Warp

WARP. Noun. Most probably coined before the 12th century, from the Old English wearp, akin to Old High German warf warp; the Old English weorpan meant to throw; and the Old Norse verpa. 1 a: a series of yarns extended lengthwise in a loom and crossed by the weft b: foundation, base [the warp of the economic structure is agriculture — American Guide Series: North Carolina]2: a rope for warping or mooring a ship or boat3 [2warp] a: a twist or curve that has developed in something originally flat or straight [a warp in a door panel] b: A MENTAL ABERRATION. {from good old Merriam and Webster}

I feel I just came from a wormhole and warped back to reality. It's been exactly a month since I last posted here. A lot has happened since April 26, including Angels and Demons, Star Trek and well... BFF. Welcome back to me.

Speaking of StarTrek, that classic popularized the word warp with "warp drive technology" being the posited power behind interstellar travel within the Federation of Planets. In the star trek universe, having knowledge of warping or travelling faster than light meant the difference between being “developed” enough to be invited into the Federation or being just a case study for Vulcans to surreptitiously gawk at in their fascinatingly logical way.

My ecstasy at being able to watch Startrek on the big screen (again) and reveling in the resuscitation of this great sci-fi tradition has been diminished by the current stream of events. As soon as I stepped out of the cool comfort of the cinema, I warp back to Philippine reality… allow me to ramble on and summarize my most unsettling observations for the past three weeks…

• The Great Book Blockade has been simmering. I wonder if my my Star Trek books fall under the category of “educational materials.” Well, I learned a lot from them. I became more interested in science and learning because of Mr. Spock. The Spock character inspired me to explore Logic. Tolkien’s Elvish poems reintroduced me to poetry. Bram’s Stoker’s Dracula tittilated the Gothic side of me. Hmmm… These books can really be dangerous. Perhaps they must be burned.

• N1H1 Ewan. More people die of malaria everyday than this N1H1 flu strain. So what is the fuss all about, really? The point probably is that there are those getting richer and more publicity with money and policy attention now being focused on this virus. But the social roots of the problem is still left largely undiscussed. Here in the Philippines, the (a)Cute Economist has just found a way to score publicity points with kids as she modeled the way of properly washing ones hands. We just wonder how this hand washing exercise sounds to people with no regular source of potable water in this country because of government’s weaknesses in basic public service delivery. At any rate, perhaps GMA is indeed a good model on this matter after all. Magaling naman siya maghugas kamay ‘di po ba?

• Kagubatang Kho at Katrina. Only last year, September 10, 2008, news raised the alarm that “The Philippines lost forest cover at a rate of 2.1 percent every year from 2000 to 2005, the fastest in southeast Asia and the seventh in the world, said Juan Echanove, a project officer of the Delegation of the European Commission to the Philippines.” No wonder that May 21 this year came and went without nothing as hot as the Kho-Katrina copulation being celebrated by our most repressed and most civil society and its equally perverted mass media. May 21? Oh, that is just the World Forest Day. Di na magubat and Pinas. Makapal pa ang buhok sa dibdib ni Hayden Kho at ang mukha ng ilang mga kabilang sa usaping ito kesa sa ating kagubatan.

• Cannoning CARPER Crusaders. And then to top it all off, just yesterday at Congress, cannons were aimed at CARPER (agrarian reform) advocates and they were violently dispersed. For a more personal account of this experience in fascism, see http://capacio.wordpress.com/. Speaker Nograles has just shown us all what a Klingon-Ferengi-Jem’Hadar hybrid he really is -- for the non-Trekkies: that means ASS. Well, what can you expect from this regime and its puppets? The farmers and their supporters wanted to remind Congress of the need to pass this most urgent bill on Agrarian Reform. But what do they get? A bashing from creatures with primeval brains. "We spend a lot of (pause) efforts to keep this place clean…" said Nograles as he tried to defend his order to disperse the farmers who were outside the halls of Congress. What can I say? Can I say PUT@#$%^&+*&=#O Nograles hindi dumi ang mga magsasakang nag-aalaga ng kaning kinakain natin sa araw-araw? Oooopppsss… What did I just say?

Warped interests lead to warped logic, which leads to warped priorities, which lead to warped ways. If only we could warp out of this reality. But sci-fi characters we are not. We can only learn from StarTrek. That is, if we choose to.

By the way, June 5 is just around the corner. In case we forget again, that’s the World Environment Day. I wonder what video will come out next to overshadow our more important concerns on that day. The Belo video anyone?

Warp 9. Engage!