From ‘never again’ to ‘never mind’
THE WORST thing that can happen to a country, where concerned citizens used to shout at the top of their collective voices, “NEVER AGAIN to a dictatorship! NEVER AGAIN to human rights abuses! NEVER AGAIN to massive graft and corruption in government! And NEVER AGAIN to electoral fraud and vote buying!” ending up in whispers, perhaps in desperation, disgust or fear, just silently murmuring, “NEVER MIND!”
No wonder history tends to repeat itself, not only because we likewise tend to forget the past, but also because we are tempted to become indifferent or perhaps we have in time learned to accept, grin and bear the miseries being constantly inflicted on us by our political leaders and public officials. In short, we may have become political masochists as a body politic.
—AMAY P ONG VAÑO, [email protected]
