YBRAHIM

CHARLES ARTHEL R. REY

Founder, Impact Philippines
Regional Winner,
Ten Outstanding Students of the Philippines -WV
charlesarthelrey@gmail.com

RAISING THE BAR OF DISCOURSE

There is no doubt – absolutely everything is bound by politics. While this concept remains
abstract to many young people who cannot contemplate the implications of policies and political climate
to the day-to-day lives of ordinary citizens, this remains an indubitable ideology. Whether it is the most
esoteric aspect of foreign or domestic policy or just a senseless school haircut guideline; whether it is the
most technical exploration of scientific research or just trivial access to social media; whether it is a
debate on trade law or a mere sari-sari store transaction – all are matters of politics. Yes, including actions
that seem absent of any political scintilla. And since all actions, menial or not, are affected by the political
ecosystem, then it is a no-brainer that everyone, most especially the youth, must participate in political
discourse.
The quality of one’s contribution to this discourse, however, is a different story.
Thus, it is not enough for young people to participate in relevant conversations, it is more
important that their participation is in fact sensible, meaningful, and intelligent. An uninformed opinion is
dangerous, especially if it comes from young people with large social media platforms. True, raising an
opinion is a matter of right, but opinions can be stupid, especially if it is fitted into a wrongful narrative.
Worse, these narratives are sometimes tolerant of the abhorrent and hegemonistic policies of the state.
One can vigorously fight to the death for his right to express his opinion, but such cause is reduced to
futility if such opinion stands on stupidity cloaked as a false conviction. Hence, as we passionately
campaign for inclusive youth participation, a greater challenge is raised. And that is to induce a truly
meaningful conversation from truly educated young people.
On the other end of the dilemma is the easy-go-lucky and YOLO (you only live once) mantras
that have pervaded the minds of young people today. The youth, while vigorous, can sometimes be
deliberately ignorant. Oftentimes, they regard politics as an isolated and exclusive discussion because of
the seemingly for-intellectual nature of conversations pertaining to this. Perhaps fault can be attributed to
condescending hifalutin word warriors that shut the door close when a neophyte or non-enthusiast asks a
“boring” question. Many self-proclaimed progressives hurled uncalled levels of criticism when a fellow
does not conform with their political ideology. This is not education at all. This action does not
proselytize the masses, but in fact, has trivialized the real struggle to mere labels such as "toxic" and "pa-
woke." Lest they forget that all in-depth understanding of any matters under the umbrella of knowledge,
sprouted from the seeds of inquiry in a curious mind. Perhaps they have forgotten that their deep
understanding of socio-political issues is in fact drawn from a position of privilege and that they are in a
moral obligation to empower those whose political minds are embryotic. Time and again, our clarion call
is empowerment.
Empowerment is key to enable every young individual to concatenate a sensible phrase to the
political conversation.
 But for empowerment to be effective, it must be accessible, to begin with.
Access to empowerment means completely overhauling a culture of hostility against one who
dares to ask a question or renegade from his status quo political penchant. Empowerment must presume a
form that allows young individuals to raise basic questions where an advocate must answer with
compassion rather than with condescension. A display of misplaced conviction must be dealt with as an
opportunity to educate and not to embattle with false moral ascendancy. Mistake not – empowerment is
not an indoctrination of specific political dogma. Rather, it intends to qualify young minds to think
critically as they choose their political side; it is inducing personal realization of privilege so that when
one chooses his political inclination, he does so with compassion to the lost, the least, and the last.
Given these premises, empowerment also means tolerance of political corners different from our
own. The test, however, is whether these choices support human life, genuinely strive to dispense justice
and equity, as well as denounce impunity. Empowerment is a nurturing endeavor that translates
abstraction into vision, and vision into action.
Ultimately, the greatest test of empowerment is not only the quality of leaders we elect, but more
especially the manner of our debate – that our discussion is focused on principles, and not on
personalities.