Manny Pacquiao’s recent statement and stance on the “same sex marriage” (SSM) which he shared when asked in a 2016 Philippine election series interview has been the current talk of the town.
When you are a influential, popular, and iconic celebrity like Pacquiao who is also a senatorial aspirant share a hard stance on a sensitive sociopolitical issue like ‘same sex marriage’, there will always be support and opposition.
Pacquio made himself clear that he was ‘only’ stating the ‘truth’ from God thru the Bible, but this didn’t stop people who support of LGBT rights and SSM to voice out their opinions just like how Pacquiao voiced his’.
Amidst the public apology, Pacquiao remains firm on his religious convictions and continued preaching in his social media accounts about what his belief system thinks is the ‘truth’ even at the cost of the public’s perception of him.
In the battlefield of contradicting opinions in social media, there will be always be people focusing more on personalities rather than the sensitive issue at hand; focusing more on Manny Pacquiao and Vice Ganda.
While the pro-SSM may have been aggressively voicing out their opinions against Manny Pacquiao and similar-minded individuals, the anti-SSM and Manny Pacquiao supporters have found an ‘easy target’ through the Kapamilya network comedian Vice Ganda; an ‘easy target’ because of his questionable brand of humor.
What is odd is most Filipino netizen seem to redirect the attention towards Vice Ganda alone that they seem to forget that he is not the only celebrity who have voiced his opposing view nor Vice is the representation of the LGBT community. If there is someone worth paying attention to (if one wants to have a rational argument about same sex marriage), it would probably be Boy Abunda and his surgically precise statement.
The worst thing that any critic can do is to throw all the blame on how society has degraded to one single influential personality; criticism like ”Marami nang bata ang natututong sumagot sa mga magulang nila dahil sa mga itinuturo mong pambabara.” (“Many children nowadays are learning how to answer back disrespectfully to their parents because of the way you make ‘witty retort.”)
There is something inherently ‘peculiar’ with this kind of thinking and reasoning. Should all the blame be thrown at a celebrity alone?
How about the parents or guardians of such children who are more than capable of educating and limiting the exposure of the easily impressionable minds of the children from such questionable humor of television shows and its personalities?
How about responsible parenting? If one allows such kind of thinking, then why stop at Vice Ganda alone, just as another social media post suggests…
Names and expletives have been censored to somewhat protect the individual mentioned in this status update by a private citizen. The allegations and rumors are accessible online and can easily be discovered by a basic search.
If one allows such thinking to be acceptable, then all ‘hell’ will probably break loose. A good majority will be sidetracked only to find faults in every person or known personality who has differing opinions than them and ultimately not talking about what they should supposed to talk about.
There is a good reason why Pacquiao is currently the hot topic, but why even entertain Vice Ganda alone? So what does people has to say about Boy Abunda, Aiza Seguerra, Lea Salonga, Yeng Constantino, Nora Aunor, and etc.?
The real issue goes beyond Vice and Manny; a sociopolitical issue. It is an issue as to why can’t society and state pass laws that will give the members of the LGBT community equal legal rights for a state recognized marriage.
Why should religion and its religious scripture (e.g. Bible, Quran, Torah, Veda, ) be the basis of legislation alone because it simply claims that it is the source of moral and absolute ‘truth’, when there are other beliefs system (or lack thereof) present in the Philippine society that states otherwise?
Why is the separation of church and state seemingly not observed? Why do Filipinos think that Manny Pacquiao’s stance is merely an ‘opinion’ and will not affect legislation of the controversial bill the LGBT community has been fighting for if ever it reaches senate?
I will leave you guys with another social media post from Filipino artist Gerry “Komikero” Alanguilan which completely summarizes the whole Pacquiao debacle. Share your thoughts and opinion in the comments section below and let’s discuss.
