Problem Solving the Philippines (My Framework)
I do this to eat my share of humble pie so I would be more open to the plans of other people.
I force myself to write something like this because this demonstrates something important to me.
I cannot think about everything. We all have blind spots. We can learn from other people.
Most of the time this is true but sometimes it is not. This is also a filter it allows me to just scan what other people write.
By default I try to really think deeply about stuff. This often puts me a couple of steps ahead.
Unfortunately I have observed that people here in the Philippines have a tendency to assume other people are idiots.
How this is revealed is the way a lot of Filipinos assume you are thinking of the stupidest thing when you are saying anything.
So when someone is saying something I force myself to think about the most logical or most kind phrasing of what the person is saying.
Sometimes because of this I can sometimes put words in other people’s mouths. But doing this is a good way to avoid conflict or making other people look stupid.
Problem Solving the Philippines ( How I will go about analyzing things)
- Start with a problem or goal or objective: I have a problem and this is my problem. The proper framing of a problem allows some problems to be solved, some problems to be scoped, some problems to be approached with a viable plan of attack.
A goal/objective can be high level but you have to try to bring it down to as much detail later.
The main issue is that doing something unnecessary to solve something or even trying to solve the wrong thing would be more detrimental to an endeavor the more complicated/expensive/long an endeavor is.
- Write all that you know, assume, want to know, need to know. The key here is trying your best to identify what are the knowns, unknowns, knowable, unknown unknowns
From Donald Rumsfeld:
Reports that say that something hasn’t happened are always interesting to me, because as we know, there are known knowns; there are things we know we know. We also know there are known unknowns; that is to say we know there are some things we do not know. But there are also unknown unknowns—the ones we don’t know we don’t know. And if one looks throughout the history of our country and other free countries, it is the latter category that tends to be the difficult ones. ( “Defense.gov News Transcript: DoD News Briefing – Secretary Rumsfeld and Gen. Myers”. United States Department of Defense. February 12, 2002. Archived from the original on April 6, 2016.)
(Table screenshot from wikipedia. The Rumsfeld Matrix (Chapter 13) – The Climate Demon, Saravanan R., Cambridge University Press (2021) Online ISBN 9781009039604, DOI https://doi.org/10.1017/9781009039604)
- Write the obvious solutions or formulas for solving problems. Here the more problems you have solved the more diverse and vast your toolkit should be. Resist the hammer saying. To the man with a hammer every problem looks like a nail. Ideally you have your own list and you mentally go through it. If you have been using it for a long time then you write by feel, but also force yourself to walkthrough the solutions that are non obvious. Why is that? Because we have intuition but we also have habits, and tendencies. To force yourself to go through this every Xth problem or solution makes you less susceptible to autopilot.
- Analyzing the Solutions: Here you make a table of pros, cons, cost (time money manpower), opposition, complexity, probability of success.
- Know your self and adjust score accordingly.
- When you have written this start to compare with what was implemented.
- Identify what you missed, score. Ask yourself was the decision defensible? What facts would sway you to implement what was implemented?
I wrote this because I wanted to write about facts, write about problems, write about solutions.
This is a simplified checklist that I try to follow when making decisions. or analyzing decisions. I try to make as few decisions as I can. I hate cognitive load. Any time spent not on problem solving is a waste of time. I want to waste time mindfully.
If you can think of improvements or weaknesses of this simple checklist we can improve this together.
The Society of Honor by Joe America 
Chat gpt summary.
The article on “Problem Solving the Philippines” by Joe America outlines a systematic approach for analyzing and solving issues in the Philippines. The framework involves identifying the problem or objective, listing known and unknown factors, considering various solutions, analyzing these solutions’ pros and cons, and finally, comparing proposed solutions with actual implementations. The author encourages reflection on the effectiveness of decisions made, emphasizing the importance of avoiding cognitive biases and continuously improving decision-making processes.
For more details, you can read the full article here.
Many thanks, Gian. Just a short comment for a start: 6 and 7 are very important and I believe the process should be cyclic like in Scrum where you have Sprints and look back at the last Sprint while planning the next.
The natural state of most humans isn’t that abstract. In some cultures, abstraction is taught well in some it isn’t. Tools to break it down like the very visual Kanban and the time boxed Scrum are useful, especially in a country where most people don’t like “incomplicated” stuff.
In fact, I tend to be very oriented towards specific projects, so I am curious about actual possible applications. My experience with methodologies is that they are sharpened with usage as they are tested against reality. That would be a Step 8 in the process.
super agree. nobody or people rarely get it right or perfect the first time. an iterative process is key.
Though I do see what Joe pointed out as more significant, finding a common understanding of matters. I would estimate that over here, the overlap between known knowns of most groups of people is 70-80%, and that is quite good.
For instance, I like mentioning how Munich solved a peace and order issue near the main train station with a drinking ban. It was possible to work towards a solution as many different perspectives were considered and acknowledged. Reality has many dimensions.
