Viewpoints
The Old Normal
By +Oscar V. Cruz, JCD
TIME and again, there are people who speak and/or write about the “New Normal” probably to mean the adoption of new values, the observance of new behavioral patterns in the passage of time from then to now. There is the “New Normal” about how the means justify the end, how one adores his or her ego, how certain individuals think and feel that people do not really matter. There is also the “New Normal” that marital infidelity is the rule, that children should not be born. The same “New Normal” has something to do with the stance that what is profitable is right, what is altruistic is silly. In other words, the “New Normal” seems relevant to nowadays errant action and reaction patterns — improprieties, blunders, character flaws — that have now become standard.
Whatever the said “New Normal” really is, it might not be altogether wrong to talk about the “Old Normal” concretely in the Philippine scene, viz., certain realities that remain odious, some actuations that are still detestable but still around up to these days — all excuses and arguments to the contrary notwithstanding. Most of such “Old Normal” are socio-political factors that have been the plaguing the Filipinos in the past and they remain as such in the present. These are realities that are odious to call attention to. But as rightly said: “Truth knows no party.” This is something great about the truth, viz., it respects neither power nor wealth, it covers both the past and the present — irrespective of whether those involved therein would want to think, to affirm or to disclaim.
Following are some of the more known and more pervasive “Old Normal” which reigned in the recent past and which continue to rule in the present times. They are hereunder expressly enumerated with malice towards none but with truth in mind:
The quest for power plus the consequent wealth build-up specifically in the sphere of politics. This is to say nothing about the kingdom of political consanguinity. And as their standard accompaniments, there are still the ever present trio of the infamous guns, goons, and gold.
There was already the standard and predictable electoral manual cheating. Then came the amazing computerized election fraud. And as expected, those who happen to successfully cheat in the elections, are experts in converting public office into self-service.
Who does not know that graft and corrupt practices are constitutive elements of infamous politicos from the local to the regional up to the national levels — such that there is now firmly established BOC or Bureau of Corruption? Just to seal this reality of the “Old Normal,” there is something worthy of special mention: The long standing Hacienda Luisita spectacle!
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