Similarities between Pinoy Culture and Wokeness

After examining the Woke phenomenon, I saw parallels between it and some Pinoy attitudes, especially the Pinoy Pride attitude. Get Real Philippines’ main theme for years is that the reason for the Philippines’ backwardness is its culture, and if some parts of the culture are similar to Wokeness, then no wonder. These are the similarities I observed:

1. Victim Mentality

I would call it “Pretend Kawawaness” as well. People can claim to be oppressed or victims when they actually are not. Wokeness is a claim by some people that they have special awareness of how oppression actually works (they are “woke” or “awake” so they could see it, others could not). They even claim that a person can commit oppression without realizing it, and it’s the Woke person’s job to detect and “correct” that. Some Woke people also claim to be oppressed themselves. Marxism, one of Woke’s sources, claims that being oppressed opens one to special knowledge, and this makes the connection of Marxism to Gnosticism not farfetched. Both Marxism and Woke propose having the “oppressed” overthrow the existing leaders to become the leaders themselves.

Filipinos at times do say they’re oppressed when they don’t get the hand-outs they want. I’ve also written about how Filipinos embrace brokenness as an identity and tend to refuse to be “fixed,” which is like Woke. They both use the image of “brokenness” to get what they want (pretend to be poor or poverty porn to get hand-outs). In Woke’s case, they use this image to get not only hand-outs but also power. Once given enough power, they would want their brokenness to become imposed on other people. The result will predictably be the breaking of the world, although this is after all the goal of Woke’s originators.

Another mindset that both Wokes and Pinoys share is that they see someone who is in a more comfortable state because of their own achievements as selfish and evil. So they believe that such people are oppressive and should be forced to hand out to those who were unable to have the same achievements (i.e., those who refuse to work and want to mooch). If they refuse, they should be brought down. They would explain that being superior in some traits or even just being different is oppression of someone else. This is a twisted understanding of reality and is also envy in operation.

2. Claiming to be “special”

“Woke” already has that concept of being special. Similarly, Filipinos like to think they are a “special people,” and the Filipino identity should draw special treatment, deference, adulations, and more from the rest of the world despite the lack of any tangible achievement. Add to that the tendency to ride on others’ achievements, such as saying we’re a great people when athletes like Carlos Yulo and Hidilyn Diaz earn medals. That traps Filipinos in a cycle wherein they refuse to take reasonable actions and steps to improve their condition.

Woke and Pinoy Pride are also similar in being prideful. While our pridefulness is in part a result of vanity-encouraging marketing, our own culture and even some government-sponsored “Pinoy Pride” initiatives also encourage Filipino self-projecting. Filipinos likely believe they need to project pride as a proof of life and as a way of coping with their relative poverty and desperation. However, this only highlights intellectual bankruptcy.

3. Opposition to Western Culture

Both Woke and some Pinoys like to blame Western colonialism and culture for their problems. The West is seen as an evil that invades “pure” societies and corrupts them, even if many life-saving advancements and improvements were actually provided by it. Anti-American sentiment isn’t new these days, I’ve seen how Filipinos displayed anti-English sentiments at the time I was a child. “Being Patriotic” for such Pinoys meant making an enemy of other countries and cultures even if they actually benefit from these.

Both Woke and Pinoy Pride Culture are also anti-individuality on the surface, meaning that humans are best subsumed as automatons for the “greater good.” I also see this as influenced by Asian culture, which sees people as gears or parts of a societal machine rather than individuals choosing to come together to help each other. I perceive this as one reason communism was more easily embraced in Asian countries (like China). Filipino culture also has traditions that predetermine people’s roles in life and deny self-determination. An example of this is parents forcing children to provide for them rather than depend on pensions or their own sources. Children having the quality of self-determination is even condemned as evil. Western culture upholds self-determination and seeks to limit determination by someone else, while also providing alternatives such as benefits for the elderly.

Woke also goes hand in hand with decolonization, which seeks not only to remove the effects of western colonization, but also destroy the civilizations of the colonizers. I see some Filipinos as having the attitude of decolonization, but without knowledge on how to do it – which I am thankful for.

