A hobby of the impoverished mind
Written on Tuesday, October 28th, 2008 at 9:03 am | by benign0Beyond his comment on yet another (ho hum) image of Pinoy poverty that such is…
[…] heart-rending, and gut-wrenching […]
… I’m not exactly clear on what further point Ding is trying to make in his recent blog entry.
Yes, it is (to varying degrees across different people), “heart-rending, and gut-wrenching”.
And so…….
[Ding, please complete the above sentence for the benefit of some of us here, plez.]
I on the other hand make a clear point here. And it is not an appeal to emotion.
That kind of poverty has (and it is becoming increasingly apparent to me that many here may be surprised by this brainwave) been around for DECADES.
Clearly Ding’s intention is to induce some kind of emotional reaction. In fact he spoon-feeds us with the “heart-rending, and gut-wrenching” part for good measure. How thoughtful of him to take into account Da Pinoy’s world-renowned need for guidance on what to think. Group hug everyone! Let’s all assure ourselves that we’ve paid our way with a bit of an emotional toll through another day of in-your-face Pinoy-style poverty!
I don’t know about everyone else here, but having spent the better part of my years growing up in Manila, I don’t think I need to be told by anyone how I should feel about poverty — particularly the kind of Pinoy-style poverty that has been in my face, up my nose, seeping into my shoes and socks, and squirming under my skin for most of my life.
Many of us apparently prefer the comfort of an occassional reminder to rend our hearts and wrench our guts about the occassional token thought of poverty. The reminder can come in the form of a fiery but largely undifferentiated homily or scripture reading dished out on our usual Sunday dose of religion or, yes, in the quaint form of a YouTube video. Either way, same banana. Poverty afflicts da Pinas like the stubborn rash that it is. And as with most rashes, scratching its itch doesn’t cure it and in most cases merely makes it worse.
Sorry folks, I am pretty clear about how I feel. One does not need to have experienced being poor to be really annoyed with poverty.
As such, my regard for Pinoy-style poverty has since evolved. In terms of regard for poverty, the law-abiding sector of Pinoy society (rapidly shrinking for the last 100 years as it may be) can pretty much be exhaustively grouped into three types:
Those who are primarily apathetic to it;
Those who regard it with a bit of an occassional effort to rend their hearts and wrench their guts; and,
Those who make it their business to serve that proverbial soup to the proverbial bum.
Viewed from the cold standards of results, all of the above three are effectively THE SAME, more so if we regard poverty as a system that begs systemic solutions.
When an entire society is in denial of the systemic poverty of mind, spirit, and intellect that is woven into the very fabric of Pinoy society and is the root of the bigger loser mentality that afflicts it, it fails to see the sort of poverty that Ding highlights for what it is — a mere symptom indicative of our underlying character (or lack of it) as a people.
Indeed, as Juan Mercado thought out loud:
Are Filipinos content with being a one-stop mall for surgeons, pilots, geologists and “super maids”?
“If we are, how do we stretch the limits of our human capital industry?” Pernia asks. Four out of 10 students drop out before finishing primary grades. “If we’re not, what’s the alternative?”
Suffice to say, wondering why we are poor and making occassional token gestures to show we are “aware” of it is a hobby of the impoverished mind at best.
So while we may take a pill to suppress the occassional symptom, curing an underlying rot may require radical surgery (maybe even a transplant or two). To be fair, a bit of rending of the heart and wrenching of the gut may be the solution after all. Literally.
============
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Benign0,
I do not need to complete the sentence as I am sure you, more than anyone here at FV have things pretty much figured out, and solved.
Appeal to emotion yes and beyond that I feel FV readers, including those asserting superior perspectives and prerogativss will awaken, and act.
Am sorry if thi is not up to your own ’standards’ or are you prescribing that we now all becoming unfeeling. indifferent even if we happen to be in better situations than our other compatriots?
