When we were both manning the 1986 Cory Aquino Media Bureau, my good friend Wilfrido “Menito” Villacorta said something profound which your Chair Wrecker kept in mind. Menito shared this insight that he had of the Filipino psyche - our tendency to psychologically dwell in the GOLGOTHA SYNDROME.
Menito explained his perception of the Golgotha syndrome as the tendency to internalize and see life as the experience of Golgotha, site of the Crucifixion of Jesus Christ. Menito felt that many Filipinos have this sense that life is essentially a series of sufferings and crucifixion before the attainment of the glory of Resurrection.
The lower you go in the socio-economic strata of society, the more they’re inclined to dwell in the Golgotha syndrome. We were likely conditioned by our oppression during the over 400 years of Spanish rule where Catholic Friars played an active role in our subjugation. All those “Blessed are the poor” quotations from the Gospel were overly highlighted to make oppression feel like a process of sanctification.
The unusual following for movie and television dramas that dwell on the oppression of the poor is an indicator of the Golgotha syndrome. It would seem illogical for the poor who are already living a miserable existence to want to watch their own daily dramas as entertainment. The logical choice for entertainment of the oppressed and the miserable would be fantasy stories as what clicked in the US during the Great Depression.
And because those who are suffering from the Golgotha syndrome have been conditioned to feel “blessed” — the tyrants and exploiters in our country have gotten away with bloody murder. Many like to refer to the exploiters as Judases in our midst. They betray our Christian values and even our national interest in their pursuit of more wealth and power.
The victims of exploitation and injustice - poor Filipinos have more than enough justification to resist their oppressors. But that doesn’t happen because they’ve been conditioned to grin and bear it, in exchange for spiritual reward.
There’ll always be Pharisees and bad Kings and Princes – symbolic for bad religious leaders, government officials and their exploitative kin – in every society. Even the Vatican had its fair share. Those who ultimately reach a position of economic and/or political power tend to want more and it is in the pursuit of MORE wealth and power where corruption sets in and eats the human soul. The lust for more wealth and power is the sure way to eternal damnation while the voluntary relinquishing and sharing of it is the sure way to eternal bliss.
But if you read the historical episodes about the rise of Pharisees, bad Kings and Princes — you will find a common denominator. That is the people who make them Pharisees, bad Kings and Princes and the victimized people who allow them to remain as Pharisees, bad Kings and Princes. A great hero once said: “There are no tyrants where there are no slaves.”
We can not put much of the blame on the people below the Totem Pole owing to their psychological conditioning and the Information and Education Gaps they suffer from. Although in other societies, the poor have managed to get their act together and attain the reform they want.
But as we can see, these can only happen when the enlightened members of the middle class champion the cause of the poor. Robespierre, Mao, Sun Yat Sen, Castro, Lenin all came from the middle class.
Just like Golgotha – the struggle of the Filipino people is one of light versus darkness symbolically, truth versus lie. It is nearly impossible for the oppressed to remove their yoke when they do not even have an inkling of the dynamics that brought them to their sorry state and keeps them there.
The Pharisees, bad King and Princes can also be regarded as Judas Iscariots. But the worse Judas Iscariots are those who consciously create and promote them. In the May 2010 election context, the worse Judases are the interest groups supporting evil candidates, making them viable and the corrupt media persons peddling the lies that promote crooks and killers.
You know what – it’s even unfair to label them Judases. Judas Iscariot was at least a nationalist and a patriot. Judas betrayed Christ hoping to provoke our Lord to use his power and rid Israel of the Roman invaders. Judas was too focused on winning the freedom of his nation that he failed to recognize the essential Christ.
Where Judas Iscariot made a lapse in judgment, our so-called Judases willfully sinned and do not pursue any high ideal like nationalism. Their sole motivation is the lust for more wealth and power. Their objective is self service and not public service. They’re insensitive to the suffering around them, the plight of least of their brethren.
The corrupt media persons and intellectuals who prostitute themselves to rotten politicians could even be considered as the worst of the Judases, even topping the self-seeking interest groups. Their pen and their training can emancipate the exploited and the oppressed by enlightening them to recognize the crooks from the truly trustworthy. But they opted to betray their noble calling for a share of Judas Iscariot’s silver.
* * *
Chair Wrecker e-mail and website: macesposo@ yahoo.com and www.chairwrecker.com