[Editor?s Note: Below you will find Mister Vader (a blogger) blast, along with Michael Marley?s Response. Picture of Mister Vader to the left.]
What the eff is going on here?!?
Seriously, what voices got into Manny’s head for him to think for one moment that he was going to make a great mayor?
I’ve said this before and I’ll say this again… if you’re going to make a head count of Pacquiao’s fans, feel free to count me out. Let him be the great boxer that he is, but I won’t place him in the pantheon of great athletes who fight for our country whom I admire and respect.
What makes a Manny Pacquiao different from a Paeng Nepomuceno or an Efren ?Bata? Reyes? I think one word sums it up more than anything else: ostentatiousness.
Manny Pacquiao makes oodles of money for his boxing career. That’s his right. That’s his prerogative. However, as far as I’m concerned, he’s already claimed his ?reward? for being a great boxer. He’s fought for himself, for his family, but to extend that to the country is stretching it a bit too much. It’s the ostentatiousness that really grates on my nerves, because while he’s having a mansion built, there are so many people just outside his doorstep who are starving, and dying, even then.
I’m not going to be unreasonable and say Manny Pacquiao should be a messiah to the Filipino people, but that’s exactly my point. Manny’s hype machine has marketed him precisely as a neo-messiah meant to elevate the Filipino’s stature by example. He has allowed himself to be hyped as a messiah, and that’s the bluff I’m calling him out on. He can’t do everything, so what business does he have leading people on to believe that he can?
MARLEY RESPONDS: I guess you weren’t there, pal, when Manny walked on
water. I guess you weren’t there, pal, when Manny signed 12 boxing promotional contracts from 12 different promoters, carefully reading each line, in just five minutes. I guess you weren’t there, pal, when Pacman turned water into frosty San Miguels. None are so blind as…
Now, he’s running for mayor. And exactly what does he intend to do as a mayor? What is his platform? Where does he intend to go with this? I don’t doubt his ability to win, but I sincerely question his ability to lead. He is the epitome of a figurehead. He will inspire people, but inspiration is not enough to go by. He needs to be capable of addressing the issues the people who will end up under him would be bringing to his plate.
I wish he wouldn’t run, but it looks like he’s all set to do it. He’s going to throw heaps upon heaps of money into a campaign that could instead have gone to charity or to more productive means of helping the country, if that’s his intention. Is he going to end up just letting the people around him go over his head? Then that proves he’s nothing more than a figurehead.
MARLEY RESPONDS: Pacman’s professional problems are not related to being a figurehead. They are related to overly liberal use of his fountain pen. He must like to write his name a lot. Just look at all the managers, promoters, advisers he had along the way. And like President Bush did when Rumsfeld wore out his White House welcome, Manny gets rid of these irritants when it suits him. That’s a hallmark of great political leadership, son.
I’m tired of unqualified celebrities running for public office. From the inutile Robert Jaworski to the divisive Joseph Estrada to the myriad other celebrities who have no business being in public office, I’m just really dismayed over this neverending trend that fame is the only qualification necessary to have a successful political career in this country, forget everything else.
Just a few months ago, you pretty much said that you’d rather ?serve? your country by boxing because politics isn’t for you. Where are those words now? Am I going to lump you now into this category of people who lie through their teeth, including exquisite examples like Miriam Defensor-Santiago (?For the sake of my son who has passed on, I am leaving politics.?), Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo (?I am not running for president!?), and Imelda Marcos (?Nobody was hurt during Martial Law.?)? I was never a fan of you, and now, I feel a strong repulsion to the two-faced, facetious manner this political career you insist on having has evolved into.
MARLEY RESPONDS: Are you even old enough to vote? Old enough to cross the street by yourself? I enjoy your poison pen, sir, but your country has “politicians who lie through their teeth”? You ought to come to the good, old USA, son, where our political hacks lie like dogs. In fact, they often lay down next to dogs, including some dirty dogs. Why don’t you google the name Jack Abramoff if you want to see what kind of filthy fleas we have on this side of the pond. Wake up, son, politics makes boxing look like a nursery school! I mean, look at it this way, no president of a world boxing body has ever been impeached! I will admit a few have gone to jail but they need vacations anyway.
Ano ba talaga ang gusto mo? Maglingkod sa bayan? Diba, sabi mo, sa boksing, sapat na ang inspirasyon na ginagawa mo para sa iyong mga kababayan? Nasaan na ang mga pinagsasabi mo?
Do I need to enumerate what makes him unqualified? He wasn’t even a high school graduate. He has a busy schedule because he is a professional boxer who has to stay in shape and train a lot. He has never had any political experience, and he’s going to launch into one at the prime of his boxing career. His idea of helping people out is the same idea Willie Revillame employs in Wowowee: throwing money in their direction. He has no platform. He’s going to let his friends with political design be the one to form his entire campaign for him. He doesn’t know how to double-check anyone in his inner circle.
MARLEY RESPONDS: Never thought you would stop this low. Are you on the take, the payroll of a Pacman opponent? You sound like an ingrate. Education ain’t everything. So what if Manny is not a gud speler? So what if the only thing that kept him out of the sixth grade was the fifth grade. Ever notice how many political crooks are liars, I mean lawyers? Being undereducated helps Manny walk with the commoners. He always makes time to walk the streets and talk to the hoi polloi (which means you and your lot). What the people of Gensan want and need is: Mayor Manny Now! Mayor Manny Tomorrow! Mayor Manny Forever or at least until he has to move to Manila to take over the whole country. If Manny goes to one of those G-7 world conferences, he will be the richest president in the room except for those Arab oil barons. As far as training and staying in shape, no problem. Manny’s trainer, Freddie Roach, is booked up until October, 2009, so he told Manny to take a jog in between his State Of Gensan speeches.