So, by blaming Western cultures as enemies, Woke and Pinoys practice:

4. Painting as evil ideas or people that are not really evil

Woke is actually about reversing good and evil in a process called Dialectical Inversion. They lie about being for the “oppressed” and being inclusive, but actually ostracize or call Nazis or right-wing others who are unlike them or who block their path to power. This includes anyone who adheres to the normal, or “cis,” values, like valuing the family institution, that male and female are the norm for genders, sex changes are unnatural, sex is not to be introduced to children, people best work for what they want rather then be given hand-outs, and other things that are tagged as “based” in today’s world.

At least Filipinos still adhere to what is normal, believing in family values and such. Filipinos however still ostracize those who feel different and don’t agree with them, but the basis is more on traditional culture, which has its own problems. Filipinos still have their own double standards, such as claiming to be oppressed in another country when a local has an offensive name like Kiki, claiming to be oppressed by the world but wanting to be an empire, and people in government claiming to be against corruption but participate in corruption themselves.

Another similar aspect among the two sides is the belief that misfortune is always someone else’s fault. For Wokes, misfortune or even just a little discomfort in life is the fault of the West or white people, or whoever is in power (During Marx’s time, it was the Jews; you may not believe it, but Marx was anti-Semitic, even if he himself was Jewish). Wokes reject the idea of self-responsibility, that if you make a mistake where you hurt yourself, you can’t blame others. Basically, all pain and suffering are manmade (always by others) and do not occur naturally. Filipinos have a similar attitude, demonstrated in situations such as, when they encounter a problem, the first thing they would do is look for someone to blame rather than a solution.

5. Embracing of irrationality over Rationality

Wokeness hates rationality, logic, and common sense as these are pillars of Western culture, whiteness or whatever thing they consider the source of oppression. Wokeness, communism, esotericism, postmodernism and all associated ideas seek to recast the village simpleton as the intellectual. If they don’t make sense, that’s the idea; anything that makes sense is evil.

When it comes to irrationality, Jean Jacques Rousseau is one major source of postmodern ideas leading to Communism and wokeness. As I wrote earlier, Rousseau believed that primitivity – which tends to be highly irrational – was the real state of purity. He promoted that but if you bring modern societies back to this, paradise is regained. But in practice, it means destroying things and killing a lot of people. When Rousseau said, “man is free but everywhere in chains,” I believe he wasn’t referring to human governments; he was referring to reality itself, how difficult life is. He wanted to rebel against reality. How to rebel? Use violence, hold uprisings and destroy governments and societies. Despite his eloquence, Rousseau was just mad at the world and wanted to bring it all down. That is the same kind of mentality as a mass shooter’s and is the real mindset behind Woke.

Filipinos, on the other hand, tend to be primitive and irrational for different reasons, poor education and poverty being some of them. Filipinos tend to believe in magic and stuff. With their lack of knowledge of facts and science, they just assume dumb things. You can see that in idle housewives who think they run their house so well that they believe they should run others’ lives, someone who believes a bakery should serve him bulalo, or the village leaders who decide that a mentally disabled person is to be caged. We’ve also talked about Filipino anti-intellectualism many times in this blog. This goes along with the expressions of desire for the primitive or “old” ways that some Filipinos post in nostalgia sites. When traditional beliefs tend to have their own problems similar to Woke, I see irrationality and primitivism as a common source.

Filipino emotionalism is often discussed in this blog site. I find it ironic since Filipinos are mostly Christian and Christianity carries a lot of stoic ideas in the New Testament. One of the things that perhaps helped ruin it is liberation theology which was influenced by Marxism.

Also, Philippine society is highly fractious and tribal, which many have cited as one of the major problems that bog down the country. This situation adds to the lack of education and maintaining of backward culture. I would say though that our country’s backward tribalism might appeal to Rousseau (that makes it no surprise when the Communists go to the mountains to recruit the far off tribes). Woke is actually very tribal and seeks to fracture society.

6. Both dream of ruling the world

As I said, the ultimate goal of Woke is to destroy the world. But they realize that staying the rebel group will not work towards this purpose. They have to take over and get power so that they could more effectively bring about the destruction of the world. They likely expect to rule over the destroyed world and it will magically reform to become their paradise.

