Merquieades Salazar cried over the body of his wife, who was among those crushed. Salazar, 45, said the couple was jobless and wanted to try their luck at winning a raffle with a jackpot equivalent to 19,250 dollars."In the desire to win money, she is the one I lost." *photo and script courtesy of Associated Press
A friend of mine told me about the stampede that happened back in my country that killed more than 80 people. She saw it on BBC. I went online to learn more about the news myself. I read that all of the casualties were mostly middle aged women who come from among the 40% of the chronic poor in my country. There was this gameshow that announced it would be giving away almost 20,000 dollars as prize for it's first year anniversary, plus a house and lot and shit like that. Thousands of people flocked to the place where the show was gonna be held. The organizers were expecting 17,000 people. More than 30,000 people came. Apparently, a steel barricade was broken which started the stampede. Some people say there was someone who shouted 'bomb' which caused people to panic. More than 80 people (all living in the lowest class of society) died a senseless death, all because they wanted to win 20 thousand dollars in some stupid gameshow. A gameshow, like all the gameshows in a country that has a profit oriented mass-media, which capitalizes on the poverty of the masses and "helping the needy" and "charity" and "hope", all for the sake of ratings and sponsorships. Media networks in my country are mostly like their American counterparts - way too centered on the reality (bullshit) marketing phenomenon, hyped on drama in both news and entertainment, exercising selective morality way too often especially when it affects their interests thus, very partisan, very colonial, very stereotypical, and very, very numbers (ratings) oriented. In the media wars for power, supremacy, influence and control, numbers are important.
The ancient Greek philosopher, Pythagoras was right all along. Numbers are everything. Let me give a little exercise just to prove my point, that numbers matter in this shithole of a world we live in.
I live in a country that consists of 7,100++ islands (depending on the tides) that is populated by more than 80,000,000 people, 40% of which live on 2 dollars a day. In my little tropical nation barely 500 families practically own the country's lands of which many members of these so called "families" comfortably sit in their leather (think Italian) chairs in the offices they hold in both the private and public sectors. Interestingly there are barely 25++ media networks operating in my little tropical nation, mostly owned by, who else... look above. Speaking of 500, the same amount in my currency wouldn't last a week. 10 if you convert it into USdollars and barely 7 into euros. If I give 500 to a whore, she'd bitchslap me twice and spit on my face and tell me that I will get crabs or syphillis the next day. If I multiply the same number by 12, you'll get what the average worker would get in a month in my coconut republic, not including the shitty taxes we pay which only goes to my public servant's greedy pockets (which is probably deeper than my ass). 20 the average number of typhoons that visit us every year. If you divide it by 4 you'd get the number of coup d'etat's (5 coups, with only 2 being labeled 'successful') that happened within the last 20 years. 2 is also the number constitutional conventions that were done in this century alone, with another one fast approaching. But still the same faces in the government with barely little additives from grass roots organizations. 0 is the number of representatives from the Communist Party in the Congress and the Senate. (Luckily) 0 is also the number of tsunami incidents. Let's hope it stays that way. 2 is the media network that airs the gameshow that caused the stampede that killed more than 80 lives and injured 300 more. 7 is the rival network. These two networks have been at war ever since the word "ratings" started to mean "profits". 40 is the age of the host of the gameshow who cried in tears in front of the tv news cameras (of both networks) apologizing for the incident. 40 is also the average age of the people who died in the stampede who were mostly women hoping to get the 1,000,000 peso prize of the day. 1,000,000 pesos translates to 19,250 dollars. 51.9 was the exchange rate for the peso against the dollar which was the highest in more than 3 years, which caused the elation of a 56 year-old president hoping for another 6 years in office.
Today there are less than 80 people in my coconut repuclic's population. 19,250 dollars. 51.9 to 1. 32,000,000 people to 500 families. 80 million captive audiences of korean-chinese-mexican telenovelas, news dramas, reality tv, gameshows, home tv shopping, religious networks that spread love AND hate, and 60-second award winning commercials that only give you false hopes for better days to come, as long as you buy their product.
After all the numbers I wrote, you might ask why do I even find the slightest bit of humor in all of this? And what do I have to say about it? Only this, reader of my blog...
WELL FCUK WE ALL.
And I meant that.
If you want me to be sympathetic and turn this into a real bad melodrama shitfest that's already infested most of the televison netowrks by airing them ALL DAY, I have to say NO. I have my own version of sympathy, thank you. And I trust my own version. And I don't need a copy from last night's episode of whatsitsname telenovela. I don't want to pity the people who were affected by this tragedy, God knows they will be receiving a pity fest from all directions. And after six months or so, most of them would be forgotten. Sure there'd be an anniversary special for all who died in the stampede and there might even be a memorial for the 80++ people who died. But who would really remember them? The network? The host? The President? The Senate? The Congress? The Church? You? Me? No one really, except for the people who survived that day. People like Merquieades Salazar who, as much as he wants to, will never forget the day he lost his wife.
You might even think I am this high and mighty asshole preaching in this makeshift pulpit that I call a blog. That temptation is just so hard to resist. But you were thinking of it, weren't you? No use in denying it. At the back of our heads, in the deep recesses of our minds, we all want and think of the same things. I really don't give a shit. But if you'd be so careful to notice and look up above and try to read the funky green pronoun in all caps and underline, you'd figure out easily that I am not excluding myself. I am swimming in the same cesspool as you are. Let's face it. We are all but used toilet paper floating in this ocean of excrement. This is REALITY UNEDITED. And no amount of drama, or 700-club morality, or "reality" tv, or gameshow, or networking scam, or "showbiz" politicking or 60 second award winning commercials from from transnational corporations can cover it up. Reality is knocking on our doorstep. She's trying to wake us up to smell the air and to get real. Maybe if we start there, for once, we might actually get somewhere.
No comments:
Post a Comment