opinion

The storm

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The perfect storm is when everything in the universe conspires to align.

When natural disasters occur, we can only prepare for survival.  It is humanly impossible to challenge nature. This blog is not about the force of nature. The intangible is difficult to foresee.

Let’s talk about the tangible. Man made disasters can be averted when calculated risks are taken before decisions – whether life changing or minor ones – are made.

The Philippine economy has seen a dramatic free fall in the last few months.  As in my previous blog on WHY THE NUMBERS MATTER, the political environment has lately borne the brunt of the initial salvo of a storm.  The short discourse on my previous blog made mathematical sense, with no additional confounding factors needed, to arrive at the conclusion that if policy makers and economists running the country don’t get their shit together, we’re headed for that perfect storm.

I was telling a friend of mine, that in a country like the Philippines, where the poor and marginalised make up 3/4 of the total population – productivity, savings and consumption  – take a big hit during an economic tailspin that is politically driven.  These three factors affects the most vulnerable in society because they now have to spend more for basic necessities, when they have the least to spend. These factors are present regardless of who the sitting president is.  

The peso now teeters at P54.15 for every USD$1.  The domino effect results in increase cost of fuel at almost P60 per litre. Delivery of goods and services are driven by fuel, which indirectly raises the cost of goods, commodities, and services.  Coupled with inflation is the demand for higher wages and compensation. While some economists claim that the region is widely affected, it is without doubt that the greatest free fall currently is in the Philippines.

In a perfect storm, the casualties are high.  At what price will we pay for not heeding the signals early on?

The country and its people are the casualties of any political storm. There is no yellow or red army when the lives and livelihood of people are at stake. As a nation, we’re all in this together. The greater good should be what we all work for. And the president is correct when he says that corruption must be stopped. It is without doubt that the political noise must address this storm. And like the storm that nature brings, it is the periphery that brings most havoc.

When the people around him is the storm, the greatest destruction is only felt when the trail of the typhoon has left. The damage has been done. And the people will have a more difficult time rebuilding their lives.

Like a thief in the night…

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The recent deaths of popular personalities – fashion designer Kate Spade and celebrity chef Anthony Bourdain – have triggered a media frenzy on the topic of depression and suicide.

Many of us may not really know what depression is. Take it from me, I’m writing from experience. Let me point out the reality that the consecutive untimely demise of famous personalities should not be the basis for reaching out to people who encounter depression.

Depression is a sensitive topic to discuss. Some people prefer to sweep this under the rug when the issue is raised. Until of course, it hits home.

What does depression feel like?

You don’t want to live but you don’t want to die. You don’t want to talk to anyone but you feel very lonely. You wake up in the morning and simply wait for the night to come.

Everyone comes to a point in their life where depression comes to us like a thief in the night. Whether it is from abuse or loss of a loved one or financial difficulties, drug dependence or at the throngs of death because of a disease impossible to treat, depression is a slow mortifying event of the mind. It robs us of our happiness, sanity, then dignity.

What drives one to depression?

No one exactly knows. But 10-15% of us will be depressed in our lifetime. Several factors lead to depression, namely:

1. Genetic predisposition

2. Brain chemistry (neurotransmitters) imbalance

3. Female sex hormones (probably explaining why more women suffer from depression more than men)

4. Circadian rhythm disturbance (seasonal affective disorder)

5. Poor nutrition

6. Physical health problems

7. Drugs and alcohol

8. Stressful life events

9. Grief and loss

Why certain people are more predisposed than others may be a combination of the above factors. Suffice it to say, those that have multiple factors above are most likely to be depressed than others.

Dealing with depression

Seek help when you need.

It’s usually denial at first signs.

Recognising the little things that distract you or make your daily routine unusually difficult to bear eventually accumulate over time. We wake up one day, not only denying these, only to find out that those physiologic symptoms (heartburn, abdominal pain, headaches, easy fatigability, frequent urination) are not anatomical problems. It’s probably psychosomatic. The mind controls our whole physiologic function.

Changing lifestyle may be a good option.

The best medicine is seeking for help.

Easier said than done

The problem with depression is that it is filled with so much guilt feelings.

You know you’ll be fine but still feel awful.

You know there are people who love and care for you but doesn’t feel like they do.

You know you want to get better, but don’t know how to get there.

Like a thief in the night…

The only way depression ends is to end it all.

