The Uses of Outrage
We are appalled that Carlo J. Caparas has been declared a National Artist. We write furious essays denouncing the way Malacanang made a mockery of the selection process. We attend events to proclaim our outrage at the palace’s bizarre choice. Well we forgot something.
Who will explain to the average Filipinos—to whom ‘arts and culture’ is an alien concept that has no bearing on their daily lives, but to whom the name Carlo J. Caparas is familiar because they follow telenovelas based on his comic book characters—why he is not worthy of the National Artist award?
If we do not do this, then all our protests serve only to proclaim our intellectual superiority to Mr. Caparas—surely a sign of massive insecurity. Once again, we will be talking amongst ourselves.
Answers to questions you might be asking, unless you wandered onto this site purely by accident >>>
August 10th, 2009 at 21:57
Not difficult:
Sa palagay niyo po ba ay mas nararapat si Carlo Caparas na manalo kesa kay Dolphy? O kaya’y ang tunay na hari ng comics na si Mars Ravelo?
August 10th, 2009 at 23:16
Cliquish. Elitist. Self-righteous. Irrelevant.
“Artists who through the content and form of their works have contributed in building a Filipino sense of nationhood.”
And where are your books, your clothes, your films and paintings, and your music? Unread. Unworn. Unseen. Unheard.
And who ever said Arts and Culture were for the masses? That’s why the CCP was built that way.
August 11th, 2009 at 01:25
Emotional outburt is (still) in, rational discussion is (still) out. For a predominantly Catholic nation, we sure are quick to judge and villify public figures. I would imagine that if Jesus had lived in this day and age he would’ve been crucified the moment he preached anything against the righteous and hypocrites in our society. His fate would’ve been quickly sealed by a viral text message.
As my sister would always say: Emo is sooo not cool.
August 11th, 2009 at 08:51
Brava, Ms. Zafra! Your readers might find this blog post linked by MLQ3 in one of his tweets interesting.
August 11th, 2009 at 11:41
humanum777, let’s not forget FPJ. Or Nora Aunor.
And to selluloid, say anything you like about artists being elitists lobbying for their peers and going all diva, but some of them really deserve the award at the time. But most of them are unread, unworn, unseen, and unheard because people in their respective industries do not want to market or support them or their kinds of work, fearing that they will not satisfy a bigger demographic or will be more expensive to produce, and lose money. Where’s quality? Excellence? Sure, we should not bring commercialism into this, but who holds the channels to the masses? Unfortunately, not the public school system, where communication should be relished. We rely on mass media and the industries it support. Also holds true for national scientists.
August 11th, 2009 at 11:42
*supports