An unexamined life is not worth living. Socrates

Lunes, Setyembre 28, 2015

Dissecting the #ALDUB Phenomenon: A Socio-Cultural Perspective

Much has been said, much has been promoted, much indeed has happened and continues to happen as the saga known in the social media world with the hashtag #aldub unabashedly titillates the Filipino sense of "kilig."

Many have commented on the superficiality of the experience - its essentially nothing more than a teenage crush acted upon by essentially young adults pretending (or at least is presented as such) to have never even seen each other in person. Piled upon by the dizzying media coverage and the almost mythic proportions it has attained in the ephemeral mindset of the Filipino psyche, it has attained more than its due (in my opinion) share.

From the national demagoguery it has unleashed comes the quintessentially Filipino propensity for emotional tearjerkers. We are, without a doubt, a people so hung up on emotional states of momentary bliss that we cling to juvenile displays of romantic awkwardness with a mindless gusto of an unrequited lover.

I am reminded of a recent survey which includes Filipinos as one of the most emotional peoples in the world. What is the socio-cultural background of this #aldub phenomenon?

In the interest of full disclosure, be it known that in no stretch of the imagination am I a social scientist. I am, for all intents and purposes, a masa. As a professional educator and nurse however, I can say that I am speaking from a disinterested viewpoint of a secular humanist, citizen of this ever so complex nation. In all my personal and professional experiences, the #aldub PHENOMENON is actually not an aberration nor is it an unusuality, but a regular outburst of national catharsis that is the Filipino experience.

Ours is a society of contradictions - where religiosity is outwardly displayed at the same time as massive corruption undercuts our social-political fabric. Where thousands of baccalaureate graduates are produced a year at the same time as millions of uneducated children ply the streets. Where poverty is manifest in the ubiquitous presence of homeless urban dwellers while the ruling elite live in opulent palaces of splendor.

The #aldub phenomenon therefore is a national release against the endemic contradictions of life in the Philippines. It is a national hurrah to the otherwise unbearable complexities of the ordinary Filipino - yes, the #aldub phenomenon wraps the Filipino - me, you, us, with the necessary antidote to the chaos that is our politics, the shattered social fabric that is our increasingly schizophrenic view of what our future should be, what our destiny can be.

For all that has been said about the manifest superficiality of the #aldub phenomenon, one thing clearly shows itself - we are a people so lost in our situation that we find glory in the most juvenile of emotions. There is nothing wrong with that, if only we could start to grow out of this perpetual malaise of created "Neverland", we can start to face our national problems as young adults, not as love-strucked teens. Then again, it's just me.

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