The Awful Truth About Filipinos
Author’s note: My blog, my rules. I value freedom of speech, but for Pete’s sake, STAY ON TOPIC. Off-topic and verbally abusive comments have been rejected, and trolls have been banned. Now about the blog entry… Read first and understand the original entry before proclaiming your love for me. Come on, we’re civil people around here. 
I have noticed during these past few days that traffic to my blog has exponentially increased due to the fact that people who were searching for “The Awful Truth About Filipinos” on Google have landed on one of my many personal blog entries.
This has kept me wondering: what the hell is this “awful truth about Filipinos”? It definitely sounds like a title of some book, a documentary, or some nasty e-mail chain letter.
My last guess came in close. Upon further investigation, I found out that some ignorant outdated dude posted the deleted Slashdot comment that reproduced the infamous Art Bell e-mail chain letter hoax on this forum [notice the date that the forum member posted this outdated 2001 message].
The aforementioned essay rant called “The Awful Truth About Filipinos” was originally attributed to popular American radio personality, Art Bell. According to Wikipedia [because I'm too lazy to summarize stuff for you]:
The Philippine Daily Inquirer printed a letter found on a web page purportedly from Bell that made derogatory statements about Filipinos. This letter was subsequently demonstrated to be a hoax perpetrated upon Bell, who in fact had a publicly loving relationship with his Filipina wife and his previous wife Ramona who was also Filipina, and who often spoke openly about his admiration for the Filipino people on his radio show. Subsequently, the Philippine Daily Inquirer printed a retraction and apologized for printing the statement upon their verification of the hoax. This fraudulent act upon Bell still periodically results in serious threats to Bell when this material surfaces from time to time.
Please, just stop. Haven’t you even read Bob Ong’s essay regarding this? I am sick and tired of reading these types of articles and forum posts.
I hate the fact that Filipinos keep talking about how awful our country is. Please stop the hate and negativity.
I hate the fact that the most insecure strangers that I come across online are most of the time Filipinos. [i.e. They always start threads that go along the lines of "What Do You Think Of Filipinos?". God, why are you all so insecure?!]
I hate the fact that Filipinos try to bring down their fellow Filipinos [see crab mentality].
I hate the fact that a lot of Filipinos are so ignorant—many believe that “buying foreign products will kill our economy” or “speaking English is unpatriotic”.
Be open-minded.
We are living in a global economy, a global society–a global world where “nationalism isn’t bound by time or place. People from other nations migrate to create new nations, yet still remain essentially who they are,” as Patricia Evangelista has said in her award-winning speech.
I’ll end this by quoting more of Patricia’s words for those idiots who accuse me of being a traitor to my beloved country:
“Leaving sometimes isn’t a matter of choice. It’s coming back that is. The Hobbits of the shire traveled all over Middle-Earth, but they chose to come home, richer in every sense of the word. We call people like these balikbayans or the ‘returnees’ — those who followed their dream, yet choose to return and share their mature talents and good fortune.
“…I may take advantage of whatever opportunities come my way. But I will come home. A borderless world doesn’t preclude the idea of a home. I’m a Filipino, and I’ll always be one. It isn’t about just geography; it isn’t about boundaries. It’s about giving back to the country that shaped me.”
Narrow-minded fools.
Tagged as Commentary, The Web + Categorized as Uncategorized
hay naku talaga ung mga ibang pinoy. kaya mahirap makipag kaibigan sa ibang pinoy lalo na dito.
pero san galing si artbell?
I have also read Patricia’s speech. Actually, my Social Studies teacher read it out to me. It was very moving and when the teacher was reading the speech, all my classmates were silent (for once). I agree with her speech. One day, I might move to America but I will NEVER forget about the Philippines. Like Ninoy Aquino, I want to return here someday, to my beloved homeland.
And also, to quote a song: PINOY AKO, PINOY TAYOOOOO! (I love the Philippines.
@lara: Taga-Nevada si Art Bell, but as I’ve mentioned above, he didn’t write that letter. It was eventually traced back to a UCSD student who used a library computer to post that hateful message.
And yeah, I hate crab mentality. Kahit dito–to think na sobrang konti ng mga Pilipino dito–meron parin, eh. 