Wonderful. Rumsfeld was an obnoxious genius who helped get the US into trouble. He was also amusing and everyman’s loved uncle. Those unknown unknowns are killers.
As a planning executive, I was migrated from lengthy tomes and tables, by Japanese owners, to simple two-page documents that pretty much follows your scheming. What were the main elements?
The focus on what is changing, the ruthless examination of performance, the quarterly checkpoints, and adjusting the WORK, not the goals, were what drove the company relentlessly forward and upward.
What I am working with my son on is improving his (and my) ability to read the context in which others operate. This is a great aid to harmony because the starting point is that every choice by every person is LEGITIMATE, we simply need to understand it and figure out how to merge their unknowns with our own.
Thanks for this great reminder that we can always improve our thinking and harmony with others.
Irineo has a favorite phrase from Ninotchka Rosca : Philippines is a some something of constant beginnings ( Irineo help please). If we improve our collective national memories we can get rich the slow way even with all these corruption. just have to always move forward no matter how slow.
Yes, and in fact that slow progress is being made, but we may not always see it. Wider roads, better AFP, steadiness in democratic processes, more electrical generation options. My home town Naval changed when it got a Jollibee outlet. Now a Gaisano mall and McDonalds are on the way. Cemented roads run into the mountains. We battle the storms all the time, repairing damages. I’ve had medical issues and Cebu’s got some terrific hospitals with modern equipment. So, yes, the nation grinds on.
Anyone who doesn’t see progress since 1986 should see first how THIN everybody was on EDSA then, and those were middle-class folks.
Second, the average height, a major indicator of progress (for instance, the difference in average height between South and North Koreans is huge) if someone has stats would prove how nutrition is way better today, if my impression that it has gone up is true.
probably can be seen with WHO or UNDP data
Now they waddle through malls stopping at the cake shop then the health bar. 😂🤣😂
Land of Constant Beginnings. Part of the issue is how quickly old attempts to solve issues are simply forgotten. What Quezon exactly did to build a school system that worked well up to even the early 1960s, for instance.
Ninotchka sees it from a Romantic perspective just like Nick Joaquin or Teddy Locsin Sr., that renaming of streets and places and even old languages like Spanish erased important memories a people should have. You have looked at the communicative aspect of giving importance to other people’s perspectives, something most Filipinos suck at. Too many tribes on own islands and mountains of perception, few trying to see the whole archipelago.
You are a historian. You hold onto the past. I suppose letting go of it is a little like free falling. I’m not sure what you would call a person who advocates letting go of the past, maybe even destroying it, because it restrains moving into something better. Modernist? Skydiver? Anti-anachronist? Spaniard? (Who gave everyone Spanish names.) As I grow older, my past gets further away, irrelevant except as a nagging regret or fond fading recollection. I’d be mentally healthier if I just dealt with “now as a stage moving into the future.” But I’d be less wise.
The Philippines is stuck in its past, held there by dynastic barons who suck off the future to live better today. I like Gian’s view of the Philippines as a nation that stepwise moves ever forward, but I’d often like to put a firecracker in someone’s ass to get them to pick up the pace. Like how hard is it to develop modern CSI disciplines to do a better job of solving, and stopping, crime?
Hmm, I live in Bavaria, where the new democratic government made a deal in 1923 with the political dynasty that ruled for 8 centuries putting them in charge of a foundation that manages most castles they once built. They have to maintain them and can utilize tourism profits.
Not Neuschwanstein, though, and not Herrenchiemsee as the Mad King Ludwig, it seems made Bavaria broke with these projects. The 1923 government probably didn’t know Neuschwanstein would be the favorite of Americans wanting to see the original Disney castle.
I wonder if there is a secret part of the deal stating that no member of that family may engage in politics. The age when there were still subjects and rulers, and when all salt that passed the bridge in Munich was taxed, with 1/3 going to the town, 1/3 to the archbishop and 1/3 to the king ended only in 1918 over here. Not long after this place had the short rule of two kinds of communists: barely two weeks by totally unrealistic coffee house leftists, and some months by Russian controlled hard-core types, so there is indeed such a thing as too much change.
I didn’t live in Munich itself in 2004 so I couldn’t vote for or against skyscrapers taller than the 99 meters of the Munich cathedral, but I might have been a pro skyscraper voter.
Like the new malls over here, but I don’t love them. They just are quite convenient.
As for Spaniard, Claveria didn’t just make some degree of administration possible by giving people surnames. He also introduced steam gunships that finally made the Visayas safe from Moro raids. Without that, the ports of Iloilo and Cebu couldn’t have been opened for business.
