It’s embarrassing that as a nation–I generalize–we can get so riled up over the most trivial things. Call this indignation an offshoot of bayanihan, and on a larger scale, patriotism. But in truth, we’re just simply pikon (thin-skinned).
(link to the original article from Better Philippines)
Apr 5 2010
I was totally disconnected from the internet these past few days so I was completely out of the loop with regards to the latest righteous indignation gimmick of emo-Pinoys over a statement made by comedian Adam Carolla. Much has already been said mostly by Pinoys who don’t get the basic truth that our penchant for riding on the victories of a singular Pinoy such as Manny Pacquiao is symptomatic of our utter lack of real collective achievement.
Come on let’s all wake up from our delusions of greatness. There’s no need for us to get all riled up over Carolla’s statements, which are quite accurate actually. The best thing for us to do is to reflect on what’s been said, identify the problem and come up with a way to correct what’s causing outsiders to have a negative perception of us.
Out of curiosity, I visited Carolla’s Facebook page. As I expected, there I found a steady barrage of attacks from Pinoys who don’t get it. These people are just making it much worse. Obviously, they don’t realize that by ganging up on Carolla they’re just validating the comedian’s statement. Di ba kayo nahihiya sa pinaggagagawa ninyo?
These anti-Carolla emo-Pinoys probably think the same as those superficial Pinoys who think and feel so patriotic every time they wear the national colors and/or that ubiquitous Philippine map shirt logo, or worse, that yellow (God, help this country!) ribbon. I wouldn’t be surprised to find out later that many of these people actually belong to the same clique.
God, please help this country!
Stupid, stupid, stupid! How can we evolve if we can’t even accept criticism, especially one that has some truth to it? And, to think Filipinos in general are also just as guilty of discriminatory behavior.
I’m a Filipino and I know I love my country. However, I do not feel compelled to engage in superficial acts of “patriotism.” For one, I maintain a firm grasp of reality and as such will never ever believe emo-crap like “where I come from everyone’s a hero” or that Filipinos have a monopoly of bayanihan. Neither do I feel the need to go fashionista with any sense of patriotism I have.
Yikes! I’m getting all indignant over this stupid anti-Carolla indignation. I better stop now. Anyway, for your enlightenment please read this interesting piece from a fellow Filipino and this one from an American who probably has more genuine concern for this country than the typical sakay-sa-uso Pinoy.
Anyway, I ended up reading other blogs’ takes on the issues. A repost of one commenter’s insight:
benign0 said…
Bottomline as Ben says is that the stigma whether fairly or unfairly so continues to stick like a rash to Pinoys. No amount of foot-stomping or quaint cussing will erase it. The only way it will be erased is if and when Pinoys deliver results by way of concrete and measureable achievements that are recognised by the global community.
It’s a hard road to follow, but then it is only via the hard road that real respect can be earned sustainably.
Sheesh. I don’t even consider myself a hardline patriot but I’m rather disappointed and disgusted that so many fail to see it in that light.