And standing in the sidelines when a loved one is battling with depression can be frustrating and a helpless, overwhelming experience.  Depression is an isolating illness.  The major mood is that of a sad, hopeless, discouraged, let down world. Many have persistent anger.  Social withdrawal and lack of interest is common among people with depression.  Joy is not found here anymore.

How can you help? (adapted from Psycom.net)

  1. Learn about depression

People with depression can have very good days, even a few good days in a row, only to experience depressed mood once again.  There is an ebb and flow to depression that always isn’t understood by loved ones. From feelings of sadness and hopelessness to loss of interest or pleasure in normal activities, to anxiety and agitation, to trouble thinking and making decision, or to ending it all.

Because symptoms of depression can vary and change over time, the best way to understand depression in your loved one is to ask open-ended questions and use empathic listening.

2. Be there

Sometimes we feel that putting our loved ones with people who have the same problems or a support group may be the solution to the problem.  More often than not, the solution is just around the corner.  The best thing you can do is to show up when they need you.

You don’t have all the answers.  That’s fine.  Just sit and listen.  Ask the right questions – how can I help? and provide the assurances they expect to hear – I will be here for you and we can get through this together.

3. Encourage treatment

Depression seldom improves without treatment.  Some people may think that it’s just a phase and they can shake themselves free from that state.  Of course, it may be painful to point out what you notice with your loved ones.  But they will want to hear what you have to say.  After all, their symptoms are noticeable to them as well.  And they are subtle signs asking you if you’ve noticed them.  Express your concern.  Your willingness  to help.  What you’ve read about depression.  Treatment options.  And even if you have to accompany them to the doctor so that you get a clearer picture of what is happening.

4. Create a supportive home environment

Why your loved one is depressed is no ones fault. You can’t fix this.  But your just being their for the long haul means a lot through this difficult time. Lifestyle changes can make a big difference during the treatment process.

Healthy eating.  Low stress environment.  Helping with the appointments with the doctor. Making plans together. Positive reinforcement. In short, you may need to change your lifestyle as well in order to adapt to your loved ones. But isn’t that what love is all about?

5. Focus on the small goals

Depression feels overwhelming.  Even the act of getting out of bed can feel like a monumental task. Help your loved one set smaller achievable and realistic goals and tasks.  Patience and understanding when working through a depressive episode is of monumental help.

6. Know the warning signs of suicide

They’ll never let you know that it’s time.

The risk of suicide is highest during the major depressive episode.  There are red flags that we should be aware of: They talk about suicide, dying or death. They find means to attempt at suicide. The extreme mood swings – one day fine, the next day at the lowest ebb. Social withdrawal. Overwhelmed and hopeless. Engaging in risky and destructive behaviour. Saying goodbye.  Giving away belongings. Getting affairs in order. Personality changes.

We may not live in the same mental environment as those that go through depression, but we can help them live better lives.

One day at a time.

Paranoia

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That irrational and persistent feeling that people are ‘out to get you’.

That instinct or thought process believed to be heavily influenced by anxiety or fear, often to the point of delusion.

That feeling of of intense anxiety, or thoughts related to persecution, threat or conspiracy.

People who are paranoid mistrust others and remain in a state of suspicion.

Remember – it is NORMAL to have minor feelings of paranoia.  When paranoia causes significant fear and anxiety and results in a pronounced effect on social functioning, the person may have underlying mental issues and will need to seek professional help.

Is paranoia a psychiatric problem alone?  While schizophrenia may be an underlying disorder for paranoia, other medical diseases like Alzheimer’s, multiple sclerosis, alcohol intoxication and drug abuse may lead to feelings of paranoia.  The elderly population is at highest risk because an underlying disease may be synergistic with the drugs the patient is taking. The perfect storm is when all these are present.

In 1906 Auguste Deter, a 50 year old woman was the first person diagnosed with Alzheimer’s, a form of dementia. The disease was named after Alois Alzheimer, the doctor that first described it.  When Deter died, Alzheimer performed a brain autopsy and discovered that the brain of Deter shrunk dramatically and had abnormal deposits around the nerve cells.

Alzheimer’s disease is characterised by agitation, odd behaviour, paranoia, memory problems, disorientations, and delusions.

Dementia is not a specific disease and can be a presentation among patients with Alzheimer’s or due to other disorders that can affect the brain.  In short, dementia is a composite of symptoms that may be due to different disorders of the brain.