Benign0,
I actually found Ding’s blog entry so touching that I decided to start a chain letter to all my wealthy friends. What next? Perhaps an online petition to end poverty? Yes! I’m on a roll! Then maybe a gathering at Starbucks (drinking a decadent hazelnut latte whose cost would probably feed a poverty stricken family of five for a day) to start a Black and White movement for poverty.
Gosh I feel so cool, so morally … superior!
what are you people talking about? what’s so worse about poverty is not the physical aspect of it; but that which destroys the soul.
we can all feed millions of poor Filipino families for decades if we want to, but nothing, oh, nothing will ever cure them of this illness called poverty.
PGMA and this administration have been trying its best to answer this scourge of mankind. However, though its really trying very hard, many of our people are afflicted with this manana habit that despite billions of pesos, they still can’t find a way to solve the problems themselves.
For all its worth and for all our disagreements, I agree on what Mr. Patricio wrote here and in his site about poverty. Poverty, he says, is one man’s misfortune and another man’s gain.
Hi Benigno,
Sometimes, we need to use this literary convention to rouse people from stupor. I mean, come on man! Some of us are still blind about this. In fact, I have a staffer who never, ever, even stepped in a squatter’s area, let alone ride a padyak.
However, I do agree that this same mentality underscores the state of our society—we are obviously in denial–some of us, by the way, not ALL of us. Surveys show that 76% consider themselves poor. Don’t tell me that these people are still in denial? Sometimes, our so-called sociological presuppositions border on the insane.
Those who are in denial–well, they comprise at least 10% of the population. In a pyramidal society such as ours, this 10% controls 90% of the resources and like it or not, these people ought to be reminded, albeit, roused from their stupor, even pushed from their beds.
I think Ding is appealing to them in ways which they would readily understand. That’s effective communication for you. That’s in-your-face communication, one of the most effective ways of reaching your target audience.
Sometimes, because we are stuck in our comfy chairs and comfy lives, our minds have become like coach potatoes.
I just marvel at the capacity of some to always bring it back to their own achievements. I miss Manong Max Soliven.
Poverty deprives a person of his/her basic needs in life. It eliminates one’s dignity, freedom and empowerment. It limits a person’s ability to realize his/her full potential. It is about missing opportunities, missing hope and missing the ability to experience the true essence of humanity.
It is clear that the government of the Philippines bears the ultimate responsibility. In my opinion, the people managing our country lacks the proper skills to move this country faster. Structural and Constitutional Reform must be clearly implemented as a BIG GOAL and must move with greater tempo with focus on poverty alleviations/reductions. Strategic allocation of budgets, local autonomy, economic zoning and agrarian reform cannot be delayed. It must be done in a faster speed Now or Never. SO LITTLE TIME TOO MANY PROBLEMS.
I used to be in a religious organization that does outreach. I know people who stew their own shit.
Which brings me to the point I make, Ding.
Let’s say we all right now become “unfeeling” and “indifferent”. Or for that matter what if we all swing the other way and become all touchy-feely about this instance of poverty you bring to our attention.
How exactly will a world of either unfeeling and indifferent middle class Pinoys OR touchy-feely middle class Pinoys be functionally different from the the way it is right now?
And what’s the deal with this business about “happening” to be in “better situations”? People don’t just “happen” to be in “better situations”. It takes a conscious effort to achieve.
Using luck to account for one’s circumstances trivialises the hard and smart work put into being in a “more fortunate” circumstance.
And so…
“Awaken and act”.
Hmmmm.
Let’s break that concept into its component parts.
Step one: “Awaken”. Presumably it is awaken from our lack of awareness of poverty.
So, ok, after this first step, let’s say we are now aware of poverty. We now go to the next step;
Step two: “Act”. Presumably the fact of our being aware will underpin the nature of this action we are supposedly now to take. The outcome of any such “action” we now take will find us in at least one of those three buckets I cited; i.e.,
- Those who are primarily apathetic to poverty;
- Those who regard poverty with a bit of an occassional effort to rend their hearts and wrench their guts; and,
- Those who make it their business to serve that proverbial soup to the proverbial bum.
