Charm Andrey M.

Belaro
Kobi T. De Guzman
Emarie R. Malonda
BSND101 (PHINO1G-H)
Professor: JumelEstranero
A Procrastinated Philosophy Paper
https://youtu.be/ljvKgbPEbFA

Last 2004, Napoleon Brandys billboard ad stirred controversy amongst Philippines women advocates. This was because,
beside an image of an ice-cold brandy, were the words, Nakatikim ka na ba ng kinse anos? According to the advocates, the
promulgation of this ad was not only bait to the promotion of sexual objectification and exploitation of womenbut also, pedophilia,
or the sexual exploitation of young women. For the meantime, let us drift away from the subject of brandy advertisements, child sex,
and womens rights. Such a topic is too lengthy to expound. What is of the best interest here to us is what this advertisement shows
regarding human nature: how we, as humans, have innate desires for such gross delicacies. For Filipinos, we have coined a specific
term for this: ang masarap na bawal. Pero, bago tayo gumawa ng opinion patungkol sa pagkatakam sa masasarap na bawal, let me
introduce the points Im about to give. Una, ano nga ba ang dahilan ng ating pagkahilig sa ipinagbabawal na masarap? Ikalawa,
paano ba nakakaapekto saatin and mga ito? At, ikatlo, saan nag-uugat ang masarap na bawal?
Generally, there are a lot of traits that could come up when the clause, nature ng tao comes to mindcurious, stubborn,
sinful, etc. Lets assume nalang that the etc stands for the affirmative side of human nature (because most of the traits listed
leaned on the negative side), but the point is ginawana nga siguro tayong may attitude: attitude to contradict the norms and stand
out from the submissive trends. When the deed is done, theres this feeling of fulfillment in proving his limitlessness. Hence, he
becomes his own humanistic religion. On the other hand, some would opt to swim with the flow. For them, to conform is to
experience the hordes idea of blisseto ang uso, yan ang cool, eto ang masarap,yan ang dapat; fulfillment, then, manifests in the
feeling of belongingness. Both attitudesone which finds joy in being away from the crowd, whilst the other finds it with the crowdare entailed to grant us a certain kind of ecstasy. It may be the ecstasy of the deed itself; ecstasy of rising above the expected
character; or even simply, ecstasy of fulfillment.
Maging ano pa yan, this feeling of highness is subject to the appetite: which, if above reason, results to injustice in
Platonic argument. Thus, nagiging bawal ang masarap. Simply put, kapag mas nangingibabaw ang pananabik sa gusto lamang