Patients with dementia have impaired intellectual function that interfere with the activities of daily living, including personal relationships.  This impairment includes memory loss, language difficulty, decreased perception, and impaired reasoning. Sometimes, people with dementia go through personality changes or develop delusions. Among the ageing population, dementia is often mistaken for senility or a mental decline as part of the ageing process.

The discourse on paranoia, dementia, Alzheimer’s disease and other mental health problems should be arrived at with proper professional help.

Paranoia is a symptom that is of grave concern that requires medical attention.

The key to true paranoia is when the person exhibits an unreasonable and/or exaggerated mistrust and suspicion of others. The suspicion is not based on facts.  Usually based on hearsay from friends and enemies, the paranoid person builds a world of fantasy and lives in that world, creating a delusion.  Untrue.  Unreal.  Unlikely.

To reiterate, paranoia is a symptom of some mental health problem and is not a diagnosis in itself.  It’s like saying that fever is a symptom of some other underlying disease like an infection, dehydration or metabolic disorder.  Paranoid thoughts can be anything from very mild to very severe.  The crux will depend on how much:

  • you believe the paranoid thoughts
  • you think about the paranoid thoughts
  • the paranoid thoughts upset you
  • the paranoid thoughts interfere with your everyday life

We all experience mild paranoia at some point in our lives.  They change over time.  It’s called reconciling with our past.  Moving on.  It does not mean we forget the events.  It just means that we’ve made peace with the issues that have dragged us to a corner and cower for awhile.

And then there’s the one that’s really bad.  Those delusions which are persecutory in nature.  They stay in your mind forever.  Destroying not only you, but your relationships with people around you because of the obsession of believing fantasy.

Believing in the paranoid is being duped of your principles of rational thoughts.  It’s like following a herd of swine where in the beginning, only one is afflicted with a disease.  When the disease spreads to the heard they either throw themselves off a cliff or the master slaughters all of them, afraid that the healthy herd would die as well.

Mr. Stupid and the Emperor’s New Clothes

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There’s nothing like growing old and remaining an idiot.

Being an idiot is bad enough.  But to grow old and stay an idiot, that tops the list of being the greatest imbecile of the world.

Miriam Defensor-Santiago, God rest her soul, was right – “stupid is forever“. We don’t need to compare our country with other nations.  We’ve got the numbers and the data in ours alone.  Hell, we’re doing a heck of a good job advertising stupidity. And we have media as the main driver for pushing stupid up the pedestal and them to blame come election time when these idiots get voted into office.

That’s because as long as it is news – good or bad – it made the headlines! And people will always remember Mr. Stupid. That’s media mileage for them.

Idiots are not born.

They are man made.

Some say they are mentally retarded.  I beg to disagree.  Mental retardation is not something that people wilfully want to be.  It’s a natural disease.  And it’s an insult to call people who are mentally retarded idiots.

An idiot is a fool. An ass. A dunce. Ignoramus. Cretin. Moron. Dolt. A halfwit.  Imbecile.  The simpleton. In short, an idiot is stupid. To be called an idiot is never a compliment. It illustrates how menial your mental processing capacity is. But the idiot is also a scheming whore.  He sells his soul to the highest bidder – never mind his moral compass or his allegiance to the constitution.  He has no capacity to think on matters of justice and being upright.  Most, if not all, lack a conscience.  For lack of it, they have no remorse.  It’s because stupid is as stupid gets.

Name calling does not hurt them.  They are the epitome of what I would call the persons-with-disability (PWD) of entitled people.  Worse than the entitled, they are the first in line.  They demand that everyone else be a quarter wit. What can be lower than a moron? Whatever it is, they demand everyone to be that.

But stupid is seen in every nook and cranny.  From government to the private sector, there will always be Mr. Stupid blabbering away and trying to run the show. Mr. Stupid thinks he is intelligent or people adore him.  On the contrary, he is like the King in the story “The Emperor’s New Clothes“. In that short story by Hans Christian Anderson, the emperor who was fond of new clothes was duped by two strangers who came to town.

The swindlers said they could weave the most magnificent fabrics imaginable. Not only were their colours and patterns uncommonly fine, but clothes made of this cloth had a wonderful way of becoming invisible to anyone who was unfit for his office, or who was unusually stupid.