Hey, wait a minute! Yet another road that leads back to what I originally asserted!
So do pardon me, Ding, if I on occassion marvel at my own brilliance. I do so not because I assert any superiority of “perspectives and prerogativss”, but because I try to remain grounded in what is real.
And, yes, this can be perceived as arrogant, but then in our society that’s just a general occupational hazard when one is in the business of thinking and trading in the outcomes of such an activity.
Nick, I emailed you about a possible post idea. have you read it?
Benig0,
My reference to “… those asserting superior perspectives and prerogatives will awaken, and act.” was addressed to recent commenters who have recentky browbeating FV
Erratum:
My reference to “…those asserting superior perspectives and prerogatives will awaken, and act.” was directed at commenters who have recently browbeating FV contributors who they haughtily claim had no business criticizing the government of the day while those holding the levers of power take immense “risks in making decisions for the “small people”who deserve to be led like sheep.”
Be that as it may, Benign0 nevertheless felt alluded to, which is as it should be.
Social Darwinism lives.
hey ding,
tell mo nick, i’ve submitted two articles already since 2-3 days ago, but di pa naipupublish sa site natin. what is going on?
“Only here, because of the illusion of intellectualism, our society separates the validity of human expression. ”
Joseph Jarman
Sometimes, in our intellectualizing, we go beyond what’s the limits of reason and arrive at silly conclusions about the world, thereby rendering us, useless.
Sometimes, our thoughts are just useless rantings of coach potatoes, no use to the masses.
@Pat, Make sure it’s marked as published, not merely saved as a draft, that might be it.
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As with most problems, the more important question is “now that we know, what do we do?”
Unfortunately too many Filipinos define social activism as “looking for the problems” and define action as “going out to the streets to protest”.
Ask a Filipino for solutions to problems in their community, their answers would almost always be preceded by “The government should…”, almost never “I will…”
@Jon, my proposal.
Actually, you are spot on, cvj. Touche.
Ding, apparently even if you had not directed your statement to me, it was something that cvj would have directed to me. As such consider my response directed to cvj instead.
thanks cvj,
you know the solution for me is always revolution. kill those sonafabitches to set an example for other sonafabitches there who might have that stupid idea of conning the public again.
poverty begins when some people try to get the share of others in the social pie.
to cvj and benigno,
“Most, probably, of our decisions to do something positive, the full consequences of which will be drawn out over many days to come, can only be taken as the result of animal spirits—a spontaneous urge to action rather than inaction, and not as the outcome of a weighted average of quantitative benefits multiplied by quantitative probabilities.” – John Maynard Keynes, The General Theory of Employment, Interest and Money, 1936
This assumes though that wealth creation is a zero-sum game. What makes you think that becoming wealthy necessarily deprives others of access to similar opportunity?
Ask a Filipino for solutions to problems in their community, their answers would almost always be preceded by “The government should…”, almost never “I will…”
Which makes the results of the survey reported in Inquirer that the Philippines is a ‘Red State’ very surprising.
Ok, maybe not.
Jeg,
Such ‘predispositon’ of Filipinos to blame government grows out of the fact that government exacts taxes from them. Anything we buy is taxed. But what do youb hear, estimates that up to 30% of the national budget is lost yearly to CORRUPTION with billions more in tax revenue lost to smugglers who flourish also because of CORRUPTION.
Just last week the Philippines got failing marks in its war against CORRUPTION.
So there.
well, benigno, liken it to the present global supply of resources. its limited. and one needs to philosophize that, in reality, those who belong to a few who, who are either elected into office or those whom humans declared as royal blood or those whom the people declare as divine, they get the sizeable portion of the pie, depriving other people of theirs.
wealth creation has its limitedness, don’t you think?
