“ACTIVISM is a way for useless people to feel important, even if the consequences of their activism are counterproductive for those they claim to be helping and damaging to the fabric of society as a whole.”
“Running left-wing movements has always been the prerogative of spoiled rich kids. This pattern goes all the way back to the days when an overindulged and affluent young man named Karl Marx teamed up with another overindulged youth from a wealthy family, Friedrich Engels, to create the Communist ideology.” – Thomas Sowell
And speaking of activists — pseudo-communists or otherwise — we come to the case of a certain Jhon Isidor, a University of the Philippines Cebu alumnus and former Kabataan party-list Cebu spokesperson, who was killed in an armed encounter in Kabankalan City. His death is yet another example of how the CPP-NPA-NDF continues to systematically recruit students into the insurgency.
It is also a tragic case of how “critical thinking” has been distorted into blind ideological commitment. Kabataan party-list can no longer plausibly deny or distance itself from this outcome. To mourn Supelanas while continuing to endorse an ideology that radicalizes young people and sends them into armed conflict is, frankly, the epitome of hypocrisy.
They condemn his death as state-sponsored terrorism, yet in the same breath glorify the New People’s Army as “freedom fighters” and call for a “people’s war.” You cannot claim to reject violence while romanticizing the ideology that sustains it. Should we be surprised by this contradiction? Not at all.
I’m reminded of the early 1970s, when a certain coffee shop in Malate became a hub for wannabe anarchists, pseudo-communists, and self-proclaimed activists. They’d huddle in a corner, whispering as if plotting the next revolution. Always in uniform — Che Guevara or Mao-printed shirts, red-star caps — they played the part well.
Since I knew most of them, I’d walk over and, in a loud voice, joke: “So, have you recruited any pretty girls lately for the communist movement?” They would quickly glance over their shoulders and whisper, “Shh… the military might hear you. And no, we’re not communists.” Hypocrisy in full display — desperate to look the part but too scared to admit what they claimed to stand for.
Back then, most of us went to university not to overthrow the government but to enjoy life. We were teenagers bursting with hormones. I went to college to get high, get laid, and play football — not necessarily in that order. I somehow managed to accomplish all three and even walked away with a diploma.
This isn’t about me, of course, but I share that to paint a picture of what university life was like. We had our tribes: the hippies, the jocks, the pseudo-intellectuals, the artists (dancers, thespians, musicians, and writers), the strait-laced students who actually cared about their degrees, and, of course, the losers.
For most male students, it was all about impressing the girls. Hippie girls gravitated toward hippie boys. Artistic girls paired off with artistic types. The jocks, unsurprisingly, were the most popular and drew the most attention. Meanwhile, the ones we now call nerds often graduated with their diplomas — and their virginity — intact.
Then there were the losers, desperate to stand out. Their gimmick? Become an “activist.” They somehow believed that parading around campus in a Che Guevara or Mao Zedong shirt, red-star cap on their head, and brooding like mysterious anarchists would make them appealing. It didn’t. It only made their desperation more obvious./PN