The story goes on with the gullible emperor being deceived, paying the swindlers a large sum of money.  But the swindlers were just weaving at air.  They stole all the silk and fine thread and placed them in their bags.  The emperor asked his honest minister to go to the room where these two men were working at empty looms. The minister saw nothing being weaved, but became afraid to tell the truth because he thought that if he said he saw nothing and would tell the king that there was nothing there (which was the truth), he would be called unfit and stupid.  So he lied.  The old minister just went on with the stupidity by saying it was beautiful!

The swindlers knew that they now had the emperor and the old minister’s trust.  They asked for more money and more silk and thread.  The emperor went on sending more trustworthy officials to look at the dress that was being made for him.  And the same officials landed in the same predicament as the honest old minister.  And this went on and on until the whole retinue looked at the same empty loom.  Because no one wanted to be called a fool, they all praised the empty loom as some beautiful craftsmanship from the two swindlers.  Even the emperor who saw NOTHING, did not want to look stupid.  He believed the swindlers.

On the day of the procession, the swindlers as the Emperor to strip and pretended to put on the invisible clothes.  During the procession, while riding the splendid canopy (naked), and through the crowd, he heard a voice of a child shout, “look Ma, the emperor has no clothes”!

That was when everyone started agreeing that indeed, the Emperor had no clothes and was naked in public.

The truth hurts when the gullible realise their stupidity.  They will never accept it and will fight tooth and nail to rationalise their stupidity as a sign of loyalty.  I beg to disagree.

Some people will only love you as much as they can use you.

Their loyalty ends where their benefits stop.

The mistake

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The choice of the attitude is ours to own.  We need to take full responsibility – whether you’re a pauper or a king.  And while it can be changed from time to time or situation to situation, it is our personal choice in making that decision.

…the moment we are born excited family members press their noses against the nursery window in the hospital and being playing the game, “Who does he look like?” After much discussion, it is decided that their red-faced, wrinkly, toothless baby looks like “Uncle Harry”.

The labelling of the little child increases as her personality develops.  That is a normal human reaction.  We all do it.  It becomes hurtful, however, when we start placing limitations on our child because he is a “C” student, a “fair” runner, or a “plain” child.  Unless parents exercise care, their children will grow up selling themselves short because of the “box” parents have put them in, the expectations parents have placed upon them.

In the Netflix movie, Sierra Burgess is a Loser, the protagonists in the film portray various attitudes – from being mean to being ideal.  It’s a simple storyline that brings home the message of costly mistakes people make when constructing an attitude.  People change – whether it is due to environmental factors or peer pressure – we all have crosses to bear and personal crossroads in life.

What are a person’s capabilities? No one knows.  Therefore, no one should be consciously instilling life-limiting thoughts onto others.  Many years ago, Johnny Weissmuller, also known as Tarzan to movie viewers, was called the greatest swimmer the world has ever known.  Doctors and coaches around the world said, “Nobody will ever break Johnny Weissmuller’s records.” He held more than fifty of them! Do you know who is breaking Tarzan’s records today? Thirteen-year-old girls! The 1936 Olympic records were the qualifying records for the 1972 Olympics.

REMEMBER: OTHERS CAN STOP YOU TEMPORARILY, BUT YOU ARE THE ONLY ONE WHO CAN DO IT PERMANENTLY.

An elephant can easily pick up a one-ton load with his trunk.  But have you ever visited a circus and watched these huge creatures standing quietly tied to a small wooden stake?

While still young and weak, an elephant is tied by a heavy chain to an immovable iron stake.  He discovers that no matter how hard he tries, he cannot break the chain or move the stake.  Then, no matter how large and strong the elephant becomes, he continues to believe he cannot move as long as he sees the stake in the ground beside him.

Many intelligent adults behave like the circus elephant.  They are restrained in thought, action, and results.  They never move further than the boundaries of self-imposed limitation.

Edgar A. Guest wrote:

Somebody said that it couldn’t be done,

But he with a chuckle replied

That maybe it couldn’t, but he would be one.

Who wouldn’t say no till he tried…

Just start to sing as you tackle the thing

That “cannot be done,” and you’ll do it.

The choices

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Continuing on the attitude is the choice of what kind of attitude to take?

The word choices rises on the opposite side of environment in the attitude construction issue. Speaking more logically than emotionally, the voice of this word says, “We are free to choose our attitudes”. This logic becomes more convincing with the additional voice of Victor Frankl, survivor of a Nazi concentration camp, who said, “The last of the human freedom is to choose one’s attitude in any given set of circumstances.”

