Lessons from Jesus Christ’s PR strategy
March 21, 2005 | 12:00am
Christians all over the world will contemplate on the sufferings of Jesus Christ this week. One of the cornerstones of the faith, Christ’s ultimate sacrifice, sealed the spiritual salvation of mankind; the religious and the pious commemorate this in a complex set of rituals during the week, capped by Easter Sunday, a glorious celebration of Christ’s resurrection.
In this corner of Asia, the Philippines retains the dubious distinction of being the only Christian nation. Dubious because, while absolute numbers may reveal a majority of the population to be Christian, and, in fact, of the Roman Catholic persuasion, the reality of a fractious and, even, warring society, betrays a less than catholic temperament ("catholic," with the lower-case "c," is defined by Merriam-Webster dictionary as "comprehensive, universal, especially, broad in sympathies, tastes or interests").
It doesn’t help, either, that the international community perceives us to be the second most corrupt country in the world (the colorful Ilongga Senator begs to disagree; she says we should have been number one). Hints of bigotry and religious intolerance does not speak well of our manifest fervor, however. That tempest in a teapot of a Moslem prayer room at the Greenhills mall and the continuing strife among the Christian-Moslem communities in Mindanao are but the tip of the iceberg in the issue of socio-politico-religious conflict that mars the tranquility of the countryside.
Our human frailties, notwithstanding, – and we seem to have more than our fair share of inadequacies – we are also blessed with a prodigious capacity for repentance, of self-flagellation, as it were, inflicting upon ourselves a penitential dosage of pain and despair not unlike the bloody display of flagellants who walk the streets of Navotas scourging their backs with flesh-ripping bits of broken glass and pieces of blunted nails.
The degree to which half a millennium of Catholic dogma about sin and repentance as cause and effect has been ingrained into our minds is illustrated by the callous remark made by a person of great import. This person deigned to forward the notion that the deaths of the young students in Bohol, due to food poisoning, was but a consequence of an unholy family planning program being initiated by government. That this person perceives his god to be of a vengeful nature may also have been the result of this hell-and-brimstone Catholicism that marked the olden days of the church.
In some instances, however, we wouldn’t really mind its being the currency of thought. The Ilongga Senator’s suggestion that the honorable members of both houses commit hara kiri to atone for their monumental uselessness and save the country boodles of money from their pork is one good application of the sin-repentance-atonement principle. Otherwise, we’re just bashing our heads against the wall and make ourselves look like fools.
Take the brouhaha over the VAT bill, now pending before the Senate. Our sin was the failure to earn the International Monetary Fund’s nod over our current financial state. Consequently, the IMF "recommended" necessary measures to stem the hemorrhaging of our precious dollars while paying up our loans, and thereby, save our floundering economy.
The VAT measure is just one of these prescriptions for us to fill. An additional two percent may not sound like much, but in a country where a third of the population eat only a single meal of instant noodles a day, the increase is as strident as the good Senator’s voice is shrill. That would be the equivalent to 30 slashes on a flagellant’s back.
We’re getting bad press, is all, says our government spokesman. Credit downgrades by two international credit ratings agencies aside, we’re on an upswing, he adds. Except that, other than the local business moguls who belong to the billionaires club, nobody else can feel the take off. What we have, instead, are jail standoffs, terrorist excursions and the belated action by the police to close the gates after the last horse has gone, or staunch the bleeding after the patient’s already bled dry, to muddle the metaphors.
If only the wizards in our national government could tell the story well, our country could be redeemed from all the negative impressions brought about by bombings, kidnappings and wishy-washy government policies. Come to think of it, we do have storytellers in our government ranks. These people are tasked to spread the good news and inform the populace of the many good laws and policies enacted by Congress and the impressive numbers that tell us about our economy. PR professionals are good at doing that sort of thing.
Everybody who is anybody needs a PR guy. Someone to toot your horn for you. It’s not only for the current administration, nor just for private enterprises that are neck-and-neck with competitors in the wild and hairy world of capitalism. Even Jesus Christ had John the Baptist, His herald who paved the way and announced His coming. It was John who preceded Jesus and prepared the people by baptizing them. You could say that John was the biblical spin doctor.
Which brings us to this point of synthesis, which, hopefully, will explain the seemingly incongruous observations about our local state of affairs and Jesus Christ’s sufferings: What can we learn from Jesus’ story that can be applied to our present lives? After 2,000 years, we have a distillation of the wisdom and the soul of a person who lived – and died – for but one sole purpose: to save mankind from the evil of sin. Jesus was singularly focused on that purpose and unquestionably, totally, sincere in His pursuit.
Perhaps that, more than any other, is the defining principle which, tragically, we lack in our national discourse: sincerity and a singular purpose. We may have the best storytellers, the smooth PR practitioners and spin doctors, even the best statesmen and orators to impress us with their brilliance and wit, while telling all the good news about our nation, but it would be all for naught if we did not have the sincerity and true desire to mean what we say.
