The gods of old and new

OUR MORALLY bankrupt way of doing things in politics is often marked by “its moments of intensity, its lapses, its extended periods of feverish agitations, and its fainting spells.” Morality determines who we are, but what we are as a people, given our immature democracy, is defined by political expediency.

There is a war out there, betrayals and harsh awakenings, “all against all,” as Thomas Hobbes would love to say. Our brand of politics, perhaps, is never about who is right. Our politicians do not only thirst for power: They actually want absolute rule as monarchs! The emancipation of this nation from the fetters of oppression is still chained to a dark labyrinth. Our rule-makers, the gods of old and new, do not only steal money from us; they also steal the truth. As such, in life as in death, only the most powerful in this country wins.

But maybe, we might have forged ourselves into this type of obscurity. Our institutions have become the apparatus of dynasts and local tyrants, and the poor Filipino has simply become the willing specimen of the experiments of the ruling few. The ordinary person, who is rendered docile, is forced into a network of experts, technocrats, and lawyers, all hired and fattened by the ruling class, in order to subjugate and render him or her politically inutile, and blind.

We no longer know what to believe. This is how we are fashioned by the techniques of our sick democracy. Our freedom of choice is deceased. Paid hacks and online trolls do not only cause the proliferation of errors, they, too, bastardize our democratic system. Michel Foucault might have predicted for us what this social media war is all about: “The world of speech and desires has known invasions, plunders, struggles, disguises, ploys.”

It is impossible for us as a people to map our destiny. Our politics, with all the mudslinging, is nothing but a cacophony of the barbaric ways of old. This is how we are governed. In such a futile existence, there is no such thing as “the art of living.” Only one thing is demanded from the poor masses: absolute obedience. For Friedrich Nietzsche, the idea of freedom is “an invention of the ruling class.” Truth is an error, he argues in “The Gay Science,” one that “has hardened in the long baking process of history.”

The suffering of poor Filipinos means that we carry with us the pain of the past, the irreversible disappointment of their present, and the undying hope for a miraculous future. Nothing has changed in Philippine politics. Our history as a nation has also been plundered by modern times. Perhaps, our future is no more than fiction. Whether it is in our everyday experience or the virtual world of social media, reality has been unforgiving. The internet, as a matter of fact, has since become the vehicle for lies masquerading as pious truth.

Yet, it would be heartless and unreasonable to throw the moral weight of the profanity of our times on a suffering people. You also cannot question their faith in God. An Absolute Being can’t be responsible for all the evil in the world. Still, you can’t rely on what is metaphysically pure, on what hides beneath an identity. “History is born out of chance,” says Foucault. The election of Benigno Aquino III is a testament to that. Yet, Foucault is right that in saying that we must recognize the events in history, “its jolts, its surprises, its unsteady victories and unpalatable defeats.””

One of Walden Bello’s lasting insights is that the interest of the Filipino people will never become part of a neoliberal, capitalist economic agenda. Trade liberalization policies are often to the disadvantage of poor nations, who do not have the resources to be competitive. Our laws do not give enough incentives for innovation, while the subsidies provided by Western governments to their farmers deny our own of any fighting chance. To this day, we have remained the laughingstock of the world!

Indeed, the truth these days seems to be a mere fabrication of fanatical and unending discussions. But the truth of our lives as Filipinos has remained the same. The oligarchs control this country, including our destiny. The state, with its massive bureaucracy, conspires with the elite in exploiting the people. The poor majority toils in this forsaken land, but it is the ruling class that divides the spoils. Their vested interests, as always, come prior to everything.

But despair is the wrong option. The greatest paradox out there is the passion and hatred of millions of our young people who have shown their love for country through rants and online protests because they are disgusted with dishonest politicians. In this world, change remains the only eternal truth. Perhaps, our young generation can master chance and defy the gods of old and new!

Christopher Ryan Maboloc is assistant professor of philosophy at Ateneo de Davao University. He has a master’s degree in applied ethics from Linkoping University in Sweden. He has trained in democracy and political party building in Germany under Konrad Adenauer Stiftung.