@yellowcrayolacrayon: Hey, welcome to my blog!
Yeah, her speech was brilliant. I am greatly annoyed [and saddened] by the fact that many people are still narrow-minded, though. 
wow. ang galing. we both love the philippines
i think i’ll blog about this too. did i ever tell you that my dream is to become DOH secretary? yeah, it is. ‘di nga makapaniwala yung mga tao eh, ba’t daw DOH, hindi WHO. i can get mad at them, but i can also just take the higher road and think lowly of them. hahaha, yuck maling logic. you know what i mean. see you pam!
hay naku nagulat ako nung ni click ko crab mentality tas ang definition nya ay patungkol sa pilipino. kalungkot.
I’ve placed a link to your most recent entry (The Awful Truth About Filipinos) on my blog’s last post. I hope you don’t mind. It’s just that I was feeling particularly patriotic last night and I happen to have come across your post and Julie’s. I want to be mad, but I’m more sad, really…
Kudos to those who still believe in the Philippines.
FUCK FLIPS! go to hell they arent asian and Dattebayo rules!
Dattewhat? Sorry, unintelligible gibberish is not tolerated here. So are websites that illegally distribute anime episodes over the web.
Also, please back up your claim that Filipinos aren’t Asian. I don’t blame you though, for you might as well be some dumb American trash who has never heard of other countries because he’s too busy sitting on his ass, waiting for his welfare check while Filipinos pay their taxes for them. Clean up your dirty mouth, as well. Thanks for commenting, though. At least I got your IP address.
I resent filipinos they are bad at everything they do and don’t care. I’ve never had good customer service from one. They have weird personalities and are ugly and rude. I know I live among them
Chris,
While I would thank you for going through all the trouble of leaving a comment, I would like you to know that not all Filipinos are, in your own words, bad at everything they do, don’t care, have weird personalities, ugly, or rude. While you may live among them–yes, I see that you live in Hawaii and there are many Filipinos over there–please keep in mind that the same thing goes for any group of people from any race or nationality. While there’s a ton of stupid, lazy, half-assed Americans, I won’t go around Google and type “i hate americans” (note: you typed “i hate filipinos” on Google, so you landed on my blog) and go and comment on blogs that say otherwise. First of all, that is not an honorable thing to do, and most importantly, it would not be right to place an entire nation under a single negative label.
Yes, I have encountered dumb, ugly, rude Filipinos as much as I have encountered dumb, ugly, and rude African-Americans, Native Americans, European-Americans, and Asian-Americans.
You mentioned that you “never had good customer service from them”, but you know what? There is always going to be that dumb, ugly, and rude sales clerk, whether that person is Filipino, black, white, red, yellow, brown, or polka-dot. It just isn’t right that you’re labeling an entire nation just because of a one-dimensional experience (i.e., a retail experience). Just because the Filipino sales clerks in Hawaii gave you poor customer service doesn’t mean that ALL Filipinos are “dumb, ugly, or rude”. I’ve encountered a bunch of white chicks and dudes who are dumber than algae. I’ve topped ALL my English and literature courses in my university, easily beating Americans in their own language. I’ve encountered several American students in my own university who do not even know how to write research papers properly, who don’t know what rational numbers are, don’t even know how to do Scientific Notation, and I especially hate how they do not even utilize proper grammar in their conversations. However, do I go around and comment on blogs and tell them that ALL Americans are idiots? What you just did, my friend, is a logical fallacy. C’mon, you ought to be “smart” enough to know that by now.
Filipinos are open minded. They try to be any other race but Filipino.
Some examples below.
Dress, talk, and act like black people. (My black friends think this is both sad and funny)
They’re Hawaiian, Chinese, Half Something, etc…etc. Are there any full Filipinos out there?
No, I honestly don’t think that there are. I have to admit that Filipinos have a pretty messed up ethnic identity. The Philippines is a melting pot of cultures due to the strong influences of the country’s colonizers. Filipinos don’t even look very much like each other, and it is rather difficult to distinguish them from other Asians or Pacific Islanders.
