The latest perceived affront to Filipino “pride” comes from a certain Nicole Lynn who, just after she flew into Manila on the 3rd December 2011, reportedly appeared as guest in Willie Revillame’s variety show Wil Time Big Time and then allegedly posted this “status update” on her Facebook profile…
“I hardly made it to manila and we already attended a ridiculous tv show. So annoying!!! These people want to touch you and be with you all the time!! I can’t understand a word they say. I can’t wait to go back home. This country is so dirty and noisy. I’m scared to eat!!! What a mess. On a lighter note I don’t see any real competition. Will keep you updated my loves”
Apparently this “update” (see image that is claimed to be a screencap of said update here) set off the most recent instance of what has already become an all-too-familiar phenomenon that hits the Filipino digiteratti every now and then — a storm of “commentary” owing much of its cause to a world-renowned trait of Filipino discourse first articulated by “an admired Filipino economist, based in New York” back in 2000 who observed how Filipinos tend to habitually fixate upon the “droll and unintelligent, focused on the trivial or the irrelevantâ€.
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Back in mid-2010, a similar stampede to express “indignation” against such “insults” centred around American comedian Adam Carolla whose Facebook page was inundated with pieces of mind coming from “concerned” Filipinos (see a sample of these pieces of mind here) after he also expressed some similar self-evident observations about Philippine society.
For that matter, an “onion skin” mentality has long been something attributed to the collective character of Filipinos. Back in 2002, the late American consultant Clarence Henderson had his own personal encounter with this unsavory trait and related it in his seminal two-part article Cyber-Flamings & Onion Skins: A Savage Journey to the Heart of the Pinoy Dream where he made this observation following the experience…
Now, however, the bruises incurred in the battles described in “1. The Facts” have made me acutely aware of how much Filipinos hate being criticized and (especially) how much they hate foreigners (or other Pinoys for that matter) being critical of the Philippines.
The article goes on to enumerate past instances of similar mass expressions of shallow indignation, notable of which is the Claire Danes “Ghastly Manila” of remark of the late 1990s which also got her into the firing line of Filipino “pride”…
The whole country, led by the Manila City Council, was immediately inflamed and up in arms. There was a major move to ban all of Danes’ films in Manila and her name is now considered synonymous with “Ugly American”. Very few politicians or commentators were brave enough to note that Danes’ comments were basically accurate and that something badly needs to be done about the state of the Philippines’ capital city.
You gotta wonder what exactly makes Filipino “pride” so utterly fragile.
benign0 is the Webmaster of GetRealPhilippines.com.
Even Filipinos know that what she says is true…
I came here just to say that, and you beat me to it.
As an American living in the Philippines thats like the pot calling the kettle black. Has she ever been to some armpits in the USA. Try going to New Orleans during mardi gras. Some of the most disgusting vile people on earth peeing in public and fat girls flashing there donut eating boobs. Filipinos aren’t born with a silver spoon like most Americans yet this uneducated tart from Univ of Fla needs to wake up and stop criticizing the nicest people in the world. Maybe she needs to go on a trip with Tebow next time he comes to PI and see how most people here struggle daily.
Well truth really hurts..I am a Filipina coming from the South and I just visited Manila last week and I was really disgusted with what I have witnessed…It’s too crowded and noisy and dirty…It’s the truth so we shouldn’t be hurt about it…Come on, long time ago we are ahead of other countries like Singapore,Malaysia and Thailand and we are so left behind by them…I don’t understand why people tend to stay in a so much crowded city when we have other provinces they can stay….
i agree with u people have to spread all over the archipelago to avoid over crowd.Filipinos must clean the surrounding and must launch for campaign in cleaning the country.
truth hurts
filipinos prefer to live an illusion than face the truth or accept criticism.
hence companies do not have genuine ‘complaint/customer service departments’
every time i take a product back, before i have even finished explaining, the comment is ‘ its something you have done. no one else has complained’. or just a blank look.
trying to get companies to understand, let alone apply total quality management principles is a nightmare.
tqm rule 1
‘ the customer is always right’
rule 2
if the customer is wrong, see rule 1′
DOT want tourists but dont want to listen to their needs or comments. interesting business strategy. they dont teach you that at harvard. i wonder why.
