Jan-jan’s Abuse and the Middle Class Disconnect

NO DOUBT ABOUT IT. What Willie Revillame made Jan-jan do in an episode of his popular primetime show is wrong. It is very probable that the humiliation and psychological torture Jan-jan experienced under the crowd of Willing Willie may leave an indelible imprint of a hostile society in his young psyche. But even if Friedrich Nietzsche is right, that what doesn't kill you makes you stronger (and I do hope than Jan-jan would come out of this a stronger person), it should have been a decision an adult Jan-jan would have to make, not Revillame. Revillame should be dealt with according to our laws.

The dozens of articles I read written by various "concerned citizens" through facebook, blogs, and columns on the topic had a unanimous verdict on the Revillame’s show. That in itself is not interesting. What is interesting is that they were puzzled by the seeming indifferent stance by Jan-jan’s parents. Why did they let their son do that demeaning dance? Are they bad parents? The parents are equally puzzled by the reaction of these "concerned citizens". “What’s the big deal?” - they seem to be thinking.

Class Struggle and the Radicalizing “Middle Class”

Working class in a changing landscape [1]

By Emmanuel M. Hizon and James Matthew Miraflor

“When political analysts ask, ‘Where are the middle forces, they who triumphed at the two Edsas [people power uprisings]?’ I am tempted to answer: At Starbucks, drinking an iced venti latte."

-Raul Pangalangan, Starbucks and
the Class Struggle

Rationale

Now that another political uprising, on the tradition of EDSA, is slowly gaining ground, brought about by the aborted ZTE NBN deal implicating once more Mrs. Arroyo, the role of what had been dubbed as the “middle class” or the more politically correct term “middle force” in such an upheaval is again slowly entering social discourses. Regardless of how we define the nature and composition of such middle class, its potent capacity to introduce change is already assumed in many progressive and reform-oriented circles, so much so that formations such as the Black and White movement (B&W) explicitly labels itself as a group which has its purpose to organize the disgruntled members of the middle class in its effort to oust the “evil” Arroyo regime.

But how do we characterize the middle class and its members?