What’s So Funny About Peace and Love & Understanding?

 

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“What’s So Funny About Peace and Love & Understanding? “

Elvis Costello  (Declan McManus)

The day that the Framework Agreement on the Bangsamoro was signed I kept hearing/ reading the same phrase over and over again “Let’s Give Peace A Chance“. Sorry but that sets off alarms. We all know that is a very naive administration with negligible accountability. Very optimistic and tolerant about their own efforts and very condescending and merciless about other  people’s efforts. They have shown little acceptance of anything that does not confirm to their own narrow view of how things should be and how things should turn out. In short they claim to have the monopoly of virtue and good judgement. Yet we rush to believe their plea “To Give Peace A Chance”.

 

 

We all know people (even ourselves) who are too emotionally attached to something or someone and we resist the differing opinion of other people who are not as attached. How do we try to win that dissenter to our side? Can you give ____ a chance? They say the road to hell is paved with good intentions. How often were people catapulted down that road with good intentions punctuated with “Give ____ A Chance”.  Oh can you please give my cousin Ricky a chance? I know he is an intermittent  alcoholic and you have a fully stocked bar but please let him stay over at your place. Give him a chance. Even in that scenario the one who is asking you to give a chance is not the one taking the risk.  In a way it is saying , we have not proven to you sufficiently it will work but give it a chance. In fact that was the exact excuse some gave to vote for Noynoy in 2010. They never said WHY he deserved the chance.

 

 

So when I hear the mantra “To Give Peace A Chance” What I think he is really saying , let’s give this hurriedly slapped together document that attempts to be a simple answer to a complex question that  chance.  The way it was repeated over and over again the uneducated would think peace was universal. Let me give the guy some rare credit when he admitted two days later that other groups will not fall in line as easily. Hence my point that there should have been some sort of preface to all this celebration that the lack of peace and order in this country is a complex dynamic.  I hope I am not being unreasonable by expecting perspective from our elected leaders. Don’t forget to read the fine print, even if it comes two days later.

 

 

There’s a saying that if you take care of the little things, the big things will take care of themselves. I am not sure when it comes to government what is big and what is small all I know this one can’t take care of either. Let’s tackle one by one the simple concepts I mentioned earlier. Is the current administration about peace, love and understanding?

Peace

“He’ll put both his arms around you
You can feel that tender touch of the beast
You know, sometimes Satan come as a man of peace”

Bob Dylan

Many times this administration has proven that when they are out to get you they are out to get you. The underlings (Senators and Congressmen) have been told continuously in so many words ignore their constituents, ignore own judgements, ignore the consciences but tow the palatial line.  Whether rubber stamping with Congress at the beginning of the Impeachment trial or the recent Thanksgiving dinner  incident where the three senators who did not vote for impeachment were ostracized, it’s always their way or suffer the consequences.

 

“And President Benigno Simeon Cojuangco Aquino III seems determined to convict him by executive fiat, or by mob rule, even before the prosecution finishes presenting its case.

He has spent the best of his time personally attacking Corona, pronouncing him guilty as charged, and calling on the mob to drag him out of the office, without regard to the ongoing constitutional process. “

Manila Times   Feb 21 2012

 

 

I always thought one was entitled to their day in court. Then why did Noynoy continuously ask Renato Corona to resign before his trial. Something that is his right? A president who denies a public servant his or her  right does not sound like someone who understands the concept of peace.

Love

The last time I saw him he was walking down Lover’s Lane holding
his own hand.

FRED ALLEN

The Administration  love themselves. They are high maintenance. The Love Truck episode solidifies what I am trying to say.  It was not “I love you” the whole point was “Love me” Big difference.  Of course that “love me”  is intended to be  translated to “vote for me”.

 

“You’re the one who is weak. You will never know love or friendship. And I feel sorry for you.”

J.K. Rowling, Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix

 

 

Cory as Epal

 

How much could Noynoy have really loved his mother if he pole vaulted over her semi warm corpse into Malacanang? Sorry I won’t mince words . If you lost your mother could you imagine running for a position you were originally not considering all the while posting your mother’s image all over the place? If you still have your mother can you imagine what it would be like to lose her and then be talked into campaigning and again having your mother’s image as your primary epal content? Sorry that does not spell out love for your mother for me.

 

 

“I will pay when the price is right but you can’t put a price on love”.

The Knack

 

 

 

Noynoy’s idea of friendship is ignoring all decency as a sitting president and declaring them innocent and even paying their bail. If that was not enough put that same person  as COMELEC Commissioner. There are at least a dozen things wrong with that scenario but this is the Philippines and that is Noynoy Aquino. Like I saw in a Facebook post around election time. The name Noynoy Aquino has the word “no” three times. Which is a normal reaction to scenarios like that to anybody with an eye looking for decency.

