Shape-shifters are Star Trek aliens who possess the magnificent
ability to change composition and morph into different shapes and looks and
beings. A lizard-man one day, a human the next.
The borg is a big
cubic alien world/structure that unites the brains of thousands of humanoids in
one machine-like creature that is relentlessly rational and ruthless. From
many, one.
 |
| Shape shifter |
I have no idea what
the Philippines is, but it is not a shape shifter, and I don't think it is a
borg. It may be an asteroid, a big chunk of rock that does not change, that
goes 'round and 'round.
I'm always perplexed
when intelligent people like Raissa Robles explain that they don't have much
respect for the United Sates for what America did in the Philippines during the
Philippine American War. It is such a rigid view, and says so much about the
Philippines, locked in place.
This perspective
lacks the recognition that America is a shape-shifter, marvelously adept at
adapting. America was harshly racist in 1898, the period of which Raissa
speaks, and the racism fueled cruel behaviors in the Philippines. But America
is dynamic. A land of open voices and ears that listen. Americans have argued
about freedoms from the nation's inception, giving women voting rights in 1920
when before they had none. And substantially eradicating racism from 1950 to
1990
Freedom to speak
forms the conscience of a nation.
 |
| Borg cube |
The most popular
racist in America was perhaps Archie Bunker of the highly popular television
show "All in the Family" which ran during the 1970's. His portrayal
of a loud, stubborn bigot made bigotry look like it is. Ignorant. Archie was
followed in the annals of TV history by the black and funny Bill Cosby in a
show called "I Spy". Later he had his own show, the "Bill Cosby
Show", a family with the wise but dense and totally hilarious Bill Cosby a
little like Archie Bunker, but black.
America started
liking her blacks. Black athletes. Black preachers like Martin Luther King,
whose assassination was a martyr's moment, for sure. A wake-up call. And now a
black President.
The historical
pudding proved the point. Blacks are neither lazy nor sex addled (at least no
more so than whites) nor stupid. Mexicans, too. And Asians.
So the American
ethnic composition continues to morph, a little less white every year. And a
lot less racially ignorant than 114 years ago.
The American borg,
the block of relentless power, is evident in two ways: (1) in global self-interest
and military might, and (2) in rabid belief that certain rights like speech,
bearing arms, employment opportunity, fairness and safety are not to be curtailed
by private or government authoritarianism. In shorter words, America is a
relentless borg for:
- Global commercial enrichment.
- Freedom and fairness for its citizens.
What is the
Philippines?
Germany and Japan
are done with World War II but the Philippines is still fighting its
revolutionary wars and its colonizers.
The Philippines
retains the same basic social infrastructure as it had during the Spanish
colonial period. Religious democracy. Corrupt. Regionalized into self-serving
clans and warlords and feudal estates. The dynasties. Never quite a harmonious
national entity.
Except those
Sunday's twice a year when Pacquiao fights.
It is strange.
Lacking unity to any
purpose other than Catholic conservatism, the Philippines cannot progress. It
seemingly cannot forget the past and recognize it is over and done with, cannot look ahead and foresee disasters blown in on
the winds, cannot comprehend what the relentless abuse of its marvelous natural resources means.
Cannot adapt.
Cannot adapt.
Yes, yes.
 |
| Whither Philippines? |
A chunk of rock,
sealed in a vacuum of religious irrationality and self-serving authoritarian
leadership. Sealed to the pains of history. Unable to apply science and common
sense and vision to look ahead and solve problems.
'Round and 'round we
go, ever sealed to the past. Unable to find a way to unleash the dynamics of
community effort.
- Passing internet libel laws to squelch voices rather than raise them up, to solve problems. The FOI Bill, a tool for raising voices, is not a priority.
- Relying on personal favor and gain as the basis for employment and business deals, rather than the productive vigor and might of competition and competence and fair play.
'Round and 'round .
. . tying things down . . . holding them back . . .
Stuck in self absorption. Afraid to let go
. . .
"Why was America so kind and yet so cruel? It was like going to war with other soldiers; some survived death but could not survive life."
ReplyDelete-Carlos Bulosan
Bitter ironies.
Delete1. The Philippines starts with a “P’.
ReplyDelete2. To understand the Philippines you need to understand the following P’s:
2.1 Politicians
2.2 Priests
2.3 Poor
3. This is what to understand about each:
3.1 The politicians play politics instead of working for the betterment of the country. (Three P’s!)
3.2. The priests play politics instead of praying. (Another three P’s!)
3.3 The poor play with their lives and the lives of their children at an appalling level of existence.
3.4 The interactions between the three P’s are both self-serving and symbiotic. The priests perpetuate the poor who perpetuate the politicians who perpetuate the priests. It could be the other way around.
