What is the right kind of Pinoy Pride?

A lot of people balked at my article “Pinoy Pride will never save the Philippines.” They said, in effect, pride isn’t all that bad, and I’m cruel for saying it is! And if pride won’t save us, what will?

Filipino-005

I agree, there is a kind of pride that is good. But the most popular form of Pinoy Pride is actually hubris and arrogance. So if this is not the right type of pride, what is? Let’s talk about it. To start, let me quote this page from philosophy professor Tom Moody of the California State University of San Bernardino, Self-Respect and the lack of it:

SUPPORT INDEPENDENT SOCIAL COMMENTARY!
Subscribe to our Substack community GRP Insider to receive by email our in-depth free weekly newsletter. Opt into a paid subscription and you'll get premium insider briefs and insights from us.
Subscribe to our Substack newsletter, GRP Insider!
Learn more

Vices: too much ego and too little ego.

Too much ego can lead to:

1. Arrogance, selfishness, greed, a sense of entitlement to whatever one wants. This leads to serious ends/means problems: such a person feels entitled to do whatever it takes to get what s/he wants. This leads to abuses of ends/means reasoning.

2. Intellectual arrogance: being too sure that one is right in what one believes. This tends to lead one to feel justified in doing whatever it takes to achieve one’s goals. It elbows out any humility that might lead one to ask whether it was right to harm people for one’s goals.

Too little ego can lead to:

1. Excessive conformity, even servility, because one does not believe that one’s own opinions are worth standing up for. It is very hard to have integrity if one has no respect for one’s moral identity or for the kind of person one believes one is.

2. Doing evil to assert to the world that one exists, that one should be paid attention to.

▶Arsonists are often trying to assert their power, their efficacy, to let the world know that they matter. “It’s a power trip,” said San Diego fire investigator Fred Herrera, “They’re able to cause all these emergency personnel and media and these people in their homes to pay attention to what they did.” [SB Sun, 10/27/03]

▶There was a case of a man who got on a bus intending to rob it, but the driver ran off with the case. Infuriated he took the passengers hostage. But unfortunately for everyone, the bus had huge side windows that allowed the hijacker to be seen clearly and the police failed to keep news cameras out, so that the hijacker could be seen on TV. There is evidence that he was more violent, more extreme, than he might otherwise have been because he was suddenly visible to the world.

▶ Cruelty and fear are man-made and the men who perpetrate them are ruled by them. Such men are only half-made things. They live out their unresolved lives by attempting to destroy anything that challenges the void in themselves. A fear-filled man transposes his inadequacy onto another. He blames them, hates them, and hopes to rid himself of his unloved self by hurting, or worse, destroying them.–Brian Keenan

3. A need to show that one is superior to another by showing that one has power over him or her.

We see a lot of cases where raped women are incapacitated by drugs or alcohol, sometimes surreptitiously. We even have a few cases where victims have been tagged. The rapist will use a felt-tip pen to mark his conquest just as a gang banger leaves his tag on a wall. –Gail Abarbanel, director of the Santa Monica Rape Treatment Center, quoted in Steve Lopez’s column in the LA Times, 10/26/03

Jacobo Timerman was tortured in Argentina under the military regime of the 1970’s. He noticed that “sometimes a bond developed between torturer and victim, who could come to need each other. The victim could need a human voice. ‘For the torturer, it is a sense of omnipotence. . . the torturer needs to be needed by the tortured.’ He described one of the men offering him a woman prisoner to have sex with. His refusal made the man angry: In some way he needs to demonstrate to me and to himself his capacity to grant things, to alter my world, my situation. To demonstrate to me that I need things which only he can provide.

4. Bigotry stemming from a need to feel superior to someone. If one’s group is superior to another’s, then no matter how lowly an individual one is, one can still feel superior. Tom Ewell’s bigotry stems from this need to feel superior to someone. He may be poor ignorant white trash but he can still feel superior to any black person.

Virtue: Self-respect.

To have self-respect is to have neither too high nor too low an opinion of oneself. It is to value one’s integrity, to be capable of shame if one fails to live up to one’s own opinion of what one should do and how one should be. Self-respect is the foundation of respect for others. One of the most unfortunate effects of bigotry is that it tends to lower the self-esteem of the group that is its target. It’s difficult to maintain self-respect if the society around one continually expresses its contempt for you and its belief that you are inferior to them.

