What we can learn from the SONA ‘fashion show’

SONA attendees aren’t the only ones who are guilty of living in a bubble.

Who should be declared as the SONA Fashion People’s Choice?” a major news channel posted on Facebook, encouraging readers to vote through “Likes.” Unless you’ve been living under a rock, you’d be aware that people have been cringing in response to the misplaced hype.

I don’t know anyone who takes the State of the Nation Address at face value. Many of us put more trust in our own eyes and ears to know what’s actually going on, and have learned to dismiss political PR with automatic ease. But apparently, all it takes is a parade of designer ternos and celebrities to provoke sentiments that have gone passive. In this case, it’s the rolled-out red carpet and traditional media outlets still not catching on that this wasn’t meant to be a fashion show. It awakens the last strand in our gut that won’t let us forget what purpose the occasion should — at least ideally — serve.

Obviously, the issue here isn’t glamour or aesthetics, but appropriateness. We know well enough not to upstage a bride on her wedding day, but on a solemn event meant to address a nation and its battered people, it is expected that attendees run away with the show. Aside from the deliberate attempt to put on appearances, whether in dress or progress reports, it also calls attention to the stark disconnect between people in this country. I’m sure most SONA attendees don’t mean to be insensitive, and are even convinced that they are complying with what’s appropriate. But that just drives home the point that the ruling class and its constituents might as well be living in different dimensions — worlds that can’t be set aside even on the one day when we, at least in theory, come together to check on our country.

In itself, there’s nothing wrong with living differently from those around you. We all do, in varying ways and degrees. But it becomes a problem when people can’t see past their social classes and whatever culture and upbringing they grew up with. And when we’re unaware of the plethora of contexts and experiences that exist, and where our fellow Filipinos might be coming from. The SONA red carpet is but a gross highlight of how we live most of our lives disconnected from the bigger picture, and are mostly unaware that we do.

You don’t need a lot of money and an immaculately structured Joey Samson terno to be cut off. The middle class, whose criticisms are loudest on social media, have their own limited spheres of understanding. We can start with how happy we are to pay for cheap labor like driving, delivery, and mani-pedis, but when the pittance these people make exempts them from taxes, we rise to use this as a weapon against them. How we like to equate poverty with laziness, when your laundry woman, driver, and construction worker clearly break their backs more than you do, for more hours and for less pay. How we would then say that the solution would be for them to study hard and work their way up so they don’t end up being farmers — ludicrously forgetting that food production is one of the most integral parts of society. How we’re so blinded by our CEO aspirations that we don’t recognize the importance of the most basic things and give due respect and priority to the people who enable us to get out of bed and get to our “more important” jobs. And that’s just one aspect of it. I could also cite how looking down on people who rally and demonstrate is a luxury afforded to those who have the connections, the lawyers, and Internet access to make their voices heard. It’s easy to be “civilized” when you’re included and have the standing to be listened to.

A broadsheet article isn’t long enough to go into all the ways Philippine society is like a head that doesn’t know its body at all. When I think about it this way, I’m suddenly not so mad at the people on the SONA red carpet. Suddenly, it’s merely representative of our own transgressions and all the things we assume to be appropriate, without stopping to look beyond the borders of our day-to-day lives.

It’s easy to criticize what is blatantly insensitive on our TV screens and social media feeds, especially when it has gone viral. It is good to do so. We are after all responsible for keeping each other in check. But I imagine change would be a lot more effective if we spent more time looking into the aspects we haven’t bothered to understand. The attendees of SONA live and act in a bubble. That much is clear. But what about you? What bubbles do you live in?

* * *

Tweet the author @catedeleon. 

Who should be declared as the SONA Fashion People’s Choice?” a major news channel posted on Facebook, encouraging readers to vote through “Likes.” Unless you’ve been living under a rock, you’d be aware that people have been cringing in response to the misplaced hype.

I don’t know anyone who takes the State of the Nation Address at face value. Many of us put more trust in our own eyes and ears to know what’s actually going on, and have learned to dismiss political PR with automatic ease. But apparently, all it takes is a parade of designer ternos and celebrities to provoke sentiments that have gone passive. In this case, it’s the rolled-out red carpet and traditional media outlets still not catching on that this wasn’t meant to be a fashion show. It awakens the last strand in our gut that won’t let us forget what purpose the occasion should — at least ideally — serve.

Obviously, the issue here isn’t glamour or aesthetics, but appropriateness. We know well enough not to upstage a bride on her wedding day, but on a solemn event meant to address a nation and its battered people, it is expected that attendees run away with the show. Aside from the deliberate attempt to put on appearances, whether in dress or progress reports, it also calls attention to the stark disconnect between people in this country. I’m sure most SONA attendees don’t mean to be insensitive, and are even convinced that they are complying with what’s appropriate. But that just drives home the point that the ruling class and its constituents might as well be living in different dimensions — worlds that can’t be set aside even on the one day when we, at least in theory, come together to check on our country.

In itself, there’s nothing wrong with living differently from those around you. We all do, in varying ways and degrees. But it becomes a problem when people can’t see past their social classes and whatever culture and upbringing they grew up with. And when we’re unaware of the plethora of contexts and experiences that exist, and where our fellow Filipinos might be coming from. The SONA red carpet is but a gross highlight of how we live most of our lives disconnected from the bigger picture, and are mostly unaware that we do.

You don’t need a lot of money and an immaculately structured Joey Samson terno to be cut off. The middle class, whose criticisms are loudest on social media, have their own limited spheres of understanding. We can start with how happy we are to pay for cheap labor like driving, delivery, and mani-pedis, but when the pittance these people make exempts them from taxes, we rise to use this as a weapon against them. How we like to equate poverty with laziness, when your laundry woman, driver, and construction worker clearly break their backs more than you do, for more hours and for less pay. How we would then say that the solution would be for them to study hard and work their way up so they don’t end up being farmers — ludicrously forgetting that food production is one of the most integral parts of society. How we’re so blinded by our CEO aspirations that we don’t recognize the importance of the most basic things and give due respect and priority to the people who enable us to get out of bed and get to our “more important” jobs. And that’s just one aspect of it. I could also cite how looking down on people who rally and demonstrate is a luxury afforded to those who have the connections, the lawyers, and Internet access to make their voices heard. It’s easy to be “civilized” when you’re included and have the standing to be listened to.

A broadsheet article isn’t long enough to go into all the ways Philippine society is like a head that doesn’t know its body at all. When I think about it this way, I’m suddenly not so mad at the people on the SONA red carpet. Suddenly, it’s merely representative of our own transgressions and all the things we assume to be appropriate, without stopping to look beyond the borders of our day-to-day lives.

It’s easy to criticize what is blatantly insensitive on our TV screens and social media feeds, especially when it has gone viral. It is good to do so. We are after all responsible for keeping each other in check. But I imagine change would be a lot more effective if we spent more time looking into the aspects we haven’t bothered to understand. The attendees of SONA live and act in a bubble. That much is clear. But what about you? What bubbles do you live in?

* * *

Tweet the author @catedeleon.