Poor Little Rich Man

There's this guy running for president. Let's call him Money. Money's gimmick is that he's a self-made man, a rags to riches case. He's been there, done that and then some. Now, he got himself the means to the highest office in the land. A charming story right?

Well, a lot of people are questioning his, how shall I call it... street cred? In the opinion pieces of local and national papers one can read about the gossip surrounding Money's origins since that's what passes as political discourse around here. Money says he lost a relative since he had no money to buy medicines and that Mommy was a fish vendor. He also said all his siblings slept on one mat in the same room when he was young. All of these stories, it seems, are dubious. His relative, as it turns out, was sent to some fancy hospital, his mom was a fish trader and not a vendor (traders sell stock to vendors) and nobody can really confirm the bad living conditions except Money himself right? Yadda-yadda. Long story short, he wasn't POOR poor. He was probably middle class or lower middle class at best.

Money wants sympathy. Majority in this country are poor. It makes sense to tell them that you know what its like. However, I think all of this is revealing of our little quirks as a society, not just the way we automatically categorize people into socio-economic strata but on the importance of image in politics. What does it really matter if you were born of a poor or well-off family? The implications in all of this is that somehow, having been poor makes you more virtuous. See, if you're born relatively wealthy, you are completely incapable of human empathy. You are a greedy capitalist pig who never had to struggle and never shared the same experience as majority of Filipinos have.

I blame classical Christian morality where the poor are seen as noble and humble. Wealth is viewed negatively as an evil. I understand Money's need to bolster his street cred but he's not the only one. Other candidates run on anti-poverty gimmicks as well. Poor this, poor that. We gotta help the poor! Give them free crap! Vote for me since I got the most crap to give!

The poor are given way too much attention in this country. Look, a lot of poor people, not all to be fair, are fickle, ignorant, illiterate, gullible, vulgar and crude. Do you really think that from among the retarded masses, our savior shall emerge? Only someone from the masses can truly lead us to our destiny? We tried that folks and our savior was convicted of plunder. (He's still running now, go figure) If anything, the hope of this country lies in the educated class. The middle class. Maybe not the rich since they can be "too smart" if you know what I mean.

So Money, be proud man. Be proud of your glorious middle class heritage. Middle class people have been marginalized and discriminated against for long enough. Stand up and be proud. Enjoy your air-conditioning and DSL. Drink your ground coffee and eat three meals a day. Don't let them look down on you.

Man, this is like those high school guilt trips all over again.