There you go: as colleague FallenAngel also says, self-respect is the right kind of pride. It actually can have little or nothing to do with nationality. It has nothing to do with competition with people of other countries. It only has to do with doing what you do best and doing it properly and ethically while keeping your head straight, letting your actions speak for you without calling attention to yourself.

I also believe Filipinos can be guilty of all the vices listed above. I would first cite number 1 of Too Much Ego: sense of entitlement is an obvious problem of many Filipinos. Number 2 also applies to Filipinos, while I’m sure people familiar with the history of GRP know specific cases.

I also cite all of the Too Little Ego part. Filipinos tend to be silent or just “follow and follow” the wrong behaviors to avoid trouble, proof of number 1. On number 2, perhaps Filipinos make too much noise or trouble on the world scene because they want to be seen. That’s the KSP fellow blogger Gog talked about. On number 3, perhaps we can cite bullying incidents in our society, such as the Carabuena and Amalayer incidents, or even the “Museum of Me.” On number 4, believing that Filipinos are special or have special talents as compared to the rest of the world is a form of bigotry.

When some Filipinos say they need pride to keep going through the day in other countries, it’s not the same as Pinoy Pride as I explained in my previous article. It is actually a healthy dose of self-respect, which is essential and helpful. It can be manifested in pride in what you do, not because of what you are.

But to address the question, what will save the Philippines? In my view, a change of values. We need to carefully study, understand and select the values that we believe and practice, because there are wrong values and right values, and even right and wrong interpretation of values. I believe these are the center of all our actions, and our success or failure as a nation. This includes valuing Humility over Pride. That includes being resistant to mass media that seems to inject a lot of wrong beliefs in our people.

92 Replies to “What is the right kind of Pinoy Pride?”

  1. One day. Maybe even in our lifetime. There will come a day where Filipino communities and streets will be orderly instead of chaos. Where pinoys will support and vote in leaders who selflessly serve the community for the better, When that day comes, everything else like Manny or Jessic Sanchez will seem so trivial in perspective. Because the Pinoy is responsible for their communities , their streets, their living conditions, their leaders, if that day comes , I will be the first to applaud. One indicator that the day is near will be dwindling KSP. I am not sure if this is just a dream or we can one day make it happen,

      1. Singapore, Malaysia, Luxembourg, Finland, Norway, Luxembourg even America just to name a few. They don’t play victims and they care about their people at the very least.

        1. YO FAKE ‘SOLDIER’, you do not have a clue about what is going on in the USA.
          its a FACT, u r clueless about these things.
          Lemme guess, ur gonna make some idiotic comment about the ‘Founding Fathers’ next? HA HA HA!

        2. @Gerry: Ad hominem attack. 😛

          Of course, I know and I’m aware about what’s happening in America and you just love to make assumptions against me. And it’s not a good idea.

          But if you ask me, the Philippines as nothing CLOSE to America, let alone Finland, Norway, Luxemborg or Singapore. That’s my point.

          How about yours? Can’t even understand you since your’re STILL putting up more EMO comments against me.

        3. Yes, the USA is still doing better than America. People there are probably complaining that they can buy something like 2 kilos of meat for a day’s salary instead of 3 like before, but here people could buy .1 kilo in a day, and may afford only .05 kilo the next.

        4. winter soldier,

          that’s absolutely rubbish.

          I’m singaporean and I’ve been told for the last 5 years, Singapore would have gone underwater if not for all the pinoy talents keeping us running

          We’re dumb, can’t string a sentence in English. can’t carry out tasks and need the higher cognitive abilities of Filipinos or dumb fark Singaporean mongoloids would die of our own stupidity. It’s a waste of office space to hire Singaporean cowards who need to serve in the army(why we heard Filipinos say we’ll be the first to flee our homes if there’s danger)

          In fact not a day goes past without me coming into claims of how Singapore would attain greater heights under pinoy management and how it’s time for a fourth great race to claim her birthright in singapore and take over the government.

          and here you’re saying we’re orderly?

          Then please take all your countrymen and women back and leave us to our mud huts and our low IQ and try not to keep coming over to save us.
          my my, what a surprise

        5. With that kind of utterance, with that kind of self-deprecating content (and lack of lah, I think), I doubt Oldbread is Singaporean as he claims.