@nona
totally agree. we have the worst customer service here in PH. The new DOT chief thinks selling PH Tourism is as easy as selling Jollibee Chicken Joy…
I must agree..if you don’t argue or complain to any of the crew (generally speaking)
if he thinks civilised people from the west want to spend time and money to be equated with eating chickenjoy then he is already on the wrong track. not even 1 michelin restaurant in the whole country!
durian and balut doesn’t cut it.
nor does cheap toothless hookers
what she said was brutally true. i’m not offended as a Filipino because that’s her honest opinion.
setting aside being Filipino, how she said it was improper for her position though. if she said that about Brazil, Japan etc, she would still get the same reaction. sorry if I’m a bit out of topic…I know this article is about the Onion-skinned Filipino pride 🙂
you have just proved a point.
you accept on the one hand but suddenly have to bring in brazil, japan etc. automatically defensive and diversionary without maybe even realising it.
ummm, it was just an example. chill.
BOTTOM LINE: Filipinos do not want any other nationality to critique their inequities… that is a mortal sin.
What she said is true. However, as an international representative, one must be more conscious with what you say regardless of what country you visit
Conscious, you mean, flattery over truth?
We could voice our indignation if she said baseless accusations against our beloved Pinoy traits. Well, did she?
I’d always take a rude but truthful observer over a smooth-talking liar, anytime.
How about if she says, ‘I enjoyed my stay in the philippines, but it could have been better. Perhaps their government should check their peripherals.’
by paraphrasing it in this manner, she’s not criticizing the Nation but the people who are given the position to improve the country, its people and their culture.
@ anonymous wench
You just removed the gory details to make it sound patronizing. She’s what? 18, 21. You can’t expect her to talk like that.
Rather than focusing on what’s wrong with her let’s focus on WHAT’S WRONG WITH US. That would put the discussion on the proper perspective.
And these ‘proud’ Pinoys far outnumber their reasonable counterparts. They’re far more active in social media sites where they can further spread their idiocy, too.
I gotta say PNoy’s in an unenviable position trying to lead a bunch of typical ‘proud’ Filipinos. Wait… he might just be the perfect poster boy to represent them.
Filipinos are so full of themselves. They think they are the best. Whenever a Filipino makes it abroad, taglines “proud to be pinoy, galing talaga ng pinoy, or world-class ang pinoy” ang bukang-bibig ng Filipinos even before the achiever himself would attribute it to his being a Filipino.
Great majority of Filipinos have not set foot in a foreign land. They tend to overqualify themselves because they are ignorant (and oblivious) of what is outside.
And not to mention, Filipinos are one of the most racists!
Ignorant and oblivious of what is outside.. Strong words to use against filipinos. Well then that’s your opinion. Now here’s mine. Filipinos are one of the most preferred foreign workers in certain countries such as saudi arabia qatar and other middle east countries if they haven’t proven themselves as reliable effective and efficient employees. I guess their employers won’t waste money to hire them right. If they are ignorant and oblivious of what is outside then therefore those people who hire them are twice as ignorant as they are. Filipinos who go abroad either to work or study know what they need and have to do, well these may not apply to all Filipinos who just go out of the country and just leave everything to fate and luck. What I’m trying to say is, every OFW who leaves the country to render services to foreign lands have undergone training and qualification to make them ready and fit to whatever task that will be handed over to them. Honestly, do you think the comment you made make you far better than Filipinos? I guess not.
Maybe the Middle-Eastern employers prefer Filipino workers because they’re paid way less than workers from other countries?
and because they take the abuse without question.
they are often referred to as housewhores in m east
I am a dignified Filipina working for Americans. I am a Technical Support Specialist level2. I care about a lot of people & those I work for. It doesn’t matter where you came from, I just believe that when we stop caring..that’s the end of it all. To those who look down at Filipinos & other people in this planet, You are smaller than anything else!
@eva
i know because i was in the middle east and saw and heard a lot of abuse.
i tried to help which is more than the philippine government wanted to do.
help your fellow ofw’s
As I have observed, we Filipinos seemed more technically skilled compared to other nationalities. In Saudi Arabia, we usually get higher wage rates compared to Nepalees, Sri Lankans and Indians for the same positions. This is due to our capability to work “all-around”, to be flexible and to think out-of-the box. “Madiskarte”, as we would say. This is due to our “lusot” mentality. Whenever there is a problem, we try to find the best “lusot”.
