Virtue rewards
Two Yale economists use economic incentives to achieve goals. Check this out (www.stickk.com) and make a commitment contract!
Seek Entertainment, Seek the Truth?
On May 18 millions of people all over the world will finally find the truth.
No, they will not troop to the tiny island of Patmos, where St John the
Apostle is believed to have seen the end of days. They will not go to the
great public libraries either, or congest the websites of universities. They
will go instead to the most unlikely source of revelation: the cinemas.
At least that’s what Dan Brown and Sony Pictures International want us to
do. It’s easy to do research nowadays and get ‘enlightened’: you can seek
the truth for P80 – P120 in cinemas or if you dont want to join the masses,
you can buy a bootlegged DVD for P40 and have your own private revelation,
right in the comfort of your home. I’m reminded of a scene in the film
“Fatima”. As the pilgrims were going up the hill, an enterprising man was
selling them bushes and leaves, shouting “Here’s a branch from the original
bush. No need to go up. You can have your own private apparition.”
Perhaps the Da Vinci Code will go down in 21st century popular history as
one of the books that generated so much controversy in faith and religion.
It ignited debates and let loose books and documentary films both supporting
and refuting its claims. It sparked business ventures, from Da Vinci Code
tours in Rome and the rest of Europe to bigger sales of cilices and other
physical mortification instruments (still to be verified). It rocked the
faith of countless Christians, who now believe that the Catholic Church is
behind a cover up of immense proportions, that Jesus Christ married Mary
Magdalene and had a family that continues to this day, and that Catholic
group Opus Dei goes around committing cold-blooded murder. Well, the
response of Christendom isnt wanting although a bit delayed. In my limited
years of existence, I’ve never witnessed a more united Christianity in
offering antidotes and counsel to their faithful. Can this be the armageddon
the Bible speaks of?
We have to credit Dan Brown for exposing the biggest cover up of all times:
that, in this era of vast and super accessible knowledge and information,
there is a growing ignorance (and indifference) of many Christians,
Catholics included. And even then his expose is nothing new, but now we see
how we can be so gullible that we often mix up entertainment and truth. We
have come to believe in “FACTION”: fiction disguised as fact and invited to
dinner several times. Popular entertainment has become a dominant force in
our lives. Online games, reality shows, talk shows, manga comics, etc. We
talk about who got evicted from Bahay ni Kuya, or the latest showbiz
revelation according to the prophet Boy Abunda. We imitate stars. We wear
NBA jerseys and Wrestling t-shirts. Call center guys postpone going home to
play video games. If it’s not entertaining, it’s not the truth. I dread the
future when we will hear the priest say, “A reading from the holy gospel
according to Dan Brown”. Thanks to the Da Vinci Code, people now see Mona
Lisa and the Last Supper in a different light. That’s also a problem, I’m
afraid. With the success of Da Vinci Code, other artists will also have
their share of coded books in the future: the Michaelangelo Mystery, the
Raphael Riddle, Deciphering Degas, the Matisse Message, and our very own the
Amorsolo Anagram or Dolphy Decoded.
The Da Vinci Code is a popular novel with outrageous claims to serious
academic historical research and sold under fiction in bookstores. People
grab it for entertainment, yet they end up believing it, and worse, they
abandon their Christian faith.How come Lewis Carrol’s History of
Christianity didnt become a bestseller? Because the volumes are a bore? No
assasins, no mysterious deaths, no cryptic meanings, no love scenes? Why
don’t people go to libraries? It seems that truth, for it to be true, has to
titillate us, to shock our senses, to amuse us. Truth bores us to death.
Truth disgusts us. Entertainment and reality are one and the same thing.
Unfortunately that’s the case here in the Philippines, where we believe
amulets work both in the movies and in economic policymaking. That’s why I
expect Kris Aquino will run for president 2022. And she will have Manny
Pacquiao as her running mate. A perfect one-two combination.
What surprises me more is that, perhaps a good number of Brown’s fans who’ve
read the book and/or who will watch the film, have also seen the Passion of
the Christ. And wept. Gibson’s film was also controversial. It ‘shocked’ its
viewers who saw the brutality of the Romans and extreme pain that Jesus
suffered in his last 12 hours. I’m not saying that Gibson’s rendition was
accurate, but it made sense. The film went on to become a huge blockbuster
and even inspired many conversions to Christianity or just to ‘be good’. It
seems that we who were moved to tears in 2003 have suddenly questioned the
divinity of Christ and 2000 years of Christianity. Well, two thousand years
ago, the same people who sang Hosannas to Jesus when he entered Jerusalem
clamored for his crucifixion several days later. So here’s my two cents’.
You’re free to watch the Da Vinci Code, but decide honestly. Watch it to be
entertained, not to seek the truth. Or here’s something even better. Instead
of watching it, buy books about faith and morals (a good starting book is
the Compendium of the Catechism of the Catholic Church, about P300— three
movie tickets!), the good ones, read them yourself or donate them to your
parish catechists. Just the same I encourage every Christian to strengthen
his/her faith, to learn to distinguish what is scholarly from fantastic, to
seek the truth from the right sources, and not to seek conspiracies where
there are none. And please vote for Kris Aquino in the future. That
is…correct.
