BY ROMMEL YNION
LOS ANGELES – If we need proof of our “damaged culture”, then there is no clearer proof than how media pooh-poohed Bong Revilla’s first meal on his first night in jail: rice, fried galunggong, and monggo.
Why? What is he supposed to eat? T-bone steaks and mashed potatoes?
Susmariosep, even Americans fly across the Pacific Ocean just to eat Filipino food.
Filipinos here in the United States even fall short of ransacking stores in an attempt to find monggo and galunggong. But there in Manila, the sosyals must disparage this kind of food to look more sosyal.
Alas, we have become a nation of sosyals who have embraced a damaged culture.
Culturally, Filipinos are partly Filipino, partly Spanish, and partly American.
But for the sosyals, Filipinos must only be Spanish and American to be sosyal.
Therefore, the sosyals like Bong Revilla and his ilk are supposed to eat breakfast of longganissa or beacon and eggs – and lunch of steaks and mashed potatoes. And dinner? Maybe, grilled sea bass and salads.
Sociologists call it a damaged culture because it has eroded our sense of being Filipino.
One newspaper headline read: Revilla eats humble meal on first night in jail.
Take note: It is called “humble meal” because it is a Filipino meal.
That is the problem with media today.
Journalists are no longer the journalists of yesteryear – who knew history, sociology, philosophy, political science and even theology.
Today, most journalists – who are mostly sosyals, too – are like rudderless boats drifting aimlessly in a sea of directionless ideas. They just report for the sake of reporting – oftentimes, revealing gaping holes in their education.
Therefore, in media, we should learn to respect everything that is Filipino.
Let us admire other cultures without disparaging our own.
Let us savor other dishes without pooh-poohing our own.
Let us respect our erstwhile colonizers without disrespecting everything that is our very own.
Media plays a critical role not only in nation-building but also in culture-nurturing.
Journalists must, therefore, bear this in mind next time they click that mouse again to send their dispatches to their newsrooms./PN