        6. Oldbread suddenly changes opinion in the other articles. Guess the person behind the keyboard was switched. 😛

        7. I haven’t actually opinion

          I changed tasks

          Nope I’m still Singaporean, I still want this new “ruling race” out. I still am very much against Filipino imperialism in Singapore
          Yes I’m happy with my Muslim countrymen. I do not need pinoys or pinays or pinatas to offer to come in to dilute them. In fact I hope their population ratio gets higher.

          And yes still a pagan, so it’s still hell and brimstone for me.
          Yes also to anyone asking, us pagans still have our foreskins attached

        8. Yes pagan plus foreskins plus fire and brimstone means I’m not getting my 72 virgins either

          For anyone guessing that way because of thrones Muslim comment

          We have enough trouble with one , no need for 72

          For those too thick to catch it.
          No I’m not Muslim

          For those who wondered
          No Muslims here think they’ll get 72 virgins by blowing themselves up.

          Besides the last time someone tried they were smart enough to make sure the bomb wasn’t attached to the body

          But they still got caught anyway

        9. To say a nation or the world can’t do without Filipinos is ridiculous. You could always find a good employee of the same temperament or qualifications everywhere. Critics of GRP say, “Filipinos aren’t the only ones with false pride and those bad habits. Other countries have it too.”

          That should also be true of the good habits.

          The problem is when people say Filipinos are kind/caring/professional/ethical and all that, but get mad when Americans, Russians, Mexicans, Chinese and Singaporeans are also described to be such. “No, Filipinos only are good!” You see, that’s the ridiculous thing I’ve been attacking.

      2. @sendongslut a.k.a. jon-asshole’s wife: Australia, New Zealand, Iceland.

        oldbread are you really a Singaporean or are you just a flip pretending to be? If you really are, then you lack discipline. Your country is already progressive for teaching your fellow countrymen discipline that our country lacks and it’s very sad that you sir still act like a spoiled kid.

        1. Trust me the only time I would only want to even pretend to be a flip is

          No wait…. I never wanted to be a flip
          In fact I never wanted to be any other nationality or even Singaporean

          Its some thing you’re born into

          That’s your cultural habits not ours

          If we suck even if we changed our nationality we’ll still suck

          Discipline begins at home not in the govt though years of social engineering did a number on us

          And why is it your comments page always always like to talk about
          Moral values of the person you’re referring to
          The upbringing
          the discipline

          If I don’t accept your views your belittling of those things only makes anyone else other than a flip think you have nothing to add.

          You see? That’s how a Filipino respond

          You see how I replied?
          Noticed the difference in pattern compared to everyone else here?

        2. Before you reply you need to think it through

          I’m essentially not a good wonderful person so adopting moral high ground wouldn’t work

          God doesn’t work either since I’m a pagan

        3. Domo

          Its actually very very disturbing as a Singaporean to stumble upon this place

          Its full of people listing out Filipino faults and ways to improve themselves
          It feels like the twilight zone to me
          I thought I needed to have all your brains check to look for trauma.

          My usual haunts are more like GMA news comments section during the taiwanese fishermen saga

        4. Can’t do a thorough cleaning until you’ve found all the dirt.

          Also, interesting a Singaporean would know GMA. So TFC isn’t the only thing from the Philippines that’s on there? Last I checked (2010), it was only TFC.

        5. Let’s just say during 2010 no one cared about Filipinos

          And since then Singaporeans are seething with anger when the topic comes up

          And it’s a standard operating procedure for us to find out more about things we don’t like then going in blind.

          When anger increased against PRC we had people joining Chinese forums to read their postings.
          Like the recent case when a disgraced prc immigrant tried to gather support from the Chinese (his efforts were posted here as proof of his disloyalty to his new “home”)

          Likewise, when it concerned Filipinos any news with an impact would pop up by those paying notice to influence the rest.

          And of course the repeat questions on forum boards asking how to game the system here
          and if banks have the capability to chase them down if they move from Singapore without paying off credit card debts.

          And of course wonderful threads like these

          http://www.pinoysg.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=39841&postdays=0&postorder=asc&start=30

    1. Don’t be ridiculous, not all of us are perpetually stuck in singlish mode
      I hardly use lah with anyone who isn’t a local or a Malaysian

      Wud chiu prefer tat I rikes to speak to chiu dis way?
      No har? Ok loh .

      This shows how little you know about us.

      And we’re made up of more than ching chongs
      Lah lohs.

