Once, while sitting down with a young friend, I was asked why other nationalities have so little respect for Filipinos. He went on to note how sad he was that the Philippines has become a laughing stock of the international community. Foreigners only see Filipinos as either thieves or whores and won’t accept a person’s college credentials unless they retake the same course in the country they go to.
The answers? Well, none of them are really comforting. Of course, the lack of respect Filipinos get is due to a wide variety of factors. However, one of the main reasons why we Filipinos almost never get any respect from other nationalities is because we ourselves don’t even understand the meaning of the word “respect”. That’s right, we may clamor all we want for respect but, unless we understand what the word really means and apply it in our day-to-day lives, no one will ever really respect us.
| 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 |
Here, allow me to elaborate:
We Have No Respect For Ourselves
There’s the general idea that a lot of Pinoys are fame whores and, honestly, I can’t think of anything to counter that sentiment. Truth be told, all you need to do is watch our noon-time shows and you’ll see people clamoring for the chance to make complete idiots of themselves just so they can be noticed by the media. They will probably walk on all fours on nationwide TV at the command of deranged and immoral TV show hosts just so they can have a few minutes of fame.
I pray that someday someone will stand up against the TV show hosts of today and say: “No, I will not have my dignity dashed to the ground by people like you. I respect myself too much to do the kind of things you want me to do. If you want someone to do dog-tricks for you, then get a dog!”
We Have No Respect For Others
When you look at the Pabebe Girls as well as this article here by Benign0, you can see what I’m talking about.
In the comments section of the Pabebe Girls article alone, you can see people saying stuff like: “They have a right to do what they want!” and “If you don’t like them then don’t watch!” However, I think that people also have a right to their own privacy and not be bothered or annoyed by them and they also have a right to speak out against things that they see as wrong or unjust. Like they say: “You have a right to say what you want but other people also have the right to talk back.”
We Have No Respect For Nature
People have gotten themselves worked up over the possible weather anomalies that may come this year without ever realizing that they can mitigate a few of those dangers if they can just coordinate in making preparations. People continue to abuse nature by depleting rainforests and throwing our garbage here, there and everywhere. At the end of the day, we only have ourselves to blame if the disasters completely obliterate the country.
Truth be told, while we struggle to present the Philippines as a clean and lovely place to foreigners, we can’t deny that a lot of our countrymen don’t have the discipline to keep it that way.
[Photo courtesy TheBrigade.com.]
I HAVE RETURNED TO LAY WASTE TO OUR ENEMIES!
Lately it has been as though you (Grimwald) and Benign0 have been reading my mind and saying all the things I discuss with my wife while living here in the Philippines, wishing I could tell people that what they are doing is wrong , immoral, hypocritical and juvenile. I can’t though . I am a visitor here , though a long time one…..nothing has changed in 15 years . It continues to get worse all the time. And attitudes are getting worse all the time, about everything, about “Foreign” residents not belonging here , about how “I am entitled ” because , My Father was so and so , so I am to be feared, Lots of “Big fish in a Tiny Sea” mentality…. I thought I could live here : The reality is I may be able to for months at a time, but I will never move here permanently move here , unless I am so far up in the mountains I don’t have to deal with Negative city life and Crab Mentality City dwellers…..
Your first statement is a little scary, I must admit. A lot of people have been telling me the same thing. Could I really have psychic powers? Perhaps I should try focusing my mind on Malacanang before I sleep in the hope of discovering the inner workings of its inhabitants.
the act of throwing garbage on the ground is just re-fuckin-pulsive and when foreigners see Filipino’s doing it, en-masse, it is one BIG reason why Filipino’s are not respected, even disliked.YES, it is a big turn-off. No other country is the problem as bad as it is in the Fail-ippines, although it is rumoured that India is another such shit-hole.
Respect is earned, not entitled. Look at our leaders. Do they respect themselves? No… they are thieves and scammers…so, where the leaders go; the people will follow.
Look at Aquino. He is a dim witted Liar. Does Aquino respect himself? I leave to the reader that question.
