A short tale of Philippine Man and Woman
Philippine leaders. It was all downhill from here. [Photo source: awakenedwarriors.com]
By Joe America
In the beginning was Man and Woman, animals graced with amazing if imperfect conceptual abilities. These abilities, in the way of all species, developed to assure survival and conquest, for food and other needs, or to eliminate threats. The conceptual abilities grew, knowledge feeding invention feeding knowledge.
Man and Woman became aware of differences, and some differences were called threats and killed.
Man and Woman further developed this sense of others, and from that knowledge emerged compassion and teaching and bonding in communities to become even stronger.
To make communities work well together, Man and Woman developed rules and intricate sets of praise and punishment. Not all communities had the same rules. Some developed classes, one group within a community better than another. Some communities accepted lying as an acceptable form of behavior to keep the strong strong and the weak in their place. Other communities sought honesty in their behavior, for they believed it was more compassionate and helped solve problems better. They had learned that bad information led to bad decisions and weakness, and that lying was a form of bad information.
The Philippine leaders in 1987 agreed to a form of government that sought honesty, compassion, and good decisions. They adopted a democratic, people-first system with Executive and Legislature and Judiciary branches, one complementing while checking the other.
Unfortunately, the new leaders of this system were elected by people who were raised in a class form of community in which lying was acceptable to keep order, one class above the other. Indeed, this became so acceptable that people took up lying to themselves, and believing the lies. They became skilled at recasting information as blames and excuses rather than knowledge and solutions. They elected showmen and other liars to lead them.
The nation’s entire base of information became distorted and turned inside out. Disobeying the rules was praised if it resulted in more wealth and greater power for the leaders and higher classes. Those who obeyed the ideals in the 1987 rulebook were scorned as being deceitful and arrogant. People who became strong under the rules were deemed ambitious, and ambition became a fault rather than a way for the community to become strong.
Philippine Man and Woman began devouring their own strong people. They began making bad decisions, decisions that promoted the strength of manipulative individuals rather than the nation. The nation became a failed state, forever poor, forever weak, forever devouring its own. Within the failed state were many rich individuals. But they were rich only in things. In character, they were beneath cave Man and cave Woman who first bonded in a community to be strong.
Philippine Man and Woman bonded for weakness, and the leaders made it so.
The community made bad decisions on the basis of lies, eluded accountability by casting blames and excuses, and lost any sense of compassion for others, and unity in respect of diversity.
The Philippine Man and Woman proved a very clear point.
Dogs and apes have more community character than Philippine leaders.
Dogs and apes bond for strength.
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[…] can link over to the entire conversation, but it was soon enjoined by (4) our erudite Texan-Filipino Sonny, the Society’s resident […]
The Society of Honor by Joe America 
This entered my mind.
OMG..they were plucking their axillas even back then..no wonder where we are today,hehe!!
Then this movie.
Stop giving us PTSD, Ireneo. 🙂
Ha ha. For good or better, we have the likes of Irineo, Karl, edgar, chempo, joseph and of course, JoeAm to help navigate SS THS through Scylla & Charybdis.
“Dogs and apes have more community character than Philippine leaders.
Dogs and apes bond for strength.”
The lion did not get the memo.
Kaya pala itiniwag iyan na gorilla warfare.
Magsaysay and comrades, not Maharlika.
hehe
No offense, karl and Ireneo, just want to ask why we (most Filipinos) go into the smart a$$ mode when confronted with an analogy that we need to discern?
Because the punnery edge must be maintained, JP? And resistance is futile for the male … maybe? 🙂 Or the male mode of multitasking, I don’t know really.
It is not just a gender thing, sonny. I did not realize that I have a morbid sense of humor until an incident. We docked at a pier and hit a piling and my 3 year old son fell overboard. I was terrified though he had a life vest on. Hubby immediately jumped to retrieve him and when I got him in my arms, I laughed and asked him if he saw little “fishies.” A lady on a boat near us gave me a stern look and said, “That is not funny. He could have drowned.” She was right. I should had been crying instead of laughing. I should had not been making light of the incident. That day, I realized that I have a learned default behavior (defense mechanism) when I am under stress or scared and it is not accepted socially where I was.