3.5 The equation is: Politicians + Priests + Poor = Prisoner. We are prisoners of our own making.
4. I think we know about the politicians and the priests. Volumes have been written. Nothing has changed.
5. There are several types of poor.
5.1 The economically poor. These are the urban and rural poor, the squatters, the batang hamog, the farmers, the fishermen.
5.2 The mentally poor. These are the educated and non-educated who are locked in superstitious thinking. They occupy all strata of society. The woman representative who thought typhoons were heaven sent to voice God’s displeasure against the RH Bill is a good example.
5.3 The enlightened poor. These are the university-educated who are a class above the mentally poor and are capable of rational thought. They occupy the higher economic classes. The Congress is a particular haven. Sadly, the Church is another.
6. We are not aswangs (shapeshifters). The mythological creature closest to Filipinos is the Manananggal – a self-segmenter, sunlight-hater, seductress who feeds on the young.
7. Note: no comment about Americans. We are after all stuck in self-absorption.
Good gawd almighty, you say more in one comment than I could in 14.8 blogs.
DeleteI hope there are not too many Manananggal about. That is a seriously creepy character.
Number 7 cracked me up. We are, indeed, all creatures of the Self. Even Americans. . . . Or especially Americans . . .
Love Edgar's 3Ps. I'd add a fourth:Pica.
DeleteDocB
DocB,
DeletePica? Excuse my ignorance, is that a reference to pag-pag and such like?
Pica is an illness where the ill one eats dirt. Dirt may satiate hunger but may make the ill one sicker. In this sense, Pols dish out pica to the Poor. Following JoeAm's previous article, Let 'em eat dirt, and your 3 Ps. Sorry for being cryptic. Hehehe
DeleteDocB
Hey, that's a great word. Keep up the vocabulary tutoring.
DeleteNeither a pica nor a glutton be,
rather, manage your tuna stock.
are u a trek fan? whats ur fav?
ReplyDeleteI am not a fan, but watched fairly regularly with my daughters in the U.S. as they were growing up. The "tribble" show stands out as a classic, and also an older one when Kirk was fighting with an alien and got slammed into the rocks. The rocks, being on a sound stage, were made of cardboard and bounced about. They left it in the scene. I once rubbed elbows with Jean-Luc Piccard at the Music Center in Los Angeles. He looks just like he looks in Star Trek. Stern. He is a British classics actor who made pots of gold prostituting his skills commercially in a hokey American space series. That proves that prostitution pays.
Deleteprostituting his skills? clearly you dont like star trek next gen.
Deletei'm too young to have seen the orig series. but i definitely saw a lot of next gen. its a pretty good sci fi series. too bad trek's TV days are over.
also, patrick stewart is on record saying he loves the show and the characters.
I was speaking tongue in cheek, considering our prior debate on prostitution. I think Stewart is a talented and diplomatic man who got a lot from Star Trek, and gave a lot TO Star Trek. "Next Generation" was infinitely more professional and dramatic than the campy original series. Stewart used to live in a modest home near UCLA, not one of those ostentatious Beverly HIlls mansions. He likes opera, which is what he was attending at the Music Center. I suspect Shakespearian classic drama patrons would consider him as selling out, but it is largely irrelevant envy. The Borg episodes of Star Trek were always the most dramatic. Frightening at times. Especially when Piccard got hooked up . . .
DeleteDear Raisa Robles,
ReplyDeleteTo tell you the truth, I DO HATE AMERICANS !!!
I HATE AMERICANS for routing the SPANISH Colonial Masters. It would have been a blessing JAPAN wrest the Philippines from the Spaniards and rout all Filipinos. The death march in Bataan was merciful way better than Japanese Beauty Parlors pulling fingernails from the hands and toes of my ancestors. The Japanese also set up Dental Clinics. My ancestors teeth were pulled free of charge. Their optometrists were better than today. They gouge out the eyes. Balls cut-off and barbecued. All without the benefit of anesthesia.
Most of all I HATE AMERICANS for saving my ancestors from the Japanese because if it were not for the HATED AMERICANS I wouldn't be born into this world.
I SOOOO HATE THE AMERICANS. THE AMERICANS SAVED MY ANCESTORS FROM THE JAPANESE FOR ME TO BE BORN AND THE REST OF THE CURRENT BREED OF FILIPINOS.
Raissa Robles, are your parents Japanese collaborators?
Thank you.
Dear Raissa Robles,
ReplyDeleteThe Americans did not have intent to colonize Filipinos with their inferior DNA and inherent cultural problems. The Americans attack the Philippines not to liberate the Filipnos from the clutches of the Spanish Crusaders but to obliterate the Spanish Galleons because of the Spanish-American War.
Too late for President McKinley. Three weeks later after the Naval Battle in Manila Bay, Traitor Gen. Aguinaldo declared "independence". U.S. McKinley has had headaches and sleepless night.....
President William McKinley (Republican)
In an interview with a visiting church delegation published in 1903, President William McKinley defends his decision to support the annexation of the Philippines in the wake of the U.S. war in that country.
