What's Your (Filipino) Problem?​

Guest Article

by Cha Coronel Datu

I found out about this tweeter page called "Filipino Problems" from my daughter who couldn’t stop laughing while reading it on her laptop one day.

It may have actually been inspired by its precursor, a blog called First World Problems, which catalogues the many frustrations and complaints of people living in wealthy countries. Also sometimes referred to as white whine, these complaints include such "challenging" conundrums like what to do with one's iPhone4 after upgrading to iPhone5, how to fit the oversized pizza box in the fridge, or what to do when your book runs out of battery.

The tweeter page Filipino Problems, on the other hand, presents the day-to-day challenges faced by two young Filipino-Canadians and their friends, all growing up in Filipino families in their adoptive country of Canada.

It cracked me up when I went and checked out what those guys' problems were. Their issues were jumping off my desktop monitor like photos from the scrapbooks of my own younger days. In short, the old hag has had the same problems (or some other version of them) way back when. It’s funny how some of the old ways have also trickled down to the lives of our now technologically savvy and more worldly wise sons and daughters.

Here's a sampling of the teenage angst provoking Filipino Problems of the current generation:

1. Relationship Status?

__ Single

__ Taken

X Not allowed to have a boypren/ girlpren

2. The titos and titas always asking if you have boypren/ girlpren

3. When you tell your grandma you're already full, she tells you to eat some more.

4. When you have no clue if your parents are talking about the iPod or the iPad.

5. After a long day doing your homework, you finally got some time to chill and then your mom says:

"Anaaaaak, why don't you do your homework?"

6. Your parents pretty much disown you when you get 75% in anything - including Karaoke scores.

7. When you were little, your parents always bought you shoes that were 1 or 2 sizes bigger, and

they called it "allowance".

8. Running out of ketchup? Add some water.

9. Not sure if "Auntie Joy" is really your aunt.

10. When your mom has a few of her friends over, you can still hear them talking from inside

your room. With the door closed.

11. Pasko and New Year - you'll eat left-overs till March.

12. Your party guests running on Filipino Time.

13. Magic Sing broken. Party cancelled.

If you cannot claim to have suffered through at least half of the tortuous circumstances outlined in this list; let me now offer you my commiserations. You probably are not Filipino (or have not been around Filipinos enough). Alas! You will never know the sweet absolute joy and sense of calm that embraces one's being when the karaoke singing finally stops.

But are our Filipino Problems really all that unique?

One of the benefits of living in a multi-cultural country like Australia for us has been the diversity of racial and cultural backgrounds that our children have grown up with. From this, they have learned to become tolerant and respectful of other cultures, as well as their own.

For no matter how much they may want to resent some of our Filipino ways and cultural idiosyncrasies, there always seems to be someone else worse off than they are.

Case in point : My daughter's 10:30 curfew before she turned 16; while she wasn’t happy about this, she couldn't really complain. Her best friend, whose mom is a second generation migrant from Malta, would have been lucky to even be allowed out at all.

Our kids may wince at mom and dad's attempts to scrimp and save every once in a while but that's about all the protesting they are wont to do. Why? Because most Aussie kids start looking for part-time jobs when they turn 14; after which they barely ever ask their parents for any money. My son's Aussie friend got a ribbing from their peers for wearing his school shoes with his suit, instead of proper leather shoes, to the prom. He said he didn't want to spend his hard earned money on a $100 pair of shoes that he may not even wear again. Neither did he want to ask his mom to pay for them. (I should adopt that kid.)

They may think a lot of Filipinos speak funny but heller, their Aussie friends say "Nawr, thank you" and ask for Peetah when they're looking for Peter. And then there are the Kiwis (New Zealanders) who say they will ride an earplane to go to Milburn, Australia and ask for sex when they want one less than seeveen.

And were they ever afraid Dad might bring out the Karaoke at their party? Not anymore. My son has seen the look in his friend's eyes when the latter's Croatian born mom brought out her surprise for his 18th birthday. A stripper! Yippee! Just what he needs to impress the girls he invited; their classmates at a local Catholic school.