Nervous laughter can be found anywhere and so does getting disoriented when one is reacting differently from you.
For the subject matter,this was covered enough by the subject of lack of diversity and inclusiveness in the other blog.
If I was ass holish in my comments, then sorry.
But when you see a tale of the Filipino Man and Woman you think of the tale you are most familiar with.
And that Lion baboon thing can show that an organized group can topple a king of a jungle.
ps. my defense mech. is over explaining.
🙂
It is not meant to offend you nor call you names. The gist of my story is that our culture taught us to hide our fear (or any other negative feeling) with humor or a smile instead of expressing it. Therefore, the “happy fools” on the title of this blog before, was very appropriate. Most of us are not happy fools but we often act like one through conditioning. The recognition that most of us “stuff” our real feelings because it is not accepted by our society, then finding yourself in another society that does not understand the behavior, is the turning point in most overseas Filipinos lives. That turning point drives the unlearning and in my opinion, results in self-honesty which in turn results in honesty to others.
Understood.
*******
A smile could be an appropriate response… after a pause.
The response of the lady on the boat might be to sweep the child in her arms and smother him unless she was a trained medical professional. A professional would first check if the child was perfectly alright.
Recognize that the lady will have her own conditioned response.
The pause recognizes and processes the shock and the fear, and lets it go. With the fear gone, relief comes in… with a possible big smile.
*****
Could be, but my defense mechanism used to automatically engage when trigger events happen. Now, I consciously try to pause and think before reacting.
JP, at that existential moment when your 3-yr-old fell, net instinct overtakes all, you the mother, your hubby, jumping in, disapproval from the gallery, etc. The primal physical actions from the most concerned adults converge to actions of safety & security. The dominant triage will make or break the situation; the resolution is the best, whatever it is, given all the circumstances: hubby jumping in, your security-directed statement about the “fishies.” The lady’s glare is immaterial ultimately.
Yes, sonny. You are on point.
I may get flak for this but this is my assessment of the incident:
Filipino Woman: Instinct reaction is to laugh and make light of the situation.
American Man: Instinct is to jump in action and save child from a dangerous situation.
American Woman: Instinct is to empathize with child in dangerous situation and tell others about how she felt.
Conclusion: It took a conscious effort for the Filipino Woman to do what the American Man and Woman had done automatically during that existential moment.
To tie this with the blog’s subject matter, there is something within the PH environment that support the Filipino apathy seen by outsiders. Truth be told, most Filipinos want to do what the American man did and are as emphatic, if not more than the American woman. What is missing in Filipino reactions are the positive action: the saving and vocalizing. What is (are) the impediment(s) in the present environment that need(s) taking down for Filipinos to develop action oriented instincts?
JP, I see two typical Filipino reactions that prevent more action and vocalizing…
1) huwag kang masyadong maarte diyan
2) huwag kang magpaimportante
in fact I see them at work in the political discussion on EJKs – those who protest are seen as not really caring, but just exaggerating their reactions and trying to look important.
Why there are these cultural stereotypes and attitudes, I have no idea, but there seems to be a premium placed by the culture on being outwardly unmoved.
Well said, Ireneo.
As Edgar said below, the seeds were there in every Filipino… but they are hidden from plain sight by a mask seen as apathy.
As a gardener, I like seeds and planting analogies. How can we provide a fertile ground for these seeds to sprout from the ground and give us bounty?
Bingo. Light bulb moment. Thanks.
*******
Two theories:
1. Bystander effect defined as “a social psychological phenomenon that refers to cases in which individuals do not offer any means of help to a victim when other people are present. The probability of help is inversely related to the number of bystanders.”
