mongster's nest

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Burger, fries, coke and politicians

Hang on. The last days of canvassing are near. Vote padding for government-supported partylists will increase the minimum number of votes needed to secure one partylist seat. Let me thank all Kabataan Partylist pollwatchers who manned the precints and canvassing centers in order to guard our votes.

More than 140 dead in “peaceful” Philippine elections, my blog entry for Global Voices Online. There are new pictures in my photoblog: click here and here.

A few years ago, an American TV comedian wondered why it takes a long time for many people to decide what to order in their favorite fastfood outlet when they only have to choose any combination of burger, fries and coke. These days, fastfood outlets offer combo meals; but these are intended to convince customers that they are given good menu choices when they are just, in essence, burger, fries and coke. Customers are led to believe they made wise decisions in ordering their food but the unhealthy truth is, they still bought burger, fries and coke.

I think this is how our politics operate. Majority of politicans are burger, fries and coke. To use a more accurate term, majority of politicians are trapos (rags). Most likely, they are scions of local warlords, oppressive landlords and rapacious businessmen.

To win in the elections, politicians need to convince voters they are more than just burger, fries and coke. They are burgers with low cholesterol, onion fries and diet coke. They are Harvard-educated warlords, environmentalist landlords and god-fearing businessmen.

Most of the time we delude ourselves into thinking that we are not ordering burger, fries and coke. Instead, we choose to take notice of the special dressing, the new gravy or the promo dessert. In politics, we hail the entry of new politicians who fought and defeated the old trapos. We take pride in the “maturity of the electorate”, the advent of new politics, the victory of alternative agenda and the looming irrelevance of trapo tactics.

We delight the crowd with the triumph of the crippled broadcaster, the priest who defeated two “lords”, the lady who knocked out a boxing champion, the moral crusade of a new political party and the rebel soldier who is poised to become a member of the senate. We highlight these stories perhaps to ignore and forget the fact that many of our people still preferred or have chosen to stick with burger, fries and coke.

Out of one brilliant and noble successful candidate we praise, hundreds of trapos were already proclaimed throughout the country. There may be a miracle in Pampanga but for the rest of the country, its black magic that reigns. We may be enjoying our garden salad for lunch but majority of our people are still feasting on burger, fries and coke.

It’s not easy to reject burger, fries and coke especially if our tastebuds are already familiar with these items. But many of our countrymen have already proven that it is possible to crave and buy new types of nutritious food. There is still hope. But we must not maintain the illusion that trapos are a dying breed. In fact, they are still reproducing in great numbers. They have put new brands, images and labels to be more palatable in the eyes and tastes of a more demanding public. Have we not realized by now that they have mastered the art of deception?

We need to change the rules of the game. We need new fastfood outlets. We need some spark, a revolution.

Related entries:

Books for coke.
Ang batang Pinoy.
Sons and politicians.
Gameplan.

posted by: mongpalatino at May 22, 2007 00:02 | link | comments (3) |
elections

Comments:

#1  22 May 2007 - 06:08

 

astig ng ginamit mong paghahalintulad mong. tama ka

Anonymous

#2  25 May 2007 - 19:40

 

I totally agree with you. We need something like a forest fires that will wipe out everything.

We Filipinos should learn fast. I am 46 and nothing has changed. Oh sorry, something has changed, from bad to worst.

Anonymous

#3  27 June 2007 - 16:58

 

KAWAWA NAMAN KAMING MGA MAGULANG, GANITO LANG PALANG KLASE MGA ANAK ANG RESULTA NG AMING PAGSISIKAP. gAITO LANG BA ANG INABOT NG PAG-AARAL MO HIJO? SAYANG ANG ORAS AT PANAHON COMMUNISTANG TURO SA IYO ITO.

Anonymous

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