So, gunshots in the Philippine Senate, and what do we have? A lockdown, a frenzy of journalists, and the usual orchestrated panic. Let us not mistake this for a spontaneous eruption.

In the theatre of decline, such events are staged by forces beyond our comprehension. I am reminded of the Roman Senate in its twilight years, where daggers replaced debates. The sound of gunfire in a legislative chamber is not an anomaly; it is a symptom of a deeper rot.

We have witnessed the decay of institutions across the West, and now the contagion spreads East. The Senate, that august body meant to deliberate, now cowers behind locked doors. The question is not who fired the shots, but what philosophical vacuum allowed a bullet to replace a word.

We have traded eloquence for violence, reason for raw power. This is the fall of Rome played out in tropical humidity. Mark my words: the lockdown will be lifted, but the damage to the soul of governance remains.

Our civilisation, once proud, now resorts to the language of the gun. I expect more of this theatre as we spiral into a new dark age. To those who will tut-tut and demand calm: you miss the point.

The calm is the problem. The calm before the next shot. We have become spectators to our own decay.