This is probably an unavoidable part of the human condition. If we didn’t make light of the world’s misery, we’d all suffer from "grief overload" and start reaching for the razor blades.
But shouldn’t there be a proper mourning period for natural disasters such as this? Local politicians are referring to "political tsunamis." Fashion writers are referring to "tsunami hairdos." I think it’s a tad too early to be cavalier on the subject.
I’m reminded of a line from the Woody Allen movie, Crimes and Misdemeanors: "Comedy is tragedy plus time." This sums up the danger of bouncing back from grief too early. Yes, the line is spoken by Alan Alda’s character, a pompous filmmaker who in most regards is an idiot. But it’s still good advice.
Tragedy plus time. Something to think about. Yes, nowadays even Conan O’Brien can do skits making fun of Lincoln’s assassination – that’s because the event happened 140 years ago. You won’t, however, see skits about JFK’s assassination or the Saturday Night Live cast lampooning 9/11. It’s still too fresh, too tragic. Similarly, you won’t see local comedians doing jokes about Ninoy Aquino’s assassination, for obvious reasons.
So why do politicians use the tsunami disaster as an excuse to score political points? Why do fashion writers talk about a "tsunami in fashion" or pets having "tsunami tails?" Why even go there?
And it’s not as though the Western media is leading this tasteless trend, because I’ve checked. For instance, after Googling "tsunami" plus "fashion," besides the obvious match of Sports Illustrated cover model Petra Nemcova, who survived by hugging a tree in Phuket, I came up with only a few hits, and they were for fashion houses that were organizing relief missions. No cute little tsunami jokes to be found on the Internet.
Politicians, especially, have an uncanny knack for tastelessness and insensitivity. They’ll use any event, any catastrophe, any catchphrase if they think it will get them a headline.
Leave it to a senator to blow the hardest. It was Senator Ralph Recto who first raised the watermark by bewailing a "tsunami" of new taxes if GMA’s budget measures pass. Hello! You didn’t hear people trivializing the typhoon disaster that hit the Philippines a month ago by inserting "landslide" into their political speeches. So why pick up on "tsunami?"
As if using that term carelessly were not enough, Recto went on to say: "A tsunami of taxes will pound the economy and drown the people in a sea of grief. What we should craft are taxes that will be like the gentle surf that will bring the ship of state to port without sinking the small banca in its wake."
For those of you not made completely seasick by this lurching juggernaut of political jargon, there’s this follow-up headline (also from the Philippine STAR) to consider: "Spare us from political tsunami."
It seems President Arroyo, not to be outdone, couldn’t resist (or else her speechwriter couldn’t resist) slipping in a little tsunami reference, urging the country’s elected officials "not to inflict political tsunami" on the Filipino people by deviating from her political programs.
This is just crass. It’s about as crass as televising riotous New Year’s Eve celebrations in Makati while, at the very same moment, millions of dollars in aid and supplies are being collected to save disaster victims.
Okay, so this is a pun-crazy society. Language is part of its active currency. You really can’t expect people to not come up with political one-liners or bad fashion puns. It’s in the blood.
And yes, the Philippines was spared this time. People should praise God for that. Fortunately, the tsunamis missed this country, and there are no natural disasters to be seen on the horizon.
But, as usual, there’s still plenty of hot, bad-tasting air blowing through Congress and the media.