Blaming ALDUB for everything that went haywire wrong in the Philippines has gotten in vogue. The ALDUB EB Tamang Panahon has just closed (?) an monster hit segment last 24 October 2015 at the Philippine Arena. The next thing you know is that everyone wanted a piece of the action. Everyone including the haters. Because fans remember more the haters from the rabid fans.
In an effort to not be explicit (or profanity-laden). I would try to focus on the issues. I may have blocked some pages on Facebook that proliferated quotes blaming ALDUB for the nation’s ills. Then again, images get downloaded, uploaded with credit to the original uploader and spread around. It goes viral to the point where you lose track of who originally uploaded the photos bearing the incriminating quotes. In their failure to contribute to a better life for their fellowmen. They would rather impose on other people like ALDUB and the ALDUB Nation the guilt trip. Whatever they cannot do for the country, they go on blaming ALDUB instead.
It’s been a trying week for fans and spectators alike after the EB special episde Sa Tamang Panahon. And the hardest thing so far is pretending that everything is okay when haters gonna hate. Blaming ALDUB meant accusing fans of ALDUB. The ALDUB Nation is allegedly contributing to the dumbing down of the masses. An accusation that has constantly plagued Eat Bulaga as of these past few years. Surely I can’t help writing about them. But for good measure, I will not mention them here. I don’t want to be reduced to some backlink data. (If you’re a little techie, you know what backlinking meant to a blogger or online content provider.)
They (plural, maybe) attribute to ALDUB the people’s refusal to participate in intelligent discussion. That most inhabitants of the ALDUB Nation find it easier to unite a country when it involved something shallow and insignificant as that of the ALDUB KalyeSerye. And we know it’s election season. Almost everyone is looking forward to a new administration because the current president allegedly got the post by accident. Blaming ALDUB for society’s ills has become the latest shorthand for accusing Filipinos today of being dumb and ignorant of socially-relevant issues. Okay. Does it make it them feel better about themselves? I doubt it. (And yes, you can quote me for that.)
There are photos blaming ALDUB for the nation’s poverty. I remember a photo showing a beggar with a child. The caption would refer to the money poured in buying ALDUB-related merchandize and products endorsed. But not for the poor who are too weak to even know the existence of ALDUB. Then there are photos proliferating online about the unity that the world witnessed on Twitter. The kind of unity that doesn’t show whenever socially-relevant issues demand to be discussed. And perhaps the worst of them is the crowd blaming ALDUB for some youth’s ignorance about Apolinario Mabini. Seriously? ALDUB has become the convenient scapegoat?
It’s the kind of attitude that reminded me of Lola Nidora in the first months of the phenomenal KalyeSerye. Lola Nidora blamed Alden for the lost diary, for the failed attempts at raising cash for the diary’s ransom and for practically anything that came to her mind. For everything that she refused to take responsibility for, she blamed Alden. And poor Alden just accepted everything just because he didn’t want to get on YayaDUB’s bad side. Also Alden still respects Lola Nidora in the same manner that polite kids respect their elders. Simply because they are the elderly. This is the same attitude I see in people that are blaming ALDUB.
Eat Bulaga doesn’t deny being more than what it is. It’s main purpose is to entertain. There are enough public affairs programs that cater to people’s needs. In a nation riddled with half-assed soap operas and repetitive plots on primetime. ALDUB is the best alternative that the Philippine audience has found. It may be a parody of your conventional primetime TV series. But that is the point. Soap operas are so washed up. When you are sick and tired of the same old storylines, all that is left for you to do is parody them. In other words, blaming ALDUB revealed a major hypocrisy in society today. That blaming ALDUB is the easiest way to blame most soap operas in dumbing down society because it’s the biggest fish to catch.
The creative team behind ALDUB tried to make a difference though. Sometimes it can easily be viewed as their attempt to be socially-relevant. To show people that it’s not just about conquering social media. It’s about uniting people to do more with Alden and YayaDUB as inspiration. Doing good things in the name of ALDUB meant that Eat Bulaga is using the ALDUB popularity to get everyone involved in significant projects. Just like the ALDUB Library Project.
