Bobos | SunStar Cebu | Feb. 8, 2010

BOBOS is a portmanteau of bourgeois and bohemian. The term was coined by David Brooks in his book “Bobos in Paradise,” in which he tries to talk about the new breed of ‘90s yuppies. These are hybrid corporate upper class people, he said, who have the ‘60s idealism and the self-interest of the ‘80s.

By some stretch of the imagination, you can conjure up an image of a Beatnik in tuxedo—top-earners with the sensibility of a hippie. How is that possible? Brooks describes these people as indulging extravagantly in “inconspicuous consumption” (posh dwellings and profligate waterbeds), but at the same time deeply sympathetic with the working class. These people see money not as an end but a means to achieving something.

This new upper class, says Brooks, does not disdain mainstream society and are tolerant of the views of others. You’ll perhaps find these guys, sporting a Rolex, in an FGD segueing a presentation into an oratory on poverty reduction or saltwater intrusion.

Brooks says the trend is all about changing tastes and preferences of a preexisting upper class, and not a descendent of any social mobility. Brooks, of course, is describing an American phenomenon, although it’s curious if some similar pattern can be seen in our country—emergent and affluent yuppies who are as invariably animated about the future of the country as they are about a new car.

This was what came to my mind when I read about Michael Macapagal, who was introduced by journalist Lito Gutierrez of PDI very interestingly in his story’s lead: “Snug in the supple seat of his gleaming milk-white E Class Mercedes and tapping on the walnut and leather trim of its steering wheel to the beat of ‘80s soft-rock ditties, Michael Macapagal is a picture of the fulfillment of the American dream.”

This “stateside” Macapagal leaves the care of his escrow business to his wife in the US, and heads home to the Philippines to campaign, no, not for Arroyo, a relative, but for Noynoy Aquino. He plans to raise $2 million from Filipino friends in the US for his candidate’s campaign.

I can’t tell though if we have the likes of Michael manning the corporate skyscrapers in our own neighborhood while looking out the window and be moved by the stark contrast outdoors. I can’t tell, too, if we have our own version of Brooks’ bobos in our backyard—‘70s liberal and ‘80s rich.

There was a thread on Facebook that was launched by a comment against a presidential candidate. It was instigated by a left-leaning user and the thread, in fact, fell heavily towards that orientation. After reading all the comments, however, I noticed something.

There was palpable generation gap—the younger activists and those who have had their time in the ‘70s and ‘80s. The younger ones defended to the death Satur Ocampo’s decision to be under Manny Villar’s camp. The older ones criticized just that.

I will leave a fellow columnist who is lettered on the topic to give you context if he wants to. I find the differences curious though.

What could have changed the mindsets, transformed the preferences of the precursors? Could they be the local evolution of the bobos—the ‘70s, ‘80s front-liners who have gotten comfy mainstream, mellowed by family and time and now stand on balanced ground? “I’m voting again after 12 years,” a friend says, and he isn’t alone in saying that. “But I’m not voting for Satur Ocampo,” he says. To think that he was hard-line picket vanguard in his youth, it comes as a surprise. Has he read a better version of history?

I noticed not a few old-guards, former warriors coming out of their cocoons this season, mobilizing an old spirit. “All we need is an honest man for a president,” I heard one say, “We can take care of the country.”