Do I need to go on at length with this? He’s a figurehead, plain and simple. Sadly, he’s beginning to believe his own hype. He’s beginning to have a messianic complex, thinking that he can enter politics and do a load of good. I don’t care if his intentions are true and honest. The road to Hades is paved with good intentions.
MARLEY RESPONDS: Are you the Antichrist we always hear about? No wonder your call this Blog 666, you devil you. Manny was born in one of the few mangers anyone has ever seen in your country in swaddling clothes and all that. It is written that Three Wise Fight Promoters came to the manger in Bukidnon bearing gold, frankincense and myyr. Fortunately, Manny was too young to play with pointed objects then so no one gave him a pen and no promotional deals were signed at this immaculate reception thank you, Mary! I wish that there was video of the Gifts Of The Manny Magi. Star light, star bright.
I know I’m going to hear the tired and old ?crab mentality? argument on this. I know I’m going to have people tell me na ang kapal ng mukha ko kasi sarili ko na ngang kababayang hinahangaan ng mga Pilipino, sinisiraan ko pa. To that, I have two words: so what?
Why do we cling onto so blindly onto any scraps of ?nationalistic pride? we can find by pinning our hopes on someone else? Why can’t we take pride in ourselves, and not in some other who’s making a slight dent in the international scene?
MARLEY RESPONDS: “A slight dent in the international scene”? That may be the biggest understatement since someone remarked that the late Anna Nicole was a bit “chesty.” Pacman has helped make my web site (plug, plug) .BOXINGCONFIDENTIAL.COM a worldwide sensation in less than three months. We’ve found out that Pacman has fans in every nation on Bob Arum’s Little Green Earth. The man has beaten down more Mexicans than tequila shots ever did and yet Manny is considered mas macho and persona simpatico all over Mexico! Living in Manhattan I tap into the United Nations scene quite often. I can now reveal that Mayor Manny will address the UN General Assembly before year’s end. Just, please, keep that down low and hush. “A slight dent”….yeah, like The Beatles made “a slight dent” on the music scene.
I called it before: Batista would be a source of national pride because he’s a WWE Champion, never mind the fact that being champion is something the bookers and writers determine, or that Batista is a crappy wrestler in the ring. We take pride in a Jasmine Trias who did nothing but milk us for endorsement deals and never once spoke out proudly on American Idol about her Filipino lineage. Is that how desperate the Filipino people is for a source of national pride?
And besides, what the Hades did Manny Pacquaio do that makes him such an untouchable sacred cow who’s taboo to speak out against?
Is he some kind of holy man who held a dying leper in his arms as he prayed for the leper’s soul? No? Then he’s no Mother Teresa.
MARLEY RESPONDS: My fat cat has better footwork than Mother Teresa did. She never knew how to cut off the ring. Keep blogging up the Blogosphere with anti-Manny diatribes like this, pal, and you will become a social leper in your native land.
Is he a gentle leader who leads his nation in a peaceful revolt? No? Then he’s no Mahatma Ghandi.
MARLEY RESPONDS: Who is Mahatma? I have heard of the Boxing Ghandis rock group and Ghandi beer, a crispy lager from India. Oh, you mean that Ghandi. When he was young boxer, Ghandi that is, I hear he was known as “Flaco Explosivo.” Bet you won’t read that on Wikipedia. Besides Ghandi’s defense was horrible. He kept turning the other cheek.
Is he a charismatic figure who came from the masses and showed them he was one of them by refusing to wear Americanas and wear barongs instead? No? Then he’s no Ramon Magsaysay.
Did he write books and work on a means of a peaceful reformation of the Philippines, only to be tried in a kangaroo court then shot in Luneta? No? Then he’s no Jose Rizal.
Did he die on the cross for us? No? Then he’s no Jesus Christ.
MARLEY RESPONDS: At the risk of a lightning bolt coming through my roof, I will tread lightly here. I should tell you that in America we are organizing Jews For Pacman, Catholics For Pacman and even Stormin’ Mormons for Pacman. Pacmania cuts across all racial and religious lines, sir. Won’t be long before Boxing Buddhists For Brother Pacman and those wild and crazy Atheists For Pacman form their own groups.
You know even Mother Teresa, Ghandi, Magsaysay, Rizal, and Christ Himself have been spoken about in a negative light. Why should Manny be any different?
Do we gloss over a man’s faults by virtue of his merits? Does he get a free pass because he’s a famous boxer? I think not. Otherwise, we’d all be perfectly fine with having R. Kelly babysit for our little girls because he’s such a great musician.
MARLEY RESPONDS: I would not hesitate to leave my daughters, if they were over 40, in the, how shall I put it, hands of R. Kelly. Wondering now, you hayta, is you have some “Trapped In The Closet” issues and hence the R. Kelly reference? Do you?
I have only one piece of advice for Manny… get a reality check. Hindi ikaw ang tagapagligtas ng bansa. Huwag mo na hayaang umasa pa ang mga tao sa iyo dahil kailangan nilang matutong maniwala sa sarili nila.
MARLEY RESPONDS: My Tagalog comprehension is mighty low so I hope there weren’t any X-rated terms in there. You are welcome to write for my web site at any given time, sir….after you show me proof positive that you voted for The Great One, your next Mayor of Gensan, the Honorable Emmanuel D. Pacquaio!
And the “D” is for Dynamic, not for Dummy, you Dummy!
