Politics is one of our least favorite subjects and if ever we bring it up the conversation usually lasts five seconds – "Who are you gonna vote for?" Answer: "Dunno yet" (or a shrug).
Quite surprisingly, this year’s elections are a bit toned down compared to the previous ones. Or maybe people are just sick and tired of politics. It’s always the same thing anyway; all we hear are promises and motherhood statements. So people would rather stay oblivious to the whole exercise or spare themselves the stress by not thinking about it too much. That is why when it comes to politics I believe that ignorance is indeed bliss.
But of course you can’t stay ignorant forever. You must do your duty and cast your vote. A lot of people I know still don’t know who to vote for; it seems it’s easier to choose who not to vote rather than who to vote for. Even the intelligent voters out there would most probably choose the candidate who is the least of all evils. I guess they would vote this way if only to prevent the more deadly politicians from getting into power.
But unfortunately not everyone thinks this way. And we must admit that as a nation, we aren’t mature voters. Here’s my story. If there’s not much business activity in my shop I tend to chit chat with the other people from the other shops, especially with the people from the Ricky Reyes salon beside my shop. One day I brought up the topic of elections with one of his disciples and I asked one of the stylists who he was gonna vote for. And his answer startled me, for he was going to vote for this certain star candidate, and I asked him why. He said it’s because he’s popular and a movie star. Good thing he doesn’t do my hair, lest I whack him using my magazines. Well, I would be lying if I said I did not hit him at least once, and I still do today (hehehe). But if there’s any consolation, not all of stylists in the salon shared his views.
Another one I asked was the head of the security guards, he too chose the star candidate. And his reasoning was he doesn’t want a smart president because such president would only make up smart excuses for his or her blunders and fool the majority of the people. That made my jaw drop. Just imagine if a lot of people thought the same way, it would scare you enough to board the next plane out of here. Just goes to show that some people don’t think logically. I read in an article that watching too many soap opera shows can make you dumb, or maybe we can blame it on too much senseless local shows on TV.
Some of us are not aware of what people from the lower classes think about the elections. But based on what many of them say, I can’t help but conclude that there are just too many voters enamored of movie personalities and perhaps there are too many Filipinos who did not finish school. We can’t really impose our reasoning on them.
And there’s the issue of people who are apathetic, those who didn’t even bother to register. The irony is that they’re the ones who will most likely complain when this country sinks. And I’ve encountered a handful of them, some of them are my friends and their reason is that they have lost faith in our electoral system. They’re young and already jaded.
Actually I too have this jaded and apathetic side, and I don’t see the light at the end of the tunnel any time soon. I guess all of us are just bracing ourselves for the plunge. Life won’t really change, though we might get a new set of headaches once some morons bluff their way to public office but it’s part of our system so we’re used to it. But despite this, I’m still going to vote, for it’s the least I can do for the republic. I don’t know if it will make a difference.
I am not really that nationalistic but in our ability as a people to see the humor even if we’re in the pits we are quite remarkable.
Vote wisely and don’t just do the eenie-minie-minie-mo system. Let’s just brace ourselves.