Monday - August 29, 2005
"Juan Tanga."
Imbestigador, as part of its 5th anniversary
special series, aired an episode called "Juan
Tanga" last Saturday. I only caught the last thirty minutes. That was
a good thing, as half the show was more than enough to arouse grief, pity,
disgust, embarrassment, anger, disbelief and frustration, not to mention pained
amusement, akin to laughing at a woman who's stumbled on a pebble and ripped her
pants open at the butt to expose skid-marked
panties.
As part of the show, the crew went around Manila asking people on the street straightforward questions.
(Originally in Tagalog/Taglish:)
"What's the capital of the Philippines?" "Um, P?"
"Who's the husband of the president?" "Mike Defensor?"
"What's the Philippine national bird?" "The chicken?"
"Who was the first president of the Philippines?" "Erap. Erap Estrada."
"What's 1/4 plus 1/2?" "I'm not too good at subtractions (sic)."
A sociologist they interviewed stressed that intelligence comes in several forms, not just the kind of education you get in school. I'm certain the person who was asked to answer 1/4 plus 1/2 would have easily gotten 25 cents plus 50 cents. The housewives who couldn't identify the Philippine national bird could quite likely be genius-level at wet-marketing.
We have become so skilled at survival, we can't even think beyond it.
As part of the show, the crew went around Manila asking people on the street straightforward questions.
(Originally in Tagalog/Taglish:)
"What's the capital of the Philippines?" "Um, P?"
"Who's the husband of the president?" "Mike Defensor?"
"What's the Philippine national bird?" "The chicken?"
"Who was the first president of the Philippines?" "Erap. Erap Estrada."
"What's 1/4 plus 1/2?" "I'm not too good at subtractions (sic)."
A sociologist they interviewed stressed that intelligence comes in several forms, not just the kind of education you get in school. I'm certain the person who was asked to answer 1/4 plus 1/2 would have easily gotten 25 cents plus 50 cents. The housewives who couldn't identify the Philippine national bird could quite likely be genius-level at wet-marketing.
We have become so skilled at survival, we can't even think beyond it.