A crisis of priorities

Written on Friday, May 30th, 2008 at 10:15 am | by benign0

Pinoy nga naman talaga.

True enough.
As expected.
In usual form.

The rice crisis and the coven of demons that plague our little Third World islands it uncovered — overpopulation and lack of food security among others — has since been relegated to the proverbial Page 4 of the Philippine Media; like the killer mudslides of years past. I must admit to have thought that the whole issue had disappeared myself, until I came across Fr. John J Carroll’s article Marikina Revisited… and Payatas on the Inq7.net.

All around us though, the blogosphere (or at least the circle I am aware of) is abuzz with the fate of Meralco and the price of the electricity that powers their authors’ airconditioners. Yet queues for cheap NFA rice continue.

The “new voices of the Filipino” indeed.

Perhaps it is because we once again feel content and safe that the restlessness of the natives had been tempered yet again and that they are now quietly settled into a routine daily queue for cheap NFA rice (the same way queues for drinking water are now a normal aspect of Pinoy life). We can rest assured that we have yet again escaped the wrath of that social volcano whose eruption is the yet-to-be-seen Messiah of the Commie Mafia.

Indeed, Clarence Henderson’s words from way back in 2001 ring true:

[…] these poor folks live on the fringes of consciousness of the people who matter - the people who make the decisions, the people sitting behind the dark-tinted, bullet-proof windows of their chauffered Benzes on their way to steak and lobster at five-star hotels.

May I add to that list of “people who matter” the folk who have been given the gift of letters yet choose to chatter about names and events rather than keep the real issues that matter RELEVANT.

Real classy indeed. And I have been called “elitist”.

It seems there is not only a crisis of modernity in our little basketcase country, but also a crisis of priorities.

I don’t think we should be complaining about high energy costs (whether said energy is in the form of electricity or gasoline). In the bigger (and I mean BIGGER) scheme of things, all of humanity is getting its fuel on the cheap. As I mentioned in a previous comment, we are burning within human timescales energy that was collected and stored by Nature over geological timescales.

We are living off Mother Nature’s hard work but have built an entire economic and financial system that OVERLOOKS this hard work.

And if that ain’t cheap, I don’t know what is.

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About The Author: benign0 is the Webmaster of GetRealPhilippines.COM and has once been described as "one of the most enthusiastic hecklers of the politically-passionate" by a respected journalist.

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4 Responses to “A crisis of priorities”

  1. Nick on May 30th, 2008 3:36 pm

    @Benign0, I am aware these days of the story du jour, and it seems to me, that there is fickleness in media focus. and maybe even the focus of bloggers.

    It is that, and also, as I suspect, the very nature of the multi dimensional aspect of our issues that we face as a nation. There are too many to confront. When we tackle corruption, there is poverty.. When there is poverty, then comes a natural disaster. When there is economy, then there is environment.

    In many cases, these stories are connected, in some way, and the ultimate connection, is that all of these issues affect the every day Filipino, whether it is a direct and dire connection, or a connection of interest, either way, it would not be reported on, if individuals did not have a connection to it.

    This is why we write, especially here at Filipino Voices, to see what issues are on the minds of bloggers too. As different we are as individuals, so too will our topics vary. Even in The Writing Project itself, there is diversity on the issues that people are focused on.

    In the end, sometimes, having a priority is better than not having one at all. If all had the same priority, other sectors will be neglected.

    I think, our goal, then, which I hope you may agree upon, is that of a balanced focus, so that all issues will be reported on fully.

  2. benign0 on May 30th, 2008 6:06 pm

    Nick, don’t worry. I’m just expressing an opinion. It just happens to be highly critical of what other bloggers choose to blog about (kung baga, I make an issue about what others choose to make issues of). The fact that I express it here on a blog means I open this view to critique like everything else I publish. :)

  3. cvj on June 1st, 2008 9:28 am

    The high cost of electricity (relative to earning capacity) hurts the poor as much as the high cost of rice which is why issues involving Power Generation and Distribution are also important.

  4. Manuel L. Quezon III: The Daily Dose » Blog Archive » Mindanao hitting the fan? on June 3rd, 2008 2:09 pm

    […] column for yesterday, The victory of poverty, was inspired by this entry by Mon Casiple, and by this entry by the notorious Benign0 in FilipinoVoices.com as well as New Philippine Revolution on recent […]

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