You have to understand, Ding, I come from a position that says ‘Government is evil’ therefore from that perspective, saying ‘Government should…’ is the same as ‘Satan should…’
Patricio, if it were that easy, but you know that ’slaves of today, tyrants of tomorrow’ is never that far away. Seriously, i think a revolution will set up back a generation (at least). Although i believe the status quo will also set us back a generation.
Your resident defender of reason is back!
I agree with some here that maybe it’s time for us to forget blaming government for our woes and instead, internalize and start doing something ourselves.
Look, if we have complaints, imagine, the president herself would try to solve it? we’re really a parochial lot! Governance here is a macrocosm of a lowly barangay, with PGMA as the barangay captain.
Time to change that people! Time to rise up to the challenge of the times. Time to change our views on what’s right and what’s not. What’s right is we follow strong leaders. What’s wrong is, we accentuate our pitiful voices and term it as “people’s voice”.
so cvj, it’s either be killed without a fight or just be killed? BTW, the CBCP has issued a strongly-worded denunciation of Arroyo. The CBCP has called upon the people to rise up and build a new government.
Patricio, i believe that a violent revolution will just empower those with guns. I don’t have a gun.
Jeg,
That’s evidence of widespread prevalence of the notion of white supremacy ingrained within Filipinos, consistent with the fact that Pinoys are, in fact, racist. Especially against themselves.
THPoS,
Don’t subvert my message into yours. The government HAS duties to its people, and at its current state it has a very poor value-for-money proposition. I lose tons of money to the government, mind you. GMA is not my idea of a commendable leader.
why.. pde naman sila mag apply as pulis oyster..
well, cvj, i can give you one gun and i think you already have it–your laptop, hehehe! shoot away!
Pardon my French, but I gotta ask who the fuck these CBCP cretins think they are telling people to “rise up” when the very power they wield is built upon centuries of a systematic dumbing down of their constituents.
I’d call that institutionalised hypocrisy.
well, that’s the point. sometimes, when some cretins are enlightened, they ABANDON their usual practices and turn holy.
I don’t know, Patricio.
Here’s Catholicism for you in a nutshell:
People are a bunch of good-for-nothing sinners and are in such a state of in-born disgrace that they can only be redeemed by the “graces” of a deity that supposedly “loves” them. This deity has representatives on Earth that walk around in robes and organise themselves into, among others, a “Catholic Bishops Conference of the Philippines” and then proceed to pontificate about ways that people could “rise up” to this and that.
Nice scam.
hehehe. well, if I’m in a totally different world, i’ll agree with you on that my friend.
for now, we need all forces to unite. they might be cretins alright, but they’re the ones we need right now.
if you think that the people are going to be led by these wannabe Cardinal Sin bishops, you’re wrong.
These bishops are drunk of mompos that they think the people would rally for them. sheesh.
This is the most sensible comment that I read.
If i may add, the moment these activists became part of the government organization as lawmakers they do nothing about the problems.
Except perhaps to monitor slapstick comedy. hohoho.
Are you talking about Benign0? Hope you don’t hurt his feelings. I’m sure he’s actually a nice guy.
well, i’m talking from experience. bishops, cats, still exert influence especially on students. they may not amount much for other people, yet, sometimes, our bile is worst than our bite.
btw, if you meet someone, a cardinal,cat, what’s your very first act? sometimes, to just make our point, we say things that we really did’nt mean.
when a person declares that he is “poor”, i guess the next logical question is “what are you doing about it on your own?”
A lot of the poor start up their own businesses.
Distribution of Entrepreneurs by Socio-economic status as follows:
Class ABC+ 7%,
Class C- 19%,
Class D 54%,
Class E 20%
[Source: GEM Philippines 2006-2007 National Report]
Pulling one’s self up by his own bootstraps is easier said than done.
The middle (or even the lower) classes still have options. Not if one was born, raised, and spent most of your life, for example in a garbage dump. No education, no skill, no income.
It is government’s role to improve the standards of living of its citizens. Spend part of taxes for social programs, poverty alleviation, and feeding the poorest. Indeed, instead of being squandered in graft-laden image infra projects, who only benefit a few.