We may have Filipino Time but their Indian friends have also told them about Indian Standard Time.

The more we learn about other people, the more we realise we are all not so different from each other after all.

The specifics may be different from one culture to another but overprotective, overreaching, overzealous parents can be found everywhere. And so are embarrassing, annoying and obnoxious relatives with some irritating, cringe worthy habits and ways.

If only that were all a teenager in the Philippines also need worry about!

One would hope that there will come a time, in the not so distant future, when the Filipino Problems of teenagers in the Philippines can be no more different from those of their counterparts in countries like Canada, America, and Australia.

Yes, every young person deserves at least one overzealous, overprotective adult in their life; someone that's got their back no matter what.

And yes too, young people should be nagged to do their homework. They should be kept in school to learn how to read, write, add and subtract. They should not be foraging for food in garbage dumps or begging for money on street corners instead.

They should be sent to their room or grounded for doing “silly little things” like not cleaning up after themselves or breaking their curfew. They really shouldn’t be getting into trouble for breaking the law, instead. Stealing cell phones and wallets and breaking into other people’s homes.

The adults around them should serve as their mentors and role models, teach them right from wrong and enable them to make the right choices in life.

The grown-ups should be teaching them good manners and proper decorum. Not dragging them along to ransack a government facility and cart away relief goods meant for victims of a natural calamity. Or inciting them to attack and vandalise police cars, or the offices of oil companies and foreign embassies. Dios mio!

The grown-ups should be encouraging them to study and work hard to achieve their goals in life. Not ask them to vote into office their sons and daughters who have no accomplishments of their own to speak of. "Anaaaak, why don't you run for Senator? You are qualified naman because you are my daughter."

The grown-ups should be showing them how to settle their differences with others sensibly and intelligently. Not how to condemn and demonize the opposing side by labelling them immoral, murderers and sinners. A.K.A."Team Patay".

Unfortunately for the young people of the Philippines at the moment, their Filipino Problems include an oversupply of problem Filipinos. Grown men and women with the mental faculties of a prawn. People of influence and power whose credibility and integrity are just about as evident as a mongo bean on the ground, on a dark night.

The Department of Education has set for itself a pretty important and lofty goal (and rightly so) in its Mission Statement: To provide quality basic education that is equitably accessible to all and lay the foundation for life-long learning and service for the common good.

Well, good luck with laying "the foundation for life-long learning and service for the common good". For as long as we are not able to dissociate ourselves from the notion that our children's education begins and ends in the classroom, that will most likely be one tottery and unsteady foundation.

Because children learn what they live.

DepEd should develop and articulate a policy of partnership between the schools and parents in supporting the learning that takes place in the classroom; provide a structure and appropriate support programs. It should collaborate with the Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD), non-profit organisations, and mass media in structuring and implementing parent education and information programs to ensure that the values children are taught in the schools are supported and reinforced at home and by what is fed them by mass media.

And those of us who know better, we really ought to be doing better. We should be setting a good example for our kids and for each other.

And what to do with our problem Filipinos? Like, how do we solve a problem like Jesus, Joseph and Maria? How about we don't let him become the President?

The Care and Feeding of Alliances

Or, how not to be beaten and eaten if you crawl into the cage with a gorilla.

Filipinos have this love/hate thing going on with Americans. The love has to do with the wealth, good behavior, good living and sense of respect one would give to power ala Dictator Marcos or other thugs we think have our best interest in mind. The hate has to do with the recollections of American brutality toward Filipinos during and after the Filipino/American War and WWII, and the fact that Americans face to face are incredibly overbearing and opinionated.

Plus they muck around in other nations around the globe. That is like bonus points for overbearing.

Nevermind that we Americans are shy compared to the French and Dutch and Chinese and Japanese and Korean and  . . . you get the point.

The problem is that there is a basic psychological disunity between Filipinos and Americans. Filipinos run around defending their face and Americans run around throwing everything into everyone's face.

It makes for awkward party moments, for sure.

When you are dealing with Americans, there is a built in assurance of misunderstanding.

