Nowadays people have grown fond of creating parody accounts and memes out of certain themes, people, and happenings. For example, one of the more popular victims of parody are politicians—the Internet loves making jokes about their appearances, impressions and shortcomings. It gets people entertained at one point or another, and lightens the mood from the problems at hand. I, for one, am one of these entertainers, to be honest. Although, what has this exactly done for us? Is laughter still the best medicine, given our country’s ills?

Illustration by Benildean Press Corps

Given how problematic the headlines can sometimes be, the resilience and positivity that comes along with our culture as Filipinos is one thing to appreciate, but not something to fully imitate. People fail to realize the gravity of certain problems and issues as they are presented with fronts rather than the facts. Humor may temporarily keep people sane, but it is not the solution. Don’t get me wrong, I’m not asking people to stop laughing it off when things get tough, and I’m definitely not saying that I know the way out of all our problems—I just wish people would pay more attention and discuss political matters with the same enthusiasm and vigor that netizens come up with twenty million tweets about Aldub—though yes, Alden Richards is one lovely tweetheart.

I just wish people would pay more attention and discuss political matters with the same enthusiasm and vigor that netizens come up with twenty million tweets about Aldub.

It’s highly enjoyable to keep throwing out puns like “Napoles is such a motherpork-er,” or “pork this shit,” and not give a damn about anything. However, these pork barrel memes, burnt-Binay commentaries and love-related “hugots” about the inefficiency of the MRT don’t really invoke any action at the moment, when these issues should be seen as alarming. If people can take the time to photoshop politicians and consistently tweet political impersonations, then they should also be able to allot time to responsibly be informed about and respond to the political issues concerned. According to my best-friend-and-ticket-to-graduation, Google, a government is a nation, state, or community that is for and by the people. “By the people” means that we (the Aldub nation, Pastillas girl, and even James “Gorgeous” Reid) are part of it; that we too hold the responsibility to contribute to the well-being of our country and not just leave our nation’s fate to the officials. For all we know, they’re having a better laugh than us because they’re partly living off our taxes.

If people can take the time to photoshop politicians and consistently tweet political impersonations, then they should also be able to allot time to responsibly be informed about and respond to the political issues concerned.

There is nothing wrong with resorting to humor or entertainment when you just want to evaporate from all the chaos around you. We all need a break (except heartbreaks, we don’t want those) at one point or another so as to not burn ourselves out. However, people tend to cling to temporary detachments and mistake them as norms, as if having politicians steal our parents’ blood, sweat and tears is totally okay. Therefore, it’s important that we also provide time to redirect ourselves on more productive activities. Simply exchanging opinions on political matters with your friends online actually count (Just don’t go shoving your opinions down their throat, or expect Word War I).

We all need a break at one point or another so as to not burn ourselves out.

Maybe the humorous comments, parodies and memes concerning politicians and national issues have catered to your “give-me-a-break” needs, but then again you’ll still be dealing with reality afterwards. Wouldn’t it be nice to have a laugh without having the trains breaking down on you, or paying your taxes knowing that it won’t be spent on someone else’s birthday celebration abroad? I am not prohibiting laughter nor am I tolerating poking fun at officials either—go on and laugh, but think about what you’ll do after.