However, if you compare this, yet again, to how the United States is also a melting pot of cultures, you’ll understand. Who is purely American? Isn’t everyone here also half-something?–Scottish-Irish, German, African-American, Mexican-American, Puerto Rican, Caribbean, and all that? Are there any “full Americans” out there? Maybe we could argue that the Native American Indian settlers are the only “full Americans”, but even they originally came from Asia.
I have to agree with you about Filipinos who act like they’re black. “Fliggas” [or "fliggaz"], as how people call them. Other people act like they’re black, though: white people ["wigga"], Chinese people ["chigga"], Latinos, etc. And besides, only the insecure idiots do that–not all Filipinos do.
Never marry a filipino!!! they rob from you!!!!
The problem with this topic is that it involves misplaced national pride more than ignornace. I have lived in the Philippines for the past five years and see the issue firsthand. As an expat calling the Manila Metro area home, I encounter too many who follow rather than think. The Trillanes example is all you need to justify the reason why this nation will struggle to ever step out of the Third World. Selling your vote is far worse than treating laws as suggestions (be them tax, driving or divorce). It is far more convenient for many Filipinos to pull others down to their level rather than work hard to overcome life’s difficulties. The crab mentality is rampant and blame others rather than be accountable.
Stop thinking that way and maybe…just maybe…the Philippines will prosper like the many nation neighbors who long ago passed it by. Fix your problems before condemning others. The mirror is more powerful than the microphone.
i completely stand for all Filipinos learning English. there’s absolutely nothing unpatriotic about it - in fact, i would consider it patriotic, since it’ll all be for the good of the Filipino, the effort it would take to learn a new language in order to better oneself, and in effect, better the country as a whole. though i understand tagalog (i’m cebuano), i can’t speak it, and i for one am relieved the filipino subject only lasts until the first year of college.
one should never base the stereotype of the country on the TROLLS that just happen to originate from that country. i agree wholeheartedly what you said about there always the ‘bad’ and the ‘good’ in any race.
that won’t stop me from ranting about that post on my own blog though, lol.
I would agree with some of these posts both good and bad. You see, I have friends who are filipino and they are in fact very nice, hard working people. However, I hate tagalog. I think it sounds terrible. Also, my filipino friends are very insecure and they over-compensate for it. For example, one girl I know has a very wide nose with big nostrils and she often expresses how much she loves her nose and calls it a filipino nose, however, one day I caught her looking in the mirror squeezing her nose as if to see what it would look like if it wasn’t so wide.
Another example of their insecurity and over-compensation is that they always talk about being filipino and how “proud” they are of it when no one else in our group of friends is talking about their ethnicity. They manage to sneak this in to almost every conversation. It’s really more annoying than anything. They even wanted to start something called “hug a filipino day” within our group of friends. (??)
Although they are some of the nicest people I’ve ever met I have to admit that I keep them around out of pity. They are like little kids that need encouragement and reassurance that they are acceptable in our society. I say: get over it. Be who you are and stop bombarding us with your “filipinoness”.
I understand that not all filipinos are this way and that there are white/black/spanish/etc. people with the same issues … but I have met more filipinos that are weird and over-compensating for their own insecurities than any other ethnic group.
” but I have met more filipinos that are weird and over-compensating for their own insecurities than any other ethnic group”
I have met a lot of weird non-filipino. For example this blond girl who says everyone else is ugly but she keeps piling makeup on her face to have some color on her face. VERY INSECURE. I caught her putting on some makeup.
As to the author of this blog, We are not narrow minded people. In fact, we get all kinds of humor and culture. We are the most assimilated ethnicity in the USA. Hows that for narrow minded?
Wishing to go back to a country where you are not regarded as a second class citizen is NOT being narrow minded. ITS a psychological need -wanting to BELONG and loved as you are, not because you are pretty or loaded with gold but just because there’s load of “humanity” everywhere. I like them because they are not really shallow people. Make up is not part of their culture. Everyone is real. Well almost everyone, except for some Filipinos like you.
You are not really that bright are you?
Ms. Olivia Gonzales:
Thank you for going out of your way to be the first Filipino troll on this blog entry. Your less than respectful question (more like an insult, of course, not a question), “You are not really that bright are you?” definitely makes you a troll. I will break the rules of levelheadedness and feed the troll, so here goes.
