Mindless fish.

Let’s face it: most politicians and public figures are ridiculous. Some of them do it on purpose, while for others it is a sad display of their human limits. And other people have been poking fun at them for centuries.

It is irreverent, certainly, and at times perhaps mean-spirited or even cruel, but not too far beneath the humour there is always a point to it: satire, after all, is really nothing more than an illustration of what a ludicrous idea would be if permitted to stumble on unhindered to a logical end. So while a campaign poster featuring a very large and very lazy house cat might be offensive to those who pursue campaign marketing with sincere gusto, to the rest of us — and admit it, probably you too — it’s hilarious because it expresses in a painless way something that it is actually quite disturbing: the campaigner’s arrogant disregard for the intelligence of regular people, and their right to know what their prospective leaders have planned for them.

And as much as all this is an exercise is generating humour from those who purposely put themselves in our crosshairs by choosing to be public figures, as the next election here in the Philippines approaches it is a reminder to everyone who has the right and duty to choose their leaders: expect better of them, and better of yourselves. You are not mindless fish forever doomed to riot over the crumbs your leaders toss you, even if they — and maybe even yourselves — have convinced you that you are. Politics and politicians in this country should not be a joke.

But hey, as long as they still are, we’re going to have some fun with it.

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