Myth-making

So many myths — for our times, as in days of yore.

Understandable. And appreciated. Fictive imagination enriches our lives, lends itself to traditional pastime of shooting the breeze — as in storytelling by the kanto or in a single malt bar. It propels us onwards from the current hour, or takes us back in time.

I just saw Hercules starring The Rock as the demigod. That version. Entertaining film, in 3-D. With funny contemporary lines, including the F-word from the bida. “F*ck centaurs,” he says, after dispatching of a pack of men on horseback pretending to be the fancied mythological beasts.

Ah, centaurs. Hydra-headed monsters. Fire-breathing dragons. Unicorns requiring the innocence of virgins. No, the last two aren’t featured in the film. Just citing some of the creatures of Western imagination for the fascinating bogey quota.

We have our own. Tikbalang. Aswang. Sigbin. Atbp. And then we have politicians, the good, the bad and the ugly. But let’s explore that mythology further down in this rhythm–and-myth-piece.

We call her/it Mother Nature. Everything around us that we found already here before we got into manufacturing. Okay, we started out politically correct early on. It’s Mother Nature. It’s Motherland (although occasionally, Fatherland pops up for a macho tinge).

That’s all understandable, acceptable. We like to think that our planet has a gender, if a mythic one, something that our forefathers (oops) imagined a very long time ago. We like to think that our rivers and mountains, seas and oceans, plains and valleys and forests, nourish us, as mothers do.

Well and good. And now, we stress to our children that we’re only stewards of our environment, that we should care for Mother Nature, too. Especially since she appears to be showing signs of aging.

But sometimes this aging mother throws a tantrum. As Glenda recently did, in our neck of the global woods. Was she spiting herself, or great parts of herself, when she harrumphed her way across a land mass and took down my old tree, and yours, oh so many others? Couldn’t she have been selective and just blown down rooftops and billboards, cables and manufactured posts?

Now I wonder. Something bipolar in the mythic character? Maybe like Hercules when he slaughtered children in a fit of madness?

But what about our old wizened saying that whom the gods wish to destroy, they first make mad? Hmm. These questions are maddening. 

My friend Louie Reyes asked recently on FB how we felt about the new generation spending all their time with gadgetry, exercising indoors only with their thumbs. As against those good old times when we played outdoors: taguan, luksong tinik, tumbang preso… Now that the iPad has replaced patintero, should we worry about the kids?

Methinks their thumbs will become even more specialized digits, their eyes increasingly gain laser-like focus, their brains and mindsets (iba ’yun!) obviously adapt to the concerns of the times via the playthings of the times. 

But should we worry? Maybe they’ll eventually help resolve the conundrums of climate change, thanks to their current expertise with Mother Gizmos.

Then we have mythical colors. That of the ribbon, yellow, originally tied to an old oak tree. Owing to a fearful schism in our country of late, it now appears to be stacked up against the colors of our flag, one against four.

Oh, never mind peach from the typically corny pinkos, in shallow reference to their demand for impeachment. They too have their usual tired old myths to peddle, among them that anyone who sits in power ought to be subjected to opposition, attempts at overthrow, and much abuse, inclusive of the tired old rant of “Tuta ng Kano.” How about “Tuta ng Tsina” o “Mga Garapata ni Joma”?

There’s the myth about Constitutions demanding reverence, as well as the myth that the Supreme Court is infallible when it comes to questions of jurisprudence. 

But someone says: “As a set of words, the Constitution can be subjected to challenge as to contextual interpretation, etc.” Is an interpretation, when put forth by a majority of SC Justices, sacrosanct for all time? Even myths die, or fade away. 

Our friend, attorney and professor Rayboy Pandan of Bacolod, points out historical precedents, if from foreign lands, of how American presidents such as Lincoln, Roosevelt and Truman had challenged SC Justices in feisty manner.

Many of the myths that have sprouted in the form of memes provide visual entertainment, as well as betray the side of the fence chosen by anyone who cares to joust in media, inclusive of the social.

 Indie journalist and blogger Raissa Robles ought to be commended for fastidious research that dispels a number of myths when it comes to interpreting the way we were with DAP and the way it should not have been conducted, per the SC.

A former senator tags the President as an “evil genius.” Myth or legend, a-borning? Curious however how the name-caller had co-signed that mythical Administrative Code of 1987 whose pertinent sections provide the “evil” to any “genius.”    

Enjoyable too has been the categorization of critics provided by Andrew Lim, titled “Waste segregation: Sorting the good critics from the bad” — wherein they’re divided and sub-divided into the following: “I. Extreme Leftists and their Legal Allies; II. Supporters of Past Corrupt Regimes (“This group’s objective is payback for the hurt suffered by their patron (previous leader) and if possible, to bring down government and return to power. They have been at it since 2010.”), which is further identified as “Arroyo Loyalists / Marcos-Romualdez Loyalists / Camps of Bong Revilla, Enrile, Estrada, et al. / Opportunistic Politicans…; and III. Principled Critics, with Some Headless Chickens (“The last group is mostly composed of academics, public interest lawyers and journalists.”).

This was posted in the fabled blogsite of Joe America: The Society of Honor, which I’ve admired and been much entertained and enightened by — almost as much as that online series of political satire from The Professional Heckler (Loi Reyes Landicho).

In its latest knee-slapper titled “Now Na!: Use It or Lose It,” TPH has it: “President Aquino’s net satisfaction rating has dropped so low the only thing he’s above now is the law.”

A non-myth is that laughter’s the best med. And don’t we all know it, or imagine so?