With a little bit of mind adjustment, one could become quite satisfied with the way the Philippines is today. Walking slow but steady. Yes, people suffering poverty is an issue, and health care. But the foods and life’s gear are all available. There is plenty to do and explore. The people are great, warm, intelligent in a street way, funny, and only occasionally murderers. We accept that there will always be a sucking noise from the entitled and corrupt as they extract money from us. But otherwise, it is terrific.
I feel my anxieties drifting away already. Thank you! 🙂
Most people choose the path of least resistance and ignore “The Unbearable Lightness of Being” that Milan Kundera described in the novel of that name, about people just ignoring the times after the failed 1968 Prague Uprising.
But what is even worse in the Philippines is that extremely few people have any sort of real big picture, so things keep going in circles.
Gian is attempting to describe a way to iteratively find a bigger picture.
Color me cynical. The bigger picture is there to be drawn, but most people never visit the museum, and it is Dali surrealism to leaders. They don’t grasp it. Most people lack a view of the future in which they are well off and no longer struggling, and are doing more fun things. So they don’t vote to get it. And most people lack a view of the reasons others don’t see the world as they do. So they are highly critical and often angry. Gian is about the best around here at seeing context, which is illustrated in his articles. Few have that gift. I’ve accepted that life is a path and not a promise or a way it has to be. But it is malleable to an extent, and there is satisfaction to be found in taking a spin at the potters wheel.
I was really confident about my Inday Sara winning in 2028, gian. though I’d not been really keeping up on the news with her specifically and just Philippines politics in general (cuz most of what I get about Philippines is on here and from Twitter). so confident was I that the first Google picture I saw of a 2024 poll of Inday Sara in a huge lead, i just went with that. and Joe had a more damning more recent polling. it was like Joe just slammed his royal flush, to my cool hand. which was a nothing. But even this morning when I woke up, and I thought about Inday Sara’s chances in 2028, even when I commented to Ireneo that I was depressed about the polls, tonite I’m very optimistic again. now my rational brain is saying that 40plus to 25 drop is too much, there has to be error in sampling or method. you see I just can’t let go of Inday Sara, gian. so facts and figures be damned, cuz I’m gonna double down on faith here. which is I guess how Pinks felt about VP Leni too given the polls. my point, is that your number 5 is the hardest hurdle to overcome. Knowing yourself is key. and Rumsfeld’s Unknown knowns (imagine that huge warehouse in Raiders of the Lost Ark, Unknown Knowns). this is a known for me, that I weigh my hunches more, yet i have no knowledge in how to overcome it. But I have to be honest, I have faith in my gut reactions, more than my ability to analyze. granted my sample size of the Philippines is pretty much centered around Mango Ave. but I always ask what do those Mango Ave girls think. what would they think. like for sure they’d still be pro Inday Sara (still) and they’d be anti- Tulfo (they’ll see thru him, cuz he’d be the pa libre type). and they hate those. So in conclusion watch Cool Hand Luke. i always carry a bottle opener cuz of that movie, gian. though I’ve seen Mango Ave girls open ’em with their teeth. which doesn’t seem practical but I guess they have faith in the calcium and dental density. I hope that makes sense. what to do with number 5?
GC, thanks again for an introspective post. I too constantly remind me of the steps you shared here. Perhaps it’s due to the business and technology background some of us share, this behavior seems almost natural to us.
However one of the sometimes frustrating aspects of the Philippines is how some Filipinos will “shoot first think later.” That is to say, they’ll pursue seemingly easy “solutions” or utang for their wants first, without taking the time to think about the consequences. Then when consequences arrive, there’s lack of the ability to learn from mistakes causing many to repeat the same or similar mistakes. I’ve long been of the mind that people don’t do this because they’re stupid or incapable of thinking, but rather, thinking through a scenario is a learned behavior that they were not taught. Parents can’t be expected to teach their children this abstraction since if the parents had not been educated in logical thinking, they won’t know the first thing about how to teach their children anyway. It seems that then the reinforcement of critical thinking must be done in the education system. Only then can we hope for the next generation of children who have been given these educational and behavioral gifts to help pass it along to their own children.
Even a simplified set of steps based on what you have detailed here would be so helpful to educated the Filipino youth. As we know, being able to logically think through problems underpins practically every other type of decision making, from life choices to financial literacy. It’s a shame that a large amount of Filipino educational curriculum still focuses on memorization and regurgitation — regurgitation that is often expelled with no learning retained.
ahem, I’m going to apply the above to the grassroots. here, education in primary level is not designed for critical thinking, gotta start them young, just when the mind is most absorbent and can be easily be molded. instead of letting young minds explore, create and discover, their pathways are already limited and conclusions are made for them. no need to explore, no need to think, just follow the beaten track and you’re good to go!
instead of letting young minds decide, a decision is already made: isang kaibigan. so what is there to explore? shouldnt young minds be making the decision what a friend is? a stranger offering help, is already a friend? no wonder so many got scammed! greeks bearing gift.
of course, mommy knows best! daddy knows best! but there will come a time when what mommy and daddy know are no longer enough and needed augmentation, enhancing, upgrading, etc. no disrespect there, just life moving on, time changes.
children under 5yrs initially learned from their parents. and as they grow older, they learned not only from their parents but also from their neighbors, kins and relatives. when they enter school, they learned from their teachers. there’s a lot of learning there, lot or reinforcements too. and lots of learning are retained, those thought not relevant got discarded. by the time kids become adult, all their learnings are set in concrete, to guide them for life. and still life is lifelong learning.
