arguably annoyed

I just got into one of those ludicrous "debate" about Philippines' hopelessness. If you're an Atenean and have taken Philo 103 then this "problem" wouldn't even exist because hope takes another meaning. No, this meaning doesn't apply to common parlance; hope means optimism for the non-philosopher. It was ludicrous because we kept on repeating the same points for about an hour and a half without succumbing to either arguments or coming up with a compromise. Yes, there was a "compromise" because the janitor insisted that we had to leave the room- without finishing our pompous debate. So yes, this blog entry is to further annoy myself, and hopefully to convince myself that they were wrong- at least logically.

Since I'm a DS major, I had to defend that there's hope in improving the country- specifically through micro means- grass roots (Uso local government eclat ngayon!). Not really, I really believe that we can do something. I thought that this was enough to justify that something good is happening. They countered that no, everything has to happen through government, which they "premissed" to be absolutely evil- the junior student even mentioned some "soap opera-ic" stuff that happened to his granddad, who was a politician. Not that I'm bastardizing his granddad’s memory, but it's not enough to prove that the government- I'm thinking of it as its entirety- is bogus. I had to reinforce the idea that things work in micro level, that they're looking at things more from the macro level that's why everything seems going downhill. I had to give Marikina's example on education blah blah blah; they had to give multitude examples of corruption in the government blah blah blah. And things go nowhere...

Sorry, but I'm more inclined to think that "I've lost hope in our country" is but a rationalization device to justify their decision to leave the Philippines after graduation. All right, there's not really one reason why people leave- like self-realization and what not; Perhaps you want a more opportunities or to support your family by having a well paying job abroad, etc. The point is that it’s sick to use the line to justify going abroad, that is if you’re really concerned with the country’s development. There’s a lot we can do to make things better.

Just to reiterate my point, for my own sake, I’m not discriminating against people who go abroad. They have their own reasons- genuine ones. I demand that these pompous pricks- not that the ones in the “debate” were- admit that they’re after other things and leaving the country’s future aside, convincing themselves that although they are really concerned with what’s happening to people in our country, nothing good will come out of their actions. They won’t have to deal with their conscience after convincing themselves of this hopelessness dogma.

Now, I'm not sure about the drama part. I'd say T.V. has indeed brainwashed them; that "everything about our country fails" has etched its way to their brains- maybe not that. There are indeed a lot of things to frown about our country. I’d say that there’s a good reason to feel that everything’s so wrong. However, Saying that you’ve done your part doesn’t mean you’ve explored all venues for development. It doesn’t even make sense that you’ve done “everything” on your part.