Copyright tribune
Equating explosions of twisted adolescent social media aplomb with political heroism shows that Filipino politics is fast losing its grip on reality. As it so happens, proclaiming the “heroism” stemming from the banal self-confidence of a fringe nepo-politician — actually nothing more than him evoking his silly childish nature — gets extensive social media airplay, thereby testifying to the fact that our present-day bankrupt political establishment is at its neo-absurdist era. With many seemingly taken in by absurdities, it isn’t puzzling that our fringe nepo-politician from Cavite, who’s gaining popularity online, is giving the hots to some of our more deluded social media hucksters like the one now feasting on “humba” in The Hague. Not only deluded socmed pederasts mind you. Even some traditional media-bound commentariat are besotted, too, without any of them knowing the better. At any rate, despite ridiculous claims that our fringe politician is refreshingly “heroic,” we plainly dismiss his inanities as that of a political Dadaist “virgin microbe,” which is far more arresting than the pedestrian criticism that he is “mentally challenged.”Now, referencing the early 20th Century art movement called “Dada” isn’t out of place here. Infamously called the “anti-art” art movement, Dadaism developed out of disgust and resentment over the bloodshed and horror of World War I.As an art movement, Dada purposefully made art that shocked, confused or outraged people. Dadaism inspired major art and music movements such as Surrealism and Punk Rock. Dada’s influence on art and culture, however, we can safely forego for now.Instead, Dadaism’s other stated avowed purpose of challenging the social norms of polite society, of counterattacking everything that is conventional, is more relevant, especially in relation to our palpable current mood of disgust and resentment of Filipino politics and corrupt politicians.Dada artists were known for their mischievous antics. “Dada wished to replace the logical nonsense of the men of today with illogical nonsense,” as one Dada artist said of their antics. Immediately, doesn’t that strongly remind us of our fringe nepo-politician from Cavite sporting the hilarious appendage “Congressman meow-meow” and his recent antics?Of his antics, there are many. But his retort to a former putschist-turned-politician that his “meow-meow” was more rabid than the latter’s “aw-aw” was one that tickled our funny bone. At any rate, our fringe nepo-politician irritates other well-established political figures as well. Whoever in the political establishment strikes his fanciful ire, our fringe nepo-politician throws wild accusations of political misdemeanors and sins, often without proof.To our skeptical tastes, morally imbecilic are most of his unprovable accusations, mere political stock phrases. So much so we can only consider him as a harmless prankster with a pronounced hunger for the spotlight. And his pranks no more than latter-day versions of a major Dada artist’s famous prank on the Mona Lisa — painting a mustache and goatee on her face. Nonetheless, those whom he has irritated have seriously responded to him and are said to be contemplating something drastic against him, testifying to suspicions that his picturesque pranks are probably far more irritating than thought.What exactly are those suspicions that make his foolish naiveté seemingly important, aren’t spelled out. But considering that a noisy partisan political tribe is actively using him as an attack dog makes for a difference. So, with a familiar collar firmly in place, fringe nepo-politician Kiko Barzaga is therefore another useful idiot in the ongoing attempts to break the political stalemate between the Marcos and Duterte camps.