I don’t know how to react to your comment, honestly. It’s so sad to see how a Filipino bashes her fellow Filipino based on the former’s (i.e., your) misunderstanding of a blog entry!
If you were even bright enough yourself (that comment of yours lacked any logical coherence, I’m afraid), you would have fully understood the simple rhetorical style that I have used at the latter part of this blog entry.
When I wrote, “Narrow-minded fools,” I was referring to the people that I have enumerated on paragraphs 8 (Filipinos who wallow in hate & negativity), 9 (insecure Filipinos who keep on asking, “What do you think of Filipinos?”), and 10 (ignorant Filipinos who say that buying foreign products will kill the Filipino economy, or who think that speaking English is unpatriotic). Having enumerated them in the earlier paragraphs and ending it with an artistic fragment (”Narrow-minded fools” is a fragment), I further emphasized the narrow-mindedness of the aforementioned types of Filipinos.
On paragraph 11, I asserted my case with, “Be open minded”: my counteractive statement against the said narrow-minded fools on paragraphs 8, 9, and 10. I supported this statement by quoting excerpts from Patricia Evangelista’s famous award-winning speech, with emphasis on nationalism as being a “borderless” ideal, respect for the “balikbayans”, the importance of going back to your native land after being immersed in a different culture and lifestyle abroad, a condemnation of the people who accuse Filipinos who go abroad as “traitors”, Patricia’s excellent point about being a Filipino no matter where you are, and her best one yet about “giving back to the country that shaped me”.
I hope that I made it less sophisticated for you so hopefully you finally understand what my blog entry is about!
It’s not a condemnation of the Filipinos; it’s a condemnation of Filipinos who wallow in the hate and negativity and pass it along to fellow Filipinos (e.g., like what you just did! 
Awesome! 
).
Thanks so much for the comment, though. People like you are the main reason why I keep on blogging. Thank you.
I’ll have to give you a better argument, Agree2disagree. Thanks for commenting, as well. That goes for the rest of you.
You are an attention whore. You post stupid things about “I hate the negativity”, yet youre posting about your kind of hate.
As to the person who wrote we are not Asian, I AM PROUD NOT TO BE LUMPED WITH ASIANS, mostly insecure chineses. Everywhere the Chinese goes, they are hated people. So everyone, never call yourself Asian. We are better than Asian.
So to the author of this hatred blog, I barely read your blog because I read by blocks, like snapshots. And the statements that kept glaring back at me are the words - hate, hate, hate.
You are the negative one, look at what you just wrote, either that or you have to much time in your hands. I got two jobs, as a java programmer for aerospace companies so I am better at reading codes than reading between the lines of your - hate blog.
Why dont you do something useful? If you are in the US, start a company that employs Filipinos.
By the way, anyone reading this, please boycott Jollibee in Panorama City, CA. The company is using the business to import taiwanese who cant even speak english to America. Hell, that opportunity to come here to the US should have given to Filipinos since its supposedly a Filipino Restaurant.
And one more thing, can everyone pass around this - HINDI INSTIK SI RIZAL. If you notice, the Asians aka Chinese are trying to impose on us that the reason why Rizal have such a high IQ is because he is Chinese. GOOD Lord, they just wont stop cheating.
Me? Attention whore? How did that make me an attention whore? I was using “I hate Filipinos who are” and “I hate the negativity” as an means of emphasis! Didn’t you even pass your English composition class in your university? That’s a style of writing. It’s called irony. It’s a device used to drive a point. Its best friends are sarcasm and dry humor. Why do you have to take things so literally? Posting about my kind of hate? The last time I checked, I was just interpreting the blog entry for you!
As a mature adult—which I am assuming that you are, but of course, based on what you have written, especially that last comment, I now know otherwise—you should know better: READ THE ENTIRE THING BEFORE LEAVING A COMMENT. That is, think before you say anything. That’s Internet communication Rule # 1. Look at all the trouble you’ve caused. If you’ve read all the comments before you replied, you would have known that this is NOT a hate blog, so stop calling this a “hatred blog” (which is poor usage of the term, I must add; the proper term is “hate blog”).
