THE UNGENTLEWOMAN Gabbie Tatad
Of the many public petitions that never seem to gain too much ground, there is one with 11, 285 signatures and counting. It is one petitioning the United Nations to deny Teddy Boy Locsin, Jr. the position of permanent envoy of the Republic of the Philippines, following the more recent of several anti-Semitic comments Locsin has made on Twitter.
Locsin in 2015 replied to a Huffington Post headline regarding an unarmed black man being strangled to death by a white police officer—a man we now know as Jonathan Sanders—with, “The Nazis will tell you need to organize these things on a large scale: try concentration camps.” A few weeks ago, on Aug. 25, Locsin declared, “You may find this hard to believe but the Nazis were not all wrong, give or take killing millions of the wrong people. Keep an open mind.” His remarks were called out as racist, apologist, and elitist among many other things, to which he replied, “Elitist? Wouldn’t you be if your Mom was part Spanish Jew and so her son is part of The Chosen Race unlike monkeys?”
Upon his family’s request, Locsin deleted the more extreme tweets, but followed up with a brief public Twitter meltdown. He directed a tweet at Senator Leila De Lima, saying, “Ah, shut the f*** up, you fat b*tch. GMA had a TRO from the Supreme Court and you spat on it.” To other users slinging that harsh old crticism his way, he began replies with, “To the brave patriots fighting the good fight online, f*** you” and “I will continue to f***, you ugly f*** faces.”
This string of behavior in its continual escalation is what’s said to have triggered Jessica Zafra’s beautifully written “Obituary For The Formerly Brilliant.” She never names the subject of the piece, but then speaks so clearly that she doesn’t have to. As someone who was mentored by the subject, she claims to have known about “the racism, the elitism, and attraction towards facism” prominent in him, but chalked it up to “charming political incorrectness.” Zafra ends the article with a punch in the gut: “He has one last thing to teach me: that loyalty has its limits. Mine ends when literature and history are twisted to justify the unjustifiable.”
The role of an Ambassador
Naturally, those in support of Locsin brush off the opposition as jealousy, stupidity, and an inability to understand. But whatever your biases may be, the role of ambassador is not only for someone who is supposedly brilliant. It is for someone who is, at the very core, diplomatic and able to handle tense situations with a delicate hand. Throwing racial slurs at the very people you aim to represent, lashing out when met with criticsm for less than savory statements, and attempting to sympathize with a unit that engaged in ethnic cleansing and the death of millions—these are the actions of a troll, not a diplomat.
Still, the keyboard warriors these days are swift with their defenses, calling anyone who opposes the choices of the current administration “bayaran” or “dilawan,” and eradicating any form sensical discussion or even an agreement to disagree civilly. So what used to be a mild annoyance has morphed into one our greatest problems these days: the amount of relativism plaguing any manner of speech in this country—not only from our leaders (or those who would like to be), but from those who support them blindly and without critical scrutiny.
President Duterte, possibly one of the most equally beloved and divisive Presidents, claimed in recent weeks that he would eventually cut ties with the United States; a statement, that whether true or not, the head of the state ideally shouldn’t make off the cuff without being prepared to actually cut ties. Presidential spokesperson Ernesto Abella said that it is the media who needs to learn to take things less literally. Abella says, in really the most patronizing of ways, “Intindihin natin yung word na ‘cut ties.’ Let’s try to use our creative imagination. Huwag tayo masyadong literal.”
Take a Step Back
What I’d like to know though, is how much creative imagination it takes to step back and draft statements that are still uncompromisingly honest without throwing out careless offense? Because it seems to me that there’s been more time spent making empty threats and apologizing for said threats, rather than elevating the discourse on any pressing issue at hand. I do not disagree with the idea of making the creation of laws and the leadership of this country accessible to the people, but the purpose of elevated discussion is not to make anyone else feel stupid. It is however valuable, so that when there is something of value is being discussed, there is a language that supercedes impassioned speech and low-flying insults, to get a point across without being infected by personal prejudices, and without treating important issues like the prize at the end of a bar fight. It is not to shut out the less educated, and if it does, the question is not for the subject or the manner of discussion, but for the manner of education itself. We shouldn’t be lowering the dignity of discussion as though the leadership of this nation is a bad afternoon telenovela trying to get ratings. But here we are, discussing sex tapes when thousands are dead, watching supposedly intelligent lawmakers turn off each other’s microphones, watching the government’s machinery continuously blame bad statements on our understanding rather than on the person delivering them, and fighting the urge to make the entire government stand in their own corners.
Whether or not the President is beloved for being the “common man” is beside the point. There is more than enough room for the common man to engage in intelligent discourse without being rude, without constantly cursing, and without rambling on like that drunk uncle at Christmas reunions who ask teenage girls whether or not they have a boyfriend. While speaking plainly is definitely a good thing, and while frank speech can be entertaining for a while, there are standards that a President must be held to. Becoming known for being easily goaded, quick tempered, and impulsive on spewing bile only ensures that you go back on whatever you say, doing significant damage to the perception of honor and credibility, and making one an alarmingly easy target. Senator Dick Gordon, in an impassioned statement to the Senate, remarked of our President, “Buyuin mo nang konti, magagalit, sasagot kaagad yan, kaya nagkakaloko-loko ang statement…the President has a duty to be a statesman… sasabihin ko nga palitan na natin ang slogan ng tourism [to] ‘Welcome to the PI.’”
The Power of Language
During the funeral mass of the recently passed Senator Miriam Defensor-Santiago, Bishop Teodoro Bacani said, “Even when [Santiago] spoke vitriol against her opponents, she did not drive you to the gutters. She sent you instead to the dictionary.” This is what we hope for, for statesmen who understand the power of language especially when you’re in a position where a few words carry the exact weight as an action. Where one word can sever ties with long time allies, or gain dangerously unpredictable friends for the sole purpose of speaking against a common enemy, where a word is the difference between life and death, between dignity and loss. Where honesty isn’t the simple act of speaking your mind the second a thought enters, but the ability to exercise critical thought and restraint so as to communicate the truth as clearly as possible without becoming The Boy Who Cried Jetski.
I have always been proud to be a Filipino and have, in my career as a writer, fought for so much of what this country can offer. But this administration and the manner in which it conducts itself, in its inability to acknowledge distinctly wrong and hateful statements or to stand by its word outside of any issue that is drug-related, makes me ashamed. I am ashamed that the accountability making errant statements is always passed on to a supposedly scheming press corps or the “dilawan” opposition. I am ashamed that the primary solution to any wrongdoing is death, especially in the face of a great need for education, job creation, compassion, and rehabilitation. I am ashamed of the tolerance and more greatly of the support of this persistent ignorance.
This is not the Philippines I know, no matter how steeped in conflict we may have been before. They may have been right when they said change was coming, but how many of us expected this?
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