#Filipinos too averse to intellectual discussion to make #democracy work!

By -


I believe that Filipinos are in a terrible bind. I used to think that a federal/parliamentary system of government will work well for the Philippines, and I still do, but I now think that no matter what system of government we have, it won't work if the people are not interested in how the government and the country are run.

I observed that so many Filipinos don't really want to be vigilant of the government's actions; to them, that's work, and work is tiring. They just want to vote for whoever they think will run the country well (many in fact couldn't care even to do that) and then leave that person to do whatever he wants to do, trusting that he'll have their interests in mind. For many Filipinos, thinking and debating are work and not play (not second nature to us, unlike to the people of many advanced countries), and anything that has to do with those is shunned.

It doesn't help that many don't think in terms of what's good for their fellow Filipinos, especially for the marginalized among us, only for themselves and their families. My FB friends, almost all of whom belong to the educated class, don't want to talk about anything even remotely connected to politics; it's like they just want to pretend nothing of consequence is happening in the country. It sometimes baffles and disorients me, pretending that nothing's happening. It's like there's an elephant in the room and no one wants to talk about it.

Unless the Filipinos, including the educated (or miseducated?) class, become a different kind of people, which is a long shot, this country, sad to say, is doomed to fail.

-----------------
This is a GRP Featured Comment. Join the discussion!
http://getrealphilippines.com/blog/2015/02/why-democracy-does-not-work-in-the-philippines/comment-page-1/#comment-1107419

Comments

  1. AnonymousFebruary 27, 2015 at 7:49 AM

    In my opinion, the Philippines has a LOT to offer, once the government is controlled ( Corruption )
    You will have to start this process from the new borns of TODAY.

    Voting should only be by people who are * Educated * and * Tax Payers * don't allow villages / provinces to be * bought *

    * Families * should not hold many seats in any government dept.

    But, as with a lot of educated people, if they can see easy way for money, they may take it. ( Then back to the start we go )

    ReplyDelete
  2. AnonymousFebruary 27, 2015 at 3:37 PM

    You're right and it's frustrating. Most people in our current society are just so-family/clan-oriented, so individualistic.....usually any specific event would mean to a Pinoy, "what's in it for me or my family?" If none for both, then withdraw/don't participate. And thus, the politics of dynasty, too.

    ReplyDelete

Post a Comment

Popular this week

Leni Robredo has become a sad mechanical puppet and an embarrassment to Filipinos

By -
Image
Guess who has taken over Leila de Lima’s place on the anti-Duterte international speaking circuit? Watch this video that Leni Robredo made for an international NGO event in Vienna tomorrow. Warning: this will REALLY make your blood boil. If you have vertigo, sit down and take a deep breath before watching. You know what’s really sickening about this video? It’s not even the lies and exaggerations that Robredo is saying about what’s going on in the Philippines and how Pinoys feel about it (as if she’s in any position to speak for the Filipino people, who mostly hate her guts). It’s the hollowness and emptiness of the way she mechanically reads from a script that obviously someone else wrote. She’s making huge claims about thousands of people being summarily killed by police, but her eyes and voice are absolutely empty of emotion or conviction. She’s just a puppet playing a role, who doesn’t even understand what she’s doing or saying, she’s just mindlessly following her owner’
Read more

Victims of drug-crazed addicts don't get 'trending' hashtags like #JusticeForKian

By -
Image
For the past few days I was doing research on a few things like I said. A new FB friend sent me a message telling me about a Dad in Dumaguete who lost his only daughter to a drug crazed addict who used 7 knives to stab her and a friend in Siquijor last April. I did the research, read up on everything and his recent "upheavals". I need not tell you all that I have no words to fully express how deeply this affects me because I am a single mom with a daughter too. His only daughter was even 3 - 4 months pregnant when she and her friend was mercilessly stabbed to death so many times by a drug addict. Nino Pinero is a professor in Siliman University. He is a coach. Given what I have read about this gentleman, he is a very compassionate man, a loving father and being a coach to youngsters - deeply loved by his students. And I would like to give him his privacy in as much as I can. 100% respect for this man. His recent "upheavals" came with the pronouncements
Read more

According to Maria Ressa, Wikipedia, "released" a list of "Philippine Fake News Sites"

By -
Image
According to Rappler CEO Maria Ressa, pioneering crowdsourcing site Wikipedia "released" a list of "Philippine Fake News Sites". Well, actually she parroted an article title used in the Philippine edition of the almost-porn media outlet FHM ... The propagation of an article written by a misguided author published on a media outlet not exactly known for its intellectual integrity is quite ironic behaviour exhibited by a self-annointed "thought leader" in the field of anti-"fake news" activism. It's wrong on many levels but hardly surprising as this is, after all, Maria Ressa we are talking about. Wikipedia does not "release" stuff. It does not own or author any of the content it hosts. It relies on the work of an army of volunteer contributors and editors to create and maintain its content. All Wikipedia does is provide the platform for all that volunteer work. Ressa, being a self-described "expert" on
Read more

What Yellowtards fear: Irrelevance and redemption for the Marcoses and Arroyos

By -
Image
It's not really a Duterte dictatorship that Yellowtards fear but a looming Macapagal-Marcos political alliance. The scions of Cong Dadong and Apo Lakay are on a mission of redemption. They want history to be kinder to their respective plights. In the case of GMA, she wants to be remembered as the President who did more for the country post-Marcos and not the President who replaced Erap in a civil-military coup. She also wants to remove the ignominious circumstances of her detention for five years on trumped up charges. In the case of Bongbong, the Marcoses have been enjoying a renaissance already. Nothing would validate this more than a return to Malacañan as President or Prime Minister depending​ on the outcome of the move to amend the Constitution. Should the alliance come to fruition, the Yellowtards and their minions will be confined to the political dustbin of history. ----------------------- RG San Luis as posted on Facebook .
Read more