Also, if you were a Java programmer, you would have known that the highlighted words are caused by a special search engine keywords highlighter called WP Highlight–it’s a tool to help people from search engines find their keywords easily. The reason why the statements that are “glaring back” at you are “hate, hate, hate” is because you searched for “i hate filipinos” on Google. You’re far worse than all the trolls that have bothered on commenting here, being a Filipino yourself and looking for trouble. As you would know, the very act of Googling “i hate filipinos” is asking for trouble. You should be old enough to know that by now.
And please stay on topic. Why do you have to use this blog to advertise your hate messages? Why do you have to drag Jolibee, the Chinese, and Jose Rizal’s ancestry on here? You call this a hate blog when all you’ve posted so far is hateful, poorly-written, senseless drivel. Get your own blog! Also learn how to use your bookmarks or history. You came back here by Googling “i hate filipinos” yet again.
PS: Oh, and by the way… I’m not old enough to start my own company yet.
PPS: Of course I have all the time in the world! I’m on my summer break!
Hello Pam Q.
I’m half Filipino half German born in LV, NV, and I have to agree with Olivia. You sound like a very angry person for a student. You should probably look inward, ask yourself why this blog? Do you hate yourself? Personally, I like my Mom’s weird ways ( per standard of the mainstream America). You should watch a youtube presentation of another Filipina Christy something search for happy slip. Its really hilarious. I find it so cool to be identified as a Filipina. I barely look Malay since my Mom is a mestiza. I love my Mom and everything I am. I hope you find inner peace within yourself.
Peace,
- Liz
Also,
You wrote about hate and now you are so upset that people react to your blog? Why are you surprised that people found your blog? There are millions of filipinos out here, and you think none of us were discriminated before and were told we are hated, so we try to understand why people hate us.
You try to look better than the other person by going into the technicals like what is a verb or a satire or what have you. You think that this would make the other person look stupid just because you learn this stuff in school. I have news for you, they teach those things in grade school in the PHILIPPINES. I have met a lot of really clueless students in the US. My Mom who has the funniest accent ever, can beat an American COLLEGE student with her spelling skills. Thats why whenever I meet a Filipino with a funny accent and very nosy ways, I dont get irritated because they remind me of my Mom.
Basically, you do not have respect for another’s person opinion nor understanding of where the other person is coming from. She already explained to you that she reads in blocks. You nitpicked on every word, every noun and yet you fail to understand what she is trying to tell you. What were you trying to do, were you trying to embarrassed her by implying youre just a student yet you know what a satire is and she does not? If you are in school and thats the only thing you can be proud of so far, you will learn later in life that success in life is not measured by whether you know what satire is or shaming another group of people in your “very special blog”. Its about - how many houses do you have, how many people have you raised from their sad situations, how much do you earn, are you happy, etc etc.
- This is for my Mom who has been discriminated and laughed at several times.
Wow. It’s sad how I keep on repeating the same stuff over and over again in an attempt to be heard to the very end. None of you seem to understand my point. I appreciate your comment, Elizabeth (as I do Ms. Olivia’s); however, you’re getting the wrong message here, and you’re giving me some seriously off-tangent arguments.
Why this blog? Or perhaps the proper question is, “why write this blog entry?” since this is all but one entry in a weblog.
It’s not about hating Filipinos “with funny accents” or whatnot and it’s most definitely not about “hating” myself. Why would I even hate myself?
If you read the original post, you would know that I wrote this because I found out that people all over the Internet still have not moved on after the infamous Art Bell e-mail chain letter hoax called “The Awful Truth About Filipinos” spread like wildfire back in the late 90’s. I did a bit of research and found out that people are still passing around this very hateful (and very untrue) message, which caused them to bicker needlessly among themselves (similar to what happened to us here, my deplorable cultus). I just wrote this because I was sick and tired of hearing how awful our country is. If you went to the links that I have placed on that original post, or if you just looked around how people talk about this e-mail, you would get fed up with how people are taking this e-mail too seriously. It was a hoax. It may be true, it may be not—but that’s not the point. The point is, we, as a society, ought to move on and just continue to love the Philippines. I love the Philippines and I hate how people are digging up the Art Bell issue and are actively dissing the country. That’s why I wrote that blog entry, and I can’t believe that you people are not getting it.
