The wuss of Oz

FERNANDEZ

Wuss meaning: ineffectual, even sissy, marked by an uncanny lack of courage; part wimp, part pussy; wuss was a once-secret-name the abused used with each other to confuse their bullies. Wuss was what one of his children called him one day to comment on his work. Kinutil is a wuss. And mostly because he leans on religious references to press his case.

He thought the word was an insult until he asked, “Could he use it against political leaders who seem now to be in the business of sowing fear among their constituent?” The children said, “No. Wuss is too good a word to use on Trump and the Philippine president.” Which got him terribly confused.

He should not be. Wuss is a word with a meaning in historical transition, like other words previous, of which nerd and geek are examples. They used to be disparaging terms until the names turned the tables on their own meanings, so to speak. Expect the word to become a positive word among constituencies overrun by trolls and bullies. What else would bullies do but inflict their own twisted realities on others? They’ve been doing that in classrooms all over the world since time immemorial.

The bullies believe they can enforce their truths by force. They live inside an alternate reality quite detached from the real world. They live in the land of Oz. The wusses play along. It is their nature. But when the bullies are not looking, the wusses whisper among themselves and talk in an invented language the bullies do not understand. For they are quite willing to leave the bullies to their own hallucinatory world. And if the bullies think they own and rule this world, the wusses know better.

Bullies live inside the false logic of their own greatness and power. The logic is always circular. They are great because they are powerful. And because they are all these, then they must be the smartest. Wusses ask themselves, if they are so smart, why are they bullies? The wuss knows how power is always an accident of history. Bullies believe in their own press releases. And this is their terminal weakness. It moves them to lay too many traps and then forget where the traps are. The wusses simply wait for them to fall, one after the other. And when they do, the wusses laugh secretly among themselves and then throw wuss-parties.

No need for frontal confrontations. All bullies fall in their own time. Wusses know how bullies come and go. And it is often the case that one bully is followed by another. Bullies are by themselves unimportant. But they do serve a purpose. Bullies are what keep the wuss united. They define Wussland. They are the “other,” which tells the wuss who he or she is, and to what group of people the wuss belongs. If it is the nature to bullies to discredit and attack institutions they cannot absolutely control — such as in the case of tyrants, the opposition, the judiciary, churches, etc. — then the wuss knows why and how he must protect them. Wusses know what powers their half-secret language contains. It is the only power they have. In the end, it is all the power they really need.

Wusses love the story of one, Dionisio Cañete, Cebuano lawyer, who days ago petitioned the Philippine Supreme Court to remove the title “attorney” from his name on the grounds that he could no longer tolerate his name being associated with corruption in the judiciary and of prosecutors all over the country. Are you mystified what impact this move could have?

Perhaps none. But from one wuss to another, this wuss would like to congratulate the erstwhile lawyer Dionisio Cañete for this masterful move.

Cañete will be a name told and retold in stories between us who believe that inside the threatening world such as we have now, dominated as it is now by our very own beloved and corrupt bullies, to wimp out is not at all a bad thing. It is absolutely okay. And pussy is not and has never been a bad name either.