Hubris: More fun in the Philippines
(an essay in two parts)
Hubris (noun): Excessive pride, arrogance, or self-confidence.
I. Everyday life would be a whole lot easier if we went by the rules of Robert Blair Carabuena. So let’s try it.
One, by the power vested in me as a wealthy, upper-class motorist, I will not stop for any stop sign, nor take any sh*t from the traffic enforcer who has the gall to apprehend me.
Two, I will defend the rights of my apprehended vehicle by enlisting the aid of a family member to bodily assault said traffic enforcer.
Three, my right to attack an officer is backed by a shining grocery list of my achievements, foremost of which is my alumni status from a prestigious Catholic university, and my position as executive of a tobacco company. These badges of social, cultural, and economic capital clearly mark me as symbolically more superior than a mere legal authority, which is why, at the end of the day, I can do what I want, when I want.
If you fancy yourself a member of society, the case of the pudgy Philip Morris executive striking MMDA traffic aide Saturnino Fabros may rub you the wrong way. Not simply for the blatant disregard of the law (there are politicos who’ve done worse, after all), but for the gall to actually hit back. Literally. You’d think running a red light in front of a traffic enforcer and getting away with it would be enough, but when Fabros smacked the side of Carabuena’s Volvo S60 in frustration, the man just had to stop the world and give Fabros a piece of his mind.
To anyone who’s ever scoffed at our MMDA enforcers, wrote them all off as corrupt scumbags out to make a quick buck, taunted and then run away from them after being apprehended for a violation you committed in the first place —kudos to you. You’ve reached a plane of consciousness too lofty to be bothered with traffic regulations, or with membership in a society.
What, do you think the MMDA actually enjoy standing for hours in the middle of the road, rain or shine, risking life and limb for moronic drivers who could care less about him/her? And for a salary I could blow on one night of drinks, no less. Why not scoff at that?
Lest I sound pretentious, I actually admire our MMDA personnel. In fact, I’m particularly fond of the traffic aide at the intersection of Boni Serrano, Libis and White Plains Katipunan. He does a stellar job directing traffic when the road to Boni Serrano gets too congested; plus, he often lets motorists get away with occupying the rightmost lane, so long as we leave room for the cars behind us to make the turn to Libis. He’s small and old, and he declined my offer of a Skyflakes with a polite smile.
These guys aren’t machines, they’re actual people. Are they agents of social control, and by extension, the state? Of course they are. Are they the embodiment of state repression? Nope, not by a long shot. The lowest-ranking of the MMDA earn a measly P2,300 every two weeks. If you want to talk repressive state apparatuses, look to the higher-ups — the courts, the Senate, people like Carabuena, who enforce its power, who benefit from the status quo.
These traffic aides don’t owe us a damn thing. But for the delusional, anti-establishment folk who believe flipping the finger at the MMDA is tantamount to resisting the state in all its hegemony, why not be thorough and rob them of every scrap of dignity while you’re at it?
II. In other, quite similar news, we have Atty. Hector Villacorta. He is the new vanguard of the postmodern condition, where the absence of absolute truth, the interchangeability of facts with falsehoods, and the meaninglessness of everything reign supreme.
In this regard, he has trumped the legions of hipsters and quasi-anarchists who have tried and failed to live out the teachings of total relativity. This is an amazing feat, considering his profession as a lawyer is something so heavily grounded on biting-hard reality.
According to the good attorney, blogs are public domain and meant to be shared. Following this logic, it isn’t plagiarism if you lift, say, a whole passage on anti-RH bill sentiments from various blogs, and then proceed to pass it off as your own responsible paraphrasing from a scientific source.
Blogs are only the musings of anonymous cyber netizens, after all. Their automatic copyright protection can be waived in lieu of more important things, like making your boss look good and saving the country one anti-RH argument at a time. Asking permission from a blogger? Giving credit where credit is due? Please. Our postmodern government is above copyright law. One can’t withhold information from the government anyway, especially an exemplar of the democratic ideal like ours.
But Atty. Villacorta is a magnanimous man, and is willing to compromise his postmodern values for the bloggers who’ve been slighted by his enlightened libertarian thinking. Indeed, in true relativist fashion, he has come up with the following pseudo-apology for blogger Sarah Pope:
“I understand you felt slighted that your blog was not attributed to you which became part of the speech of the senator. Let me say that after asking my staff, indeed your blog was used but only in quoting also from the same book of Dr. Campbell-McBride. We are both indebted to the book’s author but if you wish that you also be credited with the contents of the book, let this be your affirmation. I can do it and by this message I am doing it. Hope it satisfies you.”
That said, three cheers for uncompromising hubris!
