Wednesday, June 25, 2008
Presidential Fuck-Up #5,094,610
January 20th, 2009 needs to hurry up so that Obama can be inaugurated already. Yeah, I said it.
Bold statements flush themselves out left and right, but I never expected that shit. Where do I start with this article? Who fucked up more - Bush for his grandiloquence or Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo for her passivity? President Bush for his ignorance or GMA for hers? There are so many factors wrong with the notion and performance of discussing aide for a people who are suffering from the repercussions of a typhoon and an epithet blurted out by the so-called leader of the so-called free world. Say what you mean and mean what you say.
Let's not forget that there were times when only Filipino men could join the Navy if they enlisted as petty officers, band musicians, firemen and then only as stewards and mess attendants. Let's not forget that Filipino recruits enlisted in the Navy to gain U.S. citizenship. But citizenship, it seems, is never enough. And the same sentiments of pettiness and designated inferior positions for Filipinos despite citizenship still linger, as made evident by George Dubya. Our talent as Filipina/o Americans should not be reduced to the dinners we make as service attendants for white men or as mere labor for the U.S. economy. Let's not forget the achievements and contributions of Filipina/o Americans. What a way to downplay Filipinas/os and simultaneously demonstrate white privilege and white power.
My homegirl says: Why does he speak like he wasn't educated?
Why does he speak at all?
Let's not forget the reasons for GMA's trip to the U.S. GMA flew out of a country that she is supposed to lead during a time of need. People in the Philippines face the threat of typhoons every year around this time. Once again, natural disasters dictate forced migration, forced poverty and the person able to enact emergency rescue missions is found at the right hand of the man who did the same thing to his people almost three years ago. Anyone remember Hurricanes Katrina & Rita?
But I'm not surprised because this is the same President that brought reporters with her to Iloilo, Guimaras after the oil spill at the end of summer 2006, to show her support for a quick recovery. There were photos of her with a bright, blue, mesmerizing ocean in the background during her visit. I could see why she would do this, I mean, oil and gas are important these days, no?
Let's say a President was warned about an approaching natural disaster. Natural disasters - like hurricanes, typhoons, fires - have no political allegiance, that's what the academics say. But only because it's true. Therefore, they (the hurricanes, typhoons and fires) do not choose to affect, ruin or displace peoples no matter what country, city, or province is near. In fact, the personification of such natural entities is problematic, I know. And said President chooses to react by waiting, by putting off professional, scientific or administrative evidence and advice that would have saved lives and instead goes on vacation or flies out of the country for support. Who am I writing about here? Bush or GMA? And which politically tense and economically draining spectacle am I referring to? Whose ignorance is more salient? Whose words and broken promises are the most poignant? Or the least credible? Is this about the rice crisis in the P.I. or the inflation of gas and oil in the U.S.? Guimaras or Lousiana? Who fucked-up more?
// posted by Janice @ 8:26 PM 
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