How Filipinos objectified Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau during the #APEC2015 summit

Nakakahiya na rin!! First it was the Mexican people’s calling out Filipinos for our baffling beholdenness to the looks of their president Enrique Peña Nieto. Now we get a veiled lecture from Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau to focus more on what is real rather than on the merely superficial.

Canadian Prime Minister and 'APEC Hottie' Justin Trudeau is married with kids. (Source: Huffington Post)

Canadian Prime Minister and ‘APEC Hottie’ Justin Trudeau is married with kids.
(Source: Huffington Post)

I can only thank the hordes of netizens who “trended” the hashtag #APEChottie. Jesus Christ. It’s no wonder we elect so many dumb showbiz stars to lead us. A pretty European face is a big enough dopamine fix to divert intellectual faculties away from what is important and what matters. It’s no wonder ditzes like Alma Moreno can actually seriously consider running for the Philippine Senate!

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The difference here is that these “APEC Hotties” Filipinos are trying to cut down to the level of their vacuous celebs are, on the inside, the real deals.

Trudeau’s message to us already sounds all-too-familiar because it has been all too often repeated

He went on to share a lesson he learned from his father – the late former Prime Minister Pierre Trudeau – to set aside “positive impressions that weren’t grounded in reality” and instead focus on “substance.”

“What I also had to learn is that there were a lot of people who liked my father and liked me for reasons entirely unrelated to who I actually was, and I had to learn to set aside positive impressions that weren’t grounded in reality,” Trudeau said.

Positive impressions not grounded in reality.

The trouble with this manner with which we objectify people is that our perceptions of reality suffer. When we see a video of a kid dancing to the tune of “Happy” in the midst of the rubble left by Haiyan in Tacloban and slap the experience with the label “positive vibes”, we kind of ingrain it in our minds that everything will be alright now. And, guess what, important lessons remain unlearned. But, hey, that’s the “power of positivity” we are told by all these Chopran bozos that infest our social media timelines. We focus on possibilities rather than hindrances when we remain “positive”.

I don’t think so.

Just like the way the devil is in the detail, the lessons are in the negatives. The reason we work hard on getting a good education is because we recognize at the time we set out on that journey that our brains are empty and have yet to be filled. We decide to get an education because of a tacit admission that the glass is half empty rather than live by the hubris of thinking that our brains are glasses that are half-full.

Looks and pedigrees hands down win elections in the Philippines.

Looks and pedigrees hands down win elections in the Philippines.

Justin Trudeau will likely win a Philippine election not just because Filipinas all over the archipelago will drop their panties for him but because he has a political pedigree, being the son of long-serving former Canadian Prime Minister Pierre Trudeau. Sounds familiar?

But did Justin Trudeau become the prime minister of Canada because of his looks or because of his pedigree? Perhaps there was a bit of that at work. But to suggest so as if those were the only criteria that matter in Canadian politics will likely insult Canadian voters to the bone. And Filipino voters? Filipino voters see no problem with being renowned for their penchant for voting on the basis of looks and pedigree platforms. (Obviously current Philippine President BS Aquino won on the basis of the latter)

And therein lies what sets apart the women from the teenage ditzes. Ditzes wear their ditziness with pride. Grown women look back to their years of being ditzes fondly but embrace their present self-assured maturity.

I suppose we could thank the paralysis Metro Manila suffered during this year’s APEC summit. When a mega-city like Manila grinds to a halt for an entire week, guess what, tens of millions of Filipinos are idled. And it goes without saying that idle minds spell trouble. But hey, I’ll put a positive spin to this mess and propose that at least these idle minds set themselves to the task of perving over Trudeau and Nieto. In other ghettoes around the world, idle minds fall prey to worse things — like the seductively radicalizing views of AK47-wielding false prophets.

In that regard, there is reason to be “thankful”. It could have been worse, right? 😀

21 Replies to “How Filipinos objectified Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau during the #APEC2015 summit”

  1. Well true enough, we lack what they called on the other side of earth “decency”. It seems as if we lack respect to ourselves. Wala na sa pahanon ngayon ang Maria Clara sabi nga nila. o wala lang talaga tsk.

