I Hate Filipino Pride for the Sake of Filipino Pride

Detective Del Spooner: Human beings have dreams. Even dogs have dreams, but not you, you are just a machine. An imitation of life. Can a robot write a symphony? Can a robot turn a... canvas into a beautiful masterpiece? 
Sonny (The Android): Can you? 

I, Robot 2004 Interrogation Room Scene

August being National Heroes' Month for the Philippines, and our Department of Education promoting a, "Proud to be Filipino Campaign," I can imagine classrooms wherein the teachers list reasons for students to be proud of their nationality. Probably they will begin with virtues like, ingenuity, perseverance, and patience and give examples of famous personalities like Rizal or Pacquaio, or Jessica Sanchez. After the "Can a robot...?" mini-speech of Detective Spooner as portrayed by Will Smith the android simply asks, "Can you?" In the end, that's what it all boils down to. Can you? Can you do all the stuff that you say your kind, your species or your race can do. Or are you associating with their ability to compensate for your inability?




Just to make things clear, I am Filipino and proud to be Filipino. By that I mean I'm not ashamed of my nationality and heritage even if inept cops caused the death of the hostages in the Manila hostage crisis, even if our Air Force can mount no credible defense of our airspace if China decides to attack, even if our elected officials can't remember the rules of citing one's sources, even when one religous order sets our progress backwards because of the imposition of its morality for the rest of the countrythat does not belong to its fold. I do not renounce my connection  to my Nation just because someone gives the Philippines and the Filipinos a bad name.

Conversely my pride does not come from listing prominent Filipinos and bask in the glory of their acheivements. I'm not proud to be Filipino just because Manny Pacquiao is the holder of 7 or 8 World Titles in Boxing. I'm not not proud to be a Filipino because some Filipina who hits high notes becomes discovered by some American talkshow host and becomes a recording artist. I'm not proud to be a Filipino because Jessica Sanchez made it to second place of American Idol. I'm not proud to be Filipino because Jose Rizal is  a paragon and polyglot and sparked the Philippine Revolution or that a Filipina who shares my family name is a supermodel or that my grandfather is a National Artist for literature.

The above reasons like are what what make typical Filipinos say they are proud to be Filipinos. It's pride by association. I'm proud to be Filipino because this and that Filipino did this and that or can do this and that. To that I ask the android's question, "Can you"?

Can you box? Can you sing? Can you write? Can you even do anything productive? Can you do anything that you can be proud of, let alone your country? Or are you a drunk who gets wasted before the sun even hits noon and makes a nuisance of yourself in the neighborhood?

What is there for you to be proud of as a Filipino if there's no cause to be proud of you as a person? A graduate has cause to be proud of his diploma because he's earned it. An athlete has cause to be proud of his medals because he worked for it. A writer has cause to be proud of his byline because he got published. And now you're proud to be a Filipino just because you were born one? Proud to be Filipino even though you speak the language ineptly, know nothing of Philippine history, and know more about Hollywood than Filipino society?

Proud to be Filipino?

Are you someone that your family can be proud of or are you a freeloading son or daughter who does nothing but waits for the hard earned money of your parents?

Are you someone your school can be proud of or are you a student that gets by through cheating, asking your friends to write your paper for you and cutting classes and getting mediocre grades?

Are you someone who will get promoted at work, someone your colleagues can affirm and be proud of because of your outstanding performance or does your pay raise simply come because you are one of the employees who managed not to get fired and it just came on schedule?

In this global environment, there is no particular acheivement that can be monopolized by any nationality. Pacquiao is not a reason to declare that great boxers come from the Philippines. Nor Jessica the reason to declare that great singers come from the Philippines. Great boxers, singers, artists, scientists, athletes, inventors come from everywhere, and statistically more from other places than from the Philippines. For every "great something" that a Filipino can be proud of there are other great somethings that another nationality can be proud of.

This is what I fear thenew DepEd "Proud to Be Filipino" campaign is going to do. It will make being proud to be Filipino and end to itself. "I'm proud to be Filipino because this and that person has acheived these things. I'm proud to be Filipino because these places and animals can only be found in the Philippines."  That kind of delivery of instruction will make it a matter of memorization and inspire a very shallow sense of pride that does nothing to inspire better action.