If you even read the comments that immediately followed, you can see that people who understood the message share this sentiment. Now I don’t understand why Ms. Gonzales suddenly questioned my intelligence—or, according to her, my lack thereof—and so I responded in the same mocking manner that she used on me. That’s just it.
Now I don’t know what Christine Gambito (happyslip) has to do with this, but let me tell you a few more things in response to your highly personal attack:
I disagree with your assertion that it’s about the number of houses you own, and how much money you earn. I know tons of Filipinos in California who enjoy practicing crab mentality: because they think that it’s all about the number of houses and the money, they strive to embody what we here call “California dreaming”: fancy cars, huge houses (all credit card loans, of course) just to live up to some people’s beliefs that it’s all about the number of houses and the money. This is the cancer that is slowly killing the Filipino diaspora. This is the mentality that is gradually destroying Filipinos here in the United States. I agree with your point about helping others and how happiness is what matters, but I think you just contradicted yourself when you pointed out how important such material possessions are. I guess this is one of those awful truths about Filipinos.
See the difference?
versus
All up against Google.com’s native highlighting function with the example of this search query for “borderless world patricia evangelista”:
I’m curious about a couple of posts. First, directly after my entry, a comment was made about “one should never base the stereotype of the country on the TROLLS that just happen to originate from that country.” I’m not certain what she quantifies as a troll. Is it anyone who differs in opinion? As for originating from the Philippines, who better to speak of the issues? I reside in this nation and have a personal view of the matter. Those who live elsewhere are simply guessing or repeating others. It is absurd to dismiss those of us who can actually substantiate the very basis of this debate. I would not ask a vegan to tell me where to find the best steak tartare.
Secondly, the Art Bell issue certainly has legs. It recently appeared in the newsletter of a very affluent, private community here. It was printed as the truth and after repeated chastising by those of us who knew better, finally retracted by the editor. He thought he was having the final laugh when he printed the infamous Dave Letterman Top 10 reasons why a Filipino American will never be elected President. Again, this was received as gospel until a few of us pointed out that it too was untrue.
When Malu Fernandez wrote in People Asia magazine of her disgust with the behavior of OFWs, she was condemned. She was forced to resign from her newspaper and an ‘apology’ issued by her editors. It seems that many Filipinos are willing to mock others but God forbid anyone make fun of things close to their hearts. The hypocrisy is astounding.
Yes, I live here and am happy. I learned long ago to ignore those who want more than they deserve. That is the awful truth of this nation. Too many blame colonialism and corruption, without looking in the mirror.
That’s pretty much what these spammers did to my blog, really. I had to ban several flamers, including Olivia Gonzales and her cohorts because the attacks are off-tangent, crude, and paint an ugly picture of
the undocumented Filipino immigrantsthe Filipinos in California.Each nation, I believe, has its own list of “Awful Truths”—it just so happened that it’s so easy to poke fun at Filipinos, of course, because Filipinos [an oppressed people] easily get offended when they are made fun of. Then again, I see no hope for positive change. Not soon, anyway. However, it doesn’t hurt to try to boost the sense of pride once in a while.
You may call this a misplaced sense of national pride, SpinDoctor, and I might agree to an extent. However, if we Filipinos do not love and take pride in our country, nobody will. It may be an exercise in futility, but optimism is a good thing. However, thanks for taking time to post intelligent comments; they’re much appreciated.
You’re welcome.
I don’t fault pride in ones nation…I take issue with misplaced pride. Cheering for Manny is cool. Thinking he is the best that ever lived is not. Supporting OFWs who are mistreated is noble. Asking for clemency for the ones who kill in foreign lands is not. Standing by one of your own when she claims to have been raped is laudable. Finding out that she was banging two different U.S. military personnel (each told they were exclusive BTW) when she went to a U.S. Marine bar to pick up another yet still supporting her is repulsive. Living the Rizal Code of Honor is amazing. Thinking that this nation is in trouble solely because of corrupt trapos is absurd.
