Only here, are people sensitive enough to nitpick performances of the national anthem, and yet do nothing about the real crises that plague the nation. Only here, are congressmen paid roughly 50k, and yet afford all those expensive rides and a trips abroad. (And they want more people, 50 more... because stealing money, I mean, making laws very integral to our lives <see http://www.gmanews.tv/story/156666/Bill-vs-Hentai-close-to-becoming-law-in-RP> is too difficult.)

I usually hate posts related to political shit and current events. It's just too easy. No wits required there. If Jon Stewart had a show here in the Philippines, his punchlines would be meaningless. Why? Because it's too out there. Making fun of the Philippines is so easy. Seriously, when the top news for the country is a sex scandal, it's funny as it is. When the Senate and the President react to it so violently, there's something awfully wrong with the government.

But, since it's been quite a while since I wrote anything, might as well join the bandwagon. This makes me very Filipino right here.

Let's see, as far as I can remember, some singer dude omitted a couple of lines when he sang the national anthem at some event some time ago. That's rather wrong, omitting lyrics. As expected, several politicians and self-proclaimed patriotic countrymen raised a ruckus. Another incident is Teri Hatcher's character saying something defamatory regarding the Philippine education system. Our friendly neighborhood Senators wanted her banned. In fact, let's go waaaaay back. When Claire Danes insulted Manila as infested by rats some years back, the country was in outrage.

"YOU DARE SAY SOMETHING SHITTY ABOUT OUR COUNTRY?!?!"

Something more recent now. Martin Nievera went all jazzy with his rendition of the National Anthem. Hell, we don't even have to guess what happened next. Because in here, we have a law, the Republic Act 8491, Sec. 37 futher states: “The rendition of the national anthem, whether played or sung, shall be in accordance with the musical arrangement and composition of Julian Felipe.” But we don't have death penalty. We have people asking singers for public apologies when they sing the national anthem. We have a National Historical Institute (these people are actually paid). And yet, we have a really fucked up account of our own history.

Just recently, Alec Baldwin made a joke about mail-order brides. It referenced Filipina.. or a Russian one. A Filipino Senator wanted to beat him up for it. Ah, truth hurts. Since the senator has already been brought up, we might as well mention how passionately he is fighting for Katrina Halili in her recently exposed scandal video. I'm still LOLing on "Pervert of the highest order." This country worries too much of its image, but worships a boxer.

As we near the last few sentences of this post, so what's my point?

I think the feeble minds that comprise our government knows. It's when you are so incompetent, that you show fervor for the most mundane shit. Sometimes, it doesn't matter how stoopid, as long as you make a lot of noise. And what's sad about that? People buy it. We have bigger problems. People are going hungry. There really are mail-order brides. Been to school lately? The education system sucks. We've got landslides, too many people are jobless, we're doing a terrible job at stopping population explosion.

There are so many more important things to worry about. Things that require thought and effort to solve. And that's the problem really. It's easier to yammer about patriotism, the rights of women, manyaks, and cartoon porn.