HEARD IT THROUGH THE GRIPE-VINE: OUR NEW ABNORMAL

True stand-up comedy has never really prospered here, and one strong reason is because Filipinos are “pikon.” We laugh at others being made fun of with wild abandon, but the moment the target is us, that’s a different ballgame, and we’re calling “foul,” ‘sumosobra,’ and claiming they stepped over the line. It’s a national trait, and corollary to that is how we love to deflect. Even when in the wrong, there is a tendency to still try and put ourselves in a favorable light, and place the blame on the next person. Instead of admitting our fault or mistakes, taking full responsibility; we’ll scramble to find some excuse, a random explanation, as to why the disaster, faux pas, or mistake happened.

I’ve seen this happen so many times over the years of handling people, whether from an editorial or sales perspective. Plus without meaning to, have probably been guilty of it myself. It’s our onion skin mentality. And you see this on the bigger stage as well.

Just last month, so many of us rushed to the defense of “one of our own,” comedian Jo Koy, when he “bombed” with his Golden Globes monologue. Setting aside my personal judgment of whether his jokes fell flat; I did hate it when he stared throwing his gag writers “under the bus,” compounding the issue with saying that the jokes he wrote, the crowd was laughing at. I will root for Jo Koy, and even observe that his stand-up and comedy specials audiences aren’t the typical Golden Globes viewers, so there was no real need to defend him and blind ourselves to just how bad the monologue went. But I’m also not going to hide the fact that the desperate, kneejerk castigation of his writers, left a sour taste in my mouth.

More interesting for me, was how we reacted; indicative of how we Filipinos either go full out defensive, or immediately scurry to the winning side. Do you remember? First, there were those who started posting how they never thought Jo Koy was all that funny to begin with. They sensed he had bombed, and didn’t want to be seen as diehard fans of the man - that’s so pathetic. If you didn’t really think he was funny to begin with, then why should you even care and comment? Just keep quiet, as no one was asking you in the first place.
Then there were those ready to defend at all costs, even attacking Taylor Swift for not reacting to Jo Koy’s joke. Come on, she’s entitled to stay poker face when she’s the butt of his joke (remember what I said at the start about us being ‘pikon’?). Now, we had a segment of commentators reaching back to salvage the monologue, distorting the facts, and blinding themselves to what was so apparent.

This is an equally scary reaction; something we see so often in how government and local politics operates here, where sycophancy is the order of the day. We just love patting each other on the back, elevating the average and mediocre on some pedestal, and I feel it’s part of what holds us back from making substantive progress.

I’ve been frustrated by how so many times I’ve observed how compliance is the rule for so many in terms of work attitude. As long as they can say they’ve met the minimum requirements, or made sure nothing negative can be thrown on their lap, they’d rather leave that as is - and find a million reasons why something you ask of them, can’t or shouldn’t be done, rather than seeking for and coming up with the one creative solution to have what you were asking for, be accomplished. Not rocking the boat, staying super-safe, keeping your head down - these are all offshoots of that attitude, and I find it crazy that it remains an automatic, when it’s already so obvious that things are no longer working the way they should.

I wasn’t blind to how social media also went abuzz when a noted film director panned a highly regarded degustation eatery where he had dined. Take note that I’m presuming this director paid for the dinner, and it wasn’t comp’ed. If so, all I can say is he’s entitled to his opinion. We avidly consume social media, and shouldn’t think it’s exclusively about praising, and extolling to high heavens.

In fact, ironically, and it can’t be denied, I’ve seen how people love to make “sawsaw” whenever there’s a post dissing some big business/fast food giant for some mistake, or service boo-boo. So tell me, what’s the real difference between that fast food giant and the “sosyal” eatery, if you weren’t happy with your experience? Why did it have to seem like the whole fine-dining industry rose, to come to the defense of said establishment? For me, this was overreacting, another “precious” trait of our’s. That eatery knows its worth, and will survive some disgruntled customer.

And seriously, I had to hold back the laughter when this brouhaha happened, and a number of writers I’d encounter at food events would quietly say they have had similar unsatisfactory experiences at that particular eatery. Here ‘naman’, is the unwritten code of silence that holds us back from speaking the truth. Seems that objective, constructive criticism has no place in our country anymore - remember how I observed above how we’re a country of back-patter’s?

That’s it for this week, and give me a shout out if you agree with me! Or felt alluded to, and now want to keep quiet? Onion skin….