‘The inferiority of Filipino culture’ – open discussion
“The inferiority of filipino culture and the question of impossiblity for progress.
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filipino culture breeds mediocrity. It is the cause of the problems of the philippines and is inherently impossible to change. How can one expect progress in the philippines when the ultimate definition of the philippine nation is the sole source of its problematic nature?”
Do you really believe this?
I saw this thread discussion at the UST Exchange forum. Unfortunately, since I’m not from UST I can’t participate in the forum, nor see all the discussions that follow this thread. Follow the UST discussion to get a better feel for the sentiments of some of our countrymen.
Better yet, I thought I would ask YOU – what do you think about the statement above?
Do you believe that the Filipino culture is inferior?
Do you believe that the Filipino character is inferior? Are we mediocre by nature?
Do you believe that it’s impossible for progress to happen in our country?
Who is/are to blame? What can be done about it/them?
Let’s talk about it and start our own discussion.
Tags: Filipino, culture, Philippines, discussion
2 Comments
Now there may be a few things I might not like about events and things that happen in the Philippines. But I’d have to disagree with the ‘comment’ in question. It’s almost too general/broad.
To the questions.
Do you believe that the Filipino culture is inferior?
No. And compared to what/whom and when and how?
Pick probably any country.. Canada (look how they treat their indigenous people/ First Nation), U.S.A. (how many monolinguals vs bilinguals), Japan (what recent major past event in their history that hurt a lot of people do they refuse to acknowledge and teach to themselves) and you can pick a few bad bits out of them.
Do you believe that the Filipino character is inferior? Are we mediocre by nature?
There might be a few things that might stereotypically be linked to the Filipino character but of those things.. it’s “nice, friendly, family oriented” that stand out. Watch TFC/ABS-CBN and you see a variety of creativity. Go past that and you might find out about pinoys and pinays doing good that aren’t even listed on TFC and still they shine.
What does mediocre mean? Yes we don’t have the steady (yet humble) stream of scientific discovery of Australia. But for now Philippines has more livable and prettier scenery and not suffering a drought like Australia. – Cool drama shows (Jumong 4 EVAR!!!) and industrial creation strength like South Korea.. well okay they have us beat there.. BUT for now we don’t have a DMZ and live in fear to the north. Same goes for the technology wonderland of Taiwan, they can barely be called a country by other countries due to fear of China. Yes we may have corruption but at least we aren’t under a junta (Fiji, Thailand, Pakistan, Myanmar) or higher levels of combat fighting like Indonesia or Sri Lanka. And hopefully not high pollution like India. And our leadership isn’t like China. And though I wouldn’t want to do it.. I can spit on the ground freely in the Philippines (okay I’m scraping with that).
Not that Philippines is one Brady Bunch episode. We have had MILF manufacturing RPGs than holding people as shields while authorities get them. UN spot light on murders of political candidates. No universal health care. And I think you probably could be elected to the Senate from a jail cell after committing mutiny on a national level (but I could be wrong). Mediocre perhaps but those ASF dancers dance 6 times a week. And the ones that use the aliases Luningning and Milagring are certainly not mediocre.
Do you believe that it’s impossible for progress to happen in our country?
If you mean the Philippines. No. Of course not. Look at Wowowee and how it unites a lot of filipinos just for the basic feeling of saying “Hi” to each other. The country still needs to use it’s own people. Instead of rely on outside corporations or outside technologies. They should train them and have them return service to the people for a few years. So much possibility and resources (people and materials) compared to other countries in the region… tapping it doesn’t need to be grand or some master plan or set of master plans. Little things, here and there to help people, improve the living environments.. will do wonders.
Who is/are to blame? What can be done about it/them?
Many sides to blame. Lost of hope/ignorance on those that might sweep any culture into the bin. And I admit I’ve been guilty of that, esp. on Philippines when the abu sayaf were busy. I hear a lot of blame is towards the Rich Families. But.. I think culturally it’s everyone. At times we are put down by other Asians.. by occasionally withdrawing the ‘asian’ title, because most of our eyes are not slant enough, though they’ll hide it behind geography (despite what asiany countries are south of us) or a technicality (despite that Japan is also a series of islands also) as a legitimate excuse to throw insults are way.
What can we do? Be ourselves, ignore the haters by doing what we can to be good where we can. And Globally better each other (doesn’t even have to be financially) instead of ignore each other while we hide in our cliques or shun those because of lack of higher education or not part of a military caste or inability to speak Tagalog or different economic status or even nationality. A slight unity perhaps. But anyway that’s just one option of perhaps many possible things to do.
- Klint
pinoy in Bothell, WA, USA
marame maganda 2 all.
Klint, you just answered the questions, and very thoroughly I might add. I too don’t believe that the Philippines is hopeless, and that’s why I wanted to throw these questions out. There is much work to be done, and none can be accomplished by negativity, or ignorant optimism. We’re a far cry from being a developing country but we can do it. Maybe not in our lifetime, but as a Filipino I can’t give up on my own country or believe in the Filipinos’ capacity to do well and better.