I am really tempted to gloat. I dislike liberals of the American and even the Filipino variety, and it seems that 2016 is the year that their world fell apart for them. Indeed, my Facebook feed is filled with their whining and gnashing of teeth. But gloating is cruel and doing so tends to reduce the righteousness of one’s cause. It is better to look and examine what happened? Why did the Duterte and Trump victories catch them off guard, why did their efforts to discredit both of these people and their supporters fail? It is too simplistic to call the supporters of these populist, firebrand politicians as bobo, retard or idiotic sheep. Neither is it wrong to say that the liberal “cause” is wrong or unpopular—No, I think the problem is in the liberals themselves, and they should take the time to reflect, reassess and reevaluate themselves and their position.
The state of social media right now.
How would I characterize a “liberal?” I use this term loosely because “liberal” can mean many different things depending on context. Generally speaking, I refer to this as a “political philosophy based on belief in progress, the essential goodness of the human race, and the autonomy of the individual and standing for the protection of political and civil liberties” (Merriam-Webster Dictionary). In the United States, these are usually adherents of the Democrat party. In the Philippines, they are closely linked with the Liberal party. In fairness to the Liberal Party, it is the closest the Philippines has to an actual political party in the cohesive, traditional and American sense of the word. Sadly, it seems that their cohesion is due to a figurehead—the son of two so-called “heroes” who gained prominence during the Marcos regime. The father of this figurehead was supposedly “assassinated” by then President Marcos while his mother became President of the Philippines in a bloodless coup. This group professes to prioritize human rights, freedom of speech, are against discrimination of any sort, decent behavior and they generally have a favorable view of America and share a lot of these same beliefs with American liberals. To be fair, a lot of these people are genuinely decent people, its just that they are misguided by their own self-righteousness.
Liberals are self-righteous and sanctimonious
Liberals are so convinced of the righteousness of their position, they welcome no opposing views and look down if not outright humiliate a person espousing a contrary view. Right now, I dread opening my social media. All I can see in it, as far as the eyes can see is the incessant whining and tears of Liberal Filipinos. Its always about the same things: the libingan ng mga bayani, Trump, Duterte, Delima, and, heck, even the Leni Robredo “tuhod” comment. And a lot of those concerns are irrational and ad hominem, anyone who cares to point that out gets bashed and groups of liberals would band together and support one another in a circlejerk. They are prone to superlative, such as comparing former President Ferdinand Marcos to people like Adolf Hitler, Pol Pot and Idi Amin, you know, people who have actually committed genocide as a policy of their state. Dare to point out that you are cheapening the experience of Holocaust survivors by comparing Hitler to Marcos and you will get a faceful of hate for interrupting the circlejerk. American liberals are hardly any different, point out the scandals that hound Hillary Clinton and you will be accused of being a misogynist.
They have a poor grasp of the issues and arguments
To be fair, non-liberals haven’t been the best at “marketing” their position either. Their position is one of drastic measures—great changes in policy. They aren’t really accustomed to voicing out their discomfort and their concerns, so they won’t be masters at convincing right away. Liberals on the other hand, are like professional “whiners” and are accustomed to having a “feel good” stance on issues. In a way, Liberals have never tried to get our of their comfort zone. Ask any Liberal what they think of “rape jokes” and they will tell you that “rape jokes are bad [period].” Ask them to explain why that is the case and 9 times out of 10, you will get crickets.
They block out contrary opinions
Another thing liberals should learn to do is to listen to contrary opinions. Try to see where the “other guy” is coming from. American liberals (AKA Democrats) are seemingly more prone to shutting out contrary opinion than their conservative counterparts. Reuters reports:
Fourteen percent of respondents in the Reuters/Ipsos poll said they had blocked a family member or close friend from social media because of the election. For Democrats, this rises to 23 percent compared to 8 percent for Republicans.
This goes to show that liberal people are more likely to shut out contrary opinions and ideas from their own. When thinking in a movement only exists in a circlejerk, critical thinking is lost and that is when the movement loses its relevance. What better example of this behavior than the Philippine’s own Rappler, a news website with [obvious] liberal leanings, wrote a series of articles about a “propaganda war” predominantly blaming an ordinary blogger Mocha Uson for spreading propaganda thanks to her army of bots (!) hoping to put a stop to her blog.
It is also very easy to see how the liberal coastal cities of America and their wealthy residents can seem so out of touch with the rest of their countrymen. To them, their main concern is advancing the feminist cause, gay marriage, Hollywood, legalization of Marijuana while non-liberals/Trump supporters had very different concerns: jobs, immigration, perceived weaknesses in America’s foreign policy. So therefore, shutting out contrary opinion and a cocooned existence don’t do wonders for liberal PR. It just makes one seem “elitist.”
Victim Mentality
Liberals can’t seem to comprehend the idea of blaming oneself for one’s failures—they always try to portray themselves as the victim. In Clinton’s case, she wasn’t seen as fit for the job by many democrats resulting in very low voter turnout. I wonder if the democrats really expected an easy victory just because she was a woman running against a misogynist? Worse was that after Trump gave his thank you speech which he tried to fill with as much hope for the future, the most memorable (and retweeted) part of Clinton’s concession speech was something about breaking the “glass ceiling.” Are they seriously blaming their loss on the fact that she is a woman?
Its a pity that liberals played the gender card thinking that Americans will vote for a person simply on account of her gender. I’m glad to see that meritocracy still exists in some form over there. The same victim mentality is rampant among the liberals of the Philippines. Best example is Senator Leila Delima who keeps bringing up her gender in her numerous press conferences with the liberal media of the Philippines.
What’s Next?
For Filipino liberals, the events of the past year should serve as a wake-up call. Since you abhor Trump so much, perhaps it is time that you stop placing America on a pedestal and learn to think for yourselves.
I understand and sympathize with your convictions. In fact they are very honorable, so please don’t give up. Learn from your shortcomings. I will leave you with what I saw on my Facebook feed from a person that I respect has written:
Please be guided accordingly!
I kind of just want to remind people who are blaming democracy these days that:
A) both Trump and Duterte did not grab power. Don't you just feel grateful that elections remain to be undisrupted in both countries?
B) democracy isn't suddenly wrong because things didn't go your way
C) it's democracy that will let you get up again tomorrow and start your 4 or 6 year campaign.
...
Good night!
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Note: Please forgive the rant. This was hastily written so I can get this out while this historic moment remains fresh. I talk about America and the Philippines. The near simultaneous elections we had seems to have caused a great deal of grief for many people regardless of whom you support and whatever your values are. Also, I am no expert in American culture and politics, hence comments, suggestions and corrections are very much welcome.
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