Mercy even when others are not. Or, the case of this lowlife masquerading as Philippine public intellectual.

SABBATICAL NOTES. 6 JULY 2014. SUNDAY. N2. 
Mercy even when others are not. Or, the case of this lowlife masquerading as Philippine public intellectual. 

CULTURAL ILLITERACY is a commonplace in the Philippines. 

This has become some kind of a naturalized way of life in other countries as well, but in this country, even associate professors have become so deluded they know a lot about diversity and our moral obligation to be unified without problematizing what are the conditio sine qua non to that unification.

Some of those pretending to be intellectuals--say, public intellectuals--hate those who have registered resistance to the homogenization of the Philippines and have forgotten that the Philippines is a nation among nations. Instead, these pretenders mouth motherhood statements, the same sentences they memorized since nursery school. There is no substance in these motherhood statements, and there is no reference to the reality in the field and in that bloody condition that Philippines is in at this time.

And here comes this talking parrot, mimicking what he can mimic, and saying without thinking words and phrases that do not connect. Let us read him, if your gut can grant him kindness. Or, understanding. Or, tolerance. He says:

"At the very least, they should be expelled from the republic. They should be ostracized. We should refuse to talk with them because their only agenda is to kill whatever is left of our unity and identity. They should eat imperialism's shit. That's what they deserve. Their stupidity is a disgrace to our forefathers' sacrifices for whatever little freedom and independence we now enjoy. (BTW, just for the record, these stupid regionalists have sent me various hate messages. They vehemently deny any connections with the CIA. Funny thing's no CIA agent will admit he/she is CIA until he/she has seen the light. Hence, unless proven otherwise, they're CIA agents.)" [Source: screen grab, www. facebook.com/teacheragca, retrieved 5 Jul 2014]

From the above, we see the workings of a fascist mind.

That fascist is in this academic who has threatened 'to shoot the regionalists in the head pointblank'.

Let us see his points, even if he does not even pay attention to the points of those he calls 'regionalists':

1. He talks of 'expelling' the citizens of his own country. Is this the way to respond to the 'regionalists' whose basic human right in expressing what they have in the head is guaranteed by the constitution cited by this academic? Does he know the meaning of the bill of rights?

2. He talks of ostracizing these 'regionalists'. He and his fellow Tagalogistas have been doing this since 1935. That's a long shot--a total of 79+ years now. Does he want the next 79 years to guarantee the complete hegemonization of the country he has sexualized as his 'motherland'? His motherland and its ideological state apparatuses have made it sure that all the citizens will know his Ibong Adarna, his Florante at Laura, and his Balagtasan, but these citizens from the non-Tagalog 'regions' will never know anything about themselves, including the story and the history of their own people and communities. Maybe he means complete, absolute, and total ostracization which means extinction? He should build gas chambers now. And ready his gun.

3. He talks of the 'agenda' of the regionalists: 'to kill whatever is left of our unity and identity.' This academic must be reminded of the basic things in nation building and state crafting: unity is based on justice, as is peace. You deny justice, there is no unity. You deny justice, there is no peace. Identity--that essentialist thinking he has--is not the homogenizing identity he dreams of. This will never happen. The very nature of the Philippines is diversity. This multiplicity makes up the collective we call the Philippines.

4. He talks about the regionalists 'eating imperialism's shit.' What is this motherhood statement again? He must be kidding. His Tagalog Manila, that city where his university is and where he earns a living, is one heck of an imperialist shit. Dan Brown calls it the 'gates of hell.' The self-respecting and decent people from other places call it hell itself, not its gates. Ah, well, imperialism does not shit; imperialists like him do.

5. He talks of the stupidity of the regionalists. My response is this: these 'regionalist' are visionaries. They are giving this academic another window through which he could look at this at his empty and barren spirit. These regionalists insist that we can build the house of the nation by the pebbles of multiculturalism, multilingualism, linguistic justice, social equity, cultural democracy, and pluralism. All these are the foundation of contemporary societies everywhere, except those becoming tyrannical and autocratic and despotic like the kind of 'motherland' that he imagines in his wild, wild head.

6. He accuses that these regionalists are CIA agents. Instead of accusing, he should indict himself as a fascist, a despot, a dictator. And a murderer of dreams of freedom and quality and democracy for every ethnolinguistic nation in this country.

FELIPENAS/