LIFE IS LIKE A BOX OF CHISMIS

 

You never know what you’re gonna get. The title is my version of Forrest Gump’s quote. Let’s go straight to the two quotes in the spotlight.

“History is like chismis.” (Ella Cruz)

“Real History is about Truth, not lies, not fiction.” (Ambeth Ocampo)

Sparking off lately a swarm of clashing reactions from the opposite sides of the political fence, the two quotes above triggered off the following headlines online:

“Ella Cruz Draws Flak for Controversial Remark” (8List)

“Historian Ambeth Ocampo Mobbed By Marcos Influencers” (Reddit)

HAIRSPLITTING

The squabble burst out more than two weeks ago. Yet, even up to today, the war of words between the two camps has been firing up commentaries from pundits like Rigoberto Tiglao of The Manila Times engaging his readers with basic lessons in figures of speech: “Apparently, Ocampo is incapable of understanding the English word “like,” and much less the concept of “analogy.”

We may find the following examples handy for our quick refresher:

Metaphor: “All the world’s a stage” (Shakespeare’s As You Like It)

Simile: “Life is like a box of chocolates” (Forrest Gump)

Analogy: “As cold waters to a thirsty soul, so is good news from a far country.” (Proverbs 25:25)

Such hairsplitting squabble reminds me of the former U.S. President Clinton’s Grand Jury Testimony in the heat of the Clinton-Lewinsky scandal which the whole world watched in TV live coverage more than twenty years ago.

Question: [T]he statement that there was “no sex of any kind in any manner, shape or form, with President Clinton,” was an utterly false statement. Is that correct?

President Clinton: It depends on what the meaning of the word “is” is. If “is” means is and never had been that is not – that is one thing. If it means there is none that was a completely true statement.

What a presidential hairsplitting argument.

WHY WE HATE

Now to this “History is like chismis” squabble, we may ask, “Where’s the beef”?

Well, the high heat of hate from the gas stove charred the sizzling beef in the frying pan. Let me explain by starting with a quote (no metaphor, no simile, and no analogy this time) taken from a published research paper “Why We Hate” by Agnes Fischer, Eran Halperin, Daphna Canetti, and Alab Jasini.

“We hate persons and groups more because of WHO THEY ARE than what they do. Hate has the goal to ELIMINATE ITS TARGET. Hate is especially significant at the intergroup level, where it turns already DEVALUED GROUPS into victims of hate. When shared among group members, hate can spread fast in CONFLICT ZONES where people are exposed to HATE-BASED VIOLENCE, which further feeds their hate. Hate can be reassuring and self-protective because its MESSAGE IS SIMPLE and helps confirm people’s belief in a just world.” (Underscoring mine)

Let’s put to work the above research findings in a sort of a matrix by placing them side by side with PH political set of circumstances.

“Who they are”: Pro-DDS/BBM vs. Pro-Leni

“Eliminate its target”: Martial law version vs. “Golden age” version of history

“Devalued groups”: Madumb, etc. vs. Bobotante

“Conflict Zones”: Social media

“Hate-based violence”: Disinformation

“Message is simple”: Memes of hateful lies

In other words, the squabble is not that much about what both Ella Cruz and Ambeth Ocampo said about History. Rather it is, politically speaking, about who Ella Cruz and Ambeth Ocampo are. Each represents the particular side of the political fence – the former has been perceived as a Pro-DDS/BBM for being cast to play the role of Irene Marcos in the 2022 film “Maid in Malacanang”; the latter, a publicly known Pro-Leni historian.

The same research paper stated that “Aristotle succinctly states that whereas anger is customarily felt toward individuals, hatred is often felt towards groups.” Meaning, a Pro-DDS/BBM supporter is angry with Leni Robredo (for whatever reason) and, all at once, hates the Angat Buhay NGO too.

COLLATERAL DAMAGE

Oddly enough, in our matrix above, the supposed “History controversy” has dropped out of sight. History, in such squabble, has become “collateral damage” (a real war parlance) -- an unintended target that endured accidental damage.

Similarly, the relentless hate bashing against Maria Reesa on social media is not that much about what she did accomplish fearlessly in her high-risk journalistic career that was awarded the Nobel Prize. (Otherwise, it's pure jealousy.) Rather it is, politically speaking, about who Maria Reesa is – a perceived anti-DDS who has exposed the human rights abuses of the Duterte regime.

Along the same line, just as History has endured collateral damage in Ella Cruz-Ambeth Ocampo’s squabble, so too the world-renowned Nobel Prize Committee has endured the same in Pro-DDS/BBM’s hate lashing of Maria Reesa as a Nobel Prize laureate.

What makes hate so persistent and prevalent in politics?

“Hatred seems an effective, simple, political tool that is commonly used by politicians to attain in-group solidarity and political benefits and/or out-group exclusion. Campaign ads, canvassing, and slogans based on collective hatred are the bread and butter of successful campaigns because the message is simple and emotionally appealing,” the research paper disclosed.

Tsek.ph study, a fact-finding collaboration of 34 academe, media, and civil society partners attesting to the above political frame:

“Robredo’s quotes have been mangled, twisted, [or] fabricated to make her look like she is spouting nonsense. She has been called, rather harshly, Madumb, lutang, tanga, utal-utal, [among others].”

Fatima Gaw, assistant professor of communication research at the University of the Philippines College of Mass Communication, asserted that Disinformation “is really priming the audience to rationalize [the Marcos] lies and distortions.”

HOPE FOR UNITY

Is there hope for PBBM’s “Unity”?

“Whether we can down-regulate hate… empathy and forgiveness are interesting and socially relevant venues for future research,” the research paper rounded out.

Just as we get this article off the ground with figures of speech, so too we touch down in the same way.

“A people without the knowledge of their past, origin, and culture is like a tree with no roots.” (Marcus Harvey, creator of the “Back to Africa” movement in the US.)

Slamming the Nobel Prize Committee (for Reesa’s award) is like a mouse doing it with an elephant and whispering, “Does it hurt?”

Head still photo courtesy of Xenia Kovaleva @ pexelsdotcom