The house is on fire and we are arguing about the extinguisher

The problem with us Filipinos is that we always argue about anything and everything. Nothing so much as rustles in the trees than we descend on the probable cause. A large part of this propensity to argue stems from a subconscious belief that we know more than the other person. Never mind that the other person is the expert. There is always a loophole in his expertise to expose, pounce on, then exploit to the death.

A probably equal part to explain the same propensity is our uncannily overpoliticized nature. Such overzealousness to inject politics into every whiff of scent that teases our nostrils drives us to a cynicism that overpowers our ability to think clearly. We become slaves to our conspiracy theories. To us there is always a motive behind anything that is of human origin or creation.

And so it is that even if the house is on fire, we still argue about the efficiency and effectiveness of the only fire extinguisher on the wall. In this pesky coronavirus pandemic that has already cost so many lives and caused so much harm, one would have thought the swift development of a vaccine is a real God-send. But no, we still argue over where the devil might be lurking in the details.

There is a particular concentration of attention on a particular drug made in China. Everything about the Chinese vaccine is being debated and argued about, from its stated efficiency, to its declared price, to why we have been able to acquire it. We argue with the experts and we argue with such intensity and ferocity that eventually these people in the know begin to doubt their expertise. In the end they submit to the will of the noisy.

There is so much politics and political motive woven into the arguments that the reason why there is even a vaccine in the first place is lost. Take the case of the China vaccine. Its efficiency, cost and acquisition have everything to do with China bullying us in the South China Sea than truly about its efficiency, cost and acquisition.

Had we had a comfy and cozy relationship with China over the South China Sea, it is very doubtful if an argument would rise about efficiency, cost, and acquisition. But because China happens to be the enemy at the moment, even the straightness or crookedness of the Chinese characters on the packaging become subjects of argumentative interpretation even if we read or understand no Chinese. Basta kay Chinese, ininsek!

We lose so much in all these argumentative politicking, not the least of which is the ability, sana, to look at the big picture always and not to be consumed by passion over one small detail, if pesky and uncomfortable. We lose sight of the fact that in all relations, we ought to be governed by many considerations that make up the whole, not by the tiny bits that, taken singly, obscures and makes irrelevant all relationships altogether.

Take the case of China. Just because China bullies us in the South China Sea does not mean we start hating everything Chinese. Even the great United States does not do that. We can deal with China over the South China Sea either diplomatically or, heaven forbid, militarily. But you do not cut all your ties with that country. To maintain such others is the essence of maturity, sensibility, and humanness in face of great challenge and crisis.