2. The fatalism of the Filipino.
I don’t think it’s the bystander effect. I am inclined to fatalism. The humor is, as you say, a defense mechanism to cover up for the powerlessness of fatalism.
Your reaction seems to be a cultural trait rather than a personal one. We — Irineo and I, not sure about Sonny — recognize it as being part of ourselves.
Our fatalism can be seen in the general reaction — which is more resignation and approval rather than resistance — to the killings.
*****
The more I think about this JP, I am reducing interpretation into male vs female make-up: how fast can male hormone deliver adrenaline to motor linkages compared to female hormone. I tend to believe male’s is faster, hence your hubby resolves situation. It’s just the way Nature has distributed complementarity even in species survival. Hindi ko alam talaga.
Strange, don’t understand the discussion. One can only judge the situation from the point of view of the child. A child judges a situation based on the “vibrations” he get from the bystanders, a mother being more influential than anybody else. A good mother will try to minimize the traumatic event, a lighthearted reaction is the only correct one, good mothers do this spontaneously. Insecure mothers, as the bystander, will project their insecurity and negatively affect the child. No need to enhance his negative experience with the negative energy of a panicking mom.
Read about the difference between natural parenting of French mothers and the over-zealous parenting of American women.
*******
Perhaps the way to view the discussion it is not “good” or “bad” responses but simply “conditioned” responses.
From Juana’s viewpoint, her conditioned response was inappropriate. But, as I said, a smile, what you call a lighthearted response, can be appropriate.
Thanks for injecting the French viewpoint. Vive la France!
*****
I guess it is a cultural trait, Joseph. It is valued in PH and I guess from what you are saying in France too.
Very interesting read from Rappler regarding Filipino Facebook (FB) trolls and their SOPs. FB right now is being pressured by Americans to clean up fake news after an incident called “Pizzagate.” We all know that FB is populated by mischievous trolls who disseminate misinformation. Is there a pressure on FB from Filipinos to do the same?
http://www.rappler.com/newsbreak/investigative/154099-oplan-cyber-tokhang-facebook-security
IMO, situations similar to Pizzagate are bound to happen and will not stop anytime soon. Given the ease of access to both hardware (viz computer architecture, the entry into the age of Big Data (exabyte scale) and the infinity of software configurations), I believe we are at the threshold of information chaos universe unless “dikes” consisting of self-imposed protocols are quickly put in place. For good or bad I chose to stay outside of FB world. Mercifully, I was reminded of this quandary by an honest Master’s in Fine Arts (film) grad student who in fact was searching for those series of algorithms that can go through piles/tons of movie reviews written for Film databases.
You are right. We had that discussion here before about guns not being the problem but the people using them in malevolent ways. It also applies to technology. Have you read about Russia hacking the US election? It sounds like Russia unleashed a lot of gray hats to get Trump voted in the office.
Cheese pizza was said to be code for child trafficking. Maybe a picture if a pizza delivery van caught in traffic is code for trafficking.
That cyber tokhang was really something.
This will go on for the rest of our social media lives, in many forms.
Pinoy-Filipino is multi-culture people, Malaynoy, Kastilanoy, Chinoy, Kanoy,
also multi-blood, multi-breed, multi-region, multi-islander,
multi-diet from adobo-menudo, pansit-bijon, egg-sandwich, to bokocamote delicious foods……..
Multi-belief, animism, spiritism, Catholicism, Protestantism, Confucianism-Taoism……
Philippines need multi-intellect, multi-wisdom non-normal idiotic-genius brain to govern its people.
Who is this person?………..hehe
certainly not him..
Karl I hope tama iyong tinokhang natin!
I hope so too.😉
*******
We have been here before.
It comes down to one word: morality.
This is a word Filipinos don’t know and rarely practice.
The word they know is its opposite: immorality.
This word everybody knows and religiously practice.
And they fling this word at each other and in each other’s faces.
o Duterte to De Lima, and De Lima to Duterte.
o Mocha to the Anti-D’s, and the Anti-D’s to Mocha.
The level of morality is too low.