@KB, You have a better grasp of education than Duterte, for sure. Probably Angara, too. The first few years of education set up the rest. The goal should be to instill a sense of excitement and satisfaction at learning stuff. NOT learning stuff. Then keep feeding the hungry-learner beast in the upper years, expanding the child’s range of initiative along the way.
teachers know all abut making classs exciting, there is singing, dancing, drama and play, thus breaking the monotony of learning. then inday sara decreed all class decorations be take down, too disruptive apparently for children. those decorations are children’s artworks, their best drawings, their award winning colorings, etc. and teachers grudgingly obeyed. in the end, inday sara was first to blink and resigned as deped sec.
Boy is she taking heat over her budget demeanor. It was fun to watch, her trying to overrule House protocols, the hearing President trying to keep order, the questioners going for the dirt, woebegotten Gloria with her power gone trying to protect Sara. Terrific drama. Best since the Masapano hearings, which are unlikely ever to be topped. An impeachment trial would be good.
I’m so with you, an impeachment trial would top all the trimmings. gloria arroyo allegedly dodged her own impeachment by giving gift bags with 5million pesos to each would be impeachers and her impeachment gotten nowhere. gloria was president then and could easily dip her fingers into the kaban ng bayan. now that digong no longer has access to the kaban ng bayan, impeaching sara might just proceed. halleluia!
to avoid impeachment where her prospect of being top government official can never ever materialize now and in the future, the designated survivor can always resign from her post, be private citizen again. then she can run as mayor of dabaw once more, but not if she’s impeached.
she has resigned before and she can resign again, she’s getting good at resigning, haha.
One of the great Filipino children’s movies and TV series is based on Kokey the extraterrestrial. At first glance, Kokey might seem like a knockoff of the American movie series “ET,” but he is the embodiment of pinoy-ness, similar to how Skyflakes is definitely not a knockoff of Saltine crackers, and Magic Flakes are definitely not a knockoff of Skyflakes. Kokey is an inquisitive young alien, teaching Bong and Anna about fun and exploration. Who cares about the kapre hiding in the smokey tree branches when there are so many new things to see in the neighborhood? Soon Kokey with all his alien helpfulness, brings many new customers to the family business with his alien charm. But Kokey really just wants to go home! And the family won’t let him because now they are used to the money they can earn with his alien powers! Can Kokey ever go back home to see his parents again? Time will only tell.
The themes in “Kokey” remind me of childhood for many Filipino children. A short time where they may explore, run around the neighborhood, taking a bath in the rain, getting kuto from their neighborhood friends, expanding their minds. Then quickly they’re expected to become a cog in the machine, whether it be to earn money for the family or in society. Anyone who sticks their head out will be quickly hammered down in their place. No wonder critical thinking and thinking outside the box is a foreign concept to many once they grow up. The expectation is conformity to the expense of personal expression and development.
Still there are some that manage to break out of this mold. Those I’ve met who can escape the societal prison go on to become very successful. Sadly most seem to want to escape not only temporarily, but forever by migrating to another country where they can be among people that they can relate to. It’s a shame.
bad kokey, bad kokey, bad kokey! had he told the family he really wants to go home, really, really, they might help him. knock and it will be open to you, seek and you shall find, ika. else kokey is just like any filipino and has learned by osmosis. for kokey to be his own person, he gotta learn to dictate his own terms, pursue his happiness, else go on hunger strike! put his foot down. this is what I want done, get it? silly kokey let himself be usurped, maybe he enjoys being usurped, haha. and has become domesticated.
nah, I’m really not concerned, kasi if kokey has enough of this family, he knows what to do.
*** ***
children at school are encouraged to strive for excellence and are rewarded for their efforts, medals for class excellence, medals for top grades, for participation, for leadership, for being outstanding citizens, etc. strong and solid foundations are laid at school, their happiest time ever.
then children are suddenly adults, out of school and on their own, find a job, settle down, etc.
and they have to make success of integration, transitioning from school to work. what they learned at school may well be tempered at work, tempered by societal demand and they may have to pull back, make adjustment, have to fit in, cannot go on haring by themselves like they used to, unless they are children of oligarchs and the world is their oyster. but they already have good foundation and that presumably should sustain them through life. they may tweak it, lessened it, or forget it, their choice.
many people dont stay in one job, they become disgruntled and quit. they may find another job that encourages personal development, that allows them to move up not only in pay grade but in status and influence. but are they happy? ah, that’s when they need therapy for how else are they going to spend all that money!