      Margunn • 1 hour 56 minutes ago Report AbusePlease! Why Singaporeans are trying hard to speak English? Don’t try hard and stutter when you ching chong can speak fluently in chinese and you are also talking to ching chong. It’s annoying and you ching chong speak very loud! Your accent is awful and your grammar is terrible! You are ruining and insulting the English language. Better speak chinese you ching chong! Shame on you ching chongs!

      But really please. Take all your talented people back and leave us to rot
      It’s the best way you can punish us. I’m very sure we’ll
      Descent into economic third world status without pinoy talents to boost our economy.
      So please punish us hard

      Yes I am actually an actual Singaporean.
      Chinese even . I believe I’m referred to as a ching chong fun at your side.
      No I’m not a troll just pissed off and venting anger

      No one likes imperialist or colonists in their country
      I do not see why the Philippines needs to go around and claiming every nation as her subordinate
      We do not need a new fourth ruling race as claimed by the pinoys here in Singapore
      (In fact we hate it whenever the topic of race comes up , we had racial riots, not as bad as the states but definitely painful enough go google it)

      We most definitely don’t need pinoy pride here

      1. Pretty strange how your opinion seems to change in other articles. The later ones are more agreeable with my views.

        1. Because the later ones are my description of Filipinos and Philippines in general

          And the first few are how I feel towards a foreign invader

          Those two cannot be mixed or views would be clouded

          How else do you get things done?

        2. It helps you deal with issues impartially

          Like example i obviously don’t like Filipinos here

          Yet one of my best friends and colleague whom I looked upon as a sister is a Filipino.

          So obviously not all Filipinos are bad.
          But you guys need to stop sending rubbish people over

        3. You’re thinking of blind hatred

          No, I only don’t like the ones here in Singapore propagating how dumb we are compared to Filipinos

          We’re actually informed how stupid and useless we are compared to Filipinos by Filipinos here on a daily basis.

          You saw the Ching Chong comments i posted
          Its like that on yahoo everyday once Filipino news comes up.

          Cant say its making us feel more loving towards Filipinos

        4. Anything you’ve done to prove the Filipinos who talk down about you wrong? Well, I can’t blame ya. Filipinos have a bad gossip habit. But as a Singaporean, you do know better than to listen to mere “foreign invader gossip.” Yet, man, I hate that gossip habit. Makes you sometimes want to sew other people’s mouths up.

        5. And I’m sure the PAP government is listening to that call to stop the rubbish deliveries. They’re going to impose some limitations on Filipino workers, I hear.

        6. The PAP govt? Lol

          Because of the verbal abuse heaped on people here by Filipinos perceived to be accepted behavior by the Pap govt

          Now supporting Filipinos are considered a political liability

          The prc Chinese and the other nationalities have always caused trouble committed crimes here blah blah blah

          But it’s more of a distance in three newspapers thing, happens but considered hearsay

          For Filipinos , the face book presence is so strong it gets rubbed directly in the face. Nevermind that nothing actually horrendous is done
          their lack of control over their mouths and fingers are going to do them and the PAP in

        7. Technically Filipinos due to language
          Were considered the best choice to blend in.
          All races speak English or some form of it.
          When the prc Chinese first flooded in there were complains over language ( not everyone spoke mandarin )
          thats the point when Filipinos came in. Until that point of time I never thought my first Filipino colleague was Filipino… simply never noticed. I just thought he sounds different. ( he’s here like decades already ) Then suddenly we have in influx of an entire group who can speak to all races (initially Filipinos looked like a magical solution to prc Chinese man power)

          Then the weird people from Philippines started coming in. And here we are
          People threatened to shoot us if we go to Philippines.
          My colleagues who were apparently from the top of their class( they were wearing some shiny funky dresses for graduation ceremony , they were to top 5 or something in Philippines ) left one by one some to USA other back home to start their own business

          And weird people with suspect qualifications came in .

          Then some Dickhead just had to play the race card. You can say all sorts of sh.it here but race is sensitive
          Once you play the race card there’s no way you can get away with it.
          And of course NS. Another hot topic

        8. And Filipinos didn’t come in by chance

          There was a deal between our current govt and your previous one (arroyo)

          When our parliament were gerrymandering over the casino issue
          whether to build it ( we know it’s just a show)
          Arroyo promised her voters once the casino comes up, 3000 jobs would be available for Filipinos
          there should have been some deal agreed probably 5 maybe ten years before the casino plan first surfaced in public
          Who knows probably inked the deal in the 90s or early 2000s

        9. What happens when a people have skills along with bad habits and wrong values in the package.

        10. From a management point of view if you’re running your own business, you’re useless if you have poor habits and values

          Its a sooner or later thing before trouble erupts from the entire workforce incited by one lousy staff
          Cliques would form
          What’s one person’s lousy habits would become a norm and be seen as acceptable.

