Squarepusher - Tundra

Candidates' Debate

As snarky as this blog gets, I have to admit that the debate last Sunday was a good thing to have. It wasn't as grand as the ones they have in the U.S.A., but hey, the Philippines hasn't had one of these in a hell of a long time. Geez, when was the last? Twenty-five years ago?

I bitched before about how our candidates are virtually ideologically indistinguishable from each other. Well, it's still true but that's what this debate is for, right? It's a good opportunity for a candidate to set himself or herself apart from the rest. So how did I feel about them?

Miriam - Unsurprisingly, she goes back to her books every time she answers; always citing the constitution or some law. She's a debater and a lawyer at heart. I don't know if the average voter might find it too highfalutin. Still, you can't deny she's intelligent. People say she lost some of that fire she had in the early days but age and a fight with cancer will do that to you

Duterte - To some, he's the only serious candidate. To others, he's the comic relief of the show. Still, I like his insistence on adopting federalism although his support for the BBL is troubling. If you're going to adopt federalism, you should take care to get it right and not give the whole thing away to an unelected, unappointed, armed group that uses terror and violence.  He's the only one talking about federalism and I'm still waiting on the specifics. 

I'm sure his comments on his love life and killing people "legally" have been talked about to death already . His claim that he can get the job done in three to six months is outrageous enough to be impressive. If politicians are going to promise us things that probably won't happen, might as well go all out.

Binay - He sounded too much like a trapo and didn't do much to stand out. There's just something about the guy that makes him seem so untrustworthy. My mother says it's his small eyes that make him seem sketchy. I dunno. Could be?

Mar - Let me put it this way: if you've already swallowed the daang matuwid claptrap hook, line and sinker, then you probably found his performance energizing. If you didn't drink Pnoy's yellow kool-aid, then his performance wasn't spectacular. It was average. He was well prepared, I admit. 

Poe - She did well. It was helpful for her to own her own inexperience early on so as not to have it used against her. She sounded too pre-programmed for me. It's like she had all those lines in advance but everyone does that to some degree. She should hide it better. I wish she could have been more specific. Hell, I wish all of them could have been more specific but the time limit were too short.

Overall, I was disappointed with the debate. Yes, it's good we had it but I wish the candidates were given a bit more time and I wish the whole thing was more adversarial. As much as possible, the candidates should fight and really lay into one another. That way, the real differences would come out sharp. It was too tame is what I'm saying.

Somebody could throw a chair.

Gay Animals

“Would you see any species of animals engaging in male-to-male, female-to-female (sexual) relations? Animals, then, are better than humans. They know how to distinguish males from females. If men mate with men and women mate with women they are worse than animals.”

The quote above is from Manny Pacquiao when asked on what he thought of same-sex marriage. Naturally, the outrage machine went into overdrive and everyone, even Floyd Mayweather, has been getting their hits in and driving Manny to the ropes.

If anyone has paid attention to Manny the public figure and not Manny the boxer, it's immediately obvious that Manny isn't very bright, is somewhat of a religious nut and is terrible at public speaking. I hate to sound so condescending, but it's true. Manny is famous for his skill at inflicting grievous harm on people, not his skill at rhetoric. Cut the guy some slack. He's Spartacus, not Cicero.

I don't necessarily agree with Manny but he has a right to speak his mind. Good on him. I respect people who do that, no matter how strident they seem. I feel bad for him actually. He doesn't know how these things work. He doesn't know how to play the game of political correctness. When you become a celebrity, you cease being your own man for some reason. I don't even know how this started. You have to say and do all the "correct" things and make sure you don't hurt anybody's feelings. Manny, the simple person that he is, actually believed that he still had freedom of speech and religion. What an idiot. You're supposed to lie, Manny, you're a public figure now and a politician at that. Act like one. That's the foundation of society; deceit. Keep your true feelings to yourself and just say what people want to hear. He should have just given an agreeable, milquetoast non-answer like, "I believe love is important." or something. Playing people requires skill, a skill I don't think he has.

This isn't about the gays. Gay marriage will never happen in this country as long as the church exists. It's a foregone conclusion; an issue fit only to be argued in academic circles. What this is about is the "outrageous" (but not wholly unexpected) statement by a well-known public figure and the amount of benefit people can get by condemning him. There's a lot of pogi points to be scored by condemning Manny for his "ignorance" and "lack of tolerance". Frankly, I find the preening, the posturing and the virtue signalling going on a lot more disgusting than Manny's comments. People are going overboard making themselves look good at his expense. But I suppose that's how it must be. Everyone is for "speaking your mind" until someone actually does.

Consequences? Westerners take this shit more seriously than we do so there's bound to be some blow-back from their side. In fact, Nike is allegedly pulling their sponsorship from Manny. Gee, they didn't seem to have a problem with Manny before when he was making them millions. Locally, I don't think it will amount to much. The secret is that many people actually agree with Manny about homosexuality being unnatural and are against same-sex marriage. People aren't going to throw Manny overboard for this. It's really just the professional outrage experts on Facebook and Twitter raising a fuss. The common folk don't give a shit. They never do. If people can get over a vulgar boor like Duterte eating women's faces on live TV, a guy like Manny can get by with this little gaffe.

Why is this headline news?

Election Period

The election period for President officially began last Tuesday, although, you'd think it had already begun a long time ago with the way the candidates have been carrying on. Hell, I know Binay was campaigning for President five whole years ago when I attended a forum where he was a guest speaker. The forum was about "good governance" but all I got was his list of accomplishments and several propaganda materials. He put himself over, to put it mildly.

It's amusing that the media is going on about how important it is to monitor how the candidates are conducting their campaigns. Oh, so only NOW do we pay attention since the election period has started. I guess everything before the period is just bygones, huh? Technically, election offenses can only be committed in the election period so if you want to go all out with your tricks, you might as well do it before the period starts. That's Election Law for you: illogical and inutile.

As you've probably figured out by now, I'm not too excited about the elections. 

The Sims OST - Build 3

Missed Philippines

Last week, I joined the procession of the International Eucharistic Congress as they marched from the Capitol to Plaza Independencia. There were so many people, more people than was expected. It was a peaceful and somber affair. The slow shuffling and repetitive chanting were hypnotic in a way and put me in a contemplative mood.

It was a pretty big deal since so many people joined it. I've heard some people even put the number to a million although that's probably exaggeration. Perhaps a little below a quarter million is more reasonable. The event was so remarkable in fact, that the national newspapers hardly mentioned it at all. Instead the front pages were dedicated to that Pia Wurtzback broad and Vic Sotto's wedding. I guess since it didn't happen in Manila, it didn't happen at all.

Sheesh.