Cute vs acute

Netnet Camomot

MANNY Pacquiao must be celebrating another victory while you’re reading this.

Or a loss.

But how would I know? I’m no David Blaine.

Wait, can Blaine predict the future? I do know he could stay inside a block of ice for more than 60 hours. But, predict the future? Hmmm.

I’m writing this on a sunny Saturday morning, not exactly waiting with bated breath for Pacman’s fight. I’m more interested in what he does as a senator.

Or in that Facebook Live video where he’s buying bread—all kinds of bread—from a bakery whose sales staff had only one thing in mind: photo ops with him.

He has been there, done that in boxing—no more surprises there, ho-hum.

It’s when people do the opposite of their public image that others notice them in a new light—that’s a given. Thus, when Pacman reads a speech written in English, and it makes his audience listen, we notice everything—his speech, the way he pronounces each English word, his audience’s focused attention on him, and we wonder, Why? How is this possible? Then, you see an American guy near the stage, tinkering with his laptop. And somehow you have an aha moment: Aha! Public image team!

The one with an interesting public image that’s maintained and sustained throughout his journey in this oh so cruel world, wins most of the time. Kung sa Bisaya pa, konsistent!

Operative word: interesting.

So, there’s President Rody Duterte blurting out curses. Anyone who doesn’t care about what people say, can do that. But the interesting part is this: the president’s fans find his curses amusing. They used to, anyway. Nowadays, his curses are losing their luster. What may catch their attention is if he starts praising God in his speeches, press conferences, and Cabinet meetings. That will be the day, huh? He says, May God almighty shower His blessings on us. And we’re all like, Whaaaaat?! It becomes breaking news, fills up Facebook News Feeds, banner story: President Digong Invokes God. Unless he has already done that at least once and I missed that breaking news.

Define interesting. Because the “interesting” part should be the one consistent. It’s when the character is allowed to evolve up to a level that the public can learn to accept. Accept, not merely tolerate. Because tolerance means you can hardly stomach the character’s eccentricities. Acceptance, on the other hand, means you can embrace that character and all its, what, unicorn transformations?

And the character should emit confidence, not insecurity. No hesitance at all in whatever it chooses to do. Once the decision is made, that’s it. 100-percent focus.

That’s why “uhm” is strictly prohibited in speeches or any public-speaking exposure. Because behind that “uhm” is this thought bubble: I don’t know what to say, may God almighty save me from this speech, beam me up, Scotty, please!

Making pa-cute is also strictly prohibited unless you’re Sharon Cuneta because age doesn’t matter when it comes to Ate Shawie, she can always “carry” cute. The rest of the senior-moment madlang pehpohl, however, cannot “carry” cute and should never be allowed to “carry” cute.

Not even any of those young loveteams in Pinoy showbiz can “carry” cute because somehow we know they’re no longer at that age when they can be cute. Hey, Nadine Lustre has been voted as the sexiest woman in Pinas, per FHM’s poll. That’s sexiest, not cutest.

Imagine FHM’s Comelec seriously following its standard operating procedures for that poll. Interesting, isn’t it? How serious could a sexiest-woman poll get?

Babies are cute. The Energizer Bunny is cute. Miss Piggy is cute.

And the opposite of cute is acute.

When the sexiest woman is the 14-year-old Andrea Brillantes, that’s acute. When the pathetic copycat desperately tries to be someone else, that’s acute. When the Marawi siege keeps on going and going like an Energizer Bunny on a perpetual sugar rush, that’s acute.

If that siege is still ongoing as you’re reading this, ambot na lang! While the government already has a multi-year plan and multi-billion funds for Marawi’s rehabilitation and rebuilding, the siege continues to reduce some of the city’s houses and buildings to rubble. That’s definitely acute.

But the government’s optimism for Marawi is necessary. It gives all Pinoys the chance to own the peace they wish for.