 

 

Understanding

 

Effective Habits

 

Communication is the most important skill in life. We spend hours utilizing one or
more of the four basic types of communication: reading, writing, speaking and listening.
The ability to do them well is absolutely critical, not only as managers and leaders but in all
of life’s roles.
We spend most of our waking hours communicating according to Covey (1989). In
fact, we have spent years learning how to read and write, and additional years learning how
to speak effectively. Most of us, however, have had little if any training or education that
enables us to deeply understand another human being from their point of reference.

Steven Covey

 

Sorry to say but understanding requires brains, comprehension and compromise.  So many times Noynoy’s own camp can’t get the story straight. Whether it was the Trillanes Tragedy   or even the recent so called peace treaty ask the same question and you will get a different answer from people who are supposed to be on the same page. These are people who are allies of his. They are not even unified to agree on simple questions like who, why ,where ? What more with people who are political adversaries? Sorry Noynoy and gang can not even organize and communicate well with people who are supposed to be wholeheartedly cooperating with them. Sorry this does not come across as somebody who should be running the country.

 

I don’t think Noynoy understands that the president is not there to propagate his yellow movement whatever that is. His big mistake is thinking his family is the country. It seem he has never heard that saying ” If you can believe in something bigger than yourself.” He has not been about serving the country but has been about serving his own agenda. His whole yellow bird/ ribbon  insignia is divisive. It does not represent his country it represents his family.  There comes a point where you cease campaigning and you start serving the country. Not sure if N/A even knows there is such a crossroads. He is always shoving  that yellow ribbon down your face like a Hakeem Olajuwon rejection.

 

 

Nothing is funny about peace and love and understanding. What funny is expecting an administration as internally divisive as this one  to have achieved it comprehensively in a place as politically and culturally  complex as “War Torn Mindanao”. I have this saying ingredients + cooking = soup. Take from that what you will. What is funny is an administration who I feel has no clue about peace and love and understanding is telling us to give peace a chance. They should try it sometime.

39 Replies to “What’s So Funny About Peace and Love & Understanding?”

  1. I remember the day, when Yasser Arafat of the PLO, and the Prime Minister Itzak Rabin of Israel, signed the Peace Deal; between PLO and Israel. Gaza was given to the PLO. After a few month…Gaza became the launching sites of Rockets and Mortar attacks against Israel. Same deal with Adolf Hitler of Nazi Germany, and British Prime Minister Chamberlain. It was called: “Peace of of time”. Next thing the British knew. Hitler invaded Czekoslovakia, then, Poland, then other European countries.

    1. IMO it’s not about threats of destabilization or the need to be under one state. In the first place, were me meant to be under one country? Together? Notwithstanding any politicial motive, the Bangsamoro argument of distinct culture, religion and history speaks a lot what more for the rest of the “Christianized” areas of the Philippines or Cordillera? Why is Manila so hellbent to keep the island of Mindanao under its legal dominion I am baffled.

  2. antimuslim ka yata e. hindi mo nais magkaroon ng kapayapaan sa mindanao na inaasam ng ating mga kapatid na muslim doon.

    1. Typical random Pinoy who wanders around the internet and blasts anyone by their emotions SANS weighing information and assumptions.

      It’s very common for Pinoys to attack the proposition based either on the limitations of discourse or to create sweeping generalizations out of the statement given. Kung criticized ang movement ng gobyerno, antiMuslim kagad. Kung hindi, anti-Filipino o baka naman traydor sa bansa.

      Please try reading this article, Pinoy: http://getrealphilippines.com/2012/10/after-bangsamoro-do-the-cordilleras-visayas-and-the-rest-of-mindanao-have-equal-claim-to-autonomy/

      God when will we ever find a bigger portion of real Filipinos instead of these sickening Pinoys?

    2. Hello Marcial!!

      Thanks for coming.Allow me to quote something I said in the story “Sorry to say but understanding requires brains, comprehension and compromise.”

      Take your first sentence and find where in this blog I make the case to lead you to say what you said. If you won’t bother to read what I said you should not refrain from making disparaging remarks. I am not anti Muslim I am though anti stupidity and anti fake. That is why I criticize a government that is seems to be plenty of both.

      1. Honorable people depend on their character; not on their religion. There are many bad Christians. Especially, those in politics. They even use religion, to get elected, and deceive people.
        I have some good Muslim friends. Some are in other religions. And they behave better than most Christians…

      1. Me too, Gogs, but I think you can do better than that. You cannot just always smirk and give a doggy smile every time the gov’t. does something positive which you happen to disagree with (as usual). I don’t believe that you have no sense of fairness and balance in you. I’m sure there is a bone in you that cries out for justice and equality and sense of goodness towards others.

