Is the symbol more important than the actuality?
The Philippine flag is a symbol. The national anthem is a symbol. But are they more important than the actual country?
So how come we’ve decided that it’s a good idea to arrest 34 people for not standing up when the national anthem was played in the cinema?
It would be like burning a map of Luzon and getting arrested as if you actually burned Luzon. Shouldn’t the punishment fit the crime?
What is the wisdom of spending precious national resources to monitor, arrest, process, and even imprison (yes, imprison!) these people when they could be out there making a living as productive citizens of the country?
So they disrespected the anthem. Meanwhile, other people who are actually disrespecting the country by littering, stealing, and defecating on our economy are enjoying themselves to high heaven.
What is the wisdom of forcing people to go through the motions of nationalism out of fear that they would be robbed of their liberty? Does it improve the economic conditions and quality of life of the nation?
It’s good to be patriotic, but if you’re doing it because you fear fines or prison, that’s not patriotism.