Time Out for Richard Rorty

Our concerns for electric power in Occidental Mindoro is not only a complex and multidimensional issue and judging from the recent posts and comments from respected opinion writers in on-line discussion threads, this misunderstanding pushes us all at the verge of disunity. The energy problem each day (especially during night time) already devastated us and our common dream for a concerted attempt to solve this crisis which started only-God-knows when.

Nasty words flew from all angles and directions but no matter how intelligent, rational, logical and sane they are, they are empty to me. In the sincerity of my silence (meaning not involving in these exchanges, which I think the most rational thing to do in the middle all of those unfriendly gestures), I took part in the recent initiatives towards the realization of our common goal for a sustained, reliable and affordable electricity for our locality. But making public what we do now would be premature. We intend to announce it at the right and proper time and venue. Please bear with us.

Reflecting on the current negative exchanges between my Facebook friends compels me to write this piece. The exchanges made me realize that the will to be objective certainly WILL always remain subjective. Even the most sincere and truthful witness or whistle blower under oath cannot set aside his or her biases in his/her statement. We as netizens have our own biases over issues especially those that can be rooted to politics and politicians. This is no doubt can rightly be considered a political issue for it concerns public welfare that involves our rights as consumers and whether we like it or not, it involves political personages. So it must be elevated from emotional to gut level discussions. As posters in discussion threads, we all risk out commitment to objectivity and we must always expect response from others, be it positive or negative. It is very easy to accept this fact.

Their recent exchanges were full of wisdom, yes, but devoid of taste, to say the least. This includes some comments from the readers when they join the fray. They are like medicines in bacteria-infected vessels, so to speak.

Nobody has the complete grasp and conclusion of this problem that caused the frequent power outages resulting to economic and productivity losses and missed opportunities and untold misery and insecurities of the citizenry. The “whole truth and nothing but the truth” in whatever issue, will always be elusive and no single person or group can claim that s/he has it all.

So, this discussion about power problem in our province cannot be treated as a singular event. This is connected to all other socio-political dimensions: legal, personal, physical and technical. Be it moral and even spiritual. Though relying only from my background as a former church worker, I am into opinion that our friends and acquaintances judge our spiritual growth and worth not only on how we respond to approvals or agreements, but also on refutations and disbelief, both coming from our friends or enemies. The words we use and the tone we set. Intentionally or not, one cannot afford to be a fool who always endears himself to evil structures and systems and the devils who are the roots of this hellish debacle that we are experiencing. We must not fall to the temptation of evil,- the grand great snatcher and concealer of truth and half truths, the grand master of divide and rule tactics. By muddling the issue, by misdirection, we serve, knowingly or otherwise, as Devil’s acolyte.

We have to work together for Richard M. Rorty once said, “One cannot be irresponsible toward a community of which one does not think of oneself as a member.”  I believe too that overly finding or stressing the truth here is not of vital importance. Rorty, my “newly found” philosopher once said, “Insistence on the existence or the importance of truth seems to me empty, at least by comparison to insistence on the need of freedom." Our utmost need in this particular case is no other than freedom from power crisis, personal differences are just peripheries! 

  

Rest assured that this will be my first and last reaction on the heated arguments between my friends that saddened me. Hope they’ll put an end to this word war soon.

This is just a sort of request for perpetual time out from a teammate who just read Rorty's thoughts...

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(Photo: olponeline.org.)