    1. “Maria Clara” was from an ancient era…the world has moved on…Some “Maria Clara” became: “Mario Claro”, thru sex changes or sex reassignments.

  2. I think people are overthingking too much negative on the APEChottie.
    I actually think this help put more attention to APEC.
    The people who are concern with APEC issues will certainly not make them less interested on the issues because of the APEChotttie. But those who have zero interest/awareness in apec that suddenly became aware because of APEChottie have the potential to see beyond the hotties and see the real purpose of APEC.

    And Filipinos always try to find entertaining things on serious matters. It helps us keep positive.

    1. The question here is: will these FIlipinos who focused on the leaders’ looks alone still remember any APEC-related issue in, say, two weeks’ time?

      Most likely not. Most of them will in all likelihood return back to fawning over their noontime variety show love teams.

  3. This articles, as well as the comments made by Pinays on Facebook, proves that they are after the appeal of the likes of Trudeau and Peña Nieto. Sad to say, they don’t care about the real issues discussed on APEC.

  4. #‎canadatakebackyourtrash got lost in the garbage of #apechottie. Dumb/stupid hashtags in serious and solemn events should be a cyber crime.

  5. Why am I not even surprised? Hell, his and Nieto’s good looks were the huge-ass headline on PDI yesterday. Gahhh~ I hate women here a lot of times. They’re okay portraying themselves as dumb blondes, or maybe just plain dumb, and not just on social media, since that’s just a reflection of who they are in real life.

  6. He doesn’t even look that much of a stud. Just look at that butter face. But I guess when surrounded by a bunch of crusty old dudes, he must look like Fabio then.

  7. Clever is when one is crafty enough to mistake your imagination for intelligence. Smart is when one assumes they are too educated to notice the difference.

  8. Canada’s Prime Minister Trudeau’s message to the Filipinos will never penetrate their thick skulls. Mexicans have the : Spanish, French and native Indian blood. So, some Mexicans look more like Europeans. French invaded Mexico to colonize it…some of the French soldiers, stayed and become Mexicans.

    Filipinos have the “Culture of Stupidity”…in addition to the : “Culture of Corruption”…

    Corruption can be minimized, if we try to do it. However, I don’t know how to minimize: Stupidity. Maybe, we could synthesize , a “Smart DNA”, inject them to stupid Filipinos. Then, we have “Smart Filipinos”…OMG…am I playing the: “Wizard of Oz”?

  9. Going by the revealing spontaneous reaction of today’s ‘Filipina’ upon laying eyes Canada’s Justin Trudeau and Mexico’s Enrique Pena Nieto.. ‘in-the-flesh’.. I wouldn’t doubt the sterling chances that a Richard Gomez, a Piolo Pascual or a Daniel Padilla would have should they file their candidacy for any elective post today. “Objectification” is much too bland and civilized a word to describe this involuntary ogling and daydreaming; which, in the context of the ‘Filipina’ electorate translates to irrational choices of candidates. Now, since I am an “equal opportunity critic”.. (to borrow a phrase of a good blogger in these pages), I must say something about our male voters. Given their voyeuristic tendencies, I might take back what I said about Alma Moreno being a ‘hapless’ figure in ‘wily’ Jejomar Binay’s slate. It seems, indeed, that the Philippines is all about ‘Showbiz’ and ‘Politics’ and hardly anything else. “Mediocre” is probably a word much too high for our electorate’s pay-grade.

  10. Maybe we filipinos have been fed for too long a time steroid and antibiotics grown chicken and eggs. Our fondness for good looking guys I suspect has to do with diminished testosterone and progesterone caused by too much roids in the poultry we gobble evryday. Nevermind the lack of talent and the capability to the assigned task. One of your bloggers appropriately called it kabaklaan culture.

  11. Turdeau is a flavor of the month or a fad,, Within 6 months the Canadian public will sick of him too.
    He lives in a rich district of Montreal and on a fat trust fund.
    He only got in , because the people were tired of the right winger that was in power. So he basically fell into his position, just like Cory Aquino.

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