A Filipino’s reflections on the United States and the global pandemic
The beginning of the new decade had plunged all of our lives into disarray as the previously ignored and downplayed Corona-virus (Covid-19) had breached a gaping hole into our mundane and dysfunctional 21st-century livelihoods. Looking back, I had foreseen the possibility of such an antiquated thing in this day and age but this was mostly vague and hypothetical speculation on my part that had been born of my unique interest and fascination with the literary genre of “Alternate History” which speculates varying events or the “what-ifs” that may have occurred instead of what took place in actual, recorded history. Plagues were a very common sight in the ancient world, ravaging numerous states such as the Byzantine Empire and the 14th century Europe (the Black Death) and taking with them countless and possibly unfulfilled lives. In the 20th century, the world had been ravaged by viruses such as the Spanish Influenza and the infamous Smallpox disease. In fact, my Great-grandmother lost her parents at an early age due to an unrecorded plague in the early 20th century Philippines. This plague, whatever its name and disease was, had reaped so many lives to the point that the Churches themselves had begun ringing the bells to mark the passing of so many people in the rural community she had lived in.
Now, how does any of these historical events affect us people living in the present? Quite a lot, actually. The Black Death taught people not to lazily rely on God to deal with their problems and afflictions and actually work towards dealing with their hellish predicament. It also taught Europeans the idea of “Herd Immunity”, a concept in medicine in which a population has grown immune to a disease thanks to either vaccination or by developing immunity through the previous infection. In the case of the 14th century, technology and medicine were largely undeveloped at the time and as such, it was only through sheer strength of genetics, physical strength, and countless prayers that allowed the ancients to endure this terrible period.
Despite the grim-dark attitude of that era, the black death gave us two new symbols: the Grim Reaper, an archetypal symbol of death that has long since entered our subconscious via pop-culture and children’s cartoons (Ex. The Grim Adventures of Billy and Mandy). The color black has since been associated with death, doom and despair because of this whole, ancient pandemic. It is necessary for us to turn to our history when going through troubled times to unearth and apply old lessons and discoveries in order for us to seek to improve and stifle the troubles of the present day. In order for Human beings to prevent history from repeating itself, we must always seek to learn from our past and the errors of our ancestors in order to anticipate the possible recurrence of similar and equally dire historical events.
Although the Covid-19 pandemic is a unique case compared to the previous pandemics I have mentioned, its effects could have been prevented had it not been for the sheer arrogance and idiocy of the Chinese Government for suppressing and covering up the dangers of the virus months before it had been unleashed to the entire world.
Funnier still was the way the Legacy media and other left-wing, so-called “liberal” news outlets and politicians reacted to the startling growth of Covid-19. In their disdain and hatred of their boogeyman, former President Donald Trump, these news outlets and politicians distracted the public from the possible dangers the Corona Virus had posed in its early stages of spread under the guise of racism and Sinophobia (not to be confused with xenophobia), which is by definition is the dislike and prejudice towards anything or anyone of Chinese heritage.
Politicians such as Nancy Pelosi, and left-leaning outlets like CNN and The Guardian were eager to dissuade the obvious dangers of Covid-19 that were being unintentionally brought to the Western World by Chinese travelers who may or may not have come from Wuhan, the province where the virus is factually reported to have originated from. There may have been actual racists and Sinophobes that did discriminate against the Chinese, as it always is, but that should not be an excuse to remain out of the air of caution for one’s own health. I wish I could have said the same thing for the ignorant and naïve officials who encouraged the outright contact and physical interactions between Chinese peoples during Chinese New Year last February 2020.
Personal safety, mask-wearing and social distancing are highly important and mandatory, most especially as I currently write down these words that you are reading. Currently, the Philippine Government has issued a GCQ (General Community Quarantine), a curfew that bans people from leaving their homes past 10 pm. I am surprised and quite proud of my country and its ruling government for once, these new policies and the requirement to wear facial masks and shields having allowed us to reduce our Covid-19 World Ranking from 20 down to 30. It was initially 31 but with the recent surge of 5,000 new cases thanks to the complacency of my fellow citizens, we had unwittingly raised ourselves up by one. Nonetheless, I am still quite proud of our current position when compared to the likes of other more prominent countries such as Brazil, France, India, Russia, and the disappointment that is called the United States of America. As an outside observer, I have a great deal to say about that once mighty and proud country and all that it has been doing since 2020.
Now, where do I begin? American politicians, most especially those from Democratic Party and aligned with the label “left-wing” are about as excellent as Mocha Uson, a controversial Filipino political blogger and public official who is an outlet of fake news. There is an outright “culture war” taking place in virtually every aspect of American society, both on the Internet and in real life as people ranging from all walks of life are out for each other’s throats. I meant that both figuratively and literally. The moral fabric of its society and its foundational values are in direct conflict with the rampant widespread of “Wokeism”, a broodingly nihilistic and Marxist inspired philosophy that focuses on the issues of racial and gender inequality, LGBT ideology, Feminism, climate change, and fiercely progressive ideas that seek to steamroll everything and everyone in its path that says otherwise.