The list of hypocrisy is endless.
Now, this dialogue is about the RP not other nations. I am not too silly to ignore the hypocrisies of my home nation. When that debate begins, I will happily contribute without misplacing my pride.
Damn I really hate reading “articles in denial” like this. Like someone wise used to say, the first step towards reformation and improvement is a realization that something is wrong with you. Deluded people never get better at anything, never.
The sad fact of the matter is, there is something very, very wrong with Filipino culture. If it weren’t so, how else could you explain why our country is such a basketcase and has been such for pretty much its entire history. It boils down really to two things, related to how we Filipinos view our problems:
First, someone else is ALWAYS to blame for our problems, we are never responsible for anything. For example, I hear people complain all the time that it is multinationals, the evil Spanish and their colonization, the Chinese, Marcos and the Americans, etc who are the cause of Filipino poverty. From where I stand, the #1 cause of Filipino poverty is Filipinos. Take a look at our politicians. When Filipinos have no power, we are subservient. When we gain power, we are abusive a-holes. They are both sides of the same coin, think about it, it’s logical.
Second: Family members are always the #1 priority in an obscene and disgusting way that people in developed western countries will never understand. Our country is probably the only one in the world where criminal law forgives accessories to a crime because they are a relative of the offender. Yes, it’s true look it up. Nothing is too low or obscene so long as it is for the good of a family member, nevermind that such member is a 4th degree cousin because blood always beats nation ALL THE TIME. Why else did we accept the wife of a so-called hero as default president without benefit of an actual election? Right…
Anyway, you’re sick of negativity, I’m sick of your delusion. Wake the hell up and realize our country sucks, is a laughing stock in Asia and our culture is sick and it’s unhealthy obsession with the family retarded. Maybe one day when you wake up and the Philippines has become a colony of China you’ll finally realize that yes, we are terrible and we could have done better but now it’s way too late.
pamQ I agree with your comment that Filipinos are “an opressed people.” But may I point out the obvious fact, perhaps if you didn’t realize it, that the number one oppressors of Filipinos are also Filipinos? I would go as far to say as we are our ONLY oppressors, really.
Here’s a better issue to gnaw on…
The foreign investors were invited to the Senate for what they expected to be a routine press conference to highlight the cooperation between nations. Instead Joker, Miriam and Enrile blasted those who attended. They shocked this nation by stating that foreign companies are given too many tax breaks and that the Philippines should do away with them. A few CEOs responded that they provide hundreds of thousands of jobs here, pay taxes and incredible utilities fees, donate huge sums philanthropically and invest in infrastructure for the betterment of the Philippines. They were met with raucous booing from the crowd (obviously planted by the Three Bumbleers) and told that they can take it or leave it. Well…Intel announced that they are closing a production facility, UPS will remove the terminal and relocate to China, two semiconductor companies announced that they will pull out at the end of their lease since the RP seems intent on punishing foreign investors. Joker went on to say that we still have the call center business and OFWs to carry on. I guess he forgets who owns the call centers. What an a-hole!
@Ray: Thanks for your comments. Though I would agree that I may be too optimistic for my own good, I still believe that positive change is possible if the whole country [or most of us Filipinos, at least] somehow wakes up and stops the self-deprecation. It’s pretty much a given that the Philippines is in a shitty situation right now, but the thing is, we could still do something about it if we really put our hearts and souls into it. I know my words from here in the US is pretty much nothing without a concrete plan of action, but I’m working on that–and you all should, too. It would take years and years to revamp this effed up society, but we could start in our own small ways. There’s nothing to lose, really–not if we’ve all lost everything anyway.
@SpinDoctor: Yeah, it really is messed up pretty badly over there, but I guess politicians are always going to be politicians, though I suppose Philippine politics is always going to be somewhat a comedy of errors, especially with Joker, Miriam, and Enrile doing some grandstanding. I think it’s a way of coping with the horrid state the country is in. I wish the Philippines could reset itself and start anew.
