LETTERS FROM THE AGNO

March L. Fianza
Horses with blinders misrepresenting masses

The Japanese movie “The Blind Horseman” tells of a blind swordsman who, despite his handicap is still focused and can hit his target enemy. But what I saw in the TV screen made my imagination run wild as the ruling administration’s temporary allies in congress, with their brand of blind loyalty threw away the impeachment case against their master. They acted, not like the heroic blind horsemen, but horses with blinders.

For as long as congressmen, in disregard of the welfare of a people, act like horses with blinders and follow the dictates of an ally and master, forget about impeaching an allegedly sinful president.

Blinders on a horse’s eyes are devices used by the master to tell the animal that it is not trusted with the full use of its brain. It is also a kinder way to tell the horse that the master wants to use its body without using its mind.

Comparable to trained horses who independently know when to move, there are independent-minded congressmen who represent their district with sincerity. I can not see that with the others who do not carry a bit of the people’s sentiment about issues.

Instead, they become congress representatives of a party master. They do not have to think or see the truth around them because their blinders prevent them from doing so.

In other words, the use of blinders over the horse’s eyes tells the animal that the master does not fully trust how it would use its brain if it could fully see what is going on around. But that’s okay, as long as the horse is focused on getting things done – that is to quash the impeachment case in exchange for a reward.

The master can not allow the alliance of horses to open their eyes to everything, otherwise, the animals will be disturbed and an impeachment case might prosper. Without the blinders, a horse’s movements become unpredictable.

Contrary to putting blinders on a horse, “trust is supposed to be openness, not covering things up.” With the blinders, the horse is kept from distraction and fear. But though its eyes have been covered by blinders, the horse yields (temporary) loyalty to the master because its mind has been conditioned to know that its body is secured.

A horse with blinders performs its job without mutual trust from its handler which is more desirable. Instead, handlers highly value “fear factor” with the use of blinders, which is reason for the horse to get things done.

If you cover a horse’s ability to see what is happening around, the more it will expand its imagination of things that are not really there. The horse becomes obediently blind but at the same time expects to receive rewards from its master. The horse with blinders focuses on its master’s goal while thinking of personal interests. The fear factor is still there.

On the other hand, horses with no blinders see the truth around them and act according to the prevailing situation against the wishes of their master. The fear factor is not there and there is no blind loyalty to a master.

There may be party loyalty among the horses without blinders but later, that stops somewhere. As one congressman said in the first impeachment attempt against President GMA, “loyalty to party ends where loyalty to nation begins.”

President Erap’s impeachment case is entirely a different scenario. The horses allied to him were not using blinders so that although they were reined, their movements were wayward, not in unison.

This eventuality opened an opportunity for a power grab. In fact the impeachment proceedings did not close satisfactorily because personal interests overshadowed the proceedings and apparently, rules were changed in the middle of the game.

Erap was unlucky because the rules that were applied were no rules at all. The playing field even more became uneven when constitutional processes were not followed, accompanied by separate assemblies of masses having their own private interests.

Some say that they are satisfied that the people got what they want when Erap was ousted. Others say they are happy that Erap is out but they are not happy with the manner it was done. Other Erap allies regret that things happened the way they did not want to and they now feel guilty for helping GMA grab power.

But what really hurts for many is when horses with blinders bestow power to a master who is looked up to as a hero or heroine, but becomes an oppressive despot in the end. – ozram.666@gmail.com