Shameless Shoo-Li

While reading about the quirks and quandary that besets our society, I try to latch on some public figures that feed my idealist tendencies. Unfortunately, these figures eventually succumb to the dark side.

I still remember back in the late 80s that a certain Commissioner of Immigration and Deportation would eat death threats for breakfast and take congressmen to task (whom she would lovingly call “fungus-faced”). Now, she’s at the beck and call of the Empress and when she was caught reneging on her promise to jump off an airplane, she just says she lied (cue in the maniacal laughter).

Or how about our local Dirty Harry who launched a shame campaign against drug dealers and was the darling of the Yellow Queen, but clung on to the Action Hero and did his bidding even when it was against public trust?

The latest one to break my heart was Mr. Shoo-Li of Mongolian Barbecue fame. He used to host a talk show (Mongolian Barbecue) and invited government officials (fake and eventually real ones). He pretended to be a Mongolian and talked with an ethnic Ongpin Chinoy accent. He would discuss issues at hand and make fun of the crassness that passes for our politics. He would be the outsider to the system (like most of us actually) who would make us think why things are what they are.

Mr. Shoo-Li was ably played by Jun Urbano, a noted director. (He based his character on his father’s portrayal of Genghis/Kublai Khan, I forget which.)

I feel betrayed now because there’s a commercial of him saying that change should begin from ground up, since rallies and any complaining against the system is counterproductive. (And then he ends up going to the rally after his sidekick tells him that there’s P500 for him if he joins.)

This is just parroting the Empire’s line, since this absolves the Empire from any responsibility, when in fact, we disobey the rules because we see that our leaders have that much respect for it in the first place. Our leaders’ degree of influence is indicative of how much they follow what is right (oops, please watch out for dripping sarcasm). So the lesson here is that if you want to improve your lot in life like what our leaders have done, either play the game or ship out (the latter of which is a more appealing option to most of us).