This is reportedly why some old fictional properties, such as Star Wars, Disney properties, Hollywood movies, science fiction literature, and comic books, are being infiltrated by Wokes. This is not just to use such properties to promote Woke agendas; I suspect the real goal is to destroy them. That’s because these fictional properties were used to promote western values. Subverting these properties to use them to promote Woke values is a side goal, if it was indeed a goal; but if the properties are destroyed, they cannot be used anymore to promote western, Christian, or other “oppressive” values. The same applies to academic institutions. Woke in the United States is what the CPP-NPA is to us; claiming to be the cure for oppression when it only wants to take control of the oppression and turn it in their favor.

I’ve seen some Pinoys express the desire for a Philippine empire. I think most other Filipinos themselves will scoff as such a thing, and I agree. I believe we not only don’t deserve empire, but are incapable of having it. Even if we become a more prosperous country, we’re sure to bungle it because of incompetence or other reason.

Unbridled immigration is yet another issue. Some say loose controls on immigration are part of the decolonization agenda. People from poor and violent cultures come in, they bring in their backward culture and cause havoc in the once peaceful western country. The idea of closed borders is to protect societies from destructive elements.

Next are my suggested solutions to each of the above.

1. Filipinos should stop thinking of themselves as victims of the world. Victimhood mentality is not just caused by political influences but is also a personal values and culture issue. The way to live should be how the response to terrorism was suggested in this blog, specifically to live life like you’re not affected by it. If Filipinos make mistakes that shoot themselves in the foot, they should own up to their mistakes. They should reject the projection of poorness as an identity (poverty porn) and pursue “fixing themselves” in life. They should accept the differences in the states of people’s lives and not demand that they be the same as others and vice versa. Stop thinking of someone being in a better condition as “lamang” (having an advantage by putting one over them) and instead work towards that condition on your own if possible; or, find your own place without being like another person.

There’s this video on Youtube which explains how even elites can think they’re oppressed.

2. Filipinos best drop the arrogance of claiming to be “special” in the world. Self-projection and pride seem like good ways to deal with our difficult situations, but they are more like obstructions to the solution (There is a way but seems right, but in the end leads to death – Bible). In my church, I once held a talk for youth about the problems of social media. I said that when they look for pride on social media, they are actually looking for dignity. But the foolish things people do on social media do not bring them dignity, but actually deprive them of it. In saying that, I make pride and dignity separate ideas. I understand some people see pride as necessary for self-love or proof of life, but I also claim that they are mistaken. Tangible achievements are the real proof of life. This might seem very stoic for most, but I believe this will lead to more meaningful self-esteem.

Also, I have written about LGBTQIA-whatever pride marches not being normal pride, as in self-value, but as a projection of power expressing a desire to take over. Even if the movement did not start out that way, it has been co-opted by other interests to be that way today.

Instead of demanding respect on basis of self-perceived and pride-based identity, it is best based on the principle that one must respect others by default because they are fellow humans, until they commit a wrongdoing.

And, one important thing to realize is that Wokeness itself, by claiming “specialness” in having the authority to tag others racist, is itself racist and chauvinist.

3. Support the good effects of Colonialism on the Philippines. I support the paper The Case for Colonialism by Bruce Gilley. Western individuality and John Locke, the basis of human rights, are what we are supposed to embrace. In fact, the human rights charter in our Constitution almost copies Western Traditions like the American Amendments and the United Nations Human Rights Charter. Wokes or Filipinos who want to decolonize the country should drop the Human Rights charter for consistency. Filipinos should realize that many other ideas that become their basis for criticizing the West, such as anti-imperialism, come from the West itself.

We must also push back against primitivism, whether it comes from traditionalism or from Wokeness. Going back to the primitive and eschewing technological advances will not lead to purity but depravity. As I said before, you cannot put “noble” and “savage” together. Degrading to a more primitive form of living will also lead to many deaths. But so the same, neither will I seek imposition of high technology or higher lifestyles on others. People should choose and work for it themselves. Also, primitivism is likely based on the erroneous assumption of the Bible that became commonplace, the image of Adam and Eve being Tarzan and Jane and Eden being a natural jungle. Recent scholarship that shown that this interpretation is wrong… but that’s best discussed in another article.