        I just think that you only have to overcome the hate and the hostile feelings you have in order to get out that sense of civility and fair-mindedness that you are capable of.

    1. Another lousy comment.

      If Gog’s post is lousy, why bother commenting.

      Readers are not stupid to know.

      Just get back to your world and get a life. A clean life.

    1. The fact that our government is so self righteous yet they do not possess any of the three. I think I already said that in the piece. Thanks for reading.

  3. @ Gogs

    It’s cliche nobody wants to hear and you quoted Elvis Costelo who, as we know it had three failed marriages and the least qualified person to talk about peace and understanding. Why do you quote non-Filipinos on a subject concerning Filipino problems? Isn’t that stupid?

    In the judicial system, it talks about an accused person as being a “ward of the court” which is defined as: “a person of unsound mind”. Do you see yourself in this picture? @ Gogs, give me a Filipino on a Filipino problem, not incompetent foreigners as if they are the solution to Filipino problems.

    Muslims, according to early recorded Philippine history are nothing but pirates and criminals running away from law from neighboring muslim countries that settled in the Mindanao provinces and are now claiming autonomy to something they have no legal rights in the first place. In international law, there are two ways a person or an entity can claim sovereignty over a land/s. By discovery or by conquest, neither of which definition do not apply to the muslims claim of sovereignty.

    1. LA702. It seems like you come from experience when it comes to “no one wants to hear”. Costello wrote that song in the mid 80s so your claim to its relevancy to the topic or his personal life have no basis. I want to thank you and the Master of Disguise Jonas for giving me your seal of approval. Annoying you two means I am on the right track . If you guys consistently heaped praise on the other writers but have only guns blazing for me different story. Go ahead and impose your whiny standards on me. I always write to please myself and I have to admit its nice to get likes, shares and retweets . If the price to pay for that is also getting vitriol from you guys. Small price I will pay again and again.

        1. Crissy Name, to be fair that was my initial reaction to Jonas but she has proven to be more than a Pnoy zombie. Anyway guess we will have to endure some more shotgun insults and ID changes.

    2. Which historical accounts are these, LA702? Please be accurate because as far as archaeology and OTHER historical accounts imply, the Muslims have been around the Bangsamoro homeland way before the “Republic of the Philippines” was put into conception.

    3. A Filipino on a Filipino problem, that would be the late Carlos P Romulo who was an advocate of peace, of real peace.

      “Peace is impossible without freedom; freedom in turn is impossible without economic security”

      “Words and ideas are more powerful than guns in the defense of human dignity. Treaties are stronger than armamented boundaries. The only impregnable line is that of human understanding.”

      The above are two quotes of the late General, and for our nation’s sake, I do hope that the our current government officials would have an inclination on contemplating on those words before committing of what has a potential to be another blunder that will forever be attached to Philippine history.

      1. There are blunders upon blunders over and over again committed by this government and you hear non stop “good job” from some circles. We have eyes but we still can’t see.

  4. WOW,the author say’s ‘Give peace a chance,there is nothing funny about it’…and a few paragraphs before it he rips into the President’s Mother + her memory.Say what you will BUT you will never get a peaceful response from anyone with that,unless the person’s last name is Christ.
    That being said the old ‘divide and conquer’ comes to mind.For the objective minded outsider,looking in:A part of the Philippines has been ceded over to a foreign government because the gov’t. in Manila has not the ability to rule over the entire country.This part being Muslim Mindanao.Oh and btw,Good luck with that.The foreign gov’t.appears to be Malayasia but may include others.Losing tax revenues may be the least of the current,and future,Manila based gov’t.s problems.The ‘sharia’ based concept of law has been historically proven to be ‘colonial’ AND ‘invasive’,for all these words can entail the above mentioned ‘problems’ could be substantial,are impossible to gauge until they happen,and then…too late.
    To have granted a separate state/country to those who made it clear they would not stop fighting is to do so as an admittance of being to weak to control or crush the opposition and it further appears this agreement was entered into,from an outsiders vantage point,from a position of weakness and that at what the costs were, or could be,were not even considered.A sure sign of a confused state that is ripe for the picking/plucking.
    (When the confederacy seceded from the union in the U.S.A. what ensued was a brutal ‘civil’ war that ended when the secessionists had no choice but to capitulate/surrender and lay down their arms in defeat.)
    Outside of picking a fight with the President of the country,by insulting the guys Mother,it appears the author is somewhat correct in his considerations of how divisive the current admin. is and it is so ,most likely by design.The generalized statement of Mr.Covey’s is just that:a generalized statement,objective in its stating of facts,of a subjective matter/subject.To make any objective statement about that subjective matter/subject is just in-correct,impossible to gauge its assertions and a better statement could have been found.
    It is almost as great as that Harvard graduate who boldly declared:’I never speak in absolute terms.’.Sure ya don’t.

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