Mocha Uson Federalism promo merely exploits Filipino "nosebleed" culture


Admit it. Mocha Uson went down the right path in her approach to promote "federalism" to Filipinos. Any more "intellectual" than "pepedederalismo" will have elicited bleeding noses amongst the broader public.

Federalism, after all, is a broad and deep topic that demands precise language to discuss. This is not something that the ambiguous "dyan lang sa tabi-tabi" and "yung kuwan ilagay sa ano" nebulous nature of Filipinos' zone of comfort when it comes to articulating complex concepts can handle.

Dumbing down messaging is par for the course in Philippine politics and Filipino voters have long been known to be responsive to messages crafted to appeal to simpletons. We have mainstream corporate media to thank for that. Anything that requires thinking does not sell, which is why dumbed-down content rules.

The root of the problem that reared its ugly head in this latest outrage fad surrounding Mocha Uson won't be addressed unless Philippine society is sufficiently intellectualised to deal with a complex modern world.

So, for now: sayaw Pinoy, sayaw. You reap what you sow. In a democracy, entertainment -- and politics -- mirror the quality of the constituency.

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