Dumb vis-a-vis Clever

Conrado De Quiros wrote in his column last week that he’d pick a dumb showbiz personality over a clever trapo every time. Indeed, a Joe De Venecia and a Juan Ponce Enrile seem far scarier than a Jinggoy, a Bong Revilla, or even a power-punching Pacquiao for that matter.

Whereas rich but incompetent celebrities are extremely disillusioned into thinking they can actually make a difference for the masses (while perhaps earning some extra coin on the side), trapos are smart enough to see that history has warranted their belief that they can continue to screw the Filipino people over and have no other agenda but to do so.

Traditional politicians—in the most traditional, perhaps too romantic of views—aren’t supposed to be so feared, for doesn’t the traditional and most ideal image of a politician entail him being a true selfless leader and public servant?

What’s scarier than the fact that we Filipinos have never known true traditional politicians—not bastardized versions we collectively name after a rag we use to wipe countertops with—is that we seem to be forever playing the game of choosing the lesser-of-two-evils, which can too easily be rationalized to be dumb former action stars.