Tuesday, September 05, 2006

Animal Farm

The easiest way to reclaim your self-esteem is to feed on another's. Fortunately, the world will never run out of inferior people---there will always be someone more pathetic than you are, someone less talented, someone weaker-willed. Does this sound mean? A pig named Napoleon once said: all animals are equal, but some are more equal than others. It is mean, I guess, but it's also true.

That's something I've observed in the university. People are very spare with compliments even though they are deserved. I got a nasty feeling that if they say it, these words of admiration, their internal weighing scale tells them that their self-esteem lost weight. But lo! When it comes to criticisms, even though misplaced and unfounded, their generosity kicks into high gear.

UP students are superhuman. Let's accept that painful fact. These are the students who finished on top of their class in high school. These are students who just got slapped with the reality that they are not the hotshots that they thought they were. The more unfortunate ones, well, they just never get over the shock. The more adaptive ones, they find ways to feed on the unfortunates and regenerate the tissues of their self-worth.

Am I one of them?

Yes.

Are you?

Honesty is not the best policy. But in Animal Farm, you'll never learn how to walk on two hind legs if you don't know why you can't.

9 Comments:

Blogger marX said...

i have to compliment you for this post liz.. ^_^

8:12 PM  
Blogger just press start said...

oh i got something to say.

the less fortunate, inferior ones are surely as superior than anybody else in some way. i think it works both ways. matatalo mo ako dito, pero talo ka sakin doon. so how's one better/worse than the other? knowing this, how can you say you are "reclaimed" after feeding your self on the less-fortunate, when you actually aren't at all?

11:55 PM  
Blogger Ferretti shoes said...

ju...how do i put it. ive got the impression that you believe in the best of people. that they are by nature good. well, i believe that too. but more strongly though, i believe in the fact that we are all by nature weak.

and, i think were not really arguing within the same premise. my argument is from my belief that all of us are equal, but that some of us are more equal than others. in other words, we're not.

correct me if i am wrong, but from what i understand from your comment, you're saying that no one will know who's better or who's worse than the other. oh, but they can. its all in your head. it doesnt have to be true---this guy doesnt have to be (from your point of view) superior for him to actually be. you just have to think he is.

when was the last time you met a loser?

when was the last time you thought 'im glad im not him'?

maybe you've never. well, kudos to you. you're a good person, and i hope you remain one.

as for me though, i am being honest. meanly honest, brutally honest, brutally mean, honestly evil---name it whatever you may. but i believe in what i said.

4:40 AM  
Blogger Ferretti shoes said...

hey mark. its been a long time. lilibre mo pa ko ha!

4:42 AM  
Blogger just press start said...

ha! nice. i like these kinds of posts 'cause I get to debate ;p

well, first, i am being "brutally" honest the same way as you are. heehee

if all of us are by nature weak, then we're only as strong as we are weak. no argument in that since you said you believe all of us are equal, then afterwards you contradict your own statement saying "some are more equal than the others" - which i don't really understand. i mean, how?

what i was trying to say in my first comment though is that i dont think there really IS a way to say one's bettr OR worse than the other.

for example. to say, "well im smarter and have more friends than you, loser. so i'm better than you," just to think an inch deeper, is unfair coz the "loser " must be better than you in one way or another.

8:29 AM  
Blogger just press start said...

ha! nice. i like these kinds of posts 'cause I get to debate ;p

well, first, i am being "brutally" honest the same way as you are. heehee

if all of us are by nature weak, then we're only as strong as we are weak. no argument in that since you said you believe all of us are equal, then afterwards you contradict your own statement saying "some are more equal than the others" - which i don't really understand. i mean, how?

what i was trying to say in my first comment though is that i dont think there really IS a way to say one's bettr OR worse than the other.

for example. to say, "well im smarter and have more friends than you, loser. so i'm better than you," just to think an inch deeper, is unfair coz the "loser " must be better than you in one way or another.

8:30 AM  
Blogger Ferretti shoes said...

read George Orwell's Animal Farm. That's where the statement 'all animals are equal but some are more equal than others'. its a really good book and the statement is not at all contradictory to itself. ha! george orwell even said something like 'freedom is slavery', and he explained it so well it darned made sense.

anyway, since you havent read the book yet, the statement is a tribute to the contradiction which is equality. the government, the church, our families say that we are all equal. but what they say under their breaths is that 'some are more equal (i.e. more 'priveleged') than others. meaning, that we are not at all equal. it's sarcasm at its highest.

next point. if there is, as you say, no way to know if one is inferior to another, it goes to follow that there is also no way to know if someone is superior to another. "just to think an inch deeper, is unfair coz the "loser " must be better than you in one way or another." in what way? can you ever know for each loser in the world?

with so much human ignorance, so much groping for the truth, you can only go along by believing whichever suits you and the society you move in. okay, so this guy is stupider than you are and you have more friends than him. therefore he is a loser according to you and your friends' judgment. it doesnt have to be true and it doesnt have to be right. you just have to believe it is true and right. and it will be.

well, i also love arguing. obviously. i like these kinds of comments. :)

12:31 PM  
Blogger just press start said...

well, there you go. being more "privileged" than others makes more sense than saying that some are more equal than the others. dictionary.com states "equality" is not synonymous to "privilege."

second thing. you ask, "... in what way? can you ever know for each loser in the world?" that's exactly my point. is there really a way to actually say and prove that one is better/worse than the other? moreover, if we consider only each individuals' speciality or w/e for comparison is unfair...

let my put it this way. let's say i'm better than you in... let's say chess. and you're way better than me in checkers. i may be better than you in chess, but i can't say i am totally baetter than you, coz it would seem unfair if i don't consider what you are better at..

you're the most popular in school, valedictorian ka, athletic ka pa. compare yourself with the guy at the end of the line. you're exact opposite. average guy, average grades, barely involved in any sports. BUT he probably suffers less stress, less pressure or whatever than the first guy. putting it this way, nobody can be more equal than anybody else. although they can be more privileged.

ok, yung pahabol mo..

if all of us are weak, then we're only as strong as we are weak. who's the weakest? being the weakest, he can say that the less weak ones are stronger than him. gets? hmmm... ok, if we are in a world where only the number "1" number that is known of, (0,2-9 never existed at all, seems impossible pero example lang to). having "1" as your only number. what is greater than "1?" what is less than it? so number "1" can either be the lowest and at the same time the highest number.

11:35 AM  
Blogger Ferretti shoes said...

were not talking about fairness here. were talking about discrimination and inequality. like i keep repeating, this person doesnt have to be better than you in another thing where you fairly suck. this person doesnt have to be in plain fact, inferior than you are---you just have to think he is. never mind the other things. now, that is where unfairness comes in. unfairness=inequality.

and were not only talking about dictionary meanings here. no, were not even talking about technicalities or objectivity. were talking about subjectivity and relativity. in many parts of the world (minus the dictionary meaning) equality IS privilege. while society presents us with a facade that we are all equal---all privileged to be given the rights and treatment and value the same as everybody does---it is not true. that is what i am trying to say. equality is a farce.

were only as strong as we are weak. hmmm.
so now youre finally talking about relativity. i still dont get your concept very well. 'being the weakest, he can say that the less weak ones are stronger than him.' so...theres still a hierarchy. and you know what hierarchies stand for.

4:05 PM  

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