          But if you’re just an employee at an mnc
          And your concern is simply KPI and making sure tasks looked like they’re done then values and habits shouldn’t matter, just a warm body would do.

    1. hi chinof! i would just like to say i admire this more than the other one. to be honest i did not quite like the other. i don’t mean this as an insult so please don’t take offense. i admire this because of it’s different “approach” so to speak. As the other one may tend to be more assertive and a bit derogatory but this one seems less imposing and actually more well-written. as i have said, please take this as a compliment and not as an insult. i just wanted to take time to praise this work (as juxtaposed to the other one)

      1. OK, thank you. But I do hope you will also appreciate the earlier article so the same, because the message is the same. It shouldn’t always matter how the message is delivered, what matters is the content. I also believe a desire for sugarcoating is a sign of a closed mind.

        1. I agree with hm. I also appreciate this article than the other ‘http://getrealphilippines.com/2013/07/pinoy-pride-sucks/”. Your attack here is somewhat misleading. It sounds like you are generalizing the whole race as having this “Pinoy Pride.” I’m sorry if I offended you with my previous comment.

  2. Pride when in the hands of an able person is a good tool… Give it to a lesser-person, you know what comes next… :3

  3. There’re are almost six hundred comments posted to your previous essay. This makes the sixth here. Curious that the first would generate such a “violent” reaction 😉 And q lot of it from people who failed to understand the point of the article. Wonder if this will have as many responses in two days?

    Anyway, good read. The message would be incomplete without it. Of course, the chattering crowd will probably find something to pick apart.

    1. Thanks. My observation: Filipinos are more vocal when they attack what they hate rather than praise something they find good. Hatred seems to bring up the adrenalin for them.

      1. Looks like you were right, Chino.

        Twelve comments here and just over six hundred in your previous article. Two percent.

        1. See. Most Filipinos scream murder at the person who tells them they have a pimple, but love the person who tells them they are very beautiful despite the pimple, or while ignoring the pimple.

          “There will be terrible times in the last days. People will be lovers of themselves, lovers of money, boastful, proud… not lovers of the good, treacherous, rash, conceited, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God… to suit their own desires, they will gather around them a great number of teachers to say what their itching ears want to hear.” (2 Tim. 3:1-4,4:3)

        2. yes these articles generate more comments than normal. also, justin bieber sells more albums than your favorite singer

        3. If I may, prieto was just stating the (somewhat) obvious, depending on your favorite singer. 😛

          To be honest, though, I would have said “…the Pope is Catholic” or “…bears take a dump in the woods,” both of which are essentially universal affirmations.

        4. The point is the inane Justin Bieber remark is completely irrelevant and absurd.

  4. False pride is a negative barrier to progress – (rose coloured glasses), whilst shame can be a positive motivation to change/improve. (the perspective of reality, and the reinforcement of appropriate values/behaviour)

    The underlying issue is clarity of the core values/culture held by the individual/group/society, and maintaining a healthy relationship/balance between both pride and shame, and mechanisms to reinforce both

    It is also important to let genuine pride evolve naturally through real achievement, rather than simply be a marketing tool or propaganda rammed down people’s throats incessantly, which will only evoke antagonism and achieve nothing.

    Within the philippines there tends to be 2 major cultures each with its own subset of values – ‘traditional/home-grown’ and ‘western/imported’ – which can be in conflict creating a confused identity, particularly when the cultures are also clearly delineated along class divisions and political lines, resulting in a divided society.

    It is also clear that there are too many inconsistencies and hypocricy in relation to the ‘bureaucracy’, so it becomes a case of ‘do as i say, not what i do’, with no attempt by those in power/influence to be positive role-models.

    Leasership by example heavily influences culture nationally and perception internationally and regrettably the philippines do not possess leaders of repute

    Maybe the first step is to be clear what the significant values/characteristics/traits are of filipino culture/psyche.

    It would also help if the media do not spend all their focus either on ‘politicians as celebrities to be fawned over’, or ‘ people as idiots to be humiliated, and embarrassed for a few pesos’.