Filipinos must defend individuality and push back against monistic views of society. We must also push against decolonization, because it only seeks to destroy societies and people and reverse all advances and progress that saves lives. Also, on the question of collectivism vs. individualism, we should not see these as opposites but two necessary components. We should come together to help each other live, but we are individuals first and that is the building block of our collective.

Take note that I’m not against preservations of cultural traditions such as some tribes’ dance, music, dress, food, art and such, and I respect the work of some people on this.

4. and 5. I think these go hand in hand because ideas on good and evil are connected to rationality as well as aligning more with Western ideals. Filipinos best drop anti-intellectuality, along with the view of intelligence as used only for putting one over other people. Rejecting Rousseau’s ideas also rejects irrationality, leading to embracing the real rational modernity where misconceptions are busted, tribal backwardness is overcome, and evidence-based practices are supported. We must also promote a culture that seeks to make intellectuality (the right kind, not the “Gnostic” or “best and brightest become rulers” kind) available for all, although this will indeed require improvement of our country’s formal education. Yet changes in cultural education through the family, community and other informal means is just as important. I also support the removal of liberation theology from Catholic teaching.

Aside from being careful of Woke reversing good and evil, we must also be critical of parts of traditional culture similar to Woke. For example, even under traditional culture, people will believe that their assumptions or “akala” can replace the truth. And if they are proven wrong, they go all Karen. Who knows if this was the source of Wokeness after all (“the false notion that… my ignorance is just as good as your knowledge.” – Issac Asimov). Culture and tradition are not sacred but manmade, so people should feel that they have the right to change these if they find it reasonable to do so.

6. Stop dreaming of ruling the world. No one can actually rule the world. Humanity is imperfect and fractious. No one can hold a really big operation and keep it running for so long. Empires fall, and so will a world when it is “united” using force. Filipinos should have no dreams of empire or being the “first-world hegemony,” because we are not capable of that and it is an unethical goal. Besides, we have anti-imperialism in our own Constitution – the state rejecting war as an instrument of policy.

Filipinos should develop a society that values self-responsibility and self-sufficiency and should stop highlighting their dependence on the big nations. This might be aptly applied to the situation in the South China Sea and West Philippine Sea, as the Philippines’ tendency to side with a bigger “bully” only emphasizes its weakness.

Conquering the Similarities

So am I saying Wokeness and Pinoy Culture are the same? No. Pinoy Culture is still traditional, but with flaws that stem from the irrationality of humanity. These similarities are for me the actual things keeping the Philippines from becoming a safer and more prosperous society.

Wokeness is not modernity but postmodernism, which actually tries to counter modernity and draws from the irrational parts of both tradition and esoteric belief. What is modernity? Getting to the right ideas and fixing dysfunctions with rationality. Get Real Philippines’ theme of promoting cultural change seeks to overcome the irrationalities of both Woke and traditional culture with rational modernity (which has mostly Christian elements as well), thereby paving the way for a society that honors its commitments and uses its human capital the right way (following esteemed Webmaster Benign0’s explanation of poverty and capitalism).

Wokeness and Pinoy Culture have parallels because people in different places and contexts can still develop similar ideas. Ideas, bad or good, have a life of their own. If we in the Philippines are not careful, Woke ideas can also infiltrate us and cause all the trouble that the US is experiencing now.

Wokedom disguises itself as modernity and sometimes as tradition, and you couldn’t figure it out until the effects have already damaged people. Woke practices can also be seen as backward traditions being resurrected in a new form, such as the idea that certain “enlightened” people in a village should take power and lord it over others. For example, there’s a video of this Woke session where African students (Fallists) suggested throwing out science and replacing it with witchcraft. These are among the things to resist.

I know my ideas would meet much resistance. But I’m also confident that many are realizing the nature of the problem and the ideas in this article will gain traction and help many people in the end.