In the Freudian model, Filipinos have Id and Ego aplenty, but little or no Superego.
Superego is where honor resides. To honor is to respect one’s self and others.
We are the Society of the Dishonored and the Dishonorable.
But we carry the seeds of honor. This is shown in our frequent use of “Po.” Mano po. Opo.
We carry the seeds in our speech but not in our deeds. The words and the act are a request for and an offering of blessing. A benediction.
God will bless us… if we honor and bless each other in speech and deed.
*****
Kids learn by what they see. It starts with Honorable.
Honorables for me used to look and act like pigs, but I learned quickly you have to PRETEND respect or risk trouble – so where to learn what real respect and honor IS?
Those who call Duterte ‘authentic’ and think others are ‘pretentious hypocrites’ might well be those who haven’t seen and felt what real, not feigned, respect and honor is about.
Superb point.
*******
Honor and respect should have been taught from religion.
*****
Ah yes, indeed. Three transcendent, comprehensive virtues that any country and culture can build a civilization on.
I can’t agree more. We have a lot of learned behaviors we need to unlearn as a society.
I think you and most people here can appreciate the article below. It surely scratched the surface on how to unlearn and how to practice subjective learning:
http://mithya.prasadkaipa.com/learning/whatunlearn.html
*******
The article equates unlearning with unconditioning. I have always spoken about the conditioning that enchains us.
As far as I know, there are three ways of unlearning, of being free:
o By self
o By others
o By events
Very few Filipinos can do it by themselves.
Most Filipinos unlearn by others — by mentors, priests, demagogues, and pedagogues. The trouble is most others are not enlightened. So the “unlearning” is really more and deeper conditioning. Like young people becoming socialists or political trolls. As the article says this is “moving towards something.”
Some Filipinos unlearn by events — the assassination of Ninoy, EDSA, the anti-drug war. The trouble is the unlearning is partial because the lessons of events are specific (not comprehensive and not universal), and the lessons are easily forgotten.
*****
Unlearning is very, very hard for anyone, I think.
The best way I think is through stories like this one… ‘A game of trolls’..
http://news.abs-cbn.com/life/12/12/16/first-look-peta-back-in-protest-mode-with-martial-law-musical
Is this for real or a joke? Did PRD really admitted to killing people or will this one go to the growing volumes of PRD joke books? Is he pushing the envelope because of his immunity from suit? Is he testing Morales? What is his intention in saying that he personally killed people when he was a Davao Mayor?
http://news.abs-cbn.com/news/12/14/16/duterte-says-he-personally-killed-people
http://newsinfo.inquirer.net/853478/morales-dutertespeak-unpresidential-not-illegal
“Pity this busy monster, manunkind,” says the poet, e.e.cummings. Anywhere in the world, not just here, there are bad eggs that, lamentably, hatch! Barbaric times with Du30 — we have to stand our ground on Justice (not ‘legalism,” not lawyers’ gobbledygook, as with those 9 justices), on Human Rights, on Peace among men of good will.
Juana, the fertilizer for the seeds is I think and I FEEL in songs like these…
now these young men embody the spirit of what Kuya Will has always said…
Very talented young men. Music is the magic potion that can cure anything. Thank you for sharing, Irineo.
All true and correct. Irineo’s wag kang pabebe and its variants. A bystander’s various reaction of pity,sympathy,empathy apathy and comedy. Gone are the days when you tell people, Anong pakialam mo,di naman ikaw nagpapalamon sa akin, or simply put, mind your own business.
In todays smartphones you see a parent spanking his or her child, you will video it and report it to news stations.Or we simply don’t care.
I obviously have not read the current blog when I commented above.
This emergencty powers, where the executive shifts the burden to congress saying they can not solve traffic without emergency powers.
What happens long after this emergency powers gets lifted and a new series of traffic jams and gridlocks occurs?
Why not review all existing laws and why should it be different during panic situations.A law must be for all weathers so to speak. e kaso laging weder weder.