Rational Insanity
The brand X and brand Y mentality
Notwithstanding the fact that there is a law that guards against unfair advertising practices (according to Marcel who is in law school now), Filipinos are really terribly 'pikon'. If you have been to the States you will actually see different brands of detergent berating their competitions on national television via advertisements. This does not generate any unnecessary strain between detergent companies; rather it serves to improve their products to the advantage of the ultimate consumer. I don't see anything wrong with this frank and honest enumeration of qualities that one detergent has that another does not have, it simply fortifies the belief in the precept of 'truth in advertising'.
Now, why can this not happen in our country? Because those who advertise their products on television are not really confident of their product that they cannot stand it when a competition points out what their product cannot do? Or is it simply an unhealthy affinity to fruitless optimism? However which way we put it, it only means one thing – that Filipinos are probably too 'onion-skinned' that they would rather have something candy coated than blurted out to them in all honesty.
This brings me to the issue of satire. Perhaps, the reason why Filipinos cannot stand political satire (i.e. when Corazon Aquino was called a slut on a comedy show in the states) is because it is rooted historically. We have been brainwashed by real threats to our lives during the Marcos regime that anything bad said against the Marcos administration would merit us a week in jail, torture, or even death. On the other hand, I cannot reconcile myself with this historical hypothesis because we were the once who were so bent on liberating ourselves from the dictatorship and everything that came with it to begin with. So, why are we so sensitive when it comes to the freedom of expression? We asked for it when we didn't have it and now that we have it, we quizzically dismiss it as something that opens the avenues of embarrassment for our public officials? If you ask me, we don't really need to make a joke out of our public officials in the first place because their ! mere existence is a painfully funny joke. We actually hate satires because we are under a government that is a large scale, Broadway-worthy, possibly a Tony Award- winning satire. The truth hurts.
On a lighter note, why are our comedy shows, stand-up comedies, and comic movies all about banally sexual or 'bastos' issues or topics? It's really weird that we find the word 'slut' across a picture of Cory Aquino offensive when we laugh at how strand up comedians trivialize the issue of sex, intercourse, gender sensitivity, and sexually transmitted infections. True, the word 'slut' is not an accurate description of an icon of freedom, but are jokes ever accurate? If it was accuracy they were looking for, then maybe they should have placed 'mother of a slut' instead, then maybe, that would have been more accurate. We are totally out of focus. Why not give attention to the jokes our senators, our congressmen, and our local officials are making of themselves? Is the Filipino intellect too bigoted and dumb to be able to transcend the humor that is in 'puki', 'bati', or 'titi'? I don't think so; but is our humor ever going to improve!? Will we always only laugh at parts of our body that are not laughing matters to begin with, and not laugh at the comedy that our country is currently in? Why can't most Filipinos understand that when they are made the subject of a joke in a stand-up comedy bar, they are not really being berated, rather, they are just being made FUN of, for the sake of FUN, and for no other reason? How can one berate a person he/she does not even know? Are we too preoccupied with our egos that we have no time to enjoy the salient pleasantries of life?
READ: Humor can be used to gauge the intellect of a person – those who laugh at jokes that are too physical, i.e. the wart on a witches' nose or the eczema on someone's vulva is too dumb to understand the underlying meaning of humor. Intelligent humor is the kind of humor that involves wit, finesse, discretion, subtlety, and relevance to the status quo, i.e. GMA should not be worrying about the ZTE deal that much. If she can't hear Garci through the cell phone easily as shown by the number of times she said 'Hello Garci', she probably wouldn't like VOIP that much.
So, are you brand x or brand y?
Be rational; be insane… every once in a while! TTFN!
I love you all! Byers!!