McLaren. Boracay, etc.
Did you feel that furor when those luxury cars were flattened by a bulldozer? The furious crowd asked, where is the McLaren? That’s because earlier reports said that a droll-inducing brand new McLaren was confiscated by the Bureau of Customs. So why was it not crushed? The all-knowing netizens also asked why only old vehicles were crushed.
Really now. Why don’t you ask the justice system why it takes so long to prosecute smuggling? Only if you’ve been through the whole drama in the courts will you realize that those motions for reconsideration can last you a long, long time. That’s on top of the postponements that the other side requests over and over again just to waste your time.
There was another round of virtual rumbling and grumbling when President Rodrigo R. Duterte threatened to close down Boracay because of the dismal state of its environment. A throng of all-knowing netizens were also at it, apparently the same netizens who never noticed the ammonia-laced breeze in the white sand beach.
Before that, there was the Perils of Perception online survey conducted by the global survey firm Ipsos MORI on Sept. 28 to Oct. 19, 2017 wherein we joined Brazil and South Africa in having the least accurate answers among 38 countries regarding key issues asked of the respondents. Not only are the Filipinos or those who answered the survey the least accurate, they were the third most confident in their answers, running behind India and Serbia.
What does that say of our online presence? If by now you still haven’t figured it out, then you have not been looking close enough... and are may be among the ranks of the most confident despite having the least accurate answers. It’s a cultural thing, really. We have never been known for our listening skills. Remember your grade school years when the teacher would ask for a 1/2 sheet of paper? What would several classmates be asking soon after, “One-half, ma’am?”
Just last week, I posted the invitation to the 4th Hatch Day of Philippine Eagle Mabuhay announcing that “someone was celebrating a birthday” and what did I get? A horde greeted me a “Happy Birthday.” I was forced to take down that post as I got tired of replying that it was not my birthday. The invitation clearly states “4th hatchday” and I’m not a bird.
All we need is just one trigger and a long discourse. Never mind if the trigger is not even related to the discourse. Just read through a thread in social media. Everything is about being triggered, pushing one’s views, and then the rants.
You can of course join the fray, or you can learn from the survey and what you see on social media and the comments you get on the news, that is, the emptiness of it all. There is nothing there, no soul, no enlightenment. What can you learn from that? That all these talks are inconsequential. Turn it off, get a life, grow. --