    1. Perhaps we actually have no real leadership, so we look to celebrities who make it abroad, thinking they could be leaders. But in truth, they are more of examples of personal success, not of leadership. Some Filipinos could not tell the difference.

      1. The issue may not be with leadership

        Rather, personal responsibility. Leadership implies responsibility lies with the leader when a thriving democracy need her citizens to take charge and do something.

        Filipinos have an idea that someone else needs to be in charge when work needs to be done but truth is the power comes from the bottom in a democracy.

        After years of asking from leadership only to have movie stars stepping up and screwing up

        Maybe Filipinos need to start taking charge of their own lives
        At the current state it’s hard to imagine things getting worse

        1. That’s exactly it. Take charge of their own lives, and not rely on a leader or a “hero.” Filipinos themselves can be examples for their own fellow countrymen on how to properly live life. Good one from you.

        2. LoL I get the feeling you still think I’m a Filipino.

          But regarding this personal responsibilities issue. I have Filipino colleagues and it’s very glaringly some have personal responsibility while the majority are…. how should I say… pinoys?

          And with this huge gulf in behavior I noticed it comes with upbringing,and social status.
          Not the current one in their position here but apparently their families were of good backgrounds back home in Philippines.

          Maybe not politicians but their parents were White collar’s bank execs, businessmen scion.
          And and emphasis on education for education’s sake and not for an overseas job as the drive .

          Parents brought kids up at home and not from halfway around the globe

          I’ve heard from my countrymen visits were horrible with kids abandoned at home and parents working overseas
          Money sent back are either used for a second girlfriend by the husband or luxury items for the kids
          15 year old girls running around naked in slums because she didn’t know better

          How could she… her mom’s nations away, her dad in town with another girl her age. Her dad probably didn’t mean to knock up her mom and marry her but you know, contraceptives aren’t acceptable.

          Her mom’s fate likely would befall her in the next couple of years

          And when the bulk of the poor carries on in this kind of vicious cycle
          Treated as invisible by the nation
          How would the average citizen learn person learn personal responsibility? They themselves were the product of the lack of it.

          My customer’s family hires a Filipino domestic helper or what you call a maid

          Sometimes sh.it happens

          And when you ask her what happens next the standard answer would be “I’ll pray for forgiveness from god ”

          That’s simply the only thing she was taught in her whole life. And imagine what that kind of answer does to us

          Pray? WTF really

          And one colleague who was affected by one of the recent disasters
          Prayed to god to save her family
          i asked…. why not just bring them over for a couple of weeks to avoid the typhoon.

          Neeuuoooooo praying is better…. (-.-“)
          Money’s not an issue. They’re going to send the money back anyway.
          Theres always somewhere to bunk in

          But ahhhh…….

          I simply can’t help it, my eyes roll whenever the prayers answers comes out.

          Followed by”you don’t understand because you’re not a Filipino ”

          ,….. I doubt I’ll understand even if I’m a Filipino….

    1. Ah, Rappler. Dumbing down the minds of millions of Filipino through the internet. 😛 These people speak more of their INDIVIDUAL achievements than collective.

      Here’s some lesson from the late George Carlin:

      http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VZnEQ8wknmg

      Unknowingly, you’re BRAINWASHED since Rappler is also ABS-CBN propaganda. 😀

      1. George Carlin? the dead, pot-smoking comic that was last relevant in 1979? u can’t do better than that?
        OH, that’s right, u can’t.

        1. You never watched the video, don’t you? He is totally spot on about national or ethnic pride.

          Your point? Oh wait, you can’t. 😛

    2. That’s why many say mass media is messing with the minds of people and giving them wrong beliefs. Here’s a good example.

  5. Kung may nagsasabi na “Pilipino ka. Dapat iangat mo ang kapwa mo Pilipino” mapapatawa ka lang talaga. You’ll go like:

    Amf parang socialism yan ah! Pantay pantay po para lahat ay meron kahit ang mga iba ay ginagawa ang lahat para mag tyaga habang ang mga inutil na di nagtatrabaho ay gusto kin mapayapa pero ayaw gumawa ng sariling paraan.

  6. Pride should be tempered with reality, justice, fairness, sober thinking and analysis. Pride has its negative dark side when it unites people to do or not to do things at the expense of others. Values, morals, goodness and humanity are thrown to the wind. Thus thoughts can be influenced to do evil and the greater good forgotten. Remember the Nazi pride for their super race? The persecution of the Klu Klux Klan? The “superior” ideologies of the extreme left and the right? Pride should shine in the light of truth and justice. True pride is shown in the light of correct ethics, behavior and conduct which is our destiny under genuine freedom and democracy.

