Boracay, Andok’s, Gucci and More

I shouldn’t be writing about this. I shouldn’t even be thinking about it, but I can’t help it. Brain Gorrell’s blog has to be written about.

Apparently, he doesn’t need my help or this post. A guy whose blog gets 40,000 hits a day, who has been featured in national T.V. and in broadsheets and who has bloodshot loyal readers numbering in the hundreds can afford not to mind an insignificant spec of a blogger like me who belongs to the dregs of blogging society. The point though is not to help Brian get a Google page rank that’s infinitely higher than 1. I want to write about Brain because what he has revealed is relevant to who we are as a Filipino people.

I find it nearly impossible for some netizens not to have heard about Brian. If however, you have been living as a hermit for the past few months or working at a 9-6 job with only your boss’ dour expression to rest your eyes on during breaks from pretending to be busy, then there is a chance that Brain has escaped your notice. Brain is an Australian national who was ALLEGEDLY (I took care to add that last word in case Brian isn’t 100% correct or in case the libel secret service come in the dead of the night to dispatch me) tricked by his then Filipino boyfriend into parting with his hard-earned $70,000 life savings.

ACCORDING to Brian, he waited for months for his ex to achieve a 360 degree exorcism of his inner demons, awaken his sleeping dwarf of a conscience and pay-up. When his ex didn’t budge a single muscle in his neck, Brain opened a blog in an attempt to get his money back. How does a blog hope to do that? Brian has IMPLIED that he will attempt to get his savings back by revealing the truth.

What is the truth? ACCORDING to Brian, his ex and his ex’s circle of bosom buddies are ALLEGEDLY morally depraved, sex-crazed cocaine addicts in signature crocodile skins. It gets even better. The ALLEGED individuals belong to the royalty of Manila high society. He calls them the Gucci Gang.

This is where the real issues about Brian’s blog begin. The dissenting voices surrounding it do not just belong to those who believe or do not believe in Brian. Some of the voices belong to those on the ringside. Those who fancy themselves intellectually inclined believe they have fingertips too noble to be soiled by the putrid vapidity of gossip. There are also a couple of cautious individuals who simply warn against taking sides. Actually, among the upper echelons of society, the caution part is born as much from real prudence as from the fear of getting deleted from reality.

The real point though is not whether or not the Gucci Gang really wear Gucci or whether or not they are who Brian says they are. The point is whether or not we can go beyond the gossip aspect to see the deeper issue. Brian has unconsciously exposed our selves to ourselves. Without really meaning to, Brian has given us a mirror and showed us how stoned or wasted we all are. The corruption, ignorance, graft, apathy, pretension and every other bad word that doesn’t start with an “f” or an “s” in our society has been drawing us into real poverty of the body, mind and spirit. After more than a hundred years, the social cancer described by Jose Rizal is still in our system. This time, it has grown malignant and resistant to chemotherapy (or to Cardinal Rosales, Bo Sanchez, Jessica Zafra, Bob Ong, Conrado de Quiros, Stephen Covey or the Purpose Driven Life).

Don’t say you have nothing to do with this. Don’t pin the blame on your mayor, your congressman, the president or your dog. Don’t even say it’s the ALLEGED Gucci Gang’s fault or their clones’ fault. The degeneration or mutation of Philippine society really is our fault— each and every one of us. After all, society is not some invisible entity. It is all of us and each of us. You can’t seriously do nothing more than just sit back and read Brian’s blog for mere entertainment.