How sincere was Jesus in His mission to save us from sin? Sincere enough to give up His own life for ours. That is the penultimate essence of public service. In a way, the good Senator was on the right track with her suggestion. Except that her flippant statement should have been dead serious.
Have a blessed week.
You may e-mail bongo@vasia.com or bongo@campaignsandgrey.net for comments, questions or suggestions. Thank you for your letters.
In this corner of Asia, the Philippines retains the dubious distinction of being the only Christian nation. Dubious because, while absolute numbers may reveal a majority of the population to be Christian, and, in fact, of the Roman Catholic persuasion, the reality of a fractious and, even, warring society, betrays a less than catholic temperament ("catholic," with the lower-case "c," is defined by Merriam-Webster dictionary as "comprehensive, universal, especially, broad in sympathies, tastes or interests").
It doesn’t help, either, that the international community perceives us to be the second most corrupt country in the world (the colorful Ilongga Senator begs to disagree; she says we should have been number one). Hints of bigotry and religious intolerance does not speak well of our manifest fervor, however. That tempest in a teapot of a Moslem prayer room at the Greenhills mall and the continuing strife among the Christian-Moslem communities in Mindanao are but the tip of the iceberg in the issue of socio-politico-religious conflict that mars the tranquility of the countryside.
Our human frailties, notwithstanding, – and we seem to have more than our fair share of inadequacies – we are also blessed with a prodigious capacity for repentance, of self-flagellation, as it were, inflicting upon ourselves a penitential dosage of pain and despair not unlike the bloody display of flagellants who walk the streets of Navotas scourging their backs with flesh-ripping bits of broken glass and pieces of blunted nails.
The degree to which half a millennium of Catholic dogma about sin and repentance as cause and effect has been ingrained into our minds is illustrated by the callous remark made by a person of great import. This person deigned to forward the notion that the deaths of the young students in Bohol, due to food poisoning, was but a consequence of an unholy family planning program being initiated by government. That this person perceives his god to be of a vengeful nature may also have been the result of this hell-and-brimstone Catholicism that marked the olden days of the church.
In some instances, however, we wouldn’t really mind its being the currency of thought. The Ilongga Senator’s suggestion that the honorable members of both houses commit hara kiri to atone for their monumental uselessness and save the country boodles of money from their pork is one good application of the sin-repentance-atonement principle. Otherwise, we’re just bashing our heads against the wall and make ourselves look like fools.
Take the brouhaha over the VAT bill, now pending before the Senate. Our sin was the failure to earn the International Monetary Fund’s nod over our current financial state. Consequently, the IMF "recommended" necessary measures to stem the hemorrhaging of our precious dollars while paying up our loans, and thereby, save our floundering economy.
The VAT measure is just one of these prescriptions for us to fill. An additional two percent may not sound like much, but in a country where a third of the population eat only a single meal of instant noodles a day, the increase is as strident as the good Senator’s voice is shrill. That would be the equivalent to 30 slashes on a flagellant’s back.
We’re getting bad press, is all, says our government spokesman. Credit downgrades by two international credit ratings agencies aside, we’re on an upswing, he adds. Except that, other than the local business moguls who belong to the billionaires club, nobody else can feel the take off. What we have, instead, are jail standoffs, terrorist excursions and the belated action by the police to close the gates after the last horse has gone, or staunch the bleeding after the patient’s already bled dry, to muddle the metaphors.
If only the wizards in our national government could tell the story well, our country could be redeemed from all the negative impressions brought about by bombings, kidnappings and wishy-washy government policies. Come to think of it, we do have storytellers in our government ranks. These people are tasked to spread the good news and inform the populace of the many good laws and policies enacted by Congress and the impressive numbers that tell us about our economy. PR professionals are good at doing that sort of thing.
Everybody who is anybody needs a PR guy. Someone to toot your horn for you. It’s not only for the current administration, nor just for private enterprises that are neck-and-neck with competitors in the wild and hairy world of capitalism. Even Jesus Christ had John the Baptist, His herald who paved the way and announced His coming. It was John who preceded Jesus and prepared the people by baptizing them. You could say that John was the biblical spin doctor.
Which brings us to this point of synthesis, which, hopefully, will explain the seemingly incongruous observations about our local state of affairs and Jesus Christ’s sufferings: What can we learn from Jesus’ story that can be applied to our present lives? After 2,000 years, we have a distillation of the wisdom and the soul of a person who lived – and died – for but one sole purpose: to save mankind from the evil of sin. Jesus was singularly focused on that purpose and unquestionably, totally, sincere in His pursuit.
Perhaps that, more than any other, is the defining principle which, tragically, we lack in our national discourse: sincerity and a singular purpose. We may have the best storytellers, the smooth PR practitioners and spin doctors, even the best statesmen and orators to impress us with their brilliance and wit, while telling all the good news about our nation, but it would be all for naught if we did not have the sincerity and true desire to mean what we say.
How sincere was Jesus in His mission to save us from sin? Sincere enough to give up His own life for ours. That is the penultimate essence of public service. In a way, the good Senator was on the right track with her suggestion. Except that her flippant statement should have been dead serious.
Have a blessed week.
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