Populist malaise
A populist wannabe’s crude, pathetic attempt to shame an elite.
This best describes the recent clash between an undersecretary of the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) and state university scientists on the fake beach over at Manila Bay.
I hope the words “populist” and “elite” catches your attention. If not, no matter.
Presently, I will demonstrate that the outburst of our hapless Mr. DENR undersecretary against marine scientists is him actually keeping true to form to the “populist” politics of the Duterte era, even if the backlash made him an apologetic mess.
No doubt the “elite” in the fake beach case are the marine scientists, the best in their field, who publicly said government is better off planting mangroves in saving Manila Bay than dumping crushed dolomite off Roxas Boulevard.
It is an unfortunate deep-seated malaise, this populist politics of lashing out against any form of elitism that characterizes this government, its minions and avowed supporters.
So much so a correct, scientifically proven solution to a major pollution problem generates an emotional reaction which has turned many a blind defender of the beach project into taking pride in being ignorant.
Before anything else, “elite” here isn’t just the common meaning of the socio-political elite class — you know the oligarch class and their hangers-on — to the exclusion of anything else.
Elite here simply means “the best,” not the political meaning that’s been credited to it. It is more like if one were to contract COVID-19, you don’t want an ordinary doctor, no matter how poor you are, to treat you. You want an elite doctor. You want the best.
Unfortunately, this definition of “the best” somehow ended up buried under the populist political meaning of elite.
Still, overindulging in anti-elitism in issues that are remotely political but still making it political is a red flag. So much so I now suspect a sizable of Filipinos harbor mistrust of intellectuals and experts, a trait known as anti-intellectualism.
What is anti-intellectualism? By one definition, “an anti-intellectual is a person who believes that intellect and reason are less important than actions and emotions in solving practical problems and understanding reality.”
In turn, “anti-intellectuals present themselves and are perceived as champions of common folk — populists against political and academic elitism — and tend to see educated people as a status class that dominates political discourse… while being detached from the concerns of ordinary people.”
And as the logic goes, many believe that “the plain sense of the common man is an altogether adequate substitute for, if not actually much superior to, formal knowledge and expertise.”
So, political populism plays a large part into making many see experts as a class of “elites” seeking power over ordinary citizens. And the effect is many see intellectuals, as one historian puts it, as “pretentious, conceited and snobbish; and very likely immoral, dangerous and subversive.”
Such a grossly misinformed view makes a lot of politicians think they have to play to ignorance and label anything that goes against received opinion as elitism.
In the case of the fake beach, the blatant anti-intellectualism is shown best by our Mr. DENR undersecretary’s vile slur
“bayaran” against scientists. It was as if Mr. DENR undersecretary, clearly out of his depth, was saying the scientists’ ideas had no merits or value, that experts do not even deserve a fair hearing!
But what exactly were the marine scientists saying? Insofar as I can tell the scientists weren’t doing scrawls on burger napkins. What they were proposing were simply technical options available to a government strapped with fiscal problems.
In the process, however, the scientists’ imprimatur of science gave a solid defense against the stupidity of those who put politics above knowledge.
Yes, the scientists were treated as irritants because they were perceived as attacking a political idea.
What political idea? By and large, the policy suggestions of the marine scientists would have produced apathy among citizens, nothing exciting. Who wants to see mangroves?
This government wanted something else, something visually melodramatic which showed something is being done, no matter how superficial. So, a man-made beach.
But casting opprobrium on experts inadvertently exposed that Mr. Duterte’s brand of populism is gravely disturbing and detrimental to the common good. It is time to go easy on populist politics.
“By and large, the policy suggestions of the marine scientists would have produced apathy among citizens, nothing exciting. Who wants to see mangroves?
“It is an unfortunate deep-seated malaise, this populist politics of lashing out against any form of elitism that characterizes this government, its minions and avowed supporters.