Yesterday (September 19), I saw keane's video of their single titled "everybody's changing". It struck a chord in me, and realized a couple of things that are pertinent in life. I have my own interpretations of some of the lyrics of the song, but the gist is something along the following lines:
Everybody's changing, and I don't feel right.
(Ok, so that was one line... This should be the second).
But there could always be a duality to this: I'm changing, and everybody else is changing their attitude towards me. Maybe this could also be true, but nonetheless it never feels right whenever change is in the equation. It rareley is, until everything sinks in, and you tend to accept the changes as they come. This might be true for some people like me, but others like the status quo.
There's an interesting article I read from Peyups.com about the apolitical intellectual. There are a lot of praises as to the well written piece (which in my opinion was really very well written), however I had an issue I haven't dealt with for a long time -- ever since this article. I got into the conspiracy theorist (or more appropriately non-conspiracy theorist) mode of thinking and start to ask myself and the columnist a few things.
1) Is there really a systematic oppression of the Filipino people when it comes to liberal thinking and policy making?
2) Is there some higher power at work with the oppression, or are we ourselves suppressing ourselves?
For question #1, there was a quick answer -- in the Marxist view, there is always oppression by the burgoise and the middle class should rule. Systematic oppression was what the capitalist agenda was all about -- thr rich shal rule, and the poor shall drool. He is right, but do not get me wrong, I am NOT a communist. I would like to think of myself as someone who understands the communist agenda, but would not join the movement for practical reasons.
#2 is a little harder to answer. It's really hard to muster the reality of the self-contained bubble. What am I talking about? Consider this situation: If you were in a dark room with a spotlight in hand, would you realize that all you can see is whatever you put the spotlight on? If you ever did put a spotlight on your own face, then you would be blinded right? That's usually why it's hard to think that the only oppressive force that we genuinely feel would be our own suppression of our capabilities, and our psychological stance and acceptance of the oppression. Only if you think you are opressed will you be oppressed -- otherwise, you'd just be ignorant.
I have a couple of problems with the first idea -- would you really want to be part of a communist society where nobody is rich nor poor, where the political agenda of most people will be "taken care of" by the higher echelons of government? First of all, I personally think that the communist agenda is as selfish as or if not more selfish than the capitalist proposition -- only with the communist agenda, there's one big mother [insert country government here] taking care of the corruption and oppression. That's why I think most communist movements and countries will either die on their own due to unrealistic living conditions of the population (poverty i.e.) or will destroy each other due to the greed of the government -- take Hitler's socialist and anti-semitist agenda for historical reference.
For the second, being a political intellectual only gets you so far -- unless you're in a position to actually influence public policy or directly influence the welfare of the masses. If you've never been part of the masses, how do you talk for them? If you've never been part of the masses, how do you give them a voice? How would you know what they want? And what could you do if the marginalized keep doing what they do to keep themselves marginalized?
So many questions, very few answers.
If you ever feel the need to contest anything I say here, please comment. I appreciate everyone's input, especially those that actually make sense.
Chill...
Everybody's changing, and I don't feel right.
(Ok, so that was one line... This should be the second).
But there could always be a duality to this: I'm changing, and everybody else is changing their attitude towards me. Maybe this could also be true, but nonetheless it never feels right whenever change is in the equation. It rareley is, until everything sinks in, and you tend to accept the changes as they come. This might be true for some people like me, but others like the status quo.
There's an interesting article I read from Peyups.com about the apolitical intellectual. There are a lot of praises as to the well written piece (which in my opinion was really very well written), however I had an issue I haven't dealt with for a long time -- ever since this article. I got into the conspiracy theorist (or more appropriately non-conspiracy theorist) mode of thinking and start to ask myself and the columnist a few things.
1) Is there really a systematic oppression of the Filipino people when it comes to liberal thinking and policy making?
2) Is there some higher power at work with the oppression, or are we ourselves suppressing ourselves?
For question #1, there was a quick answer -- in the Marxist view, there is always oppression by the burgoise and the middle class should rule. Systematic oppression was what the capitalist agenda was all about -- thr rich shal rule, and the poor shall drool. He is right, but do not get me wrong, I am NOT a communist. I would like to think of myself as someone who understands the communist agenda, but would not join the movement for practical reasons.
#2 is a little harder to answer. It's really hard to muster the reality of the self-contained bubble. What am I talking about? Consider this situation: If you were in a dark room with a spotlight in hand, would you realize that all you can see is whatever you put the spotlight on? If you ever did put a spotlight on your own face, then you would be blinded right? That's usually why it's hard to think that the only oppressive force that we genuinely feel would be our own suppression of our capabilities, and our psychological stance and acceptance of the oppression. Only if you think you are opressed will you be oppressed -- otherwise, you'd just be ignorant.
I have a couple of problems with the first idea -- would you really want to be part of a communist society where nobody is rich nor poor, where the political agenda of most people will be "taken care of" by the higher echelons of government? First of all, I personally think that the communist agenda is as selfish as or if not more selfish than the capitalist proposition -- only with the communist agenda, there's one big mother [insert country government here] taking care of the corruption and oppression. That's why I think most communist movements and countries will either die on their own due to unrealistic living conditions of the population (poverty i.e.) or will destroy each other due to the greed of the government -- take Hitler's socialist and anti-semitist agenda for historical reference.
For the second, being a political intellectual only gets you so far -- unless you're in a position to actually influence public policy or directly influence the welfare of the masses. If you've never been part of the masses, how do you talk for them? If you've never been part of the masses, how do you give them a voice? How would you know what they want? And what could you do if the marginalized keep doing what they do to keep themselves marginalized?
So many questions, very few answers.
If you ever feel the need to contest anything I say here, please comment. I appreciate everyone's input, especially those that actually make sense.
Chill...
This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.
ReplyDeleteSo many questions, very few answers.could it be that there are as many answers as there are questions? and that we only fail to see them as such due to several accounted (and unaccounted) factors of life that tend to cloud our way of thinking?
ReplyDeleteand on everything else that you said, i stand by what i've said on your earlier post (aptly modified for this post)...
oppression, oppression... KALOKOHAN!setCynicalMode( true );AND we're all gonna die anyway. would it matter overmuch if there's a "higher power at work with the oppression"? i think not.
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so there. you wanted a comment, you've got one. hehehe. by the by, we're gonna meet at makati later. hehehe. wala lang. gusto ko lang i-share. harharhar! :)
* oncoming tidal waves through the monitor *