Why do Filipinos do this to themselves every "ber" months? Don't we have anything better to spend our time on? Do we just detest moments of calm, peace, quiet, and some silence conducive to a thinking brain? Do we really hate the idea of head-down, blinders-on, everyday hard work without fanfare that much? Probably the answer is a "Yes" to all of the above. And in addition, as if these reasons are not depressing enough, we seem to also love getting other people in the same depressing hole we are in, because misery apparently really loves company.
This is where "Wowowin Economics" enter. In a nutshell, it is "sayaw ka muna, iyak ka muna, tapos 5,000." It is making people dance on strings first, tell personal sob stories, just so they can get their hands on some money. It is the practice of paying self-debasing, humiliating, and undignified acts. It is the idea that to get ahead you need to put other people down. Then, what do we do when we are rightfully degraded but flushed with cash? The answer: the longest Christmas celebration in the world where no one is allowed to talk about "nega" things for the whole "ber" months and where we drown loneliness with bright, fairy lights and loud pop carols cause a (not so)famous international pop diva somewhere needs royalty money again and who better to milk than a pre-humiliated, unthinking crowd.
