The Fat Man Today

Two Saturdays ago - December 3, if memory serves - I was caught in the carmageddon that gripped the north-eastern part of Metro Manila. I consider myself one of the luckier ones since I didn't have a long way to travel, but it was still pretty bad considering that normally, it wouldn't have taken me that much time to make my trip. It was incredibly frustrating and inconvenient, and it was a good indicator of how much needs to be fixed in the metro's traffic infrastructure.

There's a post circulating online - mostly thru Reddit - about how Filipinos are the friendliest people in the world, but are the least considerate. The post was made by two Americans, and I originally saw the post on Nutribun Republic's wall on Facebook. The post goes on to show how our inconsiderate nature shows up in many, many things that people have come to take for granted as "that's just how things are, jut let it be."

Take a look at that image up there for a second and tell me if that little line – that bit about it being a work of satire – is immediately visible. These days, more and more works of satire are including these one-line disclaimers in their artwork body, perhaps in order to erase any doubt that the content of the piece was, in fact, not based on truth.