ‘protesting’?
Many people failed to realize that half of the problem is generated by the government, the other half — from the citizens. I remember this quote by an American. It’s something like this:(not exact but the idea is here)”Do not ask for what your government can do for you but think of what you can do for your government. In this case, let us replace ‘government’ with ‘country’
9 Jon Limjap // Sep 26, 2007 at 7:43 am
cvj,
I’ll just refer you the the response that I posted on torn’s original post. There, I said that there must be a balance somewhere between cries of outrage and acts towards genuine solutions. I think merely leaning towards opinion formation is as dangerous as you claim my apathy is.
Kris,
The person you quoted is John F. Kennedy on his inaugural speech. It goes “ask not what your country can do for you, but what you can do for your country” — he did use the word “country”.
You made a very beautiful point there, wherein half of the problem (and therefore, the responsibility) is with the people. Unfortunately our citizenry tends to blame and rely on the government for everything, much in the same way serfs treated their feudal Lords.
No wonder we’re stuck in the Middle Ages.
10 siu // Sep 26, 2007 at 5:11 pm
wow, i find it absurd that someone as opinionated as you are, whose views apparently mean that you still give a damn to this country, and as are a lot of people - and call them apathetic?
That’s pathetic.
11 Jon Limjap // Sep 26, 2007 at 5:21 pm
siu,
I think Cogs didn’t get past “get used to it”.
I mean, if you’ve lived this kind of political environment, you do get used to it to a certain extent — as in my example, like a coroner who gets used to the dead and conducts autopsies.
You still have opinions, but you only hope against hope that they are heard and heeded. You’re left to your own devices.
In some ways it allows you to be level headed and objective enough to go on with your own life, not unlike the coroner who can objectively examine internal organs in various conditions without throwing up.
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