Modern Opium for the Masses
The Filipino has always been meticulous about personal hygiene and beauty. Pigafetta first recorded this in his journal when their group discovered (or rather, covered) the local inhabitants. But the present habit goes beyond hygiene. It’s mass hysteria. Before, only posh stores like Rustan’s sold beauty products. Now, even Liana’s supermarket sells them. Back then, you could count with your fingers the really beautiful people gracing the local papers. Nora Aunor became the messiah who brought hope to millions of brown-skinned masses. But the fascination didn’t last long. Filipinos really desire a mestiza look and businesses are listening. It won’t be long now before the next Ms Philippines is a former househelp. Or the next Bench models are members of FEDJODAP. Others may see this as narcissism, but I see this as a true revolution, less violent than Mao’s, but more radical than what communism offers. This is the Dawn of a new day. Charm is no longer a monopoly of the Forbes Park/Ayala Alabang residents. The playing field has been leveled. Yayas of the world, unite! You have nothing to lose but your dark skin!
New media pushed our consciousness of the known world. More products emerged from the forests of Sumatra to the empires of beauty: Milan, New York, Paris. Lower trade barriers also brought in an armada of products, from whitening salt from Thailand to shampoos invented in a suspiciously clean research laboratory in Switzerland. Billboard prices must be low compared to other media, which explains why they have practically covered the sky along major roads in Manila. Moreover, stiff competition forces a company to look for creative ways to win people’s hearts and money. In times of shrinking income, think small. The winning formula? Beauty in a sachet. If cellphone loads can be sold under P10, why can’t beauty and the feeling of confidence and power it brings? Of course we cannot overlook the entrepreneurial spirit of Filipinos, led by the visionary leadership of Dr Rolando Hortaleza of Splash Corp, and Dr Vicky Belo of the Belo Medical Group and Intelligent Skin Care.
I don’t question the intentions of these corporations. Who wouldn’t be endeared to Charles Revlon who said that he didn’t sell beauty products but hope? Or to Dr Belo who is on a mission to erase ugliness in the Philippines, one face at a time? Perhaps researchers finally discovered that Filipinos think fair skin as the panacea to all their problems, that it is God’s greatest gift to mankind next to unlimitext. Before we get drunk with this freedom from the dark side, and wake up dazed and naked, it’s good to remember what former Czech President Vaclav Havel said: disillusion often follows euphoria of any revolution. Let’s have a stab of reality here. Our models have fair skin to begin with. They were born fair and they will die fair. Of course this is not fair! Right now what they’re telling us is ‘buy tons of this lotion and you’ll have the fairness of Francine Prieto. Use a gazillion of these soap bars and you’ll look like Pauleen Luna.’ And yet I still have to hear of a palengkera turning into a darling of lensmen and skin care giants.
I heard Unilever tried to buck the trend with its worldwide Campaign for Real Beauty. What the Dutch giant tells us is that beauty does not depend on fair skin, slim waistline, or long, shiny hair. It depends on whether you use Dove soap or not. Just kidding. They call it inner beauty. To prove their claim, they installed a huge billboard along EDSA in Guadalupe, showing a huge lady who could very well be the girlfriend of King Kong. It asked ‘Extra Large or Extra Sexy? Txt your vote!’ Extra Sexy was winning at first, but the company pulled down the ad when Extra Large was winning. I guess the evidence was just too big to ignore. Filipinos really think she was gargantuan. But I congratulate the firm for going beyond the cheap beauty bandwagon.
They are selling hope but is it false? Communism and socialism also offered hope for more than half a century, with disastrous results. One can argue that false hope is better than no hope at all. But I don’t think it’s false. Dark and fat Filipinos really turn white and slim! It’s a miracle that could rival those in the Bible! The main problem is the assignment of values, which only shows how deeply drugged we are with cheap beauty. There is a glaring misallocation of resources. If our test scores in math and science are on a freefall, then something is wrong with corporate and personal responsibility. Last time I checked the aptitude tests, our grade schoolers are still ahead of the whales of Donsol. Thank God! Imagine if our politicians took the test. These conglomerates spend billions in advertising. Why don’t these giants sponsor poor kids to study chemistry or fashion design or automotive mechanics?
“I got my PhD in Astrophysics, thanks to Likas Papaya”, “I am now running my own search engine company thanks to Marie France”.
Or they could start projects to support a languishing province, like growing exotic plants that darken hair and whiten skin at the same time. Movie and tv icons can also do a lot of social work, like giving milk and scholarships to poor but bright students. I’m sure there are companies and models and actors who are already doing something similar. More can be done and reported. Let’s turn this enchantment into a real revolution.
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Paul's Alarm 