Still, as expected, naysayers still find fault in things that Eat Bulaga does through the ALDUB phenomenon. Blaming ALDUB for the fragmented nation is a subliminal way of saying “I am better than you because I cater to more intelligent television programming”. Blaming ALDUB for the dumbing down of society gives these haters a false sense of superiority. It cannot even guarantee that they are way smarter and more educated than us. But they still do it because fans are quick to jump at anyone that goes against the grain, so to speak. And sometimes that is the point why they are quick on blaming ALDUB. Have you ever realized how difficult it is to generate incoming website traffic lately? If blogging is just a hobby for you, then maybe you just blog because you have an opinion to share. And that’s what made some “haters” different from certain ALDUB hate sites. They say what they want because it’s what’s on their minds. Not everyone is good at keeping their opinions to themselves. It results in verbal diarrhea before they even realize.
And it shifts our attention to some overzealous inhabitants of the ALDUB Nation quick to pounce on anyone blaming ALDUB for society’s ills. You know why most ALDUB fan accounts on Twitter and Facebook constantly remind you of “good vibes”? Because they also know the game plan of certain ALDUB hate sites.
Welcome to the internet in case you haven’t been informed yet. This is the ultimate breeding ground for trolls and attention whores. Some fans knew that pure love, adulation and proper manners will get them nowhere. Not even a glance from their beloved ALDUB FB group page admins and ALDUB FB fan pages. They often forget that people like Maine “YayaDUB” Mendoza and Alden Richards are flooded daily with tweets and IG comments. Do you really believe they deliberately ignored the love you have for ALDUB? No. Of course not. Then again some fans are more concerned about being butthurt than considering the difficulty of replying to ALL TWEETS AND COMMENTS. Blaming ALDUB for your failed efforts at getting the attention you craved brings out the worst in some fans.
This brings to the Eat Bulaga Facebook page. It’s a nice place to hang around when you wanted to see all of the official photos and KalyeSerye episode replays. As long as you don’t go to the comments’ section of the photos and videos, you’d be fine. The comments’ section occasionally has a few articles and odes to ALDUB. The rest are efforts to fish likes and comments. Personally, if I like your comment, I will click like. Sometimes the word “like” is interchangeable with the word “noted”. You know that your comment was read because of the like button. Otherwise, it would just look like some “Click Like” contest. It’s occasionally annoying. Then again, I don’t always frequent the comments’ section. I might see random comments again blaming ALDUB for whatever idiocy occurred online again.
I know that whether I rebut these haters blaming ALDUB or not. They would keep on their daily tirade of the ALDUB blame game and hatred proliferation. This gives new meaning to that hit “pabebe girl” quote. “Kung gusto nyo, gayahin nyo kami! Wala kayong pake!” (If you want to, imitate us! You don’t care!) Sometimes, “wala kayong pake” can be loosely translated as “You have no business meddling here”. But I believe in democracy. Democracy has a funny way of exposing the bigots. Social media even gave them a spotlight for all their bigotry to be seen. FB statuses and tweets are easy to delete. Then again there’s screenshot.
And now you know why I didn’t mention who these “haters” are. It’s not simply because I refuse to give them the spotlight. Or the attention they badly craved. I learned from a friend on Facebook that you hate the deed, not the person. In Christian jargon, that’s hate the sin. Not the sinner. In short, you don’t play by these haters’ game. Blaming ALDUB for society’s ills for them meant putting Alden and YayaDUB themselves in a bad light instead of whatever negative they allegedly did. Whether this is their intention or they just hate the dumbing down of the masses, people still end up interpreting it as hating the tandem that people love today.
There are different ways of expressing nationalism. But if this nationalism would blind you to irrational hatred and generalization of everyone that loved ALDUB, re-examine your idea of being “socially-relevant”. At first it may seem like an exercise in futility to rebut these ALDUB haters. But staying quiet doesn’t help either. I was quiet. But I was never blind. And if you don’t speak up against people who enjoy riding on their high horse, they will think that it is okay to step on your rights. That it is okay to bully you around. Speaking up would give them an idea that their game of blaming ALDUB doesn’t sit well with everyone.
Now that the ALDUB relationship is declared official, the hit KalyeSerye is bound for new beginnings. Like Eat Bulaga’s official Facebook page to view the episode replays. Then follow their official Twitter account @EatBulaga to send your thank you notes and feedback. Follow our social media accounts too. Like our official Facebook page, The Philippines Web. And follow us on Twitter @pinasamazing. We’d be expecting you.
