Pessimist political blogs. You’ve probably seen their articles posted and shared on Facebook, Twitter, or whatever social network you’re using. The theme is always the same: it’s about how the Philippines suck and there’s nothing you can do about it.
On the surface, there’s nothing bad about being critical the various aspects of your country’s society and culture. Even I like to be a devil’s advocate from time to time.
But the problem lies when you keep on talking about the same pessimistic shit over and over again. Let me give you an example:
When I entered UP, I was enamored by the protesters around the campus, the ones I only used to see on TV. They opened my eyes to the ills of society, and when I see them protesting, I’m like
“Wow, these guys are great! The country needs more of them!”
By my graduating year, whenever the protesters pass by the halls chanting whatever they’re protesting against, that sentiment became:
“Will you guys just shut up?!? Wouldn’t it be better if you go back to your classes to study so when you graduate you have a better chance of changing the system from within?!?“
And that’s the thing we’re seeing here, no one likes a pessimist who does nothing but whine.
The more you think about how these pessimist blogs are written, the more you realize what’s wrong about their approach.
First off, they’re not “realists”. They’re pessimists. Period. Realists would know that what they’re doing is counterproductive to his goals in the long run as it desensitizes and promotes apathy as I experienced with the protesters in UP.
Secondly, anyone who has seriously studied revolutions will tell you that what they’re doing will not result in a drastic change of the status quo. When all is said and done, all they’re doing is armchair pseudo-intellectualism, hiding behind shallow “rationalism” while ignoring the realities of society and human psychology (e.g. Learned Helplessness, Angry Monkeys).
If you want to change the status quo, you’ll need to get your hands dirty with concrete action. Writing pessimistic political blog posts (or worse, reading and sharing them, giving these people page views) will not change anything.
In short, all of these articles should be considered pessimism porn – pieces of work created to give smug satisfaction to pseudo-intellectuals who, instead of working towards fixing those problems, are content with “masturbating” to it.
Keep this in mind whenever you see another anti-Filipino rant from not-so-friendly neighborhood conspiracy nutjob.
