Okay, after ChinoF wrote his rant about how overrated people are for Pinoys, it’s time to point out some of the more obvious problems inherent in our culture in terms of how we view other people. Truth be told, one of the major reasons the wrong people often end up in often wrong positions of power is because many of us, and I mean many of us, see them in the wrong light. More often than not, our admiration of some people become idolatry and this results in preposterous outcomes that everyone ends up regretting somewhere along the way.
As an example of this, one need not look further than the Aquino family whom the media tries to sell to us as a great family with both an alleged “hero” and a so-called “saint” among its members. For many years, many of our countrymen bought into this deception and even hailed the Aquino family as their saviors who supposedly “saved” the Philippines from oppression. However, after six years of incompetence through the second Aquino administration, Filipinos finally decided to call bluff on the decades-old propaganda depicting the Aquino family as the saviors and defenders of the Philippines.
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Unfortunately, the Pinoy obsession with the Aquino family isn’t the only sign of the idolatry in our culture, oh no. There are many others and I’ve stated them here on GRP repetitively but, almost always, only very few actually understand what is being said in the first place. Many Pinoys are really just that obsessed with celebrities, athletes and politicians that they outright worship them as gods rather than as people. They often see their idols as monolithic figures who represent the good that they believe in and will never change. What they don’t see is that their idols are all too human and are both flawed and corruptible in many ways.
People Are NOT One-Dimensional
One big problem with many dumb Pinoys is that they only see one side of a person and they make immediate assumptions about said person. As mentioned in a speech by another GRP contributor Ms. Mike Portes, there are actually people out there who are dumb enough to think that any woman who wears revealing clothing is a “slut”. They often fail to realize that said woman probably just wears what she does either because she just wants to express herself or it’s really just that hot with the latter being the strongest possibility.
People, especially Pinoys, tend to see people as one-dimensional figures which is helped by the local media which does nothing but twist facts and ideas for its audience. The local media even encourages people to think that the people they see on TV are the same people they see in real life. None of them care to remember that what they are seeing on TV is simply a show and what their favorite actor or actress is doing is simply an act.
There is more than one side to a person and this is what many typical Pinoys simply fail to understand. They are quick to make assumptions about people based on the little they see of them. When they see a person doing something good such as giving to charity, they assume that person to be an all-good saint. When they see a person harshly criticizing their ways (especially when said person is a foreigner), they assume said person to be evil incarnate. Not once do they stop to think that perhaps the person giving to charity might be a sadistic child-molester behind closed doors and that the harsh critic might actually be a kindhearted person who cares about stray animals.
People Are NOT All The Same
Another thing Pinoys love to do is stereotype others. Granted, this is not solely a Pinoy trait and other countries have it just as bad. Unfortunately, Pinoys are easily some of the most immature people in the world and easily give in to the idea that: “If you’ve seen one, you’ve seen them all!”
This is why they easily stereotype people and assume, similar to the way that they judge a person by just one aspect that they see, that one person easily represents the group they belong to. You get silly little things like all gay people are weak and want to be women, all Muslims are oppressive and violent and people from the province are primitives who don’t know how to operate modern technology. None of them ever realize that in the world beyond the Philippines, there are actually gays who are very masculine and may even be an elite member of the military, that there are Muslims who push for peace and tolerance and that there are people from the province who are very smart and tech savvy.
I think if Pinoys could just see past stereotypes, perhaps there would be more unity in our country…
People CHANGE
This is probably the biggest thing that Pinoys tend to miss altogether which is again helped by the media with their stereotypical characters in TV shows. They often expect people to be permanent figures who never change despite the fact that the only real thing constant about people is the fact that they will change with time. All men and women are broken, fixed and rebuilt on a regular basis when big events happen in their lives.
A person who was once happy go lucky may one day become a workaholic. A man who was once serious may one day become a stand-up comedian. A woman who may have once been wild may one day become conservative. The list goes on. Indeed, as I’ve mentioned time and again, the Thaddeus Grimwald writing here isn’t the same Thaddeus Grimwald a few years back. In those days, I was actually just another yellow zombie but, thanks to a number of life-shattering events, I came to my senses and became something else entirely. Although as to what, I’ll leave it to you to judge.
At the end of the day, I think Pinoys just need to accept the fact that people, including themselves have the capacity to change. A good man, or woman for that matter, can be corrupted into becoming evil if they become too greedy, proud or lustful. Alternatively, even a bad person, or one that is useless can become a hero in their own right if they can take action and take responsibility for what they do.
I HAVE RETURNED TO LAY WASTE TO OUR ENEMIES!
In that context i hope the one who will be inaugurated as vp will also ‘change’ before it is too late for her and her daughters. Sayang kasi if she gets eaten by the system. Also, people don’t need another kris.
I doubt it’ll ever happen as she has been given tantallous amounts of support by the yellow cults during the campaign, buying out smartmagic aswell as comelec to “Break Laws”. I even believe that the Supreme Court/DoJ has already been bought by the yellows as they are but silent with the breaking of the “Rule of Law” in which they should have the power/authority to prosecute those comelec officials and ammend their decisions abiding the law but nope nothing but crickets crackling as days/weeks/months/years pass-on like any other cases that could possibly take day/weeks but here in the Philippines and only in the Philippines would take years or more especially if it is yellows/rich oligarch’s.
