The Sound and Fury
rang@theguidon.com
In my time, I’ve been called a lot of things. Things like conyo or rich boy or elitista because my family’s relatively well-off or because I dress in “a conyo way” or because I sometimes end up speaking in English while reciting in Filipino Philo. I’m fine with that. I know myself and my values well enough to not care. And for some instances, of course it’s true.
I do know that not knowing how to ride a jeepney denotes a sheltered, pampered existence. I do know that being vaguely annoyed with that “HI PANGGA! MAY ENERGY KA PA BA?” line means that I don’t understand the culture of majority of my countrymen. I accept this, consider ways where I can remedy this, and move on. But I can eat a thousand isaws and try to be as grounded as I can be and still be considered conyo, because of my background, because of my upbringing.
At the same time, a lot of my peers—the same group that brands someone conyo or not conyo—can call the supporters of another school “JOLOGS!”, say that the relief goods they packed are for that school’s supporters, and emerge unscathed. See, that wasn’t them being elitist; that was just all in good fun or them being caught up in the game or a response to the other school’s slurs. See, it’s okay to belittle other schools and their supporters’ economic background when it’s “all in good fun” because they didn’t mean it. Apparently, it’s now perfectly all right to say derogatory things, and to take a metaphorical crap on the victims of Ondoy, as long as you didn’t mean it.
Is it okay because it’s part of the game-watching culture to demean the supporters of the other team? Is it okay because the other team’s supporters insulted us first? I don’t know about you, but barring the migration of this debate to a kindergarten playground, when was the he-was-first argument ever sufficient? We aren’t five nor on a jungle gym playground.
My concern is not with how this makes the school look; I honestly could not care less. This is not about not being a good Atenean. It’s about not being a crappy human being. It’s just a little disturbing that some of the same people who experienced the effects of Ondoy, whether first hand or through volunteering in the relief centers, now think it is perfectly okay to use Ondoy and the relief center operations for comedy material. What does that say about us and the culture we’re creating? What does that say about the sincerity of those relief efforts? It’s pretty depressing.
Funny because I know Tracy Borres, that controversial girl who wrote the scathing blog entry about her immersion last year, and I don’t think even she would say something like that, considering the context… well, she at least wouldn’t say it to the person’s face (and she would probably be a lot wittier than “JOLOGS!”).
If we are to learn anything from this, it’s the realization that social class and being jologs or conyo are two different things. You can live in a shanty and be the epitome of class, or drive a BMW and be downright tacky.
It’s true what a friend said on Facebook, “sa heat of the moment nakikita ang decency ng tao.” Of course, my friend is totally conyo because he used “decency” instead of “kabutihang-asal.”
Pot, meet kettle. Kettle, meet pot. There is a conyo kid in all of us.
Good evening Mr. Ang, I found your article very interesting. Aside from that me and my groupmates are conducting a research about conyos and I’m very glad that I saw this article of yours. Would you allow us to have an interview with you regarding conyos and you as a conyo? Thank you.
– Julian, PUP-Manila