Politically, it is left-wing to the extreme and is in stark contrast to the classic liberalism of thinkers such as Locke, Voltaire, Rawls, and John Stuart Mill who championed free speech, the rights of the individual person, and Capitalism. “Wokeism” has since departed from reason and the ideas of classical liberalism, favoring instead a fiercely reductionist worldview where everything is viewed in an “oppressor vs oppressed” narrative that seeks to dethrone the vast majority with the pretense that the varying (sexual, racial, ethnic) minorities have been vastly unequal to their “straight, white, male” counterparts! Worse still is its adherents’ abject ignorance and disregard for History as they seek to tear down and deface statues ranging from actual Slave owners to Christian Saints and even former President’s like Abraham Lincoln! Across the ocean, in Great Britain, the exact same things are occurring as seen by the vandalization of its revered national hero and former Prime Minister, Winston Churchill.
Neither leaders were racist, with Lincoln himself being responsible for abolishing slavery in the United States, as is taught in virtually every history book that I have read. These Wokeist protestors could not even conduct basic research of historical facts. It’s not like they care, though.
The Wokeists, who are politically on the far-left, have all but wrapped their tendrils in virtually all of the social, cultural, and educational institutions of Western Society. Major universities such as Cambridge University, Penn State, Ateneo De Manila, ( a university in my country) are bastions for this “progressive” wave of left-wing and radical ideas about gender and culture Meanwhile, the major “Big-Tech” companies of Apple, Microsoft, Google, Twitter, Youtube have all but prostrated themselves to this tainted ideological phenomenon that seeks to undermine long since recognized traditional values, morals, and beliefs that have built the world we live in today. These “Big Tech” companies have become massive organizations throughout the years and will continue to grow ever larger and more powerful the more people spend their precious time on the Internet. These massive, global corporations wield massive power and influence, thanks to their control and ownership of all the personal information and data that they hold within their servers. These companies reserve the right to do whatever they please with such data, even sell it to third parties for a hefty price. Are you, o reader, surprised that they can do such things? Well, I guess it’s time for you to start browsing through those lengthy terms and conditions documents that these tech companies throw at you whenever you create an account using their services.
What worries me even more though is the fact that these corporations also have the power to censor and eliminate any information and account that they deem in violation of their rules. Although this is within their rights to do so, these companies have major external influences, agendas, and shareholders to appease. Amongst these many influences and agendas include their political affiliations and candidates, who are unsurprisingly, mostly on the left-leaning side of the spectrum.
This is why social media platforms such as Twitter and YouTube are outright censoring, banning, and downplaying any Conservative or right-wing content that they disagree with. Even popular online forums of Reddit find their politics more valuable and important than any of their supposed morals, principles, and even rules that they had laid down for usage of their site! It is clear that these Big Tech companies have since abandoned the right of free speech and instead embraced authoritarian principles to achieve their ideological ends. I do recall George Orwell being an author and not a prophet and it seems his Orwellian visions of the future may be coming true as demonstrated by the though-policing I have seen all throughout social media, most especially on Twitter!
His book, 1984, couldn’t have been more relevant than ever since its publication in the year 1949.
It’s incredible, observing the power-play that online platforms like YouTube and Reddit did in order to destroy their political rivals or people with a different opinion than theirs or the Leftist establishment! Reddit and its radically Wokeist and “progressive” agendas embedded with fringe far-left and Marxist philosophies have all but expressed their hate towards anyone right-wing or simply doesn’t agree with them. Though the whole of Reddit and its many diverse subreddits claim to be inclusive and liberal with its discussion of varying topics, I myself have observed the site’s overall bias and outright disdain or mockery towards Conservatives, Libertarians, right-wing politicians and commentators, “white people” and their boogeyman, former President Donald Trump.
It also scorns traditional and Conservative values and ideas, non-progressive or “boomer” world-views, and any ideas critical of the following: Feminism, the LGBT community, Abortion, Climate change, BLM/ACAB, and the American Democratic Party and its politically aligned News Outlets. Religion is of course, not exempted from this, with Christianity, in particular, being the primary target for their hatred while saying almost nothing on so-called “minority” religions such as Islam.
It’s ironic how these Wokeists, most commonly known as Social Justice Warriors, have such a keen prejudice towards “white people” or Caucasians, going so far as to blame nearly every crime done on any other racial or ethnic group to them as a whole. It’s staggering how so many Left-wing news outlets scapegoat on Caucasians whenever there are mass-shootings that appear to be racially motivated, often concluding that “white supremacy” and the “far-right” are to blame when many cases have proved otherwise. Reddit and its moderators were particularly livid in 2016, when the Orlando Nightclub shooting occurred, hoping that the shooter was specifically a “Christian, White Trump supporter”. Yet, as reports came in saying that a Muslim man born in New York had been responsible for such a heinous crime, Reddit was quick to censor and cover-up information regarding the shooter’s identity so as to maintain their narratives against Trump.
