Elections are on May 10. For the record, this is a sideways rant so there goes your prior notice. I'm unregistered, neither do I express any interest in participating in the voting process. I'd like to believe I have every right to say no and will stand by my decision to do so. First off, I by no means consider myself Filipino by virtue of anything other than ethnicity and regional proximity. My interest in politics is geared towards the progression of society and the improvement of its quality as a whole. While I am young and idealistic, I intend to do what I can to work towards this goal. This is ironic however, considering how avoidant I generally am of people. Well, at the very least I don't place blind faith in the tyranny of a mismanaged representative "democracy". Yes, I am arrogant, young and whatever. Great, just great.
Enough of that, now. Let me cut to the chase. This will not be so much on my political leanings as it'll primarily touch on my issues with a certain practices associated with the elections, particularly my gripes with the crap that has to do with campaign period.
Of all the activities I engage in, walking around and just looking at things from afar are on the top of my list. Personally, I'd like to think that we as perceptive social beings draw a distinct sense of character from the streets and buildings we maneuver. We could see that our immediate environment lays down the blueprint for the social interactions we conduct in them on an affective and aesthetic level. I do not like what I see. Whoever wins this sideshow of an election, I just hope he/she/it starts the next term by getting rid of all of the campaign-related garbage our aspiring public servants slap all over the place. To say the least, all of this kitsch is particularly disheartening. It's reflective of just how much crap we take from the prevailing cultural hegemony. The saturation of media in the case of Philippine television for example pummels the individual into a state of uncritical consensus, leaving us with a flock of sheep led to slaughter by the shepherds of totality. Walking down my favorite streets, it isn't too far-fetched to think that on this side of the fence, it appears that the force-feeding of imposed culture on an environmental level exists as a thorn in the side of independent and rational thought.
Next time around, I propose that there be specific zones in the city for campaign propaganda. The noise of campaign jingles blasted from the roofs busted up multicabs drowns out the music of the bustling metropolis. The sound of a thousand distant conversations, of cars passing by and the dissonance of a herd of jaywalking pedestrians; all of this is lost in the transmission of ruling-class ideals. The ordered chaos of the city's natural color and (de)composition lies buried underneath paper and tarpaulin promises, unfamiliar faces to the transient sights our movements call home.
I'd like my public space to be inspiring and sincere. I could do with a lot less of this campaign-related bullshit. There's already enough advertising on the commercial market. We could all do without apotheizing the people who seek to sideways enslave us.
As we walk through these captive streets, we walk towards our freedom. You gave them names, we gave them a soul. Give us back our city streets. Give us back our histories.
Enough of that, now. Let me cut to the chase. This will not be so much on my political leanings as it'll primarily touch on my issues with a certain practices associated with the elections, particularly my gripes with the crap that has to do with campaign period.
Of all the activities I engage in, walking around and just looking at things from afar are on the top of my list. Personally, I'd like to think that we as perceptive social beings draw a distinct sense of character from the streets and buildings we maneuver. We could see that our immediate environment lays down the blueprint for the social interactions we conduct in them on an affective and aesthetic level. I do not like what I see. Whoever wins this sideshow of an election, I just hope he/she/it starts the next term by getting rid of all of the campaign-related garbage our aspiring public servants slap all over the place. To say the least, all of this kitsch is particularly disheartening. It's reflective of just how much crap we take from the prevailing cultural hegemony. The saturation of media in the case of Philippine television for example pummels the individual into a state of uncritical consensus, leaving us with a flock of sheep led to slaughter by the shepherds of totality. Walking down my favorite streets, it isn't too far-fetched to think that on this side of the fence, it appears that the force-feeding of imposed culture on an environmental level exists as a thorn in the side of independent and rational thought.
Next time around, I propose that there be specific zones in the city for campaign propaganda. The noise of campaign jingles blasted from the roofs busted up multicabs drowns out the music of the bustling metropolis. The sound of a thousand distant conversations, of cars passing by and the dissonance of a herd of jaywalking pedestrians; all of this is lost in the transmission of ruling-class ideals. The ordered chaos of the city's natural color and (de)composition lies buried underneath paper and tarpaulin promises, unfamiliar faces to the transient sights our movements call home.
I'd like my public space to be inspiring and sincere. I could do with a lot less of this campaign-related bullshit. There's already enough advertising on the commercial market. We could all do without apotheizing the people who seek to sideways enslave us.
As we walk through these captive streets, we walk towards our freedom. You gave them names, we gave them a soul. Give us back our city streets. Give us back our histories.
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