Fred Jordan Mikhail T. Carnice
The Weekly Sillimanian
November 26, 2008
Values and ethics are highly esteemed in the Filipino family setting. When a child is born the tradition of goodness and integrity is immediately instilled, nurtured with the ways of what is proper. If the child shows signs of difference, a light spanking on the bottom is enough. But let us get this straight to the point: gays, lesbians, and everyone in between have gotten more than just a spanking for their supposedly “abnormal” nature.
I totally find it dumb that in the eyes of many people nowadays homosexuality is immediately attached to AIDS, a notion that must have taken from European urban legends. Or rather, it’s subjugated to the idea of immorality, related to sin as if all the evils of the world are rolled up into one and resulted either to an Ellen Degeneres or an Arnel Ignacio. Gender roles are now tightly twisted that same sex marriage is seen as a condemnation to mankind. Since it’s copiously deemed as something new to Filipinos, the Bible and one’s conviction are immediately placed at the forefront. “Wala na sa bala-ud” or “Adam is only for Eve and not for Steve!” These are what some of the people with Styrofoam for a brain would say. But wait, aren’t there heavier matters that need more problem solving than cancelling out two people’s plan of marital bond because of their sexual orientation? Well, how about this, aren’t there more straight couples whose lives ended in the drain compared to queer relationships?
The world is going crazy. Even global warming, take note, has already been linked to the roles of women. In Rina Jimenez-David’s column in the Philippine Daily Inquirer written a month ago, it is stated that a forum for climate change mentioned that “the negotiation process tends to be driven by a masculine view of the problem and its solutions. Participation of women in the whole process… is very low…” I am not really sure if this is a good thing, but there are obviously too many demarcations created for a woman to do this and for a man to do that. Specifics are good but when pushed to the limit they can be absurd. It’s just like going to the nearest bookstore and asking a saleslady, “Can I buy a manly magazine here, the glossy one that has large pictures of scantily-clad women, has one free pack of condom usually found at the center page, and costs about a hundred pesos?” Maybe in the coming days, it would no longer be surprising to hear news that reveals being queer will lead to the end of the world. To repeat Jimenez-David’s words, “What does gender have to do with it?”
That’s that. What has homosexuality got to do with the world’s destruction? Is it a deadly disease for the terminally ill? Or is it toxic that a person must be burned at the stakes when they’re found guilty of lack of machismo or daintiness? The church says a lot of contradictory things. If the Bible be followed word for word, doesn’t it say that God loves everyone who accepts his Son? And in Proverbs 8:17, it mentioned “I love those who love me, and those who seek me find me.” So, are gays and lesbians incapable of such emotion and does their belonging to this particular stratum make him or her already a pagan? Heck, no. Pardon the lineup of interrogations but this is only one small step towards a more elaborate debate.
Religion, or one’s faulty grasp of it, has become a tool for sexism, a weapon to arouse phobia. To further underline this word, this is an irrational belief, a disorder that excessively desires to avoid a feared subject. The upshot here is that it’s purely unreasonable. In these dismal circumstances wherein errors have been intentionally blown up for selfish but idiotic reasons, wherein it subsequently brainwashed many people, it’s hard not to keep anyone from closing their eyes, stay blind and deaf from what is true because there’s plenty of badmouthing about the “issue” and only a little is done on clarification. And the media have their fair share of spreading the bad news, too. Most of the time, they sensationalize even the smallest things. Compare two kissing male celebrities for an upcoming art film to the recent natural disaster that has devastated a nearby province and it’s easy to point which has generated the more party poppers and attention.
As the world ages, its inhabitants are ironically getting more stubborn, keeping digression as a replacement for progression like it’s a paradox for sustaining life. I am not saying that by marrying the same sex we effectively catapult our country’s third world standing to the top. Sincerely, it’s just that a lot of people have already been hurt and shunned. And to be listened to and to be understood are the least things we could ask for. To end this, I’d like to add that Adam is not only for Eve. He’s for everyone.
