Am a little grouchy today. Being back at work after long weekend and horrid weather probably has something to do with it. I also suspect that March might be dreaded January in disguise... Thankfully have a few socials 10-13th to keep me happy.
Bleh. To put this huffing to better use, I have decided to be riled by this article from The Guardian - By Any Means Necessary, which inadequately disputes that "the current anti-government campaigns in the Philippines is anything but democratic". Hence the post title. Putcha in Tagalog is a swearword, like 'damn!', and of course a putsch is an attempt to overthrow a government via coup d'etat...
I'd very much like to call the writer of the editorial a fool, but I am currently unarmed with the necessary academic discourse to prove him wrong. So, for now I will be sharing the url of this story to other pinoy bloggers to canvas their opinion. But for my two pence worth: a. democracy is a farce anyway! as if the Western world is that much better, and b. I blame the meddling US government for ruining my lovely home country with their brand of this ideology.
More on this later perhaps. I'm off to burn some of this irrational angry energy by running at the gymnasium. (See toerists photo from previous post "maan-Dag" for a visual)
_________
Edit:
Torn has kindly responded to my request...
Btw linked to this as an example of newspapers getting it wrong.
Posted by: Jack P Toerson | Wednesday, 08 March 2006 at 11:31
Exactly. I thought the article was a bit of a haphazard cut&paste job. The man who wrote it is an idiot. Pfft. Wonder what my journalist friend from Cardiff has to say about this type of news report.
More rants:
What is democratic if not 'of or for the people in general', i.e popular, hence subject to mob rule.
And what about the numerous French revolutions? And surely constant uprisings mean that a true revolution has not yet been achieved, thereby resulting in restlessness and people's want for change?
Posted by: eevilmidget | Wednesday, 08 March 2006 at 15:24
IIRC there are several approaches to looking at revolution. The Marx's model and theory of revolution, which has spawned a many Marxist theories of revolution. Then there's the functionalist theory of revolution which is closer to what you're saying about the French Revolution. Then there is the psychological approach. Then there's also Mass Society
Bloody social sciences! Bah :-).
Posted by: Jack P Toerson | Wednesday, 08 March 2006 at 15:42