Clenuar: Word vomit

A FRIEND of mine asked me about my stand on Martial Law and the possible origins of Maute’s uprising in Marawi—this after he read my previous column last week. I have one major challenge when it comes to questions; most of the time, they are asked from personal biases on certain topics. I know this because I have mine, too. In tea parties and social gatherings, I digress from them and happily sip on my cold beer instead of wasting my time proving my point. There were other problems I had with my friend: a) he knows my possible stand on issues that involve the President, so for those questions, he was not asking but was trying to get his message across; b) it was a Sunday morning and I had not had a cup of coffee to kick off my day; and c) he knows I do not like talking about politics.

I grew up in a home where my mother taught me the value of democracy and freedom of speech. Back then in grade one in 1998, I already had a hunch that Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo’s takeover by dethroning Joseph Estrada would usher darker days ahead. I was only six at that time; while my classmates were playing jumping jack and hopscotch, I was busy writing in my red-blue-red notebook about my tirades against the many failures of the government and how Arroyo’s mole was distracting on TV. Fast forward to college, I joined a school publication and encouraged my fellow student-journalists to write something beyond the walls of the university, and to fill the magazine with more students’ stories than mediocre write-ups on Intramurals and foundation days.

When the recent elections came, the noise on my newsfeed made me want to pack my bags and live off remotely. Everyone was fighting with everyone. Ties were severed. Each person was like compiling his own set of opinions and throwing those when necessary, and even when unnecessary in the comments section. Sometimes, I was a participant, but changed course after a couple of months because you could never make sense to someone who did not make sense to you too.

I tried different approaches in answering questions that oftentimes were personal, i.e. beliefs, religion, sexual preference, but all were futile in the end. Instead, I decided to focus on reading volumes of books a month, to scour the web for material, and ask more questions than I had ever asked before. The goal was to equip myself for the darker days ahead in the age of misinformation and alternative facts.

When somebody challenges me, I always narrow the conversation down to our respective sources information. If you get yours from a fake news sites, which most of the time have bad design and typography by the way, then sorry but you are out of the game and no need to consider yourself a player next time.

In this country, it is all right to think that the world is flat, provided that you do not become the president.

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