JoeAm vs. Filipino 100 Percenters

Some of you know I have been prowling on Get Real Post, offering up thoughts to thoughtful articles and fending off the parasite sucker fish aka morality police force consisting of parallelaxe, trosp, dude, ahehe, and observer so far. You know their style, right? Personal insults in the guise of responding to the thread subject, nothing substantive to add at all.

Well, the other day a gem of enlightenment cropped up during my banter with "dude". Neither of us expected it, and I am confident he still does not get it.

JoeAm:  Dude, well, I suppose you are right, in many instances I could let my opinions bake a little before I take them out of the oven. Still, it is a lot of fun letting them rip, and having confidence that better educated people can instruct me as to my naiveté.

And, I suppose another essential question is, do I inspire people to think new thoughts, or to smile in amusement? Some seem to get it, some do not. I write for those who do, and I hope those who do not will read more.

Dude:  @Joe, so you are now saying that people should not be taking you seriously at all.
Thanks for the heads up! 

When he wrote that, a light bulb popped in my head.

EXACTLY!

If I could have shouted it, I would have.

• Take NOTHING I write seriously. My writing is aimed at loosening up your thinking. If it comes down in a different place from where it took off, great. If not, no harm done.

Therein lies the problem of why I have so much difficulty with the morality police and others, from time to time. They are taking what I write seriously, as if I am prepared to defend it to the death, as if my whole self esteem rides on proving myself right.

Because, you see, that is EXACTLY what most Filipinos do. On blog sites. In politics. In life.

They are 100 percenters. They take what they say as 100 percent firm, final and accurate, and there is no room for debate. To concede an inch might as well be to toss in the towel in defeat, run off to a separate island and hide forever. It goes back to a point I made previously, most Filipinos are not in dialogue to learn, or even to teach . . . but to WIN.

Morality or Else

That is why clans bicker, and presidents jail prior presidents, and the morality police hunt down Joe America, and blog commenters can't find agreement amidst strife, and the Chief Justice goes on political rants demeaning the fundamental ethic of judicial restraint and maturity. To be criticized means responding in kind, even more forcefully. To see someone else succeed means taking them down a peg, for their doing well suggests we are less than 100 percent ourselves. So  journalists get shot and neighbors huddle, snickering in envy driven gossipy sniping.

This 100 percent serious point of view means satire simply misses the mark. Satire is not meant to be taken literally, but unread Filipinos take it seriously. Or try to, and it confuses them. The morality police on Get Real Post accuse JoeAm of being "phoney", a "liar", and "inconsistent". Because in satire he will say exactly the opposite of what he means, and the next day he will say straight what he means.

To the 100 percenter, that is inconsistent, indeed. One day's statement must be a lie. Clearly someone who speaks out of both sides of his mouth is a phoney.

Truly, truly, truly, I do not need to be taken seriously. Ever. Any day. At all.

But I invite you to read what I write, and if it sparks an idea or makes you think, and your thinking lands in a different place than where it started, I am extraordinarily satisfied. If you smile, I am happy.

I'm not out to DEFEAT anyone. Well . . . except for the morality police . . . I seek to pulverize them.

Or hope that they finally GET it. That JoeAm is no threat to anyone with an open mind, sense of humor and confidence.

Indeed, that is why I spend time at Get Real Post even though I disagree with their "get Aquino" agenda, and find Ilda difficult to relate to, and benigno stuffed of shirt. They are not my enemy, and if I put them in that box, I would be a 100 percenter, too. I go there, learn, opine, laugh, swear . . . then leave, somehow richer. I develop the discipline of choice: respond to an insult in kind, or don't respond, or respond politely. Generally, I don't respond, for the morality police are like Taliban warriors, not exactly open to new ideas.  I leave a trail of comments behind that either helps other people get intellectually richer, or does not. It doesn't matter. If benigno decides to "spam" one of my more literary dirt-minded insults to the parasite parallelaxe, one of his favorite morality police, as he did, I simply see him as another vacuous 100 percenter out to win, not think.

The 100 percenter acts to prove strength. He MUST prove strength. Because way down deep inside, he has issues . . .

Well, in truth, we all have issues. You have them. JoeAm has them. But he is further along the path toward an open mind than most.

And if you try to tell me otherwise, I'll . . . I'll  . . . I'll DELETE you!!!!!!!