There are just too many assholes on the road today. The government isn’t doing anything about them (probably since there’s plenty of asshole protecting their kind over there). And we could all just hope that something in the air changes the way drivers behave in this country.
While I have my reservations about how Top Gear Philippines handles its Facebook page, I have to acknowledge the way it has become the Tulfo of motoring. Got a problem on the road? Isumbong mo sa Top Gear.
If you have motoring issues ranging from dangerous road conditions to road rage spats, share it on Top Gear PH’s Facebook and they’re immediately given visibility and mileage. Most of the time, it’s Top Gear PH that gets the first scoop over the established news bureaus of the networks and broadsheets. And some issues do get resolved.
This comes with a couple of general caveats though. First, you wouldn’t know how the Top Gear PH staff will be dealing with the post. Second, prepare for the barrage of comments from a wide range of following – from the level-headed and the rationale to the idiots who live by a TL;DR creed to the Heath-Ledger-Joker-level trolls who would rather watch the world burn.
Just check out these reactions to a recent incident involving a beloved public personality:
As for the first, I don’t know if their staff (particularly the ones who handle) are trying to reach the level of Jeremy Clarkson’s politically incorrect witticisms. If that’s the case, then I’m not quite feeling it. Jezza is Jezza and only a handful of Filipinos appreciate British humour.
I’m a huge Top Gear UK fan, particularly because of the brand created by Clarkson, Hammond, and May. As for Top Gear PH, I like most of their columnists like Botchi Santos and Ferman Lao since they know their stuff. But given the current state of Filipino discernment, I just hope they’d be a tad more responsible at how they present these things to their readership.
As for the second, well, welcome to the Philippine cyberspace where the smug intelligentsia, the entitled bourgeoisie, passive plebs, and the rest of the non-reading mob air our collective dirty laundry. I used to enjoy reading through the comments but I stopped since the level of trolls that do their thing even with tragic news makes me feel a little less hope for humanity. If you share a post, prepare for others to agree with, disagree with, defend, and offend you.
I just feel that, with the responsibility that’s already levied upon Top Gear PH by the motoring public, they’d take it a bit more seriously, do their journalistic responsibility, and prevent things from being continuously interpreted out of context. Or maybe it’s because we already have James Deakin for that brand of motoring discourse?
At least they seem to be taking a turn:
Or was that sarcasm?
Anyway, I get that it might be part of the whole Top Gear act. But our roads are too wild of a concrete jungle not to take a bit of restraint. As for the rest of us, it’s nice that we have an avenue to escalate our road grievances (or just shame other drivers). But a bit less assholiness on the road, online, and elsewhere goes a long way to make our country a tad better.
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