Kokey didn’t realize he became domesticated. Poor Kokey haha!
Sadly, it’s just reality that many people work in a field that they don’t particularly enjoy. My own current focus and field was the result of needing funds to complete my college education over 2 decades ago. If I was the son of an oligarch I would’ve wanted to become an attorney or at least a researcher, something where I can continually learn new things in life. I’ve had to make due with reality and transfer my curiosities onto other aspects, such as learning new things from others. I always advise to younger folks that even if their career isn’t their dream field, they should strive to earn enough so they have extra funds to enjoy whatever they want outside of work.
Almost everywhere in the world, the middle class makes this kind of life possible. A humble life, yet with room to explore outside if one wants to. When people have to work just to survive until the next payday, they become disengaged with both society and politics, easier to control. Of course there are other problems plaguing the Philippines such as rampant consumerism (imagine kids in the bukid having the latest phones lol), but these are sometimes symptoms of societal unhappiness and malaise, and can be cured with education and more budget security.
you give good advice to younger folks. though if they cannot save enough money to fund whatever ticks them outside work, they can always join the choir at church, it’s free and church need good and dedicated singers, guitarists and organ players.
there are organizations that need volunteers like animal shelters, hospitals if people are no squeamish, and schools need volunteers too but volunteers must pass health checks, etc.
America used to have a proud tradition going back to JFK of youth public service, which has diminished somewhat. The various civilian corps are an expression of patriotism and a way for the youth to focus their energy. Sadly over the years the civilian services have been somewhat politicized, but they’re still very important. Joe Biden refocused the civilian corps so I hope it will take off again.
When I was a young man I didn’t have much money, so I traveled the world with various NGOs and Catholic relief groups. Even though I was a strong conservative at the time, my experience with NGOs and relief missions probably pushed me towards liberalism. NGO work can also give the youth a lot of life experience that they can use later for other activism or even in their work life.
I know there are many good NGOs in the Philippines and it’s a bit sad that the Filipino youth don’t take advantage of the experiences volunteer work can offer. Even joining a church choir can be fulfilling. I teach Biblical and Christian history to the youth members of my parish, but teach it in a way that’s fun and interesting. Probably very little of what I teach is doctrine, rather it’s important for people to understand the context and how pieces fit in history so they can use those thinking skills in their own life.
From the guy and his ilk who likes to getreal https://www.getrealphilippines.com/solution/framework.html
oops dead link.
https://web.archive.org/web/20051222061053/https://www.getrealphilippines.com/solution/framework.html
https://web.archive.org/web/20060617121403im_/http://www.getrealphilippines.com/images/frmwkdiag.gif
I bounced around a little on the site after hitting the dead link. What an awful, juvenile place. Can’t stand to be there. Feel dirty.
I remember you lasted for a couple.of years there. You are durable.
Bennie threw me out. I called him a name. I don’t recall what it was but I earned the block. Over on Filipino Voices, he had been helpful to me at getting oriented, bright guy, but his anti-pinoy schtick got overbearing.
I would add that his wife is one of those game-playing nut cases using every troll’s trick. I have her and Lorraine Badoy in the same bucket. Deceitful grinders. Fundamentally dishonest and mean.
He probably is Gen X, and as one from that generation myself, I can testify that the Filipino one-hundred percenter culture, one-upmanship, is worst in that Gen especially among the older half. We do often have the mindset that only valedictorians, summa cum laudes and bar topnotchers count, and every interaction is extreme zero sum, you are either the llamado rooster or the dejado in the cooking pot. That is a mindset that usually leads to frustration as only a few can be the best, and then the game of finding losers starts. It is seen in politics but also in many showbiz fandoms. It already existed long before, I refer to Placido Penitente, the UST student in Rizal’s Fili. He gets humiliated by the friar professor, though, and joins Simoun, similar to how certain people join the Philippine “intellectual” Left or Right nowadays..
Joey Nguyen mentioned Filipino millennials as hope. Well, if I look at some of them, there is a certain mix of pissed off and hopeful attitude. That could be the kind of mix that is needed.
BTW, if I hadn’t moved to Pisay in high school, my batchmate at UP High School would have been.. Harry Roque. Not to say all our Gen is rotten, to clarify, but many are, and that man is a prime example.
You could’ve shown him the error of his ways early on Irineo!
Or I would have gone to the “sauna” with him in my teens and we would be partners in crime until now, who knows.
Jokes aside, there seemed to have been more anti-Duterte people in my UP batch than in my Pisay batch, but their silence in both seemed so loud at least on FB. There is some sort of taboo in Philippine society against “stepping on others toes” it seems.
