5 Things I Learned Today From Mr. Neal Cruz

Isn’t it just so timely? It’s the first day of school (again) and we all had something to read already –

Mr. Neal Cruz’s opinion piece in the Philippine Daily Inquirer. Most of you have already submitted your reactions and reflections over Twitter and Facebook but along with the back-to-school spirit, I took the enjoyment of writing a “paper” about things I learned today from Mr. Neal Cruz.

Here they are:

1. Opinion writing does not require any research.

“Everyone is entitled to their own opinion.” the old adage goes. Opinions are personal and subjective. Mr. Cruz definitely demonstrated that mere expression of one’s opinion, like a knee-jerk shriek, is enough.  Just like the way he simply proclaimed the paintings on EDSA as visual pollution and did not even bother researching on what the Boysen KNOxOut EDSA project really is. He felt that there is no need to probe further if the paint Boysen donated were really “unsalable ones” (like what he mentioned) and not actually air-cleaning paint. So I guess point deductions for me because I actually tried Googling Mr. Neal Cruz before I wrote this. I was wrong to have asked who he is and what Else does he do other than write columns. I guess then Lourd De Veyra mislead us through his inspiring UP MassComm graduation speech, telling us to always  “GMG” or Google mo, gago!

2. A trusted broadsheet like The Philippine Inquirer publishes opinion pieces without the checking the facts.

For me, a very poignant moment in the movie Almost Famous was when The Rolling Stones fact checker disapproved young William Miller’s tell-all feature about the band Still Waters. But I guess its fiction after all. In real life, publications don’t have fact checkers. Or maybe fact checkers exist and The Philippine Daily Inquirer has one too. It’s just that The Philippine Daily Inquirer observes lesson number 1 by heart.

3.Modern art has no (public) space in the Metro Manila, only A. Mabini-esque art is allowed.

So I guess my semester nerding over the Philippine Art History is all a travesty! I guess National Artist Victorio Edades’ efforts (of epic proportions) to introduce our country to the Modernist movement in the 1940s til the late 1980s were all just a waste. I bet Neal Cruz would’ve called Edades’ masterpieces “ugly” (like the Boysen murals in EDSA) because they were very far from Edades’ contemporary, Fernando Amorsolo. I also bet Neal Cruz would’ve crucified Banksy if he painted one wall in Manila.

4. Artists who don’t paint nipa huts and fruit-bearing trees are cheaters.

Yes, Baby and Coco Anne of B+C designs did not actually study in the Parsons School of Design, New York and L’ Academie Charpentier, Paris France. They were never trained to draw the simplest form of nipa huts. Jose Tence Ruiz never really learned how to draw farm animals and the brooks and rivers in the UST College of Fine Arts. He can only paint “scary” underwater creatures that give nightmares to a random bus-riding child. (Side note: I consider this child very lucky because he didn’t have to read books and encyclopedias about deep sea creatures, he just had to watch Spongebob!) Lastly, filmmaker, architect and artist Tapio Snellman probably doesn’t know how to paint old Spanish towns like Vigan, Taal and Intramuros because he’s from Finland. Mr. Cruz imprinted in my mind that artists who choose not to create representational art are frauds.

5. It’s way better to allow informal settlers (squatters) to plant vegetables on EDSA islands that to paint EDSA walls with air-cleaning paint.

And I always thought squatting was illegal?

Indeed, my today’s reading was very helpful, insightful and enriched my humanity. For Mr. Neal Cruz, this is for you:

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For the people experiencing disbelief after reading this: Haven’t you sensed my sarcasm?

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