Traffic!
We still have to get settled into the old routine after the holy week respite, and here we are right smack in the middle of a gridlock already. I am not talking about traffic on the road (which thankfully has been alleviated somehow by the reduction of vehicles on the road due to the fact that students are on vacation, but aggravated just the same by the infernal heat); but to the gridlock that is happening in the national scene around some issues. But what is happening on our thoroghfares is indeed a fitting metaphor to our problems as a nation.
What is it about us Filipinos and our inability to suspend judgment on anything until further enlightenment? Are we really that opinionated that we automatically jump the gun and weigh in on issues even when the facts are not clear yet? It does seem that we have a long long line of people all wanting to talk and to be heard, and nobody wants to listen.
Last week, there was this whole hullabaloo about FPJ's selection as National Artist for cinema. I don't think anyone in his right mind can question FPJ's qualification for the exalted title (I think Joseph Estrada deserves the title too - he did make great movies in his younger days, but that is another blog entry). There was this faux pas about the withdrawal of the list for the sake of following some administrative guidelines - but some people automatically jumped the gun and made hysterical accusations about unfairness and political foul play. Whew! Couldn't people just listen first and suspend judgment before going ballistic? It is now clear that there has been no intent to take FPJ out of the list (such move has to be moronic), so all that ranting was unnecessary after all.
The commutation of the death penalty by the President is another case in point. I can understand the outrage of those who are for the death penalty (I am not for capital punishment) - but I am bothered at the reasoning being forwarded. Instead of debating about the merits and demerits of capital punishment, people are debating over whether the act was politically motivated or not. Even some of those who are against the death penalty weighed in with their own two cents worth - some went to so much trouble praising the decision and then wondering if the act was wise or not. Ehhh? The traffic on this one got really worse when people began saying it should have been selective (how can it be selective? By drawing lots? By doing jack in poy?), that the president should make it clear if this was now the policy of the state (the papers today carried stories that said the president will certify the bill repealing the death penalty as urgent - but someone already pontificated that this was illegal because it breaks the separation of the three branches of government), yada, yada, yada. Ang traffic!
The showing of the Da Vinci Code is still a month away (it hits theatres on May 9 I think) but people are already debating over whether it should be shown in the Philippines or not. The movie is still in its post-production stages and no one in the Philippines has seen for himself what the movie really has to say and yet people are already frothing in the mouth about the sacrilegeous message of the movie. Are these people clairvoyant or what?
What is it about us Filipinos and our inability to suspend judgment on anything until further enlightenment? Are we really that opinionated that we automatically jump the gun and weigh in on issues even when the facts are not clear yet? It does seem that we have a long long line of people all wanting to talk and to be heard, and nobody wants to listen.
Last week, there was this whole hullabaloo about FPJ's selection as National Artist for cinema. I don't think anyone in his right mind can question FPJ's qualification for the exalted title (I think Joseph Estrada deserves the title too - he did make great movies in his younger days, but that is another blog entry). There was this faux pas about the withdrawal of the list for the sake of following some administrative guidelines - but some people automatically jumped the gun and made hysterical accusations about unfairness and political foul play. Whew! Couldn't people just listen first and suspend judgment before going ballistic? It is now clear that there has been no intent to take FPJ out of the list (such move has to be moronic), so all that ranting was unnecessary after all.
The commutation of the death penalty by the President is another case in point. I can understand the outrage of those who are for the death penalty (I am not for capital punishment) - but I am bothered at the reasoning being forwarded. Instead of debating about the merits and demerits of capital punishment, people are debating over whether the act was politically motivated or not. Even some of those who are against the death penalty weighed in with their own two cents worth - some went to so much trouble praising the decision and then wondering if the act was wise or not. Ehhh? The traffic on this one got really worse when people began saying it should have been selective (how can it be selective? By drawing lots? By doing jack in poy?), that the president should make it clear if this was now the policy of the state (the papers today carried stories that said the president will certify the bill repealing the death penalty as urgent - but someone already pontificated that this was illegal because it breaks the separation of the three branches of government), yada, yada, yada. Ang traffic!
The showing of the Da Vinci Code is still a month away (it hits theatres on May 9 I think) but people are already debating over whether it should be shown in the Philippines or not. The movie is still in its post-production stages and no one in the Philippines has seen for himself what the movie really has to say and yet people are already frothing in the mouth about the sacrilegeous message of the movie. Are these people clairvoyant or what?
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