Tag: craig nelson

Does Jover Laurio symbolise for Filipinos what it means to be a great people?

January 8, 2018 benign0 8 Comments

Craig Nelson introduces his book Rocketmen, with the story of a 1969 United States Senate briefing (shortly after Apollo 11 landed Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin on the moon) where Fermilab physicist Robert Wilson is asked how a $250 million atom smasher he proposes be built will contribute to the security of the United States….

Culture, Media, Society

Pinoy pride: Rather than earn it, Filipinos CAMPAIGN for it

June 10, 2015 benign0 14 Comments

For a people who fancy themselves as “humble”, there is not much of that evident in the statements posted by people attempting to refute the ideas presented in my previous article “Do Filipino immigrants really contribute to the greatness of the United States and other countries?”. It seems the concept of quiet achievement is alien…

Culture, Society

As Manila debates ‘Bangsamoro’, there are bad men with guns on the loose killing cops in Mindanao

February 12, 2015 benign0 46 Comments

It’s simple, really. A crime was committed. Filipino policemen are dead. The criminals remain at large. And so the only question really worth asking is this: Who is going out to get them? There is irony in how so many Filipinos nowadays find the idea that “peace” is a “normal” entitlement. I suppose it is…

Crime, Government, Society, The South

Is the Philippines worth fighting for?

July 30, 2014 benign0 9 Comments

Civics, Culture, Government, Society

‘Great nations achieve great things’ – Is the Philippines a great nation?

April 10, 2014December 30, 2015 benign0 70 Comments

Sometimes we forget that only a very tiny tiny minority of Filipinos are able to articulate the kinds of ideas exchanged within the circles of people who think. One can find lots of brainwaves splashing about in the Philippine social media scene where so much could be discussed about people and events and so many…

Culture, Development, Society

A sense of nationalism: The Philippines has no such thing

April 23, 2012December 30, 2015 benign0 72 Comments

The Philippines is a country by colonial edict — much like the way the old Yugoslavia and Czechoslovakia were, as well as many African nations. They are meaningless hollow pin-up states cobbled together for the sheer pleasure, vanity, and mercantile ambitions of their former imperial architects. In the case of the Philippines, even the name…

Civics, Culture, Development, Society