The dumbing of politics

An assortment of comedians, clowns, buffoons and jokers now attends the country’s politics. Filipinos who have seen better times wonder why the impressive leaders of yesteryears – Tañada, Diokno, Salonga, Laurel, Recto and Lacson, to name but a few – do not have worthy successors among the dramatis personae of our contemporary political theatre. As one scans those who now lead in the governance of the nation, one finds mostly caricatures of what senators, cabinet members and other national officials should be and in the past had been often enough.

Present day politicians include an inordinately large number of dwarfs – stunted characters who somehow made it through the election mill because they could adroitly entertain millions and make them forget about their persistently miserable lives. Popularity – a singular asset of those who mostly draw laughter without worrying much about its cerebral content or, for that matter, which end of the mouth it issues from – has been the sure-fire ticket to public office of these dauntless characters.

Class B movie actors, radio and tv hosts, newscasters, sports personalities and various specimens of those who entertain for a living – in most cases, probably had been at it for at least two decades in this country – leave an indelible mark in the minds of the voting public. It is unfortunately a largely undereducated and often also a mostly miseducated public, barely able to attend high school because of their poverty and tutored by grossly underpaid, often also academically ill-prepared teachers.

Sa bayan ng mga bulag, ang pisak ay siyang hari. In the country of the blind, the one-eyed is king. Rizal’s observation made over a hundred years ago has tragic currency in our own times. Where the educational system has not made it possible for most citizens to be functionally literate and numerically proficient, it is improbable that a modern, enlightened democracy can develop, much less endure. Where people may read but are unable to comprehend what their eyes pass over, an intelligent democracy should not be expected to exist. Where people sum up numbers but are unable to figure out what their sums point to – what they imply and where they ultimately lead – one too must be apprehensive about democracy’s chances.

Where a critical mass has not developed, where most of the masses are unable to critically assess the wherefores of their national and personal conditions and where catholicized misery puts a premium on even the most evanescent of escapes, the dumbing of politics becomes inevitable. A nation unable to make sense of its oppressive history, of its powerlessness in the face of wretched conditions and the despair such conditions spawn, eventually yields to temptation and welcomes entertainment as a convenient substitute for irreverent education and willful patriotic action. Entertainers predictably gain a decisive edge in popular elections.

Enough Filipinos have brought in the clowns, the comedians and the comics to perform in this nation’s politics. Are there also enough Filipinos who will differentiate between That’s Entertainment and Strictly Politics, make the hardfast distinction between simply idiotic performances and properly political ones and, finally, uncompromisingly demand that while entertainers in politics might be paid their honoraria, only the truly competent public officials may be expected to earn the title Honorable?

Without enough civic-minded Filipinos, the dumbing of politics will inexorably continue. By 2004, the entertainers could preside over affairs of state. A professional actor could be forging national policies in Malacañang to deal with the political, economic, diplomatic, scientific and spiritual challenges issuing from the country’s national and global environments. Capably assisting the presiding actor/actress would be a cast of hundreds – glamorous film stars, confidence-exuding radio and TV hosts, fast-talking newscasters, durable sports personalities – and a host of other talents a public desperately hooked on entertainment shall have voted into public office.

Lights, camera, action!