What Went Wrong? (by JTF Solivar)

          Much has been said about an episode of Willing Willie that showed a young boy mimicking the sensual dance of a macho dancer. What further added insult to the injury was when the little boy cried, which made people jump into a conclusion that doing that routine was very much against his will. A lot of people, from showbiz personalities to politicians, have already said their piece and condemned that episode.  Exploitation they said. Are we not aware that the more we discuss this issue, the more that the little boy is being exploited? All those who opined about the matter are guilty of exploiting that little boy. And that includes me as I write this piece.

(photo courtesy of pinoyambisyoso.com)

          Democracy was restored in our country in 1986. Since then, Filipinos were given the right to express themselves. This kind of freedom is one of the hallmarks of democracy. But this does not mean that we can always verbalize our thoughts, most especially if what we will utter will bring more harm than good.  Are we really concerned about the little boy? Or do we just want to get back at Mr. Revillame? Can we not just forgive and forget since nobody wanted this to happen anyway?

          If every Filipino is having three decent square meals a day, then there is no need to mount all of those game shows and talent shows which shower the contestants with easy money. In a talent show for example, shedding buckets of tears as you narrate to the host how miserable your life is, will boost your chances of winning as the judges will pity you. Thus, you win not because of your talent, but because your story is a good material for a movie or teleserye. In Philosophy, this is the fallacy of appeal to pity, or argumentum ad misericordiam. Some shows capitalize on the sad plight of their contestants to make their episode more interesting. Is this not a form of exploitation? But we are talking of easy money here, so who cares if one is exploited or not. The end justifies the means?

          Mr. Revillame asked his critics what they have done for the poor. People condemned that episode but have they done something for the less fortunate? The point here is before we examine the actions of others, let us evaluate our own actions first. The veil of democracy is often used to justify all our words and actions. We comfortably hide under that veil to avoid being criticized, and to shout out that we are in a free country and thus, we can do just about anything, and say anything. But freedom is not absolute, most especially when the exercise of this leads to harm than good.

          Let us all look at the bigger picture: POVERTY in our country. Hopefully, poverty will not be co-terminus anymore with the administration of any President.

(photo courtesy of getrealphilippines.com)