  7. Gud question, BUT, the right kind of pride is the one that a person is comfortable with.
    Nothing is going to ‘save’ the Filippines and I wud advise anyone who can leave, to do so immediately. the people who run the country are robbing you blind, just like everywhere else, but working for P300/day? how can that even be legal?

    1. Flawed government system, flawed constitution, flawed society, flawed culture.

      And not just government officials who is ‘stealing’ from the people. Even the PEOPLE themselves are ‘stealing’ from each other. Not to mention that the current president has the bigger pork barrel ever.

      So how can I a dumbass???

      1. UR making this too ez 4 me! Read ur last sentence and , again, u’ll have ur answer.
        U kno, just 2 make a point…we agree w/the current situation in the country is pretty much as fucked as fucked can be, yes? instead of attacking someone like me, it would be better to be an ally. BUT BUT BUT, if you would rather be hurling insults at each other every time one of us see’s an opening, imma cool with it!

        I do not agree with all the points made here in this blog but at least there is a progressive mind-set here that would rather see the up-lifting of the people rather than the continued subjugation/stagnation of the majority of the people in the country due to the seemingly never ending oligarchy that is responsible for that subjugation/stagnation.

        Divide and conquer strategy works well in the RP.
        BUT:
        “The enemy of my enemy, is my friend.”, sometimes!

        1. What cause all these negative behaviors of the Filipinos? Ans: Media. Negative image portrayed. The the themes of action movies of philippine television 10-20 years ago where all about drug syndicates. Police will come late during the action. Well, the effect is drug syndicates boost in our country, majority of the the police here in the philippines are incompetent to do there duty.

      2. Ding Soldier! You dont have anything better to say about the Philippines, but in a sense you have a valid point.

        Working for P300/day is understatement, and yet they have the audacity of pride to taunt their wealth. You are not a dumbass after all. Makes me scratch my balding head wondering how is that possible?

    2. Wahaha. The right kind of pride is not just something one is comfortable with, but others also should be comfortable with accepting and tolerating. Pride ends where other’s rights start.

      I still have hope. Hope, not from pride, but from the freedom to act as I feel is needed.

  8. Filipino pride is like people I know who thinks they are better than their neighbors and friends, as a results they dont recognize them as their co-equal. When we stop putting too much emphasis on social classes then I would agree with Gogs that Philippines will be orderly sometimes.

    When we learn and train our children where to throw trash, then there is hope.

    When we learn to wait and get in line, then we could expect orderliness.

    When the mayors and politicians stop enriching themselves and focus on the welfare of its people, then perhaps we could learn self-respect.

    I am proud to be Filipino, but not too proud of some of our misplaced behavior.

    1. Thing is, while I’ve never been there I believe the average person in Philippines if asked directly in the face, can actually answer your questions on what’s right or wrong.
      It’s the same thing with the Filipinos here

      But when it comes to doing, it’s always sickening boils down to how far they can get away with as little work as possible.

      Believe me when I say kids know a trash can is for throwing trash in. But it’s like reading about a faraway place in a story book. It doesn’t apply until they’re affected.

      You either have to live in a society / culture where the community keeps you in line.

      Or a very harsh punishment when you get caught to make the lesson stick.

  9. Its funny two negatives in math we find the sum total (addition) of negatives that is why it is not doable in the the Philippines.

    In America, when one say “UnAmerican” they tend to take it like a constructive criticism and take pride to find a solution to correct the problem. Whereas in the Philippines, we react nagatively. Truth hurts because we lack the ability to find solutions so that it could not happen again. It is a misplaced pride.

  10. I agree with @begalon that “Truth hurts because we lack the ability to find solutions so that it could not happen again.”

    To begin with majority of Filipinos could not comprehend that.

    Referring to @oldbread’s comment about trash cans for trash, what most Filipinos understand is trash cans need to be stolen even if they don’t really need it, especially if it looks interesting.

    Perhaps that’s one of the reasons most mall management prefer not to spend money to deploy rubbish bins inside their buildings, or maybe they know that most Filipinos would rather throw their rubbish anywhere than in the trash cans.

  11. What is the right kind of Pinoy Pride?

    The one where Filipinos stop being proud of the accomplishments of other Filipinos, and instead make accomplishments of their own without having to brag about it.

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.