I don’t want to be racists here but I hate Filipinos because they think that they are all that (show offs) and don’t respect anyone who they don’t really know (or care about) especially the Filipinos teenagers . Some Filipinos think they are number one in the class when in fact not. I have dealt with many Filipinos in the past. Some can be very nice if they are your friend. Also, I hate the Filipinos who drive there stupid annoying mufflers with there modified cars thinking that all that (show offs). If you know a lot about Filipinos you people would know what I am talking about. I am willing to discuss this issue and share my thoughts.
I’ve got a better one from this week. Manny Villar, the Senate President, just declared that he would be a candidate for Philippines President in 2010. That afternoon, Senator Ping Lacson made the blunder of the year. A staffer thought that he had found a Villar gaffe in the budget and passed it along to Ping. Rather than investigate it as expected of the former top cop here, Ping used his privelege speech to accuse Villare of stealing from the people by double billing a road project in his district. Rather than waste a bunch of bandwidth, suffice to say that he just about called Villar Satan-incarnate. Villar kept his mouth shut and let his posse attack back. Lacson went after them UNTIL one proved that the expense was legitimate AND signed off on by Lacson! Too f-ing funny. Rather than face the music the next day, he high tailed it to ‘official business’ and his pals all were absent too.
No sense in discussing this with you, Bobby…you would never say those things here. I’m not Filipino but know that the real reasons why people mock so many of this heritage has more to do with no fixing errors than genetics. Do you need six cars when you only have two drivers in the house? Must you install a Santa Nino on each dashboard but then curse like a sailor when driving on the sidewalks and through red lights? Should you, the OFW, forget how to behave back home but follow every law while abroad? Is it possible for you, the guy making $200 a month, to stop making kids? When will you realize that ten sachets of hair products cost more than the bottle and don’t pollute as much? Can you live without texting for more than five muntes? Isn’t it better to get a job and try to act like an adult rather than sponge off Mom and Dad for forty years? Stealing utilities is not an art…it is a crime and you should stop doing it. Squatting on someone else’s land is not a Constitutional privilege, it’s laziness and shameful. Those are far more intersting and a whole lot less racist.
Really, whats the point in arguing? Whats the point in pointing whats wrong when the only thing we do is read and comment… No action, all talks, as if writing how much this country sucks will eventually improves the situation. Stop dreaming, if all that u can do is write and then be proud coz ur thnking that your one of the people who has the ability to make a change, grow up! One or two or a hundred of you who chastise ur own country instead of doing sumting to improve the situation, wont make a difference. Yes were all shithead, but do we really think that were gonna listen to sum1 pointing how shithead filipino are? F.U. If you want to show how despicable we rily are then start by leading good examples, then we will listen, otherwse shut ur pie hole. We already knows whats wrong, u dnt nid 2 scold us! Each and every filipino knows, and still were not doing anything, were not acting on it, trash wont go away just by pointing at it!!!
Quote from a post above: “They are like little kids that need encouragement and reassurance that they are acceptable in our society.”
This hits the nail on the head. Filipinos have this thin veil of national pride, but they always wanna be someone else, either white/european with their “spanish” link, or japanese/chinese because of geography. They are some of the most ardent Christians you will find, but not because of a deep belief in christian doctrine, but because they are so eager to be associated with western culture and identity. And they ARE always sycophantically seeking confirmation and assurance that, hey, they’re just as European as any other European, or, hey, they’re just as Japanese as any Japanese person. They’re cheesy about everything too. They’re generally able to only pick up on the basest, cheesiest aspects of the cultures they soooo much want to be like. Take one example: Serenading. They love to serenade their girls. They think westerners will be so impressed with their ’sophistication’ in serenading…..its screwy. They have an insincere, overdone baroque politeness about them that seems more tactical than anything else. My advice, forget about being Spanish, or English, or Japanese. There’s nothing wrong with cultural transformation either and adopting things from other cultures into your own. But you should be first Filipinos, then these other things, and why do you always feel you need other peoples’ approval. Damn other people. People from India take a rich pride in their culture, so do people from Japan or China, or Germany, or Venezuala. When you talk to any other culture you can feel an intense passion for their culture, an sense of pride and confidence. With Filipinos you sense nervousness, anxiety, and desperation in their own identity. Bizarre.