Politics – Page 12 – PATHLESS TRAVELS

2014-10-282019-09-30

Cold analytical anger, because it takes all kinds

It took me seven years of activism more or less — from 1970 to 1977 — to control and channel my adolescent anger and arrogance.

A personal rant with political overtones

It was hard enough, especially for a teenage activist who saw up close the Marcosian state violence that claimed the lives of fellow street marchers and, under martial law, comrades in the underground. It was an extra challenge, for one who believed he had all the answers in his hands and had the right to lash out at anyone who questioned his political and ideological beliefs.

Let me get that right: This doesn’t mean that angry activism automatically leads to arrogance or blind, brash action. They don’t. This also didn’t mean that, prior to 1977, I was a seething, roiling cauldron of dysfunctional behavior that exploded and splattered onto other people, hurting them in random ways. I wasn’t. Continue reading “Cold analytical anger, because it takes all kinds”

2014-07-232014-07-23

Don’t underestimate Binay the guerrilla tactician.

Most every mainstream politician and political analyst I know have been publicly belittling the impeach-Aquino initiatives of BAYAN et al. as “raw, premature, bound to fail,” and so on. Furthermore, some of the more influential political leaders have even explicitly rejected it.

IRAIA thoughts

I won’t even try to debate with these anti-impeach politicians and political analysts, because (a) I don’t have the luxury of time to do so, and (b) the pro-impeach groups have been ably explaining their side anyway. Still, I’d like to posit a theory that goes like this: “Don’t underestimate Binay the guerrilla tactician.” Continue reading “Don’t underestimate Binay the guerrilla tactician.”

2014-07-202019-10-13

This business of peddling yellow stuff

This is just a lazy and rambling Sunday piece about yellow in general, and nothing in particular. No earth-shaking stuff here about DAP or PDAF.

This morning, after having my once-in-a-blue-moon military haircut, I decided to take a relaxed stroll around the Kamuning neighborhood. It was partly to satisfy my curiosity about what typhoon Glenda had wrought, and partly to look for a near tire vulcanizing shop, since I needed to patch up my bike’s front tire that took a flat (probably from all that post-Glenda street debris).

The electric posts, as usual, were full of “Tubero” ads. No yellow ribbons were being tied to the old acacia, duhat, kaimito, kamias, atis, and sampalok trees — at least those that survived the storm. But, in fairness, I saw no peach-colored ribbons either. Continue reading “This business of peddling yellow stuff”