WITHOUT any doubt, like iconic bystanders (or istambays, in the local jargon) practically inhabiting front benches of roadside sari-sari stores, we have, at last, become our own perfect version of fence-sitters.
All this done in the comfort of our homes and hiding behind the security of our LED screens. As stambays, we’re not merely contented with the incessant flow of vehicles; we’re also expectant witnesses to parades of all kinds, and, once in a while, circus acts even.
Now, if these were treated as belonging in the metaphorical realm, their counterpart, pathetic reality, would then be, as stambays, we’ve also become passive witnesses to this circus: governments, dumb politicians, deep-seated corruption, and all that’s turning whirlpool-y around us.
While we may whine and moan as we watch, the truth is, we hide in the comfort that, at least and perhaps for the moment, we are detached from that reality because we have our own skins to worry about. It’s a cop-out excuse and a miserable one at that, but deep inside we feel it’s not our concern for the moment.
But just how long is the moment? There is only one measure… It’s “until it happens to us.”
As one gets lulled in the reverie and comfort of being safely inside and looking out, it’s difficult to acknowledge that other people matter. As stambays merely glancing at each full jeepney racing past, it’s hard to imagine that, nestled inside each vehicle, are individuals living separate lives and undergoing different struggles.
In a sense, this physical detachment from the wake of the continuous parade flying past deeply influences how we think and accept whatever comes.
Particularly in this era of the Internet, our senses are continuously bombarded. Like a one giant roadway, lined with surreal side street diversions and roundabouts which in turn, lead to other hidden paths and destinations, it’s a virtual rabbit hole, and everyone’s sense of perspective is sure to wander and get lost.
While, on one hand, there are those who view it as a fountain where knowledge endlessly springs from, it is likewise a Pandora’s Box of sorts, whereby both misinformation and disinformation fill its many lanes, like the familiar potholes in our roads and highways.
Whether we admit it or not, it’s this bystander mindset that has affected behavior when it comes to our people-to-people relations.
We have become impersonal. In social media, for example, a more heightened confrontative, in-your-face stance has emerged through the years, and experts say this is mainly because of the internet’s and social media’s cloaking attribute, which creates a barrier between parties.
For so-called trolls, it has become easier to shame and bully others because they are virtually invisible. Because of this, one psychologist has said, “In terms of public shaming, we are currently operating at our lowest level as a species right now.”
So, in the end, the images of two realities merge: sitting outside Aling Nene’s sari-sari store watching a never-ending line of jeepneys pass by and that of sitting somewhere now, sifting through a mix of the net’s cocktail of news, fake news, junk, and whatever mis-, dis-, or information that comes your way.