All too often, there seems to be a prevalent bystander effect in the Philippines. There could be an assault yet bystanders will be indifferent, even joining in on the gawking. In this case, an assault on the nation. There may be other reasons too, such as not wanting to cloud clan or group ties by speaking out. Well, Jorge Vargas was also an illustrious attorney turned traitor. But Filipinos seem to have an endless capacity for forgiveness and supporting comebacks. Those who break the law are seen as underdogs like Bonnie and Clyde. The Vargas family was also eventually rehabilitated, with his grandson serving on the Olympic commission and PLDT’s board. Perhaps in a generation, we’ll also find out how everyone simply misunderstood Roque and he followed his heart while being in a difficult position.
you get to a certain level and you have too many interactions and binds that make it practically taboo as you say. When I was in UP I heard a few pitches of fraternities. This frat controls DOJ, this frat controls SC, this frat controls etc. The. you also get the within age group bonds. Wen to elementary with this senator, went to highschool with this mayor, over and over. I suspect that Davao, Cebu, Iloilo/Bacolod, Ilocos/Baguio has a similar dynamic. We go back to pakikisama and other brgy level, clan, etc.
Bavaria, where I live, though, is also very much personal interactions and clans etc etc (actually I am at home with that aspect, bakit kaya?) and there are stories nobody will confirm about how corrupt this place probably was in the time it was ramping up after the war.
The reckoning (to some extent) with certain “‘Amigos” (the literal name of an early 1990s alleged corruption scandal) started only when wealth was established, a bit like in Sokor, so I at times wonder if it is better to get rich first and fix the rest later, based on such real examples. Possibly, the difference between Bavaria and Sokor on one side and the Philippines on the other side is the willingness to put in effort and not just to sit in the peanut gallery all the time.
In our private conversations where I am more open this is the realization I have that makes what I feel unpublishable. A poor society will not have social justice, the spiral is too common. Human nature really. Get rich then slowly fix always being mindful that we are always a few steps away from poverty and chaos.
Here in the US, the motto of the American GenX is the “Me” Generation, for good reason. Many American GenX have a “chip on their shoulder” from being “latchkey” kids, with both Boomer parents working outside of the home while the children had to fend for themselves. I mean, I was a latchkey kid too (elder Millennial close to the generation cutoff) and I was fine. American GenX complained in their youth that their parents didn’t care about them, therefore they turned towards consumerism as they started earning. It’s the generation of “bigger is better,” super-sizing everything in American society from chain restaurants to automobiles. When it came time for them to have children, GenX doted and coddled their GenZ kids, becoming “helicopter” parents. When I was a kid in the 1980s, crime was much more dangerous than it is now, yet GenX parents insist on being omni-present in their children’s lives, driving them to school, buying them the latest gadgets so their kids won’t have “iPhone envy” even in elementary school, telling their kids how smart and special they are rather than giving their children the hard truths. Not saying that the Boomer tendency of straight-forwardness can’t be PTSD-inducing, but jeez children need to have the space to explore and make mistakes. No wonder American GenZ grew up spoiled, wracked by depression and mental illness, sometimes even inventing their own illnesses just to get attention and validation.
American Millennials, especially the elder half like me just don’t give a damn, having survived through the 9/11 terrorist attack, 20 years of war, multiple financial collapses caused by Boomer and GenX greed. We didn’t enjoy sustained economic boom years of prior generations until the nascent one in the present time, having entered the work force at an inopportune time. Many of my schoolmates who answered the feeling of patriotism after watching the 9/11 terrorist attack play out in shocked disbelief in our schools were either were wounded in war or committed suicide after (a Marine classmate just took his life earlier this week). We have a survivor mindset. Perseverance is our natural language. Here we really feel like our time has come to assert ourselves politically after years of jumping through all the hoops to grow wealth, and if the stars align this US election year will be a reckoning.
On the Philippine side, Filipino Millennials came of age in the aftermath of the revolution, their parents shouting hope for Filipinos loudly, yet they were disappointed as they grew older and many of the promises of the revolution didn’t happen. Due to the various Asian and Philippine economic crisis that mirrored what we experienced in the US, Filipino Millennials were forced to hold their heads down and got into the growing BPO industry. I’ve met many who basically taught themselves English and other subjects which the Philippine school system failed them on, just so they can get ahead in life. After years of work, many Filipino Millennials are now entering the “tito and tita” era, where they are realizing they’re getting up there in years, yet are still boxed out of political power. Most were too young to vote for PNoy. Many voted for Leni, yet there wasn’t yet a strong national awakening. They want a better future for their families that many now have. Most are more open minded, having worked with Western firms in their careers and have adopted a Western mindset without migrating to the US or Europe like many educated GenX professionals before them.