When I next realized that the Philippines had dropped into our laps I confess I did not know what to do with them. . . And one night late it came to me this way. . .1) That we could not give them back to Spain- that would be cowardly and dishonorable; 2) that we could not turn them over to France and Germany-our commercial rivals in the Orient-that would be bad business and discreditable; 3) that we not leave them to themselves-they are unfit for self-government-and they would soon have anarchy and misrule over there worse than Spain's wars; and 4) that there was nothing left for us to do but to take them all, and to educate the Filipinos, and uplift and civilize and Christianize them, and by God's grace do the very best we could by them, as our fellow-men for whom Christ also died.
President McKinley consulted his American Mang-huhula and the Mang-huhula was right: FILIPINOS ARE NOT GOVERNABLE. They are totally unfit to self-govern. To this day, FILIPINOS ARE STILL PLAYING WITH POLITICS with goot country-club englsichtzes.
ReplyDeleteTo my dismay, Filipinos cannot be uplifted and civilized. He was able to Christianize them but they are not really christians in words and in deeds.
Eventually McKinley died of frustration.
and, oh, Raissa ... Majority of OFW remittances are coming from voluntary applicants for re-colonization from America to float the laggard economy of Philippines with no GNP to speak of. The self-exiles to America also made the pathetic Philippine peso strong because of their remittances.
ReplyDeleteDo not attack Americans. ATTACK THOSE SURENDEREE TO FORMER COLONIAL MASTER, THE AMERICANS. THE VERY SURENDEREES THAT GAVE YOU ENGLSICHTZES AND FREEDOM TO MAKE A FOOL FOR YOURSELF.
Lookit, Raissa, if ALL FILIPINOS ARE ALLOWED TO GO TO AMERICA .... NO ONE WOULD BE LEFT HERE IN THE PHILIPPINES .... GOOT RIDDANCE ....
Obama will have sleepless night in D.C. and headaches what to do with Social Seucrity sucking Filipinos.
Oye, Raissa. Do you know that VISA-Approved Filipinos to America are seminared by your government HOW TO GET FREE BENEFITS FROM AMERICANS INCLUDING SOCIAL SECURITY BENEFITS and THE LOCATION OF SOUP KITCHENs from New YOrk to Los Angeles ?
You are Pathetic, Raissa. YOU ARE TRULY A FILIPINO. MGA WALANG HIYA !
SORRY, JOE. It's the season of Joy. Ralphs, Vons, Food 4 Less dropped their liquors 30%. I guess I have, too much.
DeleteI hope Raissa got her bottle of straight bourbon from her corporate patrons.
@Mariano,
Delete1. Amazing rant!
2. In vino veritas.
3. Season of joy, indeed. Have a good one!
Oh sure! You just have to watch the Filipino channels like GMA where you can see reports about how Filipino organizations helping fellow Filipinos to overstay. Like filing for political asylum. It hurts me to see that because I came from a communist country and I know the meaning of political asylum. I came as a political refugee myself as many Hungarians did during communist dictatorship. When I see this happening I get disgusted. They have no shame.
DeleteAhh, Mariano, Mariano. Cool down, bro! Raissa's on the good side as near as I can tell. The one for truth and justice and the Filipino way. hawr hawr hawr
ReplyDeleteSecond best line of the year: "Eventually McKinley died of frustration."
And a very merry Christmas to you!
DeleteRaissa, Raissa, Raissa .... listen.
ReplyDeleteIn America, FILIPINOS BELIEVE THAT THEY BUILT AMERICANS WHAT IT BECAME TODAY because they are .... listen, to this .... Filipinos are .... HA! HA! HA! .... THEY ARE IMMIGRANTS !!!!!@#$!#!#
Just became America was built by immigrants and Filipinos are immigrants, therefore, THE FILIPINOS ALSO CLAIMED THAT THEY BUILT AMERICA !!!
What exactly Filipinos' life-altering contributions to America aside from Sucking Social Security Benefits ?
Funny but true! I heard that before from Filipinos here in New York. It is common. Also the feeling of entitlements. They think the USA owes them.
DeleteWhy do I get the feeling the Philippines will be exactly the same as it is right now, just with more condominiums? -patrioticflip
ReplyDeleteInteresting. I'm getting the feeling that things are changing. Watch for the blog about it in a day or two.
DeleteJoe, I do have a feeling that things are changing. But CHANGE, goot change, is happening under the rule of benign0. Once benign0 is gone and Philippine Media and Rappler still in the clutches of their oligarch patrons, Philippines will go back as it was in the beginning and forever will be.
DeleteI hope I am wrong. Because whatever I say it is always the opposite that would happen.
Our goal should be to do what we can do to make sure the next president is a goot guy who will rule honestly, if not always perfectly. You are certainly doing your part with your word nukes. Onward.
Delete