Wednesday, June 23, 2010

There was a time I was a constant user of terms like "Proudly Pinoy" or "I'm so proud to be a Filipino!". I would post them around Internet sites whenever Pacquiao would win or I watch YouTube videos of Lea Salonga's spellbinding audition for Miss Saigon. Today, I actually cringe whenever I see hundreds of them cluttering a single comment thread about, say, Charice or Arnel Pineda. It all now seems superficial, like a child boasting to an adult about how high he can jump.

For whatever reason, I cannot write what I feel without seeming to be an antagonist to my own country. Fortunately, I've stumbled upon an article which mirrors my sentiments exactly that I could not bare to ignore the opportunity to showcase it here. I know a lot of people will disagree, but I do believe that this is the unspoken truth we Filipinos have been trying real hard to ignore for the longest time now.

The time I'll be proud to be Filipino
By: Iya Justimbaste

It has finally dawned unto me that there is something clearly erroneous with the circumstances in which Filipinos believe they should be proud about.

Arnel Pineda, Charice Pempengco, and boxing champion Manny Pacquaio, these are the few world-renowned Filipinos who have instigated a sense of so-called “Pinoy Pride” among the attention-seeking Filipinos who, after realizing within themselves that as a state, we have achieved practically nothing, would bask in to the achievements of the individuals mentioned in order to feel some sense of self-worth. However, I do not blame people like Pacquaio for precipitating a false sense of pride among the Filipinos. After all, it’s not their fault their “kababayans” have a distorted culture.

When Filipinos showcase this tremendous pride, they would do it excessively as if a single person like Charice Pempengco can save the entire Philippines from its mayhem of unfortunate events. They would completely delude themselves that the Filipino race is superior among others without actually taking in to consideration that other countries like the United States of America also have their fair share of talented people without actually rubbing it in to the international community’s face.  I find it rather gloomy when I come across Filipinos with unwarranted pride for I believe the reason behind this is that we no longer have other more important things we can be proud of hence, people mentioned earlier in this article serve as the only excuse we have for having such “pinoy pride”.

Such great is this pride that when people like Claire Danes dare say something about the unruly condition of the country and how dirty our surroundings are, we would bash them incessantly, forcing them to make a public apology. It’s hilarious at times since majority of these Filipinos who bash other people for stating the truth, would say something bad against the person not accomplishing the fact that in order to come up with a good rebuttal, the ideas of the person should be attacked, not his or her personality. Then again, it is hard to defend why our country’s environment is dirty anyway. Apparently, it doesn’t occur to them that in order for people to stop saying negative things about our country, we should be very wary of our actions. Instead of doing that, we would just further humiliate ourselves to our country’s defense by making ourselves look low by making sorry excuses for our country’s downfall. Why don’t we do something in order for people like Claire Danes not to be able to say something horrible about us? We can do extreme measures like keep our environment clean and instil a sense of discipline among ourselves as to not make our country look like a dumpsite. Without a doubt, too much pride does harm us in so many ways we can’t imagine.

Another thing I realized about this inappropriate pride Filipinos have is that our people have very low self-esteem. It’s actually contrary to what I stated before but then I acknowledged the fact that if we do really have something going on for us, we wouldn’t bank on popular figures like Pacquiao and Charice Pempengco. We would just let the whole world realize how great we are as a nation not by exploiting such personalities but by just keeping mum about it and letting it speak for itself. Furthermore, if the criticisms we received are so untrue like what most Filipinos claim them to be, they wouldn’t be enraged by it right? The saying “The truth hurts” really is applicable to the uproar created by Filipinos when facing criticisms. That is probably the reason why we have never progressed as a country. We can’t take constructive criticisms because it hurts our ego despite the fact that we really need to change our wrong practices which consume us day by day...

Full article can be found here:

Turns out, Adam Corolla was right. We wouldn't be crazy over a mere singer or a boxer infiltrating the international scene if we have a lot of things going for us. We don't need to shove in the face of the whole world our achievements if we really are confident that the said accomplishments truly warrant admiration. 

We wouldn't boast to other countries that Jasmine Trias, Enrique Iglesias, Chris Judd and even Nicole Scherzinger all have Filipino blood (purposely leaving behind the fact that none of them has ever been to the Philippines before nor speak the language) if we thought we, as a nation, are significant enough without these minor links to our race.

Being proud to be a Filipino is not bad, if expressed in a right way and is focused on the right things. Instead of allocating all our energy on bringing out the pitch forks and torches on anybody who happens to not like the way Charice sings or wants Manny Pacquiao to lose a fight or says our country is polluted, let's channel it to making our country a better place and our people with a stronger sense of self worth. Maybe in that way, maybe in the future, we wouldn't care what other people say about anything because we have already built this powerful bubble of confidence around ourselves, as a country, as Filipinos. What they say won't even matter.

That is when I will truly believe that we have the best kind, the right kind of Filipino Pride.

11 comments:

Anonymous said...

Maybe this article will give you another perspective of what we can be proud of as Filipinos
http://www.abs-cbnnews.com/global-filipino/06/22/10/3-pinoys-graduate-summa-swiss-university

Clarriscent said...

Checked it out. This isn't really what I'm trying to say in the post but thanks for the link anyways. :)

Anonymous said...