• In a debate, you may elect not to offend an American. So you avoid speaking embarrassing truths. But that American is likely to misread your silence as incompetence rather than courtesy.

• In a negotiation, Americans will go nuts if you focus on the nitty-gritty details. They want the MEANING. They want the "executive summary", not the details.

• In a dispute, Americans don't want to hear blames and excuses, they want to hear a commitment to  find solutions. The commitment has another word: "accountability". 

• Americans are used to dealing with "failure" on small decisions. It isn't an occasion for soul-searching, gut-wrenching self- recrimination. Own it and move on. Like the OPPOSITE of Sotto.

• Americans like scenarios, options, a clear reading of the choices available. This reading is based on facts and risks. Nothing is certain. Americans will take risks that you may be uncomfortable with. Because failure on a decision is different than failure as a person. Most Filipinos don't appear to draw this distinction.

• Americans have a fine sense of speaking with authority.  That is, they will cram their ideas at you believing everyone else is capable of jamming them back if they disagree.  A Filipino talking to an American is often like the deer standing in the middle of the road frozen by the headlights.

So here's what you do. You need to get more direct, not ask the American to get less direct. Why? Because the American way is superb at solving problems. It gets information on the table. It sets personal issues aside. It works on solving the problem.

Leave your face at home. Strap on your confidence, because an American is not really interested in you and your feelings. Just your ideas.

Keep the discussion on the big picture, not the little details. And say what's on your mind. If you disagree, the best approach is not to say, "Uh, Joe, that seems like a stupid idea to me" but something along the lines of "I'm not sure I grasp how that is going to work" or "I hadn't thought of that; the thing that bothers me is . . .".

Own the disagreement. That is different than apologizing. It is saying, "okay, I have the strength of character to acknowledge I'm just not getting it.

I can imagine that the U.S. Navy and the Tubbataha Park Rangers are engaged in a lot of awkward moments as the Rangers and Philippine Coast Guard seek to control the reef-collision incident when it is the U.S. Navy that must bear the effort and price of any decisions taken to get the boat off the rocks. The decisions will be American made, and it smacks a little of desperation for Philippine officials to pretend they are bossing the Americans around. Yes, the Philippines should approve of any salvage plans. Yes, they should let Americans drive the actual work without meddling. Yes, press releases should be joint statements, not one voice, then the other, as is now occurring.

What will the protocols be if there is a military flare-up with China?

Will there be this same awkward tug of war for control authority? One acting independent of the other, then trying to talk things back into line?

Who gives the orders? The American military, which is engaging, life or death? Or the Philippine Government, which is the sovereign civilian boss?

If they have not done so, I'd suggest that top American military officers and Defense Secretary Gazmin  formulate an "action protocol" that gives American military free right of decision-making within Philippine right of overrule. The decision tree needs to be clear and quick. Not like the bus massacre. Not like the Tubbataha Reef confusion.

That's the main point of this article.

The U.S. and Philippines need an action protocol that frees U.S. military to act within an umbrella of broad Philippine endorsement. This uptight backbiting and jealousy that is going on regarding Tubbataha is no way to fight a war.

But as long as I'm in the mode of offering up advice that was not asked for, I'll also offer up advice that is requested. Indeed, I'm thinking about starting a new column called "Ask America!". Filipinos are welcome to ask anything at all, politics, sex, love gone awry . . . anything but cooking, maybe. Eating, fine. Military strategy. Excellent. I've read every Tom Clancy novel so I understand this stuff. CSI questions? Got it covered. Legal issues? I have every book John Grisham has ever written on my library shelves, even the one about the football player.

People can drop off their questions and Joe will opine, give advice, offer up wisdoms as if they were free trinkets in a box of Cocoa Puffs.

How can I help? Heh heh heh!

"Ask America!"

A Photo Rorschach Test

Okay, imaginative Society members. Here is a little Rorschach Test, an examination for you, a little shove into the arena of creative expression. Applied Psychology 101 I suppose.  However, the goal is not to understand YOU, but to get a read-out on how different people - lets call them "subjects" - are viewed through the eyes of imaginative readers. Readers must decide who is represented in a series of photos, and what they are doing.

