A Matter Of Preference

According to the Baader-Meinhof Phenomenon or frequency illusion, when one chances upon an obscure piece of knowledge — be it an unfamiliar word or name — he or she will soon afterwards encounter the same word or name again, often repeatedly. The explanation for this phenomenon is somewhat vague, but it has something to do with how our brains like to perceive patterns in everything.

President Luis Tadeo likes to think of himself a populist. Being born to a rich, political family did not deter him from championing the rights of the common people. In fact he saw his family’s status as a privilege to serve the less fortunate. Thirty-six years after his first venture into politics as a Councillor at the age of twenty-four, he is now aged sixty and running for re-election as President of ___________.

He woke up early to catch the morning news. A group of protesters rallied near the President’s Office; calling him out on the country’s tax system. Among the protesters were students and one of them was briefly interviewed.

STUDENT: “We’re calling for the president to change the tax system in this country. He ought to know that higher taxes are anathema to a country’s progress especially if our hard-earned money only ends up in the pockets of greedy politicians!”

President Tadeo couldn’t care less about the student voicing out her thoughts; he was, however, intrigued by that one word: anathema. He first heard about it an hour ago, while he was reading the newspapers. The Pope, he read, declared the concept of Limbo as anathema to Church Doctrine. He got a dictionary from his study room and read the meaning of the word:

1 [ mass noun ] something or someone that one vehemently dislikes:racial hatred was anathema to her.

2 a formal curse by a pope or a council of the Church, excommunicating a person or denouncing a doctrine. the pope laid special emphasis on the second of these anathemas.• literary a strong curse. the sergeant clutched the ruined communicator, muttering anathemas.

He was quite good with words but this was the first time he encountered this particular one. He found it interesting and thought no more of it until hearing it uttered again by a protester. Not the superstitious type, President Tadeo merely shrugged it off.

The country was undergoing campaign season at the moment. President Tadeo as aforementioned, is running for re-election as president of _________. His campaign slogan is “THERE’S NO WAY BUT UP.” The campaign jingle was even written by a popular Novelty song composer in the country.

As a president, Luis Tadeo proved himself to be cunning; he wouldn’t call it Machiavellian, it was more like being a Fabian Socialist. His country was by no means rich and for him to stay in power he knew he had to appeal to the majority, and this means pleasing the plebeians.

It was not as hard as people think — he knew what the masses wanted: money without hard work. Therefore his platform set out to have welfare policies implemented. The Right wasn’t happy at all with his policies and made sure he knew of it, but he simply resorted to Argumentum ad Passiones to win over the masses. He insisted that charity is among the three essential virtues that Apostle Paul preached in the Book of Corinthians; thereby winning over not only the masses majority but also the Church.

He wasn’t religious at all but if appearing to be so would make him stay in power, he wouldn’t hesitate to use the name of the Lord in vain.

Ideology did not matter much to him as long as he reaps his gain. The Right thinks he’s a Marxist, and although he admires Trotskyism, he was far from being one. However, he admits to himself that it’s safe for people to think that he’s a Marxist so the plebeian would continue believing that he is looking out for them.

He flipped through the channels and settled on another news network. Refugees were swarming into the country to escape ethnic cleansing in the Levant. The Left welcome the refugees despite the Far-Right’s protests, saying that refusal to lend a helping hand to those in need is anathema to the country’s Christian roots.

Again, that word. He turned off the television and called his secretary to give him today’s schedule. According to his secretary, he was to attend a Lunch meeting with several company heads concerning his Cap and Trade program. And later in the afternoon he will be speaking at his own election campaign rally in an arena.

President Tadeo’s moral philosophy was simple: I scratch your back, you scratch mine. There are a lot of dubious transactions and money laundering in his administration but he was able to conceal all of them with the help of his cohorts. Even if he doesn’t win the elections, he made sure that he has a firm grip on whoever will be elected next. His country’s politics is a cesspool of corruption but as long as he gains from it, he could not care any less.

There are only two kinds of people in this world in his opinion; one, are deceivers, and second, the deceived. President Luis Tadeo prefers to be on the former.

“It’s simply a matter of preference.” He thought and wondered what’s for lunch.

Later that day, at the arena where he was supposed to hold a speech for his campaign, a lone gunman got pass security and sat for a while in the bleachers. When opportunity presented itself, the gunman shot the president from a distance. The bullet penetrated the skull. President Luis Tadeo was dead on arrival.

The lone gunman turned out to be a radical Right-Winger. Upon interrogation, all he had to say was that the president’s open-border policy for refugees is anathema to the country’s safety. He had to put a stop to it in the only way he knew how. Desperate times, he says, call for desperate measures.

Anathema. There’s that word again.