Last week, the blogosphere had a blast discussing the jologs incident at the UP Fair. I wonder though, what will happen to this issue about an Ateneo high sophomore allegedly being mauled in an open party. This issue, I think, isn’t getting enough mileage from the blogosphere.

I first read about the issue on a college buddy’s blog. A bit of trackback tracking led me to Chuvaness who first blogged about it.

I wouldn’t want to recount the details since I think it’s best for you to read it from the source. So here’s the story about the open parties and the open letter of the mother of the kid who was beat up. Next, there’s the another open letter reply from the parties organizers. Follow the comment thread for some very interesting reads.

I wouldn’t risk passing judgment on the merits of the case because primarily I wasn’t there. Kids tell the darnedest things anyway so fact-finding based on third and fourth-hand accounts will be moot. So let me just focus on the things that are plainly wrong in this case.

Kids will have their fun, let’s give them that. We were kids once and we can all probably recount all the dumb things we did back then. Kids will try to smoke, drink, view pornography and fuck. Bullies will beat down on the losers. Geeks will get their academic honors. And that’s all part of the whole high school thing. It’s fucked up but it has been going on for so long. Whether we can do something about it is something up for debate but for now, I think it’s how kids handle these issues and situations that should be the focus.

Not that I’ll be siding with the party’s organizers because I really don’t like the way they do for fun particularly because then and now, those I really don’t consider fun. What I’m more concerned with is how these kids are handling the issue. If you’d allow yourself to be stressed by STOYA’s reply, then it could really be infuriating. They come out us arrogant, unrepentant, and corrupt at such a young age.

We all know for a fact that it’s illegal to drink at such an age. We’re just disappointed something like this had to happen for something not big at all. Pucha, everyday people DIE due to far more worse incidents than mere fist fights and now people start making this such a HUGE deal since it happened to someone close to them? Parties have been going on since FOREVER which is precisely why we can’t see why this had to happen NOW. We have no other intention but to have FUN when we host parties so don’t call us insensitive and immoral for promoting alcohol under the age of 18. You’ve never had a shot of vodka or a cold glass of beer? Don’t be a hypocrite and lie. It’s part of high school, face the fact! We are given the CHOICE (hence the name OPEN party) whether to drink or not. Also, It’s the parents’ choice to allow their children to go and do these things so if you have a problem with parties, don’t allow your children.

The logic (and syntax :p) coming from these kids make(s) you question what the hell private schools are teaching kids these days. The “free will” argument has been stretched past its limits if you ask me. The funny thing is, I do think I know where these kids are getting their arguments. Christian morality classes in the Ateneo does say that free will is God’s gift to man and doing good and bad things is one’s choice and that one should resist the temptations of the devil. These ideas are quite potent in the minds of unguided youth.

One can even argue that this is a question of both legal and moral natures. It makes you wonder if offering a high school kid a shot of alcohol is in the same ball park as offering a suicidal man a length of rope or a homicidal maniac a loaded machine gun. Can you argue with “I didn’t do the shooting, I just handed him the gun!” after the maniac has mowed down twenty people?

Still, what these kids’ argument apparently lacks is plain old (un)common sense and appeal to a sense of right and wrong. I’ve done a fair share of events organizing and I know the responsibility of an organizer for the well-being of these gatherings. Let’s tie this to UP’s USC when they stood by their lapse. They even shouldered all medical expenses of the police office who was hurt. While a bit of finger-pointed did happen, at least they took part of the responsibility for what happened.

STOYA asking, “Who are we to say what’s right from wrong?” probably just says it all about them. That is just an excuse fabricated to rid oneself of that responsibility. Cliche as it is but it takes a man to take responsibility for one’s actions. STOYA has proven that they are nothing but mere stupid boys who just want to “have fun.” Never mind if someone gets hurt in the process.

Graduates of exclusive private schools would attest that sheltered Catholic education does breed its own throng of demons. Once in a while an incorruptible kid would come along and be the poster of boy of their promised Christ-centered education. But for quite a number of these rich kids, that isn’t the case. Or perhaps, it’s not a question of education but of upbringing.

My personal experience is a bit different though. Our class was mostly made up of pretty decent people with pretty decent upbringing rich as they were. I can’t account for everyone in my class since I do know there’s some wild streak in quite a few of them but I think we all turned out to be pretty decent people. Then again, I never heard anyone in our class do something this extreme or be this moronic in argumentation or have such a plainly screwed up sense of morality at that.

I do think this is a question of ideology and of socio-cultural practice. This has been something hegemonic as far as the upper class and upper-middle class teenagers are concerned. They have too much money and time in their hands to burn. That, combined with hormone-inspired “creativity” is a potent mix for trouble. It’s scary really since these kids will be the same ones who will one day take over their fathers’ companies and posts in government. If they have a such a sense of morality as early as now, then how can we expect a better breed of people in key positions in the future?

Oh well. If I’d be dubbed a classist, might as well go the full nine. (I’m just doing my part as part of the petty bourgeois nature in this history of class struggle.) Bad trip ka sa mga jologs at galit ka sa mga coño. Kung middle-class ka, saan ka lalagay?

Share This