There’s a rare level of dimwittedness involved in coming up with — and actually implementing — the idea of petitioning the shutdown of Mocha Uson’s Facebook page. The backfire and fallout from this quaint project all but proved just how fragmented the Opposition is today. Even die-hard characters in the Yellow Camp refused to sign the petition — further proving that personality politics continues to outstrip efforts (if any) to develop a sound ideological foundation to oppose the government of President Rodrigo Duterte.
It’s strange, actually. Any argument against Duterte’s unconventional methods to get things done draws from Democracy 101 — rule of law, innocent until proven guilty, due process, etc. Even simple manners, like not cussing, not insulting the mothers of certain heads of states, are good principles the Opposition could use to cut the Duterte administration down to size. In short, the “decency” angle could have been quite compelling Opposition rhetoric — in able hands, that is.
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The trouble is, time and again over the last several months, the Opposition has been revealed to be a less-than-capable political force to reckon with. It does not have a credible leader who could rally all the has-been celebrities, the Jesuit-educated “thought leaders”, the glam celebrity mainstream “journalists”, the iPad-toting Starbucks barnacles, and the screaming fashionistas who presume to comprise the Philippines’ “civil society” (or its “silent majority” as some fancy it to be) into a cohesive force. Indeed, the catastrophic collapse of the Yellow brand over the six years of President Benigno Simeon ‘BS’ Aquino III’s government all but assured the flaccid character of today’s Opposition.
What we are seeing today in the Opposition is a lot of big guns being aimed at the wrong targets. The Opposition (and I refer to them with that one word for brevity’s sake) has wasted a lot of time (1) going after low-value targets and (2) fighting unwinnable battles.
Mocha Uson happens to be both — a low-value target and an unbeatable force. An Opposition effort to tangle with her suffers a double defeat — there is no ideological territory of consequence to plant a flag on and there is no beating her just on numbers and mass appeal alone. When you are the Opposition and you go up against Mocha Uson, you end up in a futile shooting match with Doomsday — that big beast at the end of the movie Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice that simply grows stronger the more you zap it with any sort of weapon that works by discharging energy.
Mocha Uson is a good example of an antifragile personality. You can’t destroy her using traditional Filipino mudslinging and slut-shaming methods because there is no dirt you can dig up about her that she hasn’t already laid on the table for public consumption. The important thing about influence that the “disente” crowd fail to appreciate is that her mass appeal was actually built upon the very dirt that her detractors foolishly throw at her. She was, after all, a sexy star — and built her now-formidable following around that persona — before she became a political force.
The Philippines’ so-called “civil society”, now a.k.a. the “disente” crowd have made themselves obsolete thanks to their habitual refusal to engage non-traditional media entities like Mocha Uson. They are paying for that arrogance today. To the chagrin of pompous “thought leaders” like Maria Ressa and Chay Hofilena, the Internet has been “taken” from them. The landscape of guerrilla bloggers, meme creators, Facebook “chuwariwaps” who are dismissed collectively as “trolls” by the traditional Establishment have taken over the Internet from right under the noses of the Old Guard.
The “trolls” relish a fight. The latte-fattened “disente” crowd retreat from it. So it is no surprise who wins the war for Internet turf. There’s a history lesson in there somewhere — something about barbarians and gates and the collapse of a big Mediterranean empire.
benign0 is the Webmaster of GetRealPhilippines.com.
Antifragility is beyond resilience or robustness. The resilient resists shocks and stays the same; the antifragile gets better.
Mocha Uson has struck a chord with the people. She did not grow up sheltered like some of these decent people. In 2002, she lost her father, a judge to an [politically motivated?] ambush killing. She was probably 20 at the time. She has had to make a living and a name for herself as best she could. Any resentment she feels, she has kept to herself, she does not bring up the murder every now and then as though she should be given sympathy (not like some personalities who like to bring up the necro card). So she became a sexy dancer? So what? Apparently, she was able to turn her life around and find a more honorable calling. She may not have had the education some people have, but people change, people learn, and education is a process that does not end once one leaves university. Any lack of education, she makes up for in social media savvy and the ability to engage her followers as well as her detractors.
With the shit she has probably been through, the shrill attacks of the decent won’t faze her. Dare I say that she is even a better role model for women then some of her decent critics. She has been able to turn her life around, make a complete makeover for herself. Women who have found themselves resorting to prostitution and allowed themselves to be exploited should look to her for hope.
Lastly, and this can’t be emphasized enough, she has a right to voice her opinions, in view of the primacy accorded the constitutional right of free speech, which can only be curtailed if there is a showing of a clear and present danger of a substantive evil. Political law experts usually take this “substantive evil” to mean death and property destruction. Nothing that Mocha Uson posts on her blog will result in any of this, hence her constitutional right should be afforded to her.
Very well said!
I don’t know what you mean by “latte-fattened disente crowd” nor do I care, but I do believe in decency as a virtue (even as I drink glass after glass of water), and I believe myself decent enough to allow contrary people to air whatever it is they want to air, in accordance with their right to free speech.
As such, this petition to shut down Mocha Uson’s Facebook page strikes me the same as you, though hardly, let it be said, for the same reason.
The only way to beat Mocha Uson is to offer a better alternative.
Kris Aquino was a celebrity, and also a political personality…Kris Aquino did more whoredom than Mocha Unson…
The YellowTard Camp, are so dimwitted; that they spend time to bring down a celebrity. Mocha Unson is not even running for public office. She is just a follower of Pres. Duterte.
What can you attain by bringing her down ?
If you bring her down, Pres. Duterte, will be still standing !
So, you bring down all Pres. Duterte’s followers ? They are so numerous, that they cannot be brought down for many years…
It seems that the YellowTard opposition, is moving blindly ! They don’t think. They have no brains ! Mentally retarded is really a proper name for them !
What? No comment from Mr Mema yet? Que horror! ????
She ain’t just a woman,not just pink and tasty,she’s more than a man can desire for,she’s a Diamond much above Lucy in the sky with diamond,she is ‘pinas 21st century Goddess of truth advocacy!
rzs 10/27/2016 S’pore