Interestingly, even the people over at Philippine Fail Blog have gone down the same conclusion you have Grimwald. (If you can tolerate the seething ANGER their articles exude)
Filipinos lack respect for everything but themselves. Which in turn, is part of the reason why the Philippines and its people are perceived to be roaches in some cultures. Even the ones abroad suffer from the decay our home country is experiencing thanks to the flawed values we desperately cling onto.
Now, this is a lesson that I won’t forget. Taught to me by my uncle. During the end of a family party, me and my uncle, who was drinking, sat at one table near the exit. My dad, who was also drinking by himself sat on another table close to the end as well.
As the partygoers left, they greeted my uncle good-bye while they ignored my dad. I was puzzled. My uncle then tells me that he had helped the family any way he could. While my dad, who acts like a stereotypical pinoy, never had a greeting good-bye. Even a polite one.
Lesson? You EARN respect from others through your actions. You don’t get it by demanding it. And you certainly don’t earn it by flaunting wealth. You might get their attention, but not their respect.
Seen that a lot, especially with my OWN dad.
It’s such a mystery at least to me how a people who have fairly good personal hygiene just throw garbage everywhere. Can we just make it a national policy to hit anyone who litters? What are these kids being taught in school?
Everyone caught littering should be cane or lash or jailed. No excuses.
agreed. i just saw someone yesterday put his trash to one of the open manholes. let me get this straight, these “canals” are built to prevent flooding and not a garbage dumping place. in my barangay people dump their “kaning-baboy” in the “canals” and you see “elder-rats” crawling and cockroaches so sad.
and the barangay captain is busy with his corruption and cronyism.
Good morning guys. The solution = adopt the Zaxxun Creed, and you won’t even need to demand respect – it will naturally follow.
Respect for ourselves guides our morals; respect for others guides our manners.
I cant help but react on that article I’ve just finished reading out of philippinefailblog which perfectly relates to the above topic. Im referring to this particular article http://philippinefailblog.com/rape-and-robbery-in-angeles-city/. When your working under a ‘mamasan or a papasan’, the level of respect you get from other people it little to none (lucky if you do get one as people will always try to stereotype you and that just again human nature). But what really disgusts me is that the victim on that particular story was saddened not because of what she gone though but her cellphone was lost. What the fuck? its okay for her to be barbecued by unknown men because she is used to get barbecued anyway based on the flow of the story but man, she was more affected of a fuckin cellphone. The level of respect is now down the drain but more so of the dignity. Its like a dead person’s body flung out of the hearse and was ran over by another car.
TV shows are the biggest influence of self disrespect to many Filipinos. Television is a huge platform. If what they are showing as right, wrong, and funny, then most likely it becomes what Filipinos think of what is right, wrong, and funny. It doesn’t help that we only have few TV stations and they don’t compete much.
Hi, Grimwald. I apologize for not commenting on your great post earlier.
I’ve noticed the general lack of self respect, mutual respect and command of International respect also, and I couldn’t figure out why such talented and charming people were missing this common trait. About a month ago, it occurred to me, there’s sufficient National Pride (Pacquiao, et al) but no genuine Patriotism.
In my opinion, Patriotism is a result of mutual respect between the Country (Gov) and the people as equals, followed the people’s pride in knowing their Government has earned International respect.
The Government cannot or will not provide proper roads that can accommodate professional garbage collection, so the people give up on sanitation and throw garbage.
The Gov cannot or will not design professional drainage systems; what little drainage is installed gets plugged by accumulated garbage that exacerbates flooding and everyone’s miserable.
The Government can authorize a Power Rate increase within hours, but it takes years of deliberation to increase minimum wage.
Despite paying the highest power rates in Asia, parts of Philippines still experience regular 10-12 hour Blackouts.
Conclusion: the Government consistently fails to respect the people, the people lose hope and self respect, and mutual respect is a lost concept.
Sadly, the whole world watches this little drama play out, and . . . . . .
So true. The average filipino has no respect for themselves or others. It is very sad to see.