The greater good for the gretest number, remember?
For those earning the equivalent of one-dollar a day, then their only choice of eating are the pagpag chicken bones.
i asked this before, and i think it’s germane to ask it again — should we push for a welfare state or should we instead work with the paradigm of a watchman state?
I don’t think so.
I think it is the government’s role to create and maintain an environment where people have equal access to opportunity to improve their living standards.
That only a minority may benefit from such an environment may simply mean that our society is one where the majority simply cannot see opportunity even if it is served to them on a silver platter.
“where the majority simply cannot see opportunity even if it is served to them on a silver platter.”benigno
what silver platter? benigno please understand that public administration in third world country should be focused on MAJORITY TO SEE THE SILVER PLATTER. Public SERVICE can be referred to managing ordinary or activities of daily living. It is a routine management concerns but with emphasis of achieving public good. I see public management as an economically driven perspective on the operation of government.
The silver platter is a missed opportunity.
Remember.. the poor majority of today will be the parents of the poor majority of our tomorrow. We are running out of time.
cvj,
LOL, there you go again.
The next piece I’m putting up will seek to address precisely that concern.
DJB,
Bato-bato sa langit…
As a matter of fact, I — true to my usual form — already had that whole world-renowned Pinoy-style racism figured out in detail in an article I wrote eight years ago.
Check it out here.
All roads lead….
benigno,
the feeling of selfworth do not need to remind people about discrimination. Selfworth is humble. What is the purpose of adding insult to injury?
brainwashing is not good for the people. I would suggest to study Public administration or Business Management so that we can converse on the same level. Your Culture slide is basic on any business management degree. Therefore our political leaders do not have the basic. who is paying you benigno?
I have to agree with Benigno here. The purpose of government is just to create the necessary conditions for people to avail of the fruits of what we call “democratic” society. Yes, Leytenian, the emphasis is on public good.
And I also do agree on Benigno’s observations that the majority unfortunately don’t see those opportunities created by government. There are many reasons why. Now, when the minority is just the bunch who sees these opportunities, there must be something terribly wrong culturally.
Now, it would just be merely a cyclical argument to debate on what’s first on the agenda–creating the environment or creating the attitude (Benigno’s). What’s important is address Leytenian’s concern that we have to start somewhere.
I think the proper answer should be the creation of an environment where everybody sees the opportunities before them. Jester’s question is relevant–should we push for a welfare state or a watchman state?
This is the first time I heard of such a term “watchman state”. Maybe my friend meant a “garrison” state, which if it is, does’nt apply here.
What we need is to come together, put all our brains together and come up with a national agenda. Afterwards, we launch a moral revolution that aims to defeat that “loser mentality” that Benigno is referring to by transposing it with a ” winner all by yourself” mentality.
And we can only do that if we have a government that subscribes to this direction. IN the present one, we fail to see this. Therefore, it’s time to create a New Government, so that all the people will see and feel that there’s still hope.
of course,I see the positive side of Benigno. His style of reverse psychology will eventually work. The more insult to majority, the more they will retaliate and demand from government.
If I will agree with him? sure why Not. it’s a perfect combination for all types of discussions. The country needs Benigno.
cyclical argument to debate on what’s first on the agenda–creating the environment or creating the attitude (Benigno’s).
“Should we push for a Welfare State or Watchman State? “jester
All can be done simultaneously. there’s no excuse why we need to sacrifice one for the other.
“And we can only do that if we have a government that subscribes to this direction. IN the present one, we fail to see this. Therefore, it’s time to create a New Government, so that all the people will see and feel that there’s still hope.” Patricio.
[…] pathetic. I’d question the substance behind said expressions of “concern” (a hobby of the impoverished mind at […]
[…] can induce sympathy and empathy all we like — that favourite hobby of the impoverished mind that Pinoy society relies on for survival. But unless we truly understand the nature of the beast […]