kaysa sa kailangan, mayroong hindi pagkakapantay na nangyayari, or in other words, injustice. This injustice, then, manifests in
two forms. (Before proceeding, I must first mention the determinant of why masarap becomes a violation to someone elses sanctity:
the morality.)
In the first form, injustice happens to someone that is not youor, ika nga niLevinas, to the Other. Let us take, for
example, the practice of pangagaliwa or third party. The thrill of having a secret affair without getting caught becomes pleasurable to
its doers. Without so much having to account the emotions of people who surround them, it becomes unjust. These Others become
the inheritor of the injusticethe original lover/partner, their children, and their relatives. In other words, yung katarantaduhan ng
nakikiapid ay nagiging object of misery ng mga taong dapat na nangunguna sa buhay niya. It is without a doubt, an immoral
masarapsomething that the society views as abomination and a disturbance to the Others rights. The offender may sometimes
feel the consequence of guilt and thus feels injustice as a postponement to his happiness, but his deed will always be viewed as
immoral, for the ramification to the Other is predominant to the offenders remorse.
On a lighter note, I have an example of something that the adolescent mass can relate to--the drinking of alcoholic
beverages excessively within the prohibited age bracket. Now, you might think that injustice occurs only to the offenders sidethe
drink will ruin their health if they grow addicted to it, etc., but one must take account of what happens in the aftermath of drinking til
you drop. There could be the emergence of reckless driving, a drastic change in character (resulting to treating others as shit), and
most importantly and ambiguously, the growth of irresponsibility. Nuisance to the out-group becomes the face of the injustice here.
The society cannot be blamed when it sees minors who drink excessively as immoral chaps, as long as the disturbance of the act
stands uncorrected and still occurring.
Notice here that I have put excessively to determine the extent of the act for I have taken into consideration Socrates
view that the unexamined life is not worth living. In order to lessen the weight of the word naivety, we take curiosity as the mean to
enlightenment. Hindi naman siguro masama na tumikim para lamang maibsan ang uhaw sa pagkatuto. But, of course, we ought to
consider Aristotle in what he wrote in Nicomachean Ethics: everything too much becomes a blameful feat.
Another form of injustice manifests through Anodyne MSB (masarap na bawal). The effects are more likely to happen to
the offender or the doer. It is considered an anodyne act for society has accepted and somehow performs the behavior as well. An
exemplar would be unhealthy eating. We are appetitive beings, and so hunger is an obligation to be satisfied through our senses.
Thus, in order to satisfy such a primal need and want, we then continuously improve ingredients, invent flavors, and find new ways
to process raw food as decades turn into centuries. This food variety pursuit has become a taste we couldnt resist, to the point that
consuming too much has become a crime to our health. However, being the rebellious mortals that we are, we still gamble health
with the temporary bliss food can grant. Unfortunately, this has become a norm to the society that doing so seems to appear
indistinguishable from being a misdemeanor.
Anodyne MSB doesnt only manifest in unhealthy eating, but also, in an activity almost all of us are guilty of practicing so
procrastination (who knows, I might be even doing it right now). It is an unspoken fact; na ang huling paggawa ay may kaakibat na
pagsisisi sahuli. Pero wala eh, we are beings gifted with reason, kaya naman nagawan natin ng pinakasikat na alibi ang pagprocrastinate. It plays along the line that says, Motivation comes in the last hour of submission. This is an honest proclamation of
an unexplainable trait called idleness. We are subject to misuse time, preferring to watch it tick while dreaming of endless sunrises.
As a result, we rush to submit or accomplish a task we were given that in the course of completing so, we often find ourselves
frustrated and dissatisfied, thus affecting ourselves through stress.
Furthermore, in this concept, pleasure is the end, and the means are the ways to attain the pleasure, may they be harmful
to self or to others. Its a paradoxical thing that even people who confess their faith to a god succumb to these MSBsmaking
themselves seem weak because they cannot restrain desires, but brave enough to abandon commandments for a while just to fulfill
their wants. If Sartre were still alive, he would be exultant to grasp the truth that we have become the people in his definition of
commitment, (individuals who choose and live in accord with their choices) for MSBs are choices entailed with consequences that

we are aware of, and yet we still do them. Perhaps, weve accepted the upshots of these acts, making us independent of any higher
and external entity to place our blame on.
In the attempt to answer the question, where and when did this craving for MSBs begin, a Biblical approach will be used.
Literally and figuratively, the book of Genesis has it. Its chapter 3 has already identified that long before everyone else was created,
human disobedience has been committed by Adam and Eve, and by then, human race was cursed. However, let us take into
consideration that it is not directly out of curiosity that Eve decided to have a taste of the forbidden fruit, but of deceit and
temptation that approached her in a form of a limbless animal. We may say that temptation comes first before we actually draw
curious to the deed just to alleviate further blame on ourselves. Nevertheless, this is a clear manifestation of why the human race is
subject to a confused moralitythe world is filled with wickedness and we response to it with a spirit of inquiry, dragging us into
infinite pursuit of crookedness cloaked in shades of rainbow.
Finally, let me re-define Oscar Wildes quote, the basis of optimism is sheer terror. As the first few paragraphs have
mentioned, we are beings of attitude. The very reason we opt to flow with curiositys pull and indulge ourselves in pleasure may be
the terror or fear of missing out. We find it terrifying to miss the opportunity of tasting a temporary euphoria, to miss the satisfaction
of a well-lived life, to miss the adventure, etc. This fear has caused us to perceive (even) crooked desires with optimism, because
after all, we believe that missing these feelings is missing out the knowledge and life itself. So let me rephrase what Oscar Wilde
said: the basis of desire is sheer terror. But for all these skepticisms about our desires, a negation to the subjective question, Bakit
masarap ang bawal? emergeswhy wouldnt it be? Why do we question a viewpoint we ourselves had put the meaning to? Arent
they only considered distasteful because we ourselves decided to deem them as such? Perhaps with all these questions about the
meaning of things, weve fallen skeptical about ourselves, what we create, assign, and choose.