Really the Yellow Administration is full of corrupt puppets by the aquino’s-cojuanco’s and their oligarch constituents. To them they are above the law aslong as they have the money(stolen money government/donation/underthetable businesses/mining/etc.) to give.
Robredo is a fake vp puppet not chosen by the people but by the yellows who have plans to take down Pres. Duterte who is against their yellow principles, look at the myriad of yellow media against Pres. Duterte even though it is still abnoy aquino who is in office till June 30.
That’s why Sen.B.Marcos didn’t release his evidences about electoral fraud as there won’t be any fair trial or those would just be junked by the current yellow admins judges on court who are paid to be anti-marcos.
Sigh! I can wish can’t i??? But then even her not wearing yellow is not enough for me to trust her. I need to see how she fares on her first months, first year. She had her chance to clear her name by going for that system audit but instead was ‘atat’ to be proclaimed. Tas paawa pa. Ambition? Utang na loob?
We can wish, but let’s accept reality when it stings hard.
I see people who tend to idolize people are creating a persona other than themselves. It gives people a false sense of security and edge to this materially obscessed society. Explains why cosmetic industry is a very lucrative bussines. Radical thinkers have no place in our society, it may put one’s life in danger for defending the truth. People would create False Heroes in their hopes of changing a corrupted system. Change will always be elusive for those who are not willing to pay the price.
Nice way of putting that observation about our commercially-colonized culture.
You can read about the story of Saul of Tarsus, in the New Testament of the Christian Bible. Saul of Tarsus, was a Jewish Parishee, who persecuted the Christians. He was on the road to Damascus, Syria; when he fell from his horse, and became blind. From the experience, he had: he was converted to Christianity; and became one of the best Apostles of Christianity…he wrote those beautiful Epistles , to various ancient Christian Churches.
People can change for the better, if they want to change themselves. There are many factors, we face in life, that mold us to people, that we are…stereotyping people is not good. Because we cannot know the : talent, skill, education, character, etc.. of people; that is: their inner life.
The YellowTard Media had oversold the Aquinos; and dumbed down the new generation of Filipinos. Greed is the bad characteristics of the Aquinos. So, they sacrifice us (if we are willing) to satisfy their greed. This is the reason, they cheat in elections; lie to people; act as if they are the epitome of goodness. You just look, at their senseless ways to protect their Hacienda Luisita. Then, you can see what kind of people , they are…
Interesting article. When I think of idolatry in Phils I think of Manny Pacquiao. The fact that the whole country would stop and watch his fights is troubling. To make matters worse, people voted him into the congress and senate. He is worshipped for his celebrity, nothing more. He has had a poor attendance in congress and has not appeared to have done much. What has he done to help the country? Be a celebrity? He has no ability to be a senator. He is a hypocrite like other people. He makes the anti-gay comment, because he’s ‘Catholic’; then he engages in cock fight gambling, and cheats on his wife (who knows how many times). He came out against the reproductive bill, cementing how clueless he is with regard to poverty. This is what you get when fake, idealistic celebrities are elected into office.
Being in the Phils., and thinking of stereotypes, I am often judged for being a foreigner. Some Filipinos assume I am wealthy( whether I am or not they will assume); this largely has to do with shows like the Kardashians that make people believe that all Americanos live like that. Most Americanos live paycheck to paycheck and are broke.
Another stereotype is that all Filipinas are submissive and just try to prostitute themselves to foreigners. First of all, most Filipinas will never date/marry a foreigner( very small %), and not all Filipinas are that pathetic. You do see Filipinas with much older, slob foreigners, however. The average person from my country might assume the women are prostitutes and this creates the stereotype. This also underscores the difference between Filipino and Americano parents. If an American girl brought a guy home(foreigner or not) who is old enough to be her father or tatay, the American father would threaten him, or beat his ass. Filipino fathers don’t seem to care, which is just bizarre to me.
That brings me nicely into a related stereotype that exists in the Phils, which is Filipinos seeing a foreigner and assuming he is a dirty/perverted old desperate bastard, who is there to have sex with as many underage girls/young women as possible. There is good reason for this stereotype, based on the sex tourism situation there, as well as what I have seen (such as most foreigners there being old/er and with girls young enough to be their daughters or granddaughters). This, unfortunately, gives all Western males a bad reputation.
Lastly, the other stereotype that shames me is Filipinos thinking all foreigners are rude, entitled fat slobs. This one, among others, pisses me off because Americanos are sometimes this way (especially fat slobs) and have given us all bad names. Shame, unfortunately, is not something that exists in my country. The water, however, rapidly circling the drain, does.
The pedicab driver is asking a question about your article Grimwald. Where can you buy this sound system that comes with a qwerty keyboard?
Hmm…
There was once a shop like that in Olongapo near Columban College main branch but it closed down. Can’t really help with that too much. I’m not very directions-savvy so to speak.
The trouble about Failipinos in the Failippines is twofold. They cannot learn truths which are too complicated; they forget truths which are too simple.
I disagree, people don’t change.