Wednesday, March 05, 2008 Wenceslao: People bashing By Bong O. Wenceslao Candid Thoughts
IT seems like the fashion of leaders in the recent wave of protest actions against the Arroyo administration is to bash those who refuse to join them in the streets. I say that there is both arrogance and a failure to understand the sentiment of the many to this act. This is the reason why despite the onslaught the Arroyo government has survived.
How often have we heard, for example, self-appointed “guardians” of civility in government (so-called civil society), supposed ideologues and unabashed trapos (political opposition) blame the “indifferent” segment of the population for their failure to oust Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo? That is one classic example of passing the buck.
It's as if only they are capable of assessing the national situation, evaluating the nature and character of the Arroyo administration, laying down strategies and tactics of struggle and, most importantly mapping out the future for this country. In their arrogance, they think that people who stay in the sidelines are either naïve or less principled.
These people are the main purveyors of the black versus white (no pun intended) standpoint. They reduce a complicated setup into simplistic and dangerous (because it borders on fanaticism) terms. They want people to believe that only the antis are the possessors of integrity and truth and everything that others, like Malacañang, does is bad.
Nothing is objective in a black-and-white mindset. Here's an example. A more realistic appraisal of the character of witness Rodolfo Lozada Jr. is that he is a product of the corrupt setup that he has exposed through the national broadband network (NBN) deal. But look at what the anti-Arroyos are virtually making him: a superstar and saint.
A scene in last Friday's interfaith rally in Makati City provides us with another view of this weakness. When former president Joseph Estrada joined former president Cory Aquino on the stage, the decent minority walked away, hurt by the irony of a convicted plunderer leading what was essentially an anti-corruption undertaking.
But what did a leader of a militant group, who should have known better, say? He wanted his comrades in struggle to forget Estrada's sins for the greater goal of toppling the Arroyo government. I was shocked. The message was that, to paraphrase Deng Xiaopeng, it does not matter whether a cat is black or white as long as it fights Arroyo.
The claim to righteousness is partly the cause of this people bashing. Those who think they are the sole possessors of integrity and truth view others with jaundiced eyes. They criticize, sometimes with so much vitriol, those who do not toe their line. They overlook the possibility that maybe the “indifferent” understands the situation better.
Maybe the “indifferent” has, like the child in the fable, seen that the “emperor” (leaders of the struggle) is naked: that he does not have a better alternative to offer once Arroyo is ousted. Maybe the “indifferent” has seen through the claim of purity of purpose of those leading the struggle; that in their midst are wolves in sheep's clothing.