To be fair, we Pinoys sometimes exhibit admirable traits. Problem is, this only happens when we are dogs under the leash of foreign masters. And its common: we are racists. We always look down at the weaknesses (or fabricate a weakness) of other nationalities thinking we’re better than everybody else.
Come on! No one in the whole damm world wants to be talked like that
those people in willie’s show are just trying to be friendly, they just went too far to being friendly, filipinos like foreigners
What she said is too much, why cant she just keep it too herself
Yeah! I can see Filipinos are soo Racist
And loves too kiss foreingers ass very much
Ang Saya!
Eh kung yung simplenga lang pinagkainan sa mga fastfood restaurant hindi magawang linisan magisa at iiwan na lng nang ganun ganun eh how do you expect na gawing malinis angbuong manila?
“…ridiculous TV show…” haha
its weird that Filipinos dont take racial comments when many filipinos stereotype foreigners.
The same thing happened with an episode of Desperate Housewives in which the character Susan was suspicious of her gynecologist’s credentials. In the episode, one of her lines said “I want to make sure that you didn’t get your medical degree from the Philippines”. During that time there was a series scandals regarding Nursing Board Exam leakages. I am Filipino and I thought it was funny, the worse part of it, people kept saying that it was the Nursing Board Exam that had a scandal and not the Medical Board Exam. What a way to save face, it’s not that worse, it’s just bad.
i’ve been in manila a hundred times and its true that its very dirty and noisy on most parts. they just went to the worst show ever especially since willie r. is the host.
What she said is utterly true. The government should really do something about Manila, being the capital of the country. Since most tourists around the world happen to drop by this city, PNoy should most likely give utmost priority for the same to “attract” tourists , thus giving a good impression which should last.
Plain and simple culture-shock that’s all. Maybe in all her 22 years of existence in this planet she has never ever encountered anything quite like it. The assault on the senses is just too overwhelming for the young lass to take. Well, welcome to this side of the third world darling! T.I.P.!
Wow guys who gives a fuck what she said? She was just one of the few human beings on earth would say something that way. Those were just words, soak it in and burn em all inside. Yeh, let’s get on with our lives. Pero para sakin, MORE POWER TO US PILIPINO AT MABUHAY PARIN ANG PILIPNAS!!!
Well, the same Flippers you bid “more power” and “mabuhay pa rin” went viral over every stinking social networking site to express their grievance because they felt offended by her factual observations. Flippers really hate it whenever they’re being exposed by facts. They are incapable of accepting reality about themselves because they refuse to truly self-improve—They want to just leave things as they are.
i was not offended. who cares what other people say. her country is also not perfect. but i was certainly not happy that she said that to think she was a miss earth candidate.
she should not have joined that contest in the first place. and well .. they always say their accounts got hacked if negative backlash pops up. lame excuse
Well, maybe it only means one thing… you people must realise that you need to behave yourselves better if you don’t like to hear these words. Cheers ‘kabayans’!
“behave yourselves better” as in spend lots of money on whorehouses to keep the locals employed or “behave yourselves better” as in stay in the country after graduating college to prevent brain drain instead of working in menial labor in the middle east or Hong Kong as a maid or “behave yourselves better” as in cater to every foreigner who wishes to pay every Filipina a bar fine just becuause his impression of one comes from sex tourists or “behave yourselves better” as in take every insult from every foreigner or we’ll be criticized as “onion skinned” even though we’ve already been beaten down by our country’s sad state of affairs or “behave yourselves better” because we’re Pinoys and Pinoys are supposed to be passive….
Well if that’s the way you would want to ‘behave yourself better’ and if you think that’s the right way to solve your issues then go on mate…
If your friends or acquaintances were willing to bluntly and honestly tell you what they really thought of you, would you want them to? question 118 from The Book of Questions.
Everybody’s been telling us what is wrong with our country but we haven’t done anything to correct them. All we have done is criticize and be offended by the truth. And may I quote a famous movie line, “The truth? You can’t handle the truth.” That’s what we are. We can’t handle the truth and try everything else to avoid facing the truth.
” And you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.” John 8:32