In years past there were programs like "Proudly Philippine Made" and "Yes the Filipino Can." I believe that these campaigns were better because it focused on acheivement and example. It focused on inspiration that results in action. It tells us, "That's right I can do it to, Filipinos have the SAME amount of talent, the SAME opportunity and the SAME potential."

Like Japanese Technology, French Cuisine, German Craftsmanship, those who have the bragging rights to them are the Japanese inventors, French chefs, and German craftsmen and the people that patronize these products.

Proud to be Filipino...are you really? Do you patronize Filipino products that are not simply localized versions of a multinational brand? Shoes from Marikina? Coffee from Batangas? Dirty Ice Cream? Puto? Kutsinta? Komiks? Local brands of Sports and outdoor equiment? Clothes? In no way am I proposing support of mediocre products (whether Filipino or otherwise). But I'm proposing the purchase and use of Filipino products that value quality not simply patronizing it for the sake of wearing the Filipino label. But if you can't even do that, (i.e. patronize Filipino products) how dare you say you are proud to be Filipino?

I'm proud to be Filipino because a lot of what I am was nurtured from things Filipino.  Filipino movies and martial art has convinced me to take up Arnis and learn that it is a fighting art that can stand toe to toe with the best the world has to offer and I know unlike many Filipinos that it can be applied without a stick. My college teacher in Philippine history has made me appreciate that our history, with it's good and bad, is best used to understand our cultural identity and it is not meant to explain or make an apology for ourselves to the world. I'm proud to be Filipino because Filipinos trained in our own Universities are qualified to work and teach and compete in other countries. I'm proud to be Filipino because given the same amount of training and opportunities Filipinos can achieve what others can.

I'm proud to be a Filipino because I'm holding an executive post that used to be held by an American. It's not a job that only they can do. I'm not better (maybe I will be) but my point is I'm just as qualified. It's not "Filipinos are better at it or Filipinos are the best." To me it's, "Anything anyone can do, a Filipino can do just as well." If a Filipino does his job better it's because he's better at the job and not because he's a Filipino.

What's Filipino about you? What have you done that will make the word Filipino something to celebrate?

I Hate Pop (culture)

I hate pop (culture).

I generally hate pop. Pop as in popular, you know the in thing. Not the thing itself but what happens to the thing when it gets to pop status.

Hmmm… this is kinda iffy and I may end up putting my foot in my mouth, but whatever, let’s roll.

Let’s start with the effects of pop that I hate, super saturation. I hate that. In chemistry that’s when your solvent can no longer normally take in the solute and you force it to take in more by like say, applying heat to it so that it takes in more. That’s the difference between syrup and sugar water. Sugar water when you put sugar into it and stir, stir, stir, until sugar stops dissolving and you see granules drop out. That’s saturated. It’s full of sugar. Now apply heat to it and it boils and then you can add even more sugar. When that thing cools down it becomes sticky and overly sweet, syrup. That’s super saturated. You may like a drop, or two or an entire spoonful, but chugging it down wouldn’t be the little taste of heaven that you thought it would be. You’ll be sick of it or if not you’ll be sick because of it.

Nothing kills a concept, a song, or an art from faster than super saturation. (If there is one and I’m wrong be sure to let me know). Take a hit any TV series. Take CSI for example. Now that was a great show, it’s geeky and cool and riveting all at the same time. But I don’t know after three seasons of smash cuts into someone’s guts, underwater audio and zillions of scenes of the crime lab processing prints and gun shot residue later, it became old, fast. I didn’t even bother following Miami and New York, because each team looks like a Japanese Sentai Team. With leader and subordinates in parallel with each other, minus the costumes and the mecha (giant robots).

Songs are even more irritating when they supersaturate. Why? Everyone listens to the same stuff on what ever radio station. K-Pop, J-Pop, Craig Davis sounding like K-Pop, whiny boys singing, all the other Mariah, Celine, Whitney copy cats, dudes that just picked up guitars and decided to go for a record label but can’t jam anything else so they make one hit wonders or no hit blunders, and cutsey, sexy bombshell recording artists (not singers mind you) that can’t write their own songs. Thank goodness for MP3 players and noise cancelling earphones, now there’s no need to hear all that if you don’t want to.

