Esquire covers Mar Roxas and why the rising flak for a glamorized epal

Mar "in action" wearing
a very clean polo shirt

The November 2014 issue of Esquire magazine features Liberal party presidential wannabe Mar Roxas sitting in a truck full of lumber, with his hair askewed, visibly tired face yet smiling, and gesturing and saying "hello". The photo must have been shot inside a DSWD compound, since there is a woman in the background wearing the standard DSWD jacket.

What's wrong with this picture?

Many says it's politically incorrect because it is "insensitive." Why is it insensitive? Well, at that time,  people are really trying to make a difference in the lives of those affected by Typhoon Yolanda. Thousands of volunteers are working "on site", helping survivors cope with the tragedy that befell them, and here you are, Mr. Roxas, the DILG secretary, the one who is supposedly commanding the "army" of government in relief efforts, sitting in an obviously scheduled "photoshoot".

It is also insensitive because the photo is some sort of a trivialization of the entire thing. Roxas appears like a freshman student in his very first volunteer relief effort. Nothing wrong with a "selfie", we, old and young alike, are pretty much guilty of shooting a photo of ourselves especially in such a monumental and historic event such as this.

My take is that this photo actually represents the prevailing "thinking" of men such as Roxas--that what I do for others, I do it for myself. Nietzsche once lambasted men of his generation for their "generosity" in giving donations. He wrote that these men are not doing the "giving" to benefit others--they are doing it for themselves, for their "egos". I leave it up to you my readers to judge if this is true in this case.

More than this though, I am more aghast thinking that this cover intends to mislead us into thinking of our DILG secretary as a "man of action". Actually, the cover is more of "humanizing him". See Mar's face, with his droppy eyes and beshevelled hair? That photo intends to show how tired Mar was "doing his job".

Maybe he was, and I believe them, meaning Roxas, his publicity handlers and Esquire.

Yet, the other elements of this photo actually countered what they intend to impress upon us, dear voters, err, readers.

See the immaculately clean polo shirt? That polo shirt betrays Roxas. Instead of seeing a dirty one, that polo shirt was as clean, as white as though it was cleaned by a very conscious laundrywoman who probably used Tide and spiced with Downy.

If that photo was really shot during a very tiresome "rehab" work, that polo shirt showed otherwise.

And I believe his handlers want to impress that Roxas was "in the thick of things". How would you believe this photo when it shows him sitting in a truck, inside a government compound and not inside a refugee shelter or an evacuation center?

This is the "onion" photo that got
Mar stung

So much for "being in the thick of things". This is another "onion photo".

That photo is actually what we modern political animals now describe as a glamorized "epal". Yes, epal.

This photo is distinctly similar with those of other politicians who take pictures of themselves giving donations, consulting with their constituents and even, consoling a sick voter, err, constituent.

This is a problem with Mar Roxas--he is beginning to tire himself to death, trying very hard to convince us that he is fit to be our president come 2016, that, because of this desire, he begins to be a bore, a trying hard baffoon who wants to reinvent even himself.

By trying to reinvent his own image, Mar Roxas gets across as a man who wants to fool the public into believing that he is what he is not.

Why change what people know of you unless of course, you yourself are not convinced of your own strengths and weaknesses?

So much fakery, so little personality.