I agree with everything you posted! I'd probably get stoned for saying this but it's all true...

Clarriscent said...

Thank you! Cliche as it may seem, sometimes, the truth hurts. Acknowledging the facts doesn't mean we're antagonizing our own country. In fact, we should use this to change for the better.

Anonymous said...

I am a young proud pinoy, and seeing this does hurt me, you are right in a certain degree.

Yes in overall there are little things that pinoys have done during the past, this is because of our government whom is not acknowledging its peoples abilities. As posted earlier from another anonymous commenter. There are successful pinoys, with the right environment and government our talents and efforts can be seen, unlike in our home country where corruption is occuring.

In conclusion I can see the point where u are coming from but i think its because of barriers that does this.

Clarriscent said...

@Anonymous: You are also right, although I don't think we should blame everything in the government. Unlike those people who expect the president or other leaders to pull them out of poverty without actually doing anything, I believe more in the power of hard work and perseverance rather than stomping around Mendiola waving placards and shouting mantras at anyone who would listen.

Ha, I think I'm getting off the topic here. In short, I just want the nation to stop boasting petty stuff then harassing anyone who thinks otherwise especially in this day and age of the Internet. It's childish, embarrassing and definitely paints an ugly picture of our citizens.

Thanks for commenting. :)

Anonymous said...

OK!!!!!!! ...and then you have a MARRY A FILIPINA ad appearing in your blog. So is that because you're proud to be a Filipino?!!!! Or not proud to be a Filipino?!!!! Hmmm!!!!

Clarriscent said...

@Anonymous:

Sorry, the ad you saw was an Adigitze banner I put on my blog. It randomly selects which sites to advertise and changes on every refresh. I have no control nor connection wkith the websites it features.

Anonymous said...

that is so true. we, filipinos, always take the achievements of other filipinos as if they were ours but it's not. its theirs. we should stand on our own and admire those who have succeed and look at it as an inspiration. we say we are proud to be a filipino because of people like charise, or manny, or nonito but we don't take responsibility for ourselves. we still cross the streets even if a big sign says do not cross, disobey traffic rules and throw garbage nonchalantly on the streets. these successful filipinos can't make this country great on their own we also have to stand for ourselves to make it great.

jordan said...

ayos itong post mo... at first time ko mag-cocomment sa isang post.. :p

wala namang masama kung ipagmalaki mo na Pinoy ka habang nananalo si Pacquiao o bimibirit ng nota si Charice. parang pagmamalaki mo (family pride) sa isang kapamilya mo na naging mahusay... please note: hindi kasama dito ang ipagmalaki mo yung mga sikat na may dugong pinoy lang...

sa mga taong nagsasabi ng masama sa bansa naten, oo may tama naman sila dun.. pero, lahat naman ng bansa eh merong positive and negative sides... for them to generalize na panget ang bansa naten, eh hindi naman ata makatarungan yun.. nakita na ba nila ang magandang lugar para masabi nila na overall, panget nga talaga ang bansa ninyo...

malaki ang epekto ng gobyerno at lalo na ang kultura sa pagiisip, pagsasalita at pagsasagawa natin ng mga bagay bagay... kaso, masama nyan, bulok na ang systema.. ang may mabuting hangarin ay ilang porsyento lang ba ng buong mamamayan ng Pilipinas?.. karamihan sa masang Pilipino ay hindi ganon kalawak ang antas ng pag-iisip syempre dala na din ng kahirapan sa buhay...

Masipag at Mahusay na empleyado. Mapagmahal sa pamilya. Respeto sa mga nakakatanda. biling isang Pilipino at OFW, eto ang pride ko.

peace out! ^.^v

Clarriscent said...

@Jordan:

Sumasangayon ako na walang masama sa pagmamalaki sa mga Pinoy na katulad ni Charice at Pacquiao tuwing sila ay nakakatanggap ng parangal ngunit ang mahirap ay kapag sobra sobra na ang pagmamamalaki na pinapakita ng ating mga kapwa Pilipino na nagmumukha ng pagmamayabang ang mga ito. Tumingin ka sa YouTube or Twitter, minsan, hindi na magandang basahin ang kanilang mga kumento na nagsasabi na dahil nanalo si Pacquiao, ang mga Pilipino na ang pinakamagaling sumuntok sa mundo o dahil sa magaling kumanta si Charice e wala ng laban ang mga ibang bansa pagdating sa pagkanta.

Pangalawa, hindi masamang ipagtanggol ang ating bansa kung may nagsabi man na marumi ito, ngunit ang hindi maganda ay ang pagbastos at pagsira sa katauhan ng kahit sinong tao na nakapagbitaw ng hindi kanais nais na mga komento tungkol sa ating bansa (lalo pa kung may bahid ng katotohanan naman ang ibinibintang nito).

Pero sumasangayon ako sa sinabi mong ito:

"Masipag at Mahusay na empleyado. Mapagmahal sa pamilya. Respeto sa mga nakakatanda. biling isang Pilipino at OFW, eto ang pride ko."

Saktong sakto sa gusto kong sabihin sa article. Iyan ang mga bagay na magandang ipagmalaki bilang Pilipino at hindi ang mga maliliit na tagumpay ng iilan.

Salamat sa pagbasa at pagkumento!

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