Ban violent video games, a lawmaker says. Ban Netflix, another senator adds. Ban social media, still many others suggest. But very few seem to want to check on the state of the Filipino family. Fewer still highlight the kind of role models people have today. Go figure.

This is not going to be a defense of violent video games or films, of course. Regulation in this area exists, although it can perhaps be improved. It is, nevertheless, there.

Instead, this is an attempt to understand why certain individuals have shown a rather limited understanding of—or an even more limited attempt to understand—the problem at hand, and requires immediate action and attention. As such, I will not delve into a possible explanation of why school shootings happen. Instead, I will comment on those who have been very loud about their proposed measures to solve the issue.

To ban carte blanche any form of media that has violence in it, or any that purportedly promotes it, is an oversimplified band-aid solution. Should this be the direction taken, any public figure that has the slightest tinge of violence in his or her public persona should also be banned.

Further, paraphrasing one artista’s comment, if supposed violent video games are to blame, then there should have been an earlier generation of school shooters in the Philippines (those that grew up on first-person shooter games played on LAN in computer shops, i.e. my generation). Yet there were none.

So why are people quick to throw the blame on video games? The long and short of it is this: It is laziness. It is a kind of laziness to pinpoint and address the real source of the problem, simply being content with adding some noise to the discussion in an attempt to appear relevant, all the while harping on people’s heightened emotions.

This approach is not new when it comes to solving the nation’s problem. Some of those in public service, not all of them but a good number of them, are used to providing band-aid solutions. One only needs to look at the state of public roads and highways to see this. There’s a crack on the road? Apply a layer of asphalt and you’re good to go. Problem solved, at least until the next floods come.

Throw almost any problem at the government (past and present), and they solve it with ayuda.

Typhoons are coming? Ayuda. Floods devastate towns. Ayuda. Oh maybe the world throws a pandemic curveball? Ayuda. Do you have a relative who died because of lack of access to decent healthcare? Ayuda.

Ayuda culture, for one, is the most glorified of these temporary fixes. It has become such a feature of how public service is carried out that for many Filipinos it is probably what they consider to be public service. Following this logic, the best politician is the one who doles out help when needed. If you check who has been topping elections in recent decades, you would see how this has been the way Pinoys judge whom to put in positions of power.

The rush to ban video games is itself an example of the country’s preference for quick, visible solutions over difficult structural ones.

To be sure, there are other services being provided by those in government out there. But these are rarely highlighted, partly because it is not what people easily understand—not because they can’t, but because those in power have made sure that people want ayuda more than any solution. After all, who doesn’t want a quick solution?

Ayuda, unfortunately, is the least helpful solution of all. It is the band-aid solution to all band-aid solutions. It creates a culture of contentment, both in the minds of the public and in those of public servants.

Instead of getting fixated on what they truly deserve—a really comprehensive and effective healthcare system, improved transportation infrastructure, better access to education and job opportunities, to name a few—they become content with getting scraps (some cash aid here, a pack of goods and bigas there, and a pat on the back for resilience).

And for those in public service, cultivating a culture of ayuda is a cheat code for winning in the next elections and staying in power.

To build a true healthy society, there is no such thing as a quick fix, unfortunately. When Filipinos start asking for what they truly deserve, then maybe public servants would not settle for just quick fixes. Maybe, instead of asking for banning violent video games and media, they would start looking at the state of Filipino families to identify the real cause of the recent shooting incidents.