In our early years, our attitudes are determined mainly by our conditions. A baby does not choose her family or her environment, but as her age increases, so do her options.

Hence, our surroundings help construct our attitudes.

The basic principles about attitude formation are:

1. A child’s formative years are the most important for instilling the right attitudes.

2. An attitude’s growth never stops.

3. The more our attitude grows on the same foundation, the more solid it becomes.

4. Many specialists help construct our attitudes at a certain time and place.

5. There is no such thing as a perfect, flawless attitude.

The fifth is my favorite and, in my opinion, stands out as the most important principle (although they are all intertwined).

The air currents of life jolt us out of life and try to keep us from achieving our goals. Unexpected weather can change our direction and strategy. Our attitudes need adjustment with every change that comes into our lives.

Everyone encounters storms in life that threaten to wreck his attitude. The secret to safe arrival is to continually adjust your perspective.

Every day is a new encounter. A new adjustment. A new beginning.

How we take accountability on the choices we make determine the kind of attitude we have chosen to tread the path to. Those nights where we sleep better with the decisions made, that’s what steers our moral compass.

The art of entitlement

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Yes. There’s an art to this. More brownie points are earned the further you stuff your nose up the crack as possible. There. I’ve said what needs to be said.

I’ve dedicated a whole blog just for people who feel entitled. That’s correct. The operative words are – feel entitled.

Entitlement is a delusion built on self-centredness and laziness.

They’re essentially the flies on top of the carabao. Most, if not all of them, are basically incompetent. They have no purpose in life except to exist like the fly. What’s the purpose of the fly? None. Without the fly, there would be no story to tell. No comparison to make.

Entitled people are the reason for the rise of the incompetent (check out my blog the day before this).  They THINK they should be given the red carpet treatment. The only reason – because.

Despite their average IQs, they land posts in formidable positions or places, not because they deserve to or because they have rightfully earned it. Rather, they just know how the right connections and family tree, which buttons to push and how to play the game.  The major advantage they have in the game of life is that they are survivors.  And they’ve mastered the art of manipulation.

Lies are made to look like truths because the master is as clueless as an empty coconut.  They are adept at the art of propaganda and strategising on how to use the gullibility of the master to get what they want.  They are ambitious but ungrateful people.  Hypocrisy is the mantra to their daily existence.  They don’t like being told what to do or that they are wrong.  Self opinionated and evil in thoughts, their being inconsiderate is because they have no conscience.  And they enjoy the spotlight.

Entitled people lack integrity because their thoughts and actions are based on personal gains rather than on values.

The entitled feel that what you give them is never enough.  Even if you’ve given them everything they deserve.  One of the consequences of entitlement is that people who have contributed nothing to society feel that society owe them something, apparently just for being nice enough to grace us with their presence.

The other day, in the midst of all the silence at the library of the country club where I sometimes do some writing, a young man is overheard breaking that silence.  He took a call from his mom. I thought that he was just going to chit chat for a bit but after 5 minutes of yakking, I turned around and saw that he wasn’t planning to end that conversation anytime soon.  And that’s when I reminded him that there was supposed to be silence in the room, and could he please take the conversation elsewhere?  A few minutes passed, and there was silence again.  He stood up and approached me and sarcastically said, “sorry for the noise”.  Well, it was an apology, but you could tell that it was full of sarcasm.

Another one of those millennials feeling entitled.  Mind you, they are dependents of members of the club.  They don’t pay club dues or expenses.  And their membership is dependent on the status of their parents.  At 25 years old, they are not entitled to dependent privileges anymore.  And there are many like him.  Regardless of age. They justify their entitlement. Maybe the parents raised them that way.  Maybe society has praised them to the point where they feel the world owes them more than what they can churn.  Maybe because we tolerate the entitled.

We need to break down this class of entitled people.  Like the fly in the story, they serve no purpose in life. And if you’re one of the entitled people reading this post, there’s something wrong with your character if opportunity controls your loyalty.

The rise of the incompetent

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We have a lot of these.

But they’re usually swept under the rug.  No one minds them.  No one actually cares about them.

They rise above their hubris when an incompetent person is made to lead them.  I say this from experience – whether it is in the academic, political or business stratosphere – when incompetence is appointed or voted into the highest position of that office, the institution decays and eventually dies.

What leads to the rise of incompetence?

Friedrich Nietzsche once said that

They muddy the water, to make it seem deep.

