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It was a great honor to host the annual Pulp Summer Slam Rock
Concert, alongside Ramon Bautista of MTV fame. It was touted as one
of the most anticipated rock events of the year; the Amoranto
Stadium in Quezon City had been jampacked with excited rock music
enthusiasts raring to see the likes of Kamikazee, Sandwich, Urbandub,
Quezo and a lot more and some foreign artists.
It was just noontime but the stadium was already
swarming with people in their best rock outfits. Those young people
would do anything for a free concert. As host, I got to revel in all
the conveniences of being a host—I had access to unlimited food
and refreshments, I could sit comfortably during gaps, take photos
with the band members and didn’t have to fear being mauled in case
of a stampede. I was part of the production; sitting cozily on top
of the food chain.
Well, I was supposed to enjoy the event and see
it for what it is—a rock concert. But I have to say that during
the much-anticipated Summer Slums’ 08, a lot of our citizens had
no choice but to endure the heat, when some people could afford to
share some comfort, but would not.
During our spiels, I held a drink and some eager
spectators in front were begging me to give them my bottle and
that’s what I did. I threw one bottle but that wasn’t enough. It
quenched one person’s thirst, but not the rest’s. I could do a
lot more but I couldn’t.
Is it a culture that keeps our country in bad
shape? The love of Filipinos for popularity, which even I admit am
susceptible to? A lot of people would do anything to have a glimpse
of their idols. With that, it’s clear that the good things are
circulated among a very few number of people in our society. And the
rest? Well, they’re free to suffer in the marsh pit.
Worse, people who are supposed to do something
for the rest of us—our leaders—even have a way of making people
feel “indebted” to their self-serving schemes. Like in the rock
concert, people thought that thanks to the event organizers, they
were having the time of their lives, but aren’t the people behind
the concert the ones who need the ignorant, compliant masses? I
mean, without the horde of rocker wannabes attending the Summer
Slums, would their sponsors be pleased? Would the event be
successful, and would the bands still thrive?
I am thankful to the Summer Slam not just
because I got to showcase my hosting prowess, but because I learned
a lot, like we Filipinos need to develop an ability to look deeper
into things, lest we stay as victims of exploiters, spin doctors who
give us less of what we deserve.
Filipinos are not well educated and just take
things as they are, endure hardships that come their way and wear
“resilience” as a medal. For me, resilience stops being an
admirable trait when we refuse to know that their life can be
better, one step at a time.
As my eardrums burst in the loud music, my eyes
blinded by the klieg lights, I found that there are two kinds of
people in our society. The first are the ones who run the rock
concerts. They know that they can improve the quality of the
audience’s well being, but they’d just shove everything in their
pockets. To hell with the rest of them! They are the ones on top of
the show, and whenever a mishap happens, they will just wash their
hands clean. Anyway, they have the law on their side.
The second kind are the ones that belong in the
audience. The masses that think they’re cool as they thrash about,
wearing their best rocker outfits, putting heavy eyeliner, getting
high with weed and booze. They do not know that their participation
is to merely be victims there. Sure, they get their little slice of
heaven whenever they listen to acid rock, but then as rock, they
erode into nothing. Youth radicalism, especially unguided false
ideologies, causes the other end of the problem in our country.
We live in a country where money, position and
influence reign over principle. So what do I care? I have my show to
run and like every other Filipino, I live by our national creed of
“every man for himself.”
merrylane@live.com
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