EDITORIAL - Too many cooks spoil the broth

It is difficult to understand why matters that are supposed to be left to the judgment of experts are now increasingly being made subject to popular choice. Worse, popular choice is often achieved by remote means as in texting, not by direct actual perusal as from a live audience that can at least make a fairly accurate appreciation of facts by experiencing them.

Take the Miss Universe contest, which the Philippines is hosting this year. For a contest that requires the actual live presence of a panel of several judges who are supposed to be experts in this kind of undertaking, it just seems incredible that one of the top 12 semifinalists will have to be determined by popular voting. According to the pageant's website, there are at least four ways to vote, including using mobile apps and Twitter.

Not only that, a voter is not entitled to just one vote but to as many votes as he or she cares to cast. Since it is presumed that no country in the world can be more interested in a particular Miss Universe contest than the country that is currently hosting the pageant, the voting offers an opportunity for the host beauty to at least crack into the top 12.

In at least the aspect of popular vote, the concept of beauty that people have been made to believe is what lies at the core of the Miss Universe philosophy gets defeated and shoved aside by an entirely incongruous aspect called patriotism. Filipinos, who are naturally more excited than any other people about the contest this year because it is being held in the Philippines, will likely vote for the Philippine bet not because of her beauty but because she is a Filipino.

But the Miss Universe contest is not the only thing that is being eaten up by this trend toward populism and away from expertise and essence. Not too long ago, the matter of the world's greatest natural wonders was also taken away from the hands of scientists from varying fields of expertise and placed in the hands of text voters. To a great extent, the world's number one texters formed the backbone for the successful inclusion of a Philippine attraction in the elite list.

In a certain way that has nothing to do with popular voting, even the Academy Awards which will soon be held is falling victim to this trend toward populism rather than real excellence in craft and art. Last year, there was a furor, not ever lack of excellence, but lack of diversity in the nominees, forgetting that the Oscars is about excellence, not ethnicity or skin color. But there it is, the world is getting very messy with too many fingers dipping into the pie other than the bakers'.