Strategists build on other means to rise to power and fame.  Hire someone who can make you look good, beautiful, insightful, purpose driven or look and feel like the masses and people will adore you.  No one wants Mr. Right or Ms. Morality.  They are a threat to exposing Mr. Incompetent and Ms. Ineptitude.

We live in a society where creating an appealing story for the less educated masses is the rule, rather than the exception.  And this has nothing to do with digital technology.  Time immemorial, we have manipulators and strategists who have forged alliances with their kind of people in order to achieve their agenda.  They have been existence since the creation of man.  Monarchs, Presidents, Prime Ministers, Emperors and other rulers were created by man.  Some, were brought into power because unscrupulous people skilfully and methodically planned it well.

The incompetent leader is chosen form among the substandard lot.  Someone who can easily be manipulated into believing he or she is “great” but at the time subservient to the king maker.  They are unfit and not up to scratch.  Governance from their pulpit is pathetic at best.  And propaganda is their method of choice in leading.  There are no defining moments.  Only building obscure, tangential stories made to deflect the real issues.  When the dust settles after their reign, they would have destroyed an institution, a business, a nation.

Today, the rise of the incompetent is clearer than ever.  Due to the digital age, we are able to document faux pas more rapidly than ever. It’s also the same tool used to create false opinions and stories, fake people or trolls, and fraudulent lives. To lead the gullible, the misguided, the incompetent to the promise land. It begs attention to both the exploiter and the exploitable. And the easiest to captivate with incredulous promises are the naive, the poor, the hungry, the desperate, the dupable, and the incorrigible.

What is unclear is why the reaction to such incompetence is delayed. It’s not that people don’t see the signs on the wall! They do! They actually do.  You see, to the incompetent, when the stories become unreal and by the time they get to realise that they’ve been fooled all along, they’re already confused.  This state of uncertainty is a natural phenomenon.  And it becomes an internal battle – to live with it or go against the flow.  When they realise that they were credulous, they’re unsure of how to react.

First there is denial. Being duped isn’t something easy to live with.  After all, risking a reputation to only realise that you were part of a conspiracy to stupidity isn’t an easy pill to swallow.

Then there is anger.  Unsure of where to thwart the anger at – the disbelief, the disillusion, being manipulated.  The anger is at everyone and everything.  The question lies in how much pride there is to swallow. But that is all the incompetent thinks about.

Bargaining.  The despot will change.  There will be apologies.  There is good in spite of evil.  The boss will finally give that all expense vacation break badly needed because he/she was part of the connivance to the crime.  The incompetent is in shit so deep that he/she will try to wiggle his/her way around in order to justify the end from the means.

And depression sets in.  There is guilt.  An awakening.  And a need to vindicate oneself. Before acceptance. The final act is the liberating one.

But the stages are complicated.  And the incompetent will not be able to differentiate pride from truth. Some would have made and imbibed that world of make believe as being so real that it becomes their way of life till their graves.

Recognising the incompetent leader is easy.  Their knowledge is ludicrously shallow. They don’t bring anything to the table.  Ambitious and proud, they use fear and name-dropping on their road to perdition.  They surround themselves with advisers because they’re afraid that others will expose their inadequacies.  Yet the same advisers they surround themselves with are as incompetent as them.  Because the choice is not based on qualifications.  It is based on alliance.  And fear. They are not fit to lead but they want to. They are easy to manipulate by the puppeteer. Their principles have a price tag. They are, in one word, wannabes.

Once you have an incompetent leader that is endearing to the masses, what evolves can be petrifying.

An alliance of incompetents is alarming.  If we fail to stand up against them, rebuilding an institution is a longer and more painful process.  A lot of truth has been buried in the bag of lies.  Recognising what is true from what was perceived to be true becomes more difficult to discern from the pile of rubble of lies.

History will always be the judge on how we create our lives.

In my travels, I learned about the politics and economy of the various countries and cities I had gone to.  While many of them have reached the pinnacle of being either the most liveable or most industrialised or most envious country to live in, they had their fair share of gaffes in their history.  From corrupt kings to evil queens. From despots to democracies.  Each country had a story to tell.  History was their constant reminder that whatever prosperity they have today, had bad beginnings as well. There are still the incompetents. What place on earth does not have them?

It’s how to contain them and place them in their right places that becomes the challenge.

Bias is human

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We do not see things as they are. We see things as we are.

Perception is a way of regarding, understanding or interpreting something.