Fashion is even more unbearable, senseless accessorizing (guy liners, bling, piercings), badly done copycat hair, poser tough guy prints. Copying their supersaturated no hit blunder idols. Trying to shock with their “uniqueness” but since they supersaturate they end up being dull and boring. Funny thing is after 3 months it’s out of style, new song, new craze, new fashion. And craze is right crazey!

Me? What do I think about pop? Pop is not refreshing, it’s old. Pop is a pattern of follow the leader. Me, I make my own choices. Funny thing is, sometimes there are cool ideas in pop that I take (told you this would be iffy). But difference between you and me; if I find it cool I stick to it, pop or not. So yeah I might enjoy a pop song but I don’t become a fan (not immediately). I enjoy it for what ever reason that made me like it, but not because it happens to be playing at the moment or the singer was last season’s American Idol (who cares about that?)

One example, Manny Pacquiao, I like him so does every other Filipino. But I’ve watched Manny since he was a runt with nothing more than a walloping left and nothing else. He used to win with sheer strength, no defense and no endurance. I’ve seen him develop and grow. To those that tuned in late he wasn’t that great of a boxer. I’m a fan but I’m not a Manny worshipper.

Another is the late Filipino Master Rapper FrancisM. I’ve been listening to him since the 90s. And he’d have a hit here and there but many fans have since moved on. He died in March of 2009. And all of a sudden there was a FrancisM surge of fanboys in the bandwagon. The man had more than 7 albums to his name a lot of songs with nice pithy messages, pre-dating the likes of Eminem.

But what burns me up is that the new “fans” jump in to learn "Kaleidoscope World"*. Oh sure it’s a song about unity and brotherhood. But what I really think is that the new people that took notice just picked it up because it’s the easiest to follow. Why? It’s a song where he doesn’t rap. It’s a spoken word song. That saddens me because FrancisM was first and foremost a rapper. So I believe one would be a FrancisM fan if they love rap and love the Philippines because that is what he stood for. Wearing 3 stars and the Sun don’t mean a thing if you don’t actually love the Philippines with a passion. It’s just a cool shirt. Like tribal tattoos on a spoiled pampered brat. Doesn’t make you any tougher

It’s like saying you’re a Queen fan and the only song you know is Princes of the Universe because it was such a cool Highlander soundtrack. “You’re a Queen fan? Do you know Bohemian Rhapsody?” Nope “We Will Rock You?” Nope “Another One Bites the Dust?” Nope “We are the Champions?” Nope. Then heck, you’re a Highlander fan not a Queen fan. (I’m both by the way).

I have an allergic reaction to hype. The more the hype the more I hate it. Twilight comes to mind. I’ve never watched Slumdog Millionaire, or 2012 or High School Musical or follow Lost or watch Glee or listen to Charice Pempemco nor do I give a hoot what’s on Oprah’s book list. Nor do I feel that I’ve been missing out. Because, again supersaturation.  Thank goodness for complete season DVDs I can watch a season of something that I like to blot out a season of something that I don’t like. “Have you seen this show?” “Nope too busy marathoning this one.”

Don’t think that all I watch are high brow artsy fartsy stuff. I have my own “It’s so bad it’s good list.” Things that don’t seem to make sense why I like it. It maybe the worst and most wooden acting but I could like it. It could be the most irritating singing voice but I could like it.

So what’s my criteria for liking something? I just need to like it, on my own. Oh if something really is good, 10 years down the line if it’s good enough to stay noticed I’ll probably pick it up. If, if, if it really is good.

If it’s a flash in the pan, goes out of print and gets sold in a second hand store and priced next to nothing then I’d be really happy we never met. Like all those books on Y2K.

Hail counter-culture.

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* Kaleidoscope World - Hit song of late Filipino Rapper Francis Magalona who used the nickname FrancisM. It's the easiest song to sing among FrancisM's hits because it's mostly spoken word and just a few short lines of refrain are sung in a not so vocally challenging melody.