Why does a popular jingle want us to laugh at our problems? Why not, sings Freddie Aguilar. He and many other urban dwellers in the Philippines may have been taught (nagpasalin-salin, with the philosopher unknown to them) a lesson or two by Friedrich Nietzsche, who says it best: “Perhaps I know best why it is man alone who laughs; he alone suffers so deeply that he had to invent laughter.”
“Laughter is the best medicine” na lang daw kasi hindi nila kilala si Nietzsche. It is not “sad, but true” because we are so happy it is true.
Now is the time to spread your own sarcastic memes, or take time to read or share others’ before losing your freedom to petition our government for redress of grievances (ironically “guaranteed” by the Philippine Constitution of 1935, 1973, and 1987).
Who can beat trolls, anyway? All the lies, fake news, and dis/misinformation already circulated by an army of trolls would be effectively outmaneuvered by the entire armed forces of a country until the same forces would ultimately stop its malicious and criminal operation, but we simply cannot afford that. Is it not because nag-iisa lang si Ninoy? We better check Salingkit: a 1986 Diary by Cyan Abad-Jugo (Anvil Publishing, 2017) in our libraries.
Nag-iisa lang din sa bantay-dagat ang tagapagsalita ng Philippine Coast Guard na si Commodore Jay Tarriela. He posted on Twitter: “If you are a Filipino, whether in government or private sector, regardless of your politics, defending and making excuses for China’s aggressive behavior should deem you unpatriotic, and a traitor to the Philippines and to our people. Given current developments in the West Philippine Sea, it is important to show loyalty to country.” Such a brave commodore! Sapul ang dating nagyayabang-yabangan sa Malacanang.
To the mind of public interest lawyer Joel Ruiz Butuyan, the defeat of the trolls is something we can expect in the future – he did not guess it right eight months before the elections last year – not in the nearest future.
I share the good reflection of our professor, nonetheless: “People vented their anger on social media. In no time, the creative juices that flow in the veins of Filipinos turned expressions of anger and frustration into biting, scorching, yet also comical and amusing, expressions of dissent. An ever growing tide of real people are now creating memes, inventing maxims, and posting hilarious graphics that strip ruling leaders of respectability and instead portray them as bungling clowns and inept shysters. The crude output of trolls has been no match to the imaginative inventions of real people who have been provoked in anger.” (Butuyan, 2021)
“Sobra na, tama na” would not have been so severe had we filled it with sarcasm. Many have tried it these days. Natatawanan nila ang mga suliranin sa mga pulitikong kunwari ayaw sa reclamation projects pero huli na ang lahat; nagpipintura ng mga upuan sa harap ng mga litratista pero ang mga guro’y humihingi ng pampintura; umaabsent ng kalahating taon sa mga pagpupulong kahit kalihim ng agrikultura; hindi maipaliwanag kung saan at paano gagamitin ang naglalakihang confidential and intelligence funds kaya silid-aralan na lamang ang pinakaklaro na wala daw dapat na nakadikit na mga likhang-sining at mukha ng bayani na para bang evidence-based ang policy-making na ito at para bang nagkaroon muna ng dry-run pero agad-agad ang implementasyon ng kalihim ng edukasyon na umaming hindi nagmula sa sektor ng edukasyon kaya meron daw siyang hindi kayang ma-review katulad ng “MATATAG curriculum.”
The smiley reactions – in communication studies, we call them paralinguistic digital affordances (PDAs) – proved very retaliatory on the part of Filipinos, including many pro-Marcos supporters, when they heard in the latest state-of-the-nation address (SONA) na nakita raw nilang kayang pababain ang presyo ng bigas, at iba pang pangunahing bilihin.
Pointless suffering prods people to make a point via memes and jokes on social media. With satire supplies, it seems we have no problem after all.
Getting serious
The Digital Revolution that began in the 1980s and the information and communications technology initiatives that go with it must meet our objectives in improving rural health and literacy and related development programs. This is in view of localizing development where the public is communicatively empowered.
Without in any way jeopardizing efforts exerted against abuses done in multiple digital platforms, there should be no alternative to education. That is what we should do first – give the public quality education – with schools, colleges, and universities taking roles in widening access to it, especially to those unreachable via the conventional educational system. The sequential second thing to do is to stretch our minds (and our patience at times), allowing the “initial stages” of ICT products and related digital facilities; patience because internal controls are likely to evolve as well, given that more and more people are using them and are getting used to their technical functions and economic benefits. This means little or no State interference in the administration of some of their features, especially the interconnectedness via social media.
DC Alviar
Professor DC Alviar serves as a member of the steering committee of the Philippine International Studies Organization (PHISO). He was part of National University’s community extension project that imparted the five disciplines of a learning organization (Senge, 1990) to communities in a local government unit. He writes and edits local reports for Mega Scene. He graduated with a master’s degree in development communication from the University of the Philippines Open University in Los Baños. He recently defended a dissertation proposal for his doctorate degree in communication at the same graduate school under a Philippine government scholarship grant. He was editor-in-chief of his high school paper Ang Ugat and the Adamson News.