Opinion is a view or judgment formed about something, not necessarily based on fact or knowledge.

So, yes. This blog is about the recent PGH incident with a media person.

The perceptions of the media person were:

1. There was an immediate need for the  doctors at the ER to see the patient. Regardless of triage or protocols.

2. He is (was) an important person.  Which may have meant that when he tells the doctors at the ER that it’s an emergency, they should take his word for it.

His opinion, ergo, of the incident about the ER fracas was that the doctors were not paying attention and, as he would put it, should have attended to the “patient first”.

This is where cognitive bias is found.

A mistake in reasoning, evaluating, remembering or other cognitive process as a result of holding on to one’s beliefs and preferences regardless of contradictory information.

It is systematic. A deviation from what is the norm. Subjective social reality created from the perception of the input.

The putrid anger spewing from his mouth (as evidenced in the videos online) were, from any form of human standards, unacceptable.  Even, if for arguments sake, he wasn’t being attended to immediately, he still had no right to curse the medical staff.

While he had his perceptions, for the sake of intelligent argument – his perceptions were totally wrong.

If he felt that immediate attention should have been accorded the child, he should have done what was right – bring the child the the nearest hospital AFTER the accident.  Transporting the child 13 km from the scene of the accident in the midst of traffic, to a government hospital whose emergency room was undergoing renovation (and this was announced by the hospital all over media the past months), was irresponsibility from his end already.

He was just being an ass.  He thought he could get away with popularity.  At the same time, because it was his driver that hit the child, he thought he (and his driver) could scrimp on expenses by taking him to a premier government hospital.  The question now lies – what were the circumstances that led to the driver hitting the child?

There will always be people like him who feel entitled.  And they are not necessarily from his profession or his age group.  Lately, I’ve seen more and more of these “entitled” people from all walks of life and from extremes of ages.

Sadly, what is wrong is twisted to make it sound rationally correct. Keyboard warriors paid to undermine the truth by creating unsubstantiated opinions and perceptions are destroying the institution of our democracy.

We live in challenging times. The creation of bias is human. This month’s blog is about the truth unveiled. Let the dice be cast and fall where it should.

The Lunar Ghost Month and Flight MF8667

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The crash of Xiamen Airlines at the Ninoy Aquino International Airport two days ago had triggered massive disruptions in the operations of the only international gateway to Manila, Philippines.

Flights were canceled or diverted. Passengers were inconvenienced and angry. (Seriously, I wouldn’t have minded being inconvenienced considering that 157 passengers were unharmed.)

Related to the Ghost Month?

Ancient Chinese people believed that natural and man-made disasters were more frequent in the 7th lunar month. It became a traditional cultural custom to avoid many commercial and unnecessary celebratory or vacation activities during the month.

This tradition of the Chinese started as a folk legend where every first day of the 7th lunar month, “the gates of Hell are open wide and the ghosts come out until the gates are closed on the 30th day of the month.”

There are several taboos during the lunar ghost month. The major ones include:

– unnecessary travel (avoid scheduling vacations and getaways during this period)

– procrastination of commerce and trade (avoiding investments and purchase of goods and items that are not immediately needed)

– avoidance of major constructions and renovations (the pounding supposedly stirs the ghosts and bad spirits)

– avoiding having to be hospitalised or scheduling an elective surgery during the “ghost month”.

According to folklore, it’s also not good to wear shirts that have your name and children and senior citizens are to avoid going out in the evenings, there should be no patting on the shoulders, and no whistling.

The Zhongyuan festival is celebrated on the 15th of the 7th Lunar Month. This year, it falls on August 25. A sacrifice ceremony of burning incense and “money”, offering a good meal, and a “sacrifice ceremony” are traditional in many Chinese households.

The offerings are traditionally done at the beginning (when the gates of Hell open), on the 15th (festival), and on the last day (when the gates of Hell close).

The likelihood

It’s quite obvious that while this cultural belief is based on myths and legends, and has been unproven, one cannot help but notice that to this day, this practice has been handed form generation to generation. Not even the digital age has averted the practice of observance of the Lunar Ghost Month.

Was Xiamen Airlines flight MF8667 accident due to pilot error? Or an effect of the Lunar Ghost Month?

I’ll let you be the judge.

But as my parents would tell me, there’s nothing wrong in avoiding the odds of a folkloric belief.

(Image from GMA news online for visual purposes only).