Reddit’s subreddits, r/Politics, r/News, r/Pics, r/memes are all massive echo chambers that preach the exact same rhetoric and political views in line with either a liberal or leftist bias. Its treatment of Christianity and anything related to it is always negative and portrays only its perceivably bad sides such as Evangelical fundamentalism and the irrational, racist statements of a deplorable sect like the infamous Westboro Baptist Church. When it comes to the Catholic Church, it is always eager to portray it as this evil organization of pedophiles with dated values and beliefs. I myself have literally been called a “boomer” for merely defending my faith against misbegotten slander and anti-christian bias. Yet, amongst all those other subreddits, only one of them stands out in their hypocrisy, moral relativism, and vile hatred for Christianity and religion: the cringe, fedora-tipping r/atheism. In what could be described as a black sheep in a site full of similarly colored mammals, r/atheism is a cesspool of degenerates, hate-mongers, fanatical anti-theists, and other scum of the digital world.
Despite being in direct violation of Reddit’s rules against hate or discrimination towards groups on identity and vulnerability, r/atheism constantly mocks any and all religions but has a special hatred for Christianity most of all. With over 2.7 million followers, the subreddit’s top posts always include outright disdain or hatred for Christianity and the site itself has yet to hold the forum accountable to the very rules it has made for its users. This is because, like the rest of the site and its administrators, r/atheism also contributes to the grand Left-wing, Wokeist narrative that permeates the culture wars currently taking place in the United States. And all this is just the state of the country’s digital landscape.
These culture wars have been overall catastrophic to the country as both Covid and violent and certainly un-peaceful riots motivated by both sides of the political spectrum have ravaged many of the country’s cities. It’s incredible how many Americans of all ethnicities are so careless and irresponsible with their outdoor activities throughout the majority of 2020. You, literally have a global pandemic, with a scale far larger than both the Black Death and Spanish Influenza combined disrupting the entire world and you feel it necessary to gather en-masse, protest, riot and burn down your own cities just because uncooperative criminals belonging to a minority group had been killed by the Police! Naturally, the majority of those rioting are of said Minority groups: African Americans, Latinos, and possibly some Asians. Supporting them from behind the scenes is your establishment Caucasian Leftists and Liberals that feed off and profit from their race-baiting and false, twisted narratives about the actions of police officers while they watch their beloved cities burn to the ground.
With the very moral fabric and foundations of the United States being torn apart and rejected by the very same people that live in it for a multitude of reasons ranging, just how can the world’s greatest champion of freedom, civil rights, individual liberty, and justice remain standing like it has for the last three hundred years? Whatever the case, the current state of the United States, its culture, institutions, government, and people are looking grim and heading towards a slow decline as national unity seems to be at odds with itself thanks to the ethnic and racial tensions growing amongst its many types of people. If things escalate to such a terrible degree, I cannot see the United States remains at the pinnacle of its power for the rest of this century. I sincerely hope they get themselves back together and face the larger, more apparent threat: the Coronavirus.
To conclude, these are all my personal observations towards a country that I looked up to for a large majority of my life. I thank the United States for the influences it has given to my country and over a century’s worth of good relations, the Philippines has shared with it. Like so many countless others, I had grown up watching American movies and cartoons from places such as Disney and Hollywood. Star Wars, Toy Story, Monster’s Inc, The Matrix, and the Back To The Future trilogy were all things I’ve enjoyed so much and many contemporary movies are bleak in comparison. And yes, all of these are solely based on my own experiences, research, and consumption of various news sources that inform my perspective and obvious bias. Feel free to disagree with my opinions towards the nasty world of American politics and culture. Know that I write this article both in good faith and with a critical lens that has been boiling inside me for over three years now.
To the Americans reading this, I sincerely hope you look past your political allegiances and Presidential candidates to fix your country and the countless communities of people that are in complete shambles. I cannot say for sure the extent of the damage that had been caused by the riots caused by those political extremists (both left and right) but one thing’s for certain, things cannot and must not always be this way. You cannot keep scapegoating everything towards “white supremacy”, the “patriarchy” or the “far-right”, and you cannot remain a Democratic country while at the same time delving into hypocrisy by censoring so-called “hate-speech” (aka non-left-wing opinions) online! Lastly, please stop referring to groups or ethnicities by their skin-color, it honestly causes people to judge a Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. did not get martyred only so that he can learn that his country is doing the exact opposite from the ideals he fought so hard to preach.
My country has its own battles to fight and so does yours, and I genuinely pray that your country recovers from this plague of chaos and disorder and that its perpetrators on both sides of the political spectrum be held morally accountable for their actions. You must remember that we all have but one true foe, and that can be found in none other than the Coronavirus that festers globally to this very day.