I totally find it dumb that in the eyes of many people nowadays homosexuality is immediately attached to AIDS, a notion that must have taken from European urban legends. Or rather, it’s subjugated to the idea of immorality, related to sin as if all the evils of the world are rolled up into one and resulted either to an Ellen Degeneres or an Arnel Ignacio. Gender roles are now tightly twisted that same sex marriage is seen as a condemnation to mankind. Since it’s copiously deemed as something new to Filipinos, the Bible and one’s conviction are immediately placed at the forefront. “Wala na sa bala-ud” or “Adam is only for Eve and not for Steve!” These are what some of the people with Styrofoam for a brain would say. But wait, aren’t there heavier matters that need more problem solving than cancelling out two people’s plan of marital bond because of their sexual orientation? Well, how about this, aren’t there more straight couples whose lives ended in the drain compared to queer relationships?
The world is going crazy. Even global warming, take note, has already been linked to the roles of women. In Rina Jimenez-David’s column in the Philippine Daily Inquirer written a month ago, it is stated that a forum for climate change mentioned that “the negotiation process tends to be driven by a masculine view of the problem and its solutions. Participation of women in the whole process… is very low…” I am not really sure if this is a good thing, but there are obviously too many demarcations created for a woman to do this and for a man to do that. Specifics are good but when pushed to the limit they can be absurd. It’s just like going to the nearest bookstore and asking a saleslady, “Can I buy a manly magazine here, the glossy one that has large pictures of scantily-clad women, has one free pack of condom usually found at the center page, and costs about a hundred pesos?” Maybe in the coming days, it would no longer be surprising to hear news that reveals being queer will lead to the end of the world. To repeat Jimenez-David’s words, “What does gender have to do with it?”
That’s that. What has homosexuality got to do with the world’s destruction? Is it a deadly disease for the terminally ill? Or is it toxic that a person must be burned at the stakes when they’re found guilty of lack of machismo or daintiness? The church says a lot of contradictory things. If the Bible be followed word for word, doesn’t it say that God loves everyone who accepts his Son? And in Proverbs 8:17, it mentioned “I love those who love me, and those who seek me find me.” So, are gays and lesbians incapable of such emotion and does their belonging to this particular stratum make him or her already a pagan? Heck, no. Pardon the lineup of interrogations but this is only one small step towards a more elaborate debate.
Religion, or one’s faulty grasp of it, has become a tool for sexism, a weapon to arouse phobia. To further underline this word, this is an irrational belief, a disorder that excessively desires to avoid a feared subject. The upshot here is that it’s purely unreasonable. In these dismal circumstances wherein errors have been intentionally blown up for selfish but idiotic reasons, wherein it subsequently brainwashed many people, it’s hard not to keep anyone from closing their eyes, stay blind and deaf from what is true because there’s plenty of badmouthing about the “issue” and only a little is done on clarification. And the media have their fair share of spreading the bad news, too. Most of the time, they sensationalize even the smallest things. Compare two kissing male celebrities for an upcoming art film to the recent natural disaster that has devastated a nearby province and it’s easy to point which has generated the more party poppers and attention.
As the world ages, its inhabitants are ironically getting more stubborn, keeping digression as a replacement for progression like it’s a paradox for sustaining life. I am not saying that by marrying the same sex we effectively catapult our country’s third world standing to the top. Sincerely, it’s just that a lot of people have already been hurt and shunned. And to be listened to and to be understood are the least things we could ask for. To end this, I’d like to add that Adam is not only for Eve. He’s for everyone.
1 comment:
never read the entire article of yours... nevertheless, let me leave a piece of comment.
an openly gay friend asked me "what am i"... i said that in my heart, i am a man, and this effeminate thing stuck in my flesh is really a bitch to overcome. he said that just because you don't practice those testosterone-gushing things,and that you choose "the other", that doesn't necessarily mean that you're not a man.. well, so much for those gray areas really.
but really, there are gray areas. "what is he, really?"... i'm a set of complex attitudes, experience, thoughts, whatnot, that cannot be simply nutshelled into a something like "bayot".
Post a Comment