Contrast with Filipino GenZ, whose mobile phones are like an additional appendage as a result of growing up when mobile net finally penetrated the Philippine market, who often can’t function without their gadgets. I’ve seen many a Filipino GenZ at the gadget store making tampo, cajoling their GenX parents, outright threatening for the latest gaming Android or recent secondhand iPhone, while their jeepney driver father and homemaker mother sheepishly fumble with their pockets thinking of ways to cater to their child. Some even go as far as finding foreigners online in romance scams to fund their lifestyles as early as junior high school. I see Filipino GenZ be more interested in external happenings that have nothing to do with their lives or the nation. Foreign celebrity or sports culture, foreign music, grasping at every foreign celebrity with a single drop of Filipino blood as their “pride.” They tend to desperately emulate American, Japanese, Korean and now Chinese trends while adopting political views foreign to Filipinos (and foreign to most Americans I might add) not realizing their newfound political views are the very traps that China and Russia are weaving online. Call me an old curmudgeon who’s in my “get off the lawn phase,” but I don’t have faith in self-centered Filipino GenZ at all.
But I do have faith in Filipino Millennials. They have a combination of education (sometimes self-education), work ethic, forward looking cosmopolitanism, and most importantly, they’re starting to get pissed off. They’re starting to realize that the dynastic system is in fact escapable through progress and numbers, rather than the typical defeatism for those stuck in the Philippines and escapism for those who were able to migrate. Many have chosen to stay. That might be what’s needed for a Leni 2.0 or a similar liberal candidate to win next round.
Oops, meant to say GenX are children of the stoic Silent Generation who went through WWII, who they hold resentments towards.
Thanks. I am actually wondering why a lot of Filipino Gen X seem to see 1986 as a Boomer thing and a Big Fail, at least that seemed to be the narrative of many an FB Page of former classmates or batchmates.
It doesn’t make sense as older Gen X took part in 1986 if we were at home. Dr. Xiao Chua was born in 1984, and as he wondered about Martial Law put together a summary of human rights abuses called Tortyur during high school. Those were I guess HIS defining moments.
I think a large part of the problem is that while EDSA restored justice, democracy and freedom, those who didn’t directly experience Martial Law have taken those restorations for granted. Yes, compromises were made with oligarchs and dynasties, returning them to partial power (though I think not as strongly as the power they had before), but no political movement is perfect. If everything was perfect then we wouldn’t have problems in this world 😅 It was up to the following generations to take the foundation laid by EDSA and grow upon it, but sadly until now it seems that hasn’t happened besides the brief interlude during PNoy.
Still wonder then why some of my batchmates made a huge howl on social media blaming the LP for pork barrel. I think that was 2013. Then giant howls just after Mamasapano and the narrative of the Aquinos ruined our dreams.
I mean, did they really expect to have their cake and eat it too, keep things running the old way, and then land in a modern SEA country? I tried to get answers, but the answers were either silence or aggression. Surfing for infos led first to GRP, which many of them read, then here.
I spent some time on GRP and the anti-Pinoy blogs too, but I quickly recognized benign0 had a an authoritarian bent. Him and his ideological bedfellows want a Singapore-style dictatorship, but the irony is they actually don’t want to work for it. That’s why I think most of the anti-Pinoy crowd supported Duterte, who they thought could be their tool to bring into life their fantasies. Now that they’ve unmasked themselves, they boxed themselves into a corner. It’s appalling how many of them have turned pro-China.
No different to me from the GenZ nowadays who are clamoring for a communist state that would cater to all their needs. Of course, these types see themselves as above the hard work (or gainful employment at all) of building and nurturing the future they say they want. They want others to do the work, while they stand on top as the Pontificators-in-chief, a self-appointed intelligentsia. History has shown what happens to the self-appointed intelligentsia when dictators take over. They’re the first to be killed.
this would jive well with what Joey said. No matter how well educated one is in the Philippines I have observed a certain lack of understanding how what one is taught is really for application in the real world. So you get people with very high credentials in process stuff but fail to apply this on their day to day.
The old internet meme
01. Do something
02. Do another thing
03. XXXXX
04. Profit
applies here. Even people I believe are smarter than me have that weakness lots of very well educated well credentialed people are getting lost in step 3 and thus cannot apply themselves.
If you have been in any type of complex decision making you know you always have a lack of info, you always have a blind side. So not understanding the process of decision making means a lot even highly educated highly credentialed people fall back to primal decision making the thinking fast part of Thinking Fast and slow book.
People conveniently do not record their though process and thus they have memory gaps on what they were considering or thinking when judging or making decisions.
So what they end up with is I am mad at this situation, I do not know how to fix it, etc
There is a tendency in the Philippines to value degrees and titles too much. It was a bit foreign to me when I first encountered, since here we regularly refer to people with titles as simply by their name unless it’s in a formal setting or written form (like a letter/email). Simply because someone is an “attorney” or a “doctor” doesn’t mean they’re a genius, and I often see Filipinos who have attained high educational credentials subsequently lord their titles over their “lessers.” Having an education is both a privilege and something to be proud about, but it shouldn’t be something to brag.
