STUPID IS FOREVER: COMEDY BOOK BY LATE SENATOR MIRIAM DEFENSOR SANTIAGO

Posted by: Jeofil DS. Madelozo

About the Book:

The book is a compilation with jokes, one-liners, pick-up lines, comebacks and speeches on national political crisis written by the late senator Miriam Defensor Santiago. Inside are also the illustrations made by some of the Philippine's most famous artists; Cj de Silva-Ong, Manix Abrera, Elbert Or, Rob Cham. The book has been regarded as one of the best works of Miriam Defensor Santiago. published in multiple languages including English, consists of 132 pages and is available in Paperback format for offline reading. The book has been awarded with Filipino Readers' Choice Award for Humor (2015), Edgar Awards and many others.

About the Author:

Sense of humor is almost absent among politicians, but the late Senator Miriam Defensor Santiago is a truly talented exception. People are puzzled how she can spontaneously make them laugh in the midst of national policy crises, and of real danger to her life as a corruption fighter.

Contrast adds to the humor, because Miriam is a leading Asian intellectual. She was elected judge of the International Criminal Court in December 2011, only to give it up because of cancer. Millions of her fans still believe she won but was cheated of the presidency in 1992. She lost one of only two beloved children. But she never lost her sense of humor.

Humor pushed Miriam the late senator to help uncover the biggest corruption scandal in our country’s political history. In dealing with the plunder of billions of public funds, and in standing by the rule of law in a highly politicized impeachment process, she scolded: "What the ....?” later shortened to "Wha’?”

Miriam will go down in history not only as a laureate of the Magsaysay Award for government service, or as the candidate who never conceded defeat in a fraud-marred presidential election, but as the soul who rises above it all by laughing at human foibles.

Her complete resume can be found at the end of this book.

My Thoughts on the Book (Spoilers):

I first saw the late Senator Miriam Defensor Santiago on TV when she fought for the RH Bill which was 10 years ago, and I've been a fan ever since. Only recently though that was I able to get an access to this book since it was only available for purchase until this year. By the time I knew I could access the book, immediately without hesitating, I just plunged myself into reading it. It was a short read, but before I knew it, it was already midnight. 

My initial thoughts on the contents of the book is how the author successfully combines the elements of humor and wit, her creativeness of writing punchlines that is could be directly or indirectly relatable to the national policy crisis will definitely make the readers laugh, but also make you think.

"Ano ang pinagkapareho ng sperm at ng mga pulitiko ?
Pareho silang may one in a million chance na maging totoong tao."

Her punchlines are written based on her own perspective of the politicians in the congress. I really liked the way she directs her jokes on politicians whom she referred to as "Him", by defining their mediocrity with her own jokes and punchlines which makes it even funnier. Also, adding to the humorous element is that when you realize that the one writing this is the late Senator Miriam Defensor Santiago herself.

                               

 "You’re the reason God created the middle finger."                      "I eat death threats for breakfast!"

There are also lines that tells the readers about her experiences of being in politics. About how it affects her daily life and how she could tolerate the pain from her lung cancer. In addition, she also wrote further one-liners that reveal the dirty nature of politics, the death threats that she receives on a daily basis that she even eats it for her breakfast.

I would also like to point out the illustrations inside the book which was made by some of the famous young artists of the country. The illustrations were able to add more life to the author's lines, and definitely gave more to the entertainment value of the comedy book.

Although the book may have been regarded as a "comedy book", not all of its contents are focused on humor. Her words hold a great significance especially on the topic of leadership. There are also lines which gives its readers an insight regarding the value of choosing the right kind of leader that the Philippines needs considering the several factors that hamper the growth of development of the country. 

One of her most significant points in the book in my opinion is that she highlighted the use of the social media during one of her speech that she delivered at UP Manila. She describes social media as "the cusp of a new ominous wave of change in the political beach". She also stated in her speeches that "In the Philippines, nobody knows how to control or manage social media. Rich clowns used to bribe press and broadcast journalists so that they could gain added illegal advantage over their competitors. But now, the rich clowns are beginning to discover that it is not possible to bribe the leaders, much less, all the netizens in cyberspace." Miriam believed that social media is the future of political warfare, and that the country should accept it as it will now take place online. Her words can already be regarded as highly applicable today observing the ongoing precursor events of the upcoming elections of 2022.

Miriam's comedy book, like every literature book, did receive its  fair share criticisms. The fact that the book included her achievements in academic and all branches of the government of during professional career begs the question if whether the purpose of this book was to endorse herself for the then-upcoming 2016 elections. But regardless, the contents of the book was able to cater the need of everyone in terms of the author's intention to engage her level of thinking to the readers.

In my opinion, It truly is a shame that we lost such a powerful woman who was intellectually fierce and had a brilliant legal mind. I still think that she was the best president that we never had. She was the leader that we needed but we definitely don't deserve, and never we will. 

Links:

Stupid is Forever PDF Book by Miriam Defensor Santiago (2014) Read Online for Free by clicking this link.

You can also check out the sequel: Stupid is Forever More by Miriam Defensor Santiago (2015) only available for access by purchase on this link.