Why it is important for Filipinos to stop being stupid

March 14, 2012
By benign0

Does consistently slagging the prosecution with glee necessarily make one pro-Corona? That is of course what those who sour grape in the face of the steely elegance with which the defense now present their case in the impeachment trial of Supreme Court Chief Justice Renato Corona would have us believe. But to be fair to them, although the prosecution after bumbling its way through many weeks of trying to prove Corona is a bad guy did not make much of a very convincing pitch for their cause, there still is an element of reasonable doubt that Corona may not be as squeaky clean as he purports himself to be.

And that is where the bigger tragedy lies — that the party in this circus that history may go on to judge to be right squanders its duty to uphold what is right by acting stupid. And that is what the prosecution potentially did if indeed Corona is a bad guy. If Corona gets away with being bad, then it is the fault of a prosecution who supposedly had all the resources (and then some) at their disposal to stop him and yet used these in the typical fashion that Pinoys use such wealth and opportunity — by applying our renownedpwede na yan and bahala na philosophies in the course of doing so.

And that is why I am on the side of whoever is the shrewder, more clever, and more intelligent party — whether perceived guilty or not. For me there is simply no abiding by the side of stupid. This is a political drama that is really no different from those surrounding the activist fads under the watch of former President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo (GMA) — that whole noise coming from the “indignation” around the cheating and stealing she allegedly did as President. Perhaps all of it is true. But then perhaps it isn’t. Who’s to say? The Media? A bunch of ocho-ocho street rallyists? Leah Navarro? A judge certainly hasn’t said so yet. And there seems to be a shortage of good enough lawyers in this lawyer-infested land who are able to convince a judge of Arroyo’s alleged guilt. Fact is, Arroyo and her lieuteants were clever, astute, and shrewd in the manner with which they got on with their business – a stark contrast to the “opposition” (and now ruling) parties who pitched themselves as the righteous forces in some sort of idiotic “Laban” movement and then went on to pervert the very notion of said righteousness by being stupid in just about every manner and approach they took to mark the supposedly “straight path” or “daang matuwid” for the wretched lot who make up this sad country.

The reality is quite simple. You don’t achieve much when you act stupid, and you don’t earn much respect from achieving very little — much less doing so by acting stupid. Perhaps 26 years was a bit of a longer-than-average stretch of a learning curve for a supposedly literate modern society that is now addicted to “social media” to get that simple concept. But better late than never. The lack of substance of the traditional “Laban” rhetoric and the utter vacuousness of the people who delivered said rhetoric is now glaringly evident.

Bottom line again:

Sorry na lang sa mga bobo. Whether you guys are right or wrong, bobo pa rin kayo. We choose to fancy ourselves a technology-savvy and modern people yet consistently fail to appreciate the reality that in the modern, technological, and competitive world that is 21st Century Planet Earth, smart people get ahead and idiots are left to eat their dust.