One of the pleasures of my week in Manila was picking through the Philippine Star, an English language newspaper delivered to my hotel room daily with the inspired motto "The Truth Shall Prevail." The front page usually featured lurid tales of kidnappings (Filipinos [a.k.a. Ninoys] kidnapped overseas and foreigners kidnapped in the Philippines), graft and corruption among government and military officials, and political intrigue that would make Boss Tweed proud. One of my favorites was the feel good story of a cop who won an award for honesty and integrity. The reason he was being recognized? He found a bag on the street with several thousand pesos inside and turned it in rather than keeping it for himself.
But the real fun was found on the editorial pages. Unfortunately it appears that the Star's web site does not include archived columns or else I would have a half dozen examples of some of the most bizarre opinion pieces I've ever come across. Here is one of my favorites that I was able to capture:
I'm terribly sad and sorry Sen. John Kerry lost the US presidential elections to incumbent George Bush. Kerry could have restored balance, equilibrium and a strong sense of sanity to America's handling of international affairs. But the Massachusetts senator probably came at the wrong time. He was up against a majority of mainstream America that looked at George W. Bush as the Redeemer who, all by his lonesome, could stand up against the international terrorist, win, and win again.
Virtually the rest of the world didn't think that way. They hated Bush, reviled him as no other, particularly the French, the Germans, and even the ordinary Briton, who thought the US president deserved to hang from the nearest lamppole. Well, if the Americans are indeed convinced George W. Bush deserves a special sash and sword, let them. They will find out soon enough Dubya is a phony, a tinsel tinntinnabulator, who, if not stopped soon enough, will bring his country to perdition.
America's power is transient.
Slandering, irresponsible, childish rhetoric unsupported by fact? Hmmm...If the Star Tribune is looking to cut costs, I think I see an opportunity for some off-shoring here. Why continue to pay Nick Coleman his extravagant salary when you can get nearly the same level of hackery at a fraction of the cost?
Senor Benigno does need to work on his civic pride a bit though before he's ready to grace the pages of the Strib. Ending a column with a line like this is not going to play as well in the US as it apparently does in The Philippines:
That's how stupid a people we are.
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