Fair warning

One of the questions that people ask about our political crisis is, “How did we get to this point?”

The easy answer would be to connect it to corruption, broken politics and parties, maybe even blame all the past presidents and leaders of the nation.

Part of the blame goes to “western media influence,” technology and social media platforms where guardrails, boundaries and personal accountability were greatly disregarded because of the speed of technology and “late night talk show” interpretation of “freedom of speech.”

Everyone is fair game; no topic or person is sacred or off limits, not even God. No one is safe. The sad thing about it all is that our current hostility and vicious conduct are all acquired misbehavior, much like how we get the flu, COVID or AIDS. Intimacy and time with the “wrong” people will infect you.

In same manner, when you spend so many hours, so many days, so many months and so many years watching Senate and congressional investigations, hearings and constant video clips of political leaders barking and maligning each other, what then can we expect?

Someone once said, “When bad behavior is repeatedly allowed, it eventually becomes normal.” Same as when you repeat an activity for 30 days and you end up with a habit, good or bad.

Whether it’s a bunch of tricycle drivers at their TODA station, retirees sitting at home watching the “special coverage,” businesspeople, students, etc. If there is nothing better on the “idiot box,” they all become the captured market to be infected by bad leaders and their bad politics.

The worst part of it all is that these viewers begin to think, talk and act like the politicians.

I disagree with the suggestion that we are simply tribes or followers defending our leaders. Most ordinary Filipinos I speak, with from farmers, carpenters and “sekyu” or middle-class people, don’t have a deep understanding of or ties with politicians or parties.

They have simply been infected by the propaganda, mindset and language of corrupt politicians and that infection has taken the form of an opinion. Too many people in this country mistake having a “political opinion” as a form of intelligence.

But being Filipinos, the worst thing you can do is to challenge “our opinion” or insult our intelligence. Like anything good or bad in the Philippines, everything is personal. That is why we are such good hosts to tourists but dangerous company during drinking sessions or “making tambay sa kanto.”

People, even parents, want to be cool, so they “tolerate” or accept speech or behavior that once was unacceptable instead of setting boundaries by stating: “I am your Mother/Father, not your best friend!”

I still remember my pre-teen days when my mother Marita smacked me for cursing at a driver who nearly crashed into us. I thought I was standing up for my mother by using a “Spanish term” which I evidently did not know the actual meaning of. I just heard it from others.

Behavior, language and values are acquired and equally important is self-awareness and spiritual foundations. Are we being “full of ourselves?” Are we venting or expressing a pain, hurt or anger by using “isms,” political views or unbridled critical nature?

Some people say they are merely exercising their right to express grievances; others cite freedom of speech; most people say they are just pointing out or criticizing what is wrong in order to push officials to act.

But when it comes to actually making concrete efforts, taking the time and physically doing something besides criticizing, we all come up with the same set of excuses:

What’s the point? Nothing good will happen. I can’t do anything about it because I don’t know anybody in politics, government or business. I have work, I have more important things to do than waste my time. Most Filipinos won’t even bother to file a police report.

But they rile against the institution, suggest changes without understanding the process, complain and compare our setup to tiny countries like Singapore or nations like Japan that have survived existential threats through war and learned that progress requires commitment to action, investment and not spattering of saliva.

Even worse is how people have gotten personal. Mouthing unproven accusations, making derogatory remarks, political labeling simply because they feel secure in their anonymity, being too small a fish to fry or a false sense of safety working inside the Fourth Estate or intentionally drawing attention to themselves at someone else’s expense.

Sometime this year, I was confronted by a Bible verse that really hit hard: “There is only one lawgiver and judge, he who is able to save and destroy. But who are you to judge your neighbor (others)?” – James 4:12.

As a result, I now make a conscious effort at not judging or arriving at uninformed conclusions.

For this article, allow me to close with a fair warning from the New Testament:

“Therefore, you have no excuse, O man, every one of you who judges. For in passing judgment on another you condemn yourself, because you, the judge, practice the very same things. We know that the judgment of God rightly falls on those who practice such things.

“Do you suppose, O man, you who judge those who practice such things and yet do them yourself – that you will escape the judgment of God?” Romans 2:1-3