Q: What is Sandbagging?
A. "Sandbagging" is a close cousin of the term "throwing under the bus". It usually refers to a series of events illustrated as follows:
A does something wrong.
A asks help from B to show that he didn't do anything wrong.
B, knowing that A did such wrong thing, sticks his neck out and pledges that A didn't do it.
A gets exonerated because of B's pledge.
A then admits that he did do it, leaving B with a red face and thereby "Sandbagging" B.
I will no longer go through the details of the case between Daniel Smith and Suzette S. Nicolas aka Nicole as we all have heard of it in the past. That's over with. What's more important is actually the things that transpired after.
Most of us know for a fact that Nicole was not raped. However, driven by the fact that we've been stepped on far too often by other countries including or especially by the US, we found this case to be a distinct chance for us to get back at them. Moreover, the supposed victim is a Filipino, a female. What kind of a family would we be if we didn't defend our women?
And so the rallies came. Flags were burned. Slogans chanted. All against Daniel Smith and the United States. Smith had this deer in the headlights look the entire time, not knowing exactly what was happening. Groups supported Nicole left and right (especially the left). Women cried on TV, bemoaning the raping of the Filipina.
All the while when people went home, when the rallies have broken up, when the studio lights have been shut off, when the write ups have been submitted, when the flags have turned into ashes, people thought of the same thing: "Nicole wasn't raped. But what can we do? We're her countrymen."
So we spend our days after the conviction, happy that we defended our country but likewise ashamed of what we did. In a few months we began rationalizing things, thinking that worse has happened to our brethren in other countries and therefore we are entitled to this one. We began to feel better, helped in no small terms by time and forgetfulness.
Two days ago, Nicole recanted, flew to the US(to the US! I wonder how the Visa interview went) with money and a fiancee. She left an affidavit stating that she was no longer sure if she was indeed raped.
One sure thing though:
The Filipino people are left with their faces as red as blood. Sandbagged.
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