One of my recent clients was a hospital system where I was leading a project to roll out a health management system for medical staff. Philippine trained nurses had great difficulty thinking outside of the box. Everything had to follow protocol and what they had learned. It could also be the environment too. Too often in the Philippines when one sticks their head out, they get hammered down like a nail. Over time, Filipino nurses abroad usually learn the host culture and figure things out by adopting new ways of thinking.
Another constraint in Philippine society is the general lack of introspection and reflection on why outcomes occur, and how to improve outcomes the next time. Often there’s a subtle look in eyes around the room as everyone tries to figure out what they should be told to do next, rather than leaders rising up among the cohort. I believe this tendency allows for bad leaders who have reckless attitudes to seize situations for their own often bad intentions. We all should strive to be leaders, whether by contributing to a small cohort, or by creating success in our work, or by leading a nation.
My daughter 6 years old came to me a few hours ago she said she was almost hit by a tricycle when I asked her to buy me coffee from a nearby store. She was apologizing and said she would be more mindful next time so I wouldn’t have to be afraid for her. Trying to raise independent and strong kids is emotionally hard but you just have to steel yourself.
It is very difficult. I advocate for letting kids figure things out themselves, while parents watch mindfully from some distance in case the kids get into too much trouble. When a child makes mistakes, they can learn from it, or adults can ask pertinent questions to allow the child to come up with their own conclusions with adult guidance. Just simply ordering doesn’t work once a child attains the ability to start reasoning. It sounds like you’re doing well with teaching your daughter to be an introspective problem solver who will develop a strong sense of independence later.
I’m no parent, gian. but I’d probably keep an eye out on that tricycle driver if he’s been drinking and singing karaoke whilst driving. apart from emotionally hard, i think you gotta announce it to the whole barangay that if said daughter is hurt in anyway, you’ll go Man On Fire and run amok on all tricycle drivers there. too many people get hit by tricycle and motorcycle drivers there. impunity. at fault accidents. at least jeepney and bus drivers you can corral. same with trisikad. here theres lots of Nest home cameras now. over there theres neighbors looking out for one another still. force multipliers, more eyes & ears. but theres gotta be punishments telegraphed before hand. teach ’em eskrima, gian. early. if none around, watch youtube videos and just focus on 1 and 2 and thrust, at different angles and different targets. study anatomy. that should alleviate some worries.
mostly stay adjacent to an INC community so most neighbors and tricycle drivers are members. I think that is street smart advice, it probably doesn’t apply to the community where I live.
If our Gen Zs minick the Koreans,
Goodbye Savings, but hello to population control.
https://www.straitstimes.com/asia/koreas-birth-rate-drive-struggles-to-sway-yolo-generation
we kinda see this right now. search TikTok for I am only 22-30 once. you get kids justifying lifestyle
Thanks. Ok.
Around the developed world, we are having a problem with GenZ not having a work ethic, or wanting to work at all. Yes, I don’t entirely agree with the need to be in an office all the time (I chose to be independent most of my career as a mercenary for hire for this purpose), but at the same time the amount of GenZ who have no work and live at home with their parents as they near their 30s is a bit weird to me. Quite a few are now apparently “communists,” in the sense that they want the government/others to take care of them as their parents did so they don’t need to work, not communism in the traditional sense of inter-class fighting. Communism for themselves, while everyone else works to support them apparently.
I’m seeing the same undertones in the Filipino GenZ since they are the most connected generation. It’s very difficult to mentor them, but I have found success in GenZ Filipinos whose parents are a bit irresponsible and won’t/can’t support them, so they need to be more creative by finding their own earning.
Good or bad? I don’t like it but if turns out for the best then go forth.
https://uk.news.yahoo.com/uks-first-teacherless-ai-classroom-112000061.html
“It’s a soulless bleak future” says the critic. The matrix had soul, but it was nasty. Education teaches many things, social interaction among them. And how to snooze as the teacher drones on. AI does not permit snoozing, I suspect, and is for sure better than my worst teachers but maybe not as good as my best. Does it have a sense of humor? Boy, I’d miss Mr. Ramsey who was hilarious. And the big knockers on Ms. Rechnitz, or, wow, Miss Perrine, my first real introduction to lust. But I would not miss Mr. Zarlengo who instructed us to always carry a long pole when ice skating. He hid when a gang of toughs drove in to beat him up. Will they beat up AI?
I’m inclined to think AI has a place in education. Personal attention. The world’s knowledge at our keyboard tips ready to be matched to our brain’s vacancies. I’m for it.
Eloquently said.
A clean slate is always better than a jungle or a maze.
But it is given that we are in a messy maze one must navigate, be a survivalist, be adept to adapt.
Spot on. And as observers, we can recognize that complaint is not a solution unless it leads to one.