Not Only In The Philippines
Koosi, ano na lang ang sasabihin ng mga nagbabasa!
When a Hollywood actor appearing on David Letterman’s talk show a few days ago recounted his brush with airport personnel “in the Philippines”, the reaction from Filipinos was swift and vehement.
Some wrung their hands in embarrassment and called the incident “another black eye” for the Philippines.
1.1. We’re inclined to believe the worst about our people.
1.1.1. Since the story involved petty corruption and no one doubts that corruption is rampant, they assumed that the story did happen in the Philippines.
1.1.2. Expressing outrage is a way of saying “We’re not all like them.” They’re not like us. Who’s Filipino then—them or us?
1.1.3. Their readiness to believe the worst is not surprising when every day brings new reports of official corruption.
1.2. Considering how many previous incidents were considered “black eyes” upon our country, there should be no eyes here left to blacken.
1.3. This thinking assumes that the eyes of the world are constantly upon us, judging us, and finding us deficient in some way—ignorant, ridiculous, or the worst impression of all, cheap.
Not Only In The Philippines, our column this week on InterAksyon.com.
Answers to questions you might be asking, unless you wandered onto this site purely by accident >>>
March 5th, 2012 at 11:17
You should ask Interaksyon to provide a convenient sub-homepage or sub-directory for your columns, sorted chronologically. (The Inquirer website does something like this for its regular columnists.) It’s so inconvenient to have to run a search using your name and then what is returned is a random unsorted listing of all your articles.
(Same exact problem with Vic Agustin’s Cocktales. Since he started writing for Interaksyon, he has apparently stopped updating his own website, where his articles were organized and sorted chronologically. No choice now in getting updated on chismis in the world of Philippine business but to wade through the messy Interaksyon website.)
March 6th, 2012 at 07:45
Being mistaken for another Southeast Asian country…it’s more fun in The Philippines.
March 7th, 2012 at 19:49
I agree with Akyat-Bahay Gangster, Interaksyon should have an accessible archive for your previous articles, just like what Philippine Star does. Will you also compile your Interaksyon essays into Twisted books?
March 7th, 2012 at 20:50
By the way, I wasn’t able to comment on your post re Whitney Houston and not watching what The Herd raved about (ditzy connexion for the last 2 months).
I recall singing “The Greatest Love of All” in our summer recital in grade school. My mother made me take voice lessons then, to ensure that every time I sang I was “tama sa tiyempo.” I actually preferred piano lessons, because I was already a part of the choir, but we hadn’t owned a piano then; but why I chose the song was only because of the soaring notes, perfect for a recital–my small mind couldn’t have grasped then why loving oneself is the greatest love of all and how that “special place that you’ve been dreaming of” can end up leading you to a lonely place. Now I know better.
True, Whitney was this ubiquitous biritera whose songs you didn’t really care about but whose lyrics you discovered you could actually sing to because they creeped into your memory. Another instance I remember was my family eating late at Tropical Hamburger with her “Miracle” playing in the background. I forget why we were eating late and eating out; perhaps we came from some family/business affair that took too long. But I recall the place and my feeling of sadness that we weren’t home, my feeling of sleepiness, all enhanced by the sentimentality of the song.
(On a side note, I too never watched Friends, ER, Pretty Woman, etc. because many people were gaga over them. Whenever people asked me if I followed Friends, they would roll their eyes when I said, No, I watched American Gothic and Will & Grace, and I would roll my eyes in finding out that they couldn’t appreciate these series [let alone know American Gothic]).