This should be quick, top of mind.

To such aforesaid subjects, I say, satire is not truth, it is humor, often with a purpose, maybe sharp of stick now and then, and the price of popularity, or engaging with creative people, is an occasional poke.

Please associate a person or persons with each of the images below, and if you can, recite what they are doing. Do your own before reading what other people see in the photos.

As an example, here is my first impression:

SAMPLE IMAGE

ASSOCIATION: My ex-wife's attorney drawing up the divorce agreement.

Aahahaha! Get it?

Or SECOND LOOK: Senator Enrile watches Cayetano approach the podium for another privilege speech.

Hawr hawr hawr!

Okay, your turn. Who do you see and what are they doing? Ten images plus a bonus.

Society of Honor Photo Rorschach Test Number 2013-1

IMAGE 1

IMAGE 2

IMAGE 3

IMAGE 4

IMAGE 5

















IMAGE 6

IMAGE 7

IMAGE 8

IMAGE 9

IMAGE 10

BONUS IMAGE

 

The End of the Beginning

This is the last Society of Honor blog for 2012. I would like to thank some people.

This is the year when the Society of Honor by Joe America ended its vanity period and began to have some influence in the Philippines. Articles penned here during 2012 were picked up by two mainstream newspaper columnists for wide readership. One article ended up with President Aquino as we had it reported here directly by Kris Aquino. We know articles have reached into Congress and the President's staff.

The target audience has two parts: (1) educated Filipinos who can craft articulate views on topical issues, and (2) Filipino opinion makers and leaders who can undertake or influence constructive acts. The first interact with each other to speak to the second. The second are largely silent, as they must be to remain detached from hard opinions in order to represent all the people.

This is not the most popular blog in the Philippines, nor would I ever expect it to be. Satire and literature and a foreigner's ideas are not mainstream in the Philippines. We grant the fine top-popularity distinction to Raissa Robles and her amazing, edgy, well-researched articles and her loquacious cadre of CPM commenters.

But, without question, the Society has its valuable niche as a source for cross-cultural commentary. As a place for rich ideas and a little literate entertainment.

Many new visitors to the site have a pattern. They come in on a link, get curious, then start to browse. They find another article they like and post it on their Facebook site or other venue.

From that, new readers come in for a peek.

When they arrive, what do they find? They find opinions and observations all over the board, generally dealing with the Philippines, often being reflections on cross-cultural conflicts of style or behavior. There is no single category of writing here. Readers find offbeat presentations that can be literary, analytical, humorous, irreverent, passionate, and sometimes obtuse. Once in a while, even wrong.

Our job is not to win arguments, but to have them. Being wrong is simply the risk of doing provocative business. Often we can provoke new thinking without arguments. That's good, too.

Readership is uncompromisingly intelligent. It appears to tend toward a libertarian view, but not entirely. It is mostly Filipino, but not entirely. It tends toward older contributors, but not entirely. It is mostly male, but not entirely.

The quality of discussion this year was raised by guest articles from the following contributors:

• Edgar Lores
• Cha Nerissa Datu
• Andrew Lim
• Coco Villa

Different minds, different experiences, different interests, new ideas.

These guest writers have added greatly to the site, to its variety and conceptual reach. I've thanked them individually for the articles they have submitted, but I'd like to thank them here, publicly, because they bring energy to the discussion, a certain freshness. They bring points and counterpoints outside the reach of JoeAm's knwledge or writing talent. I hope we get even more guest writings in 2013.

Put it on your to do list, eh?  Join the fray. Perhaps tweak a congressman's ear, or the President's. Or your fellow Filipinos'.

I've always said JoeAm's articles are not what the blog is about. The blog is about the joining of good thinking through commentary. Call it the chemistry of the conversation.

As the year ends, and we move into new territory, I particularly want to thank Edgar Lores for his regular elaborations and clarifications, 1.1 to 10.9. He's a genius. And he has been an anchor for the blog. I call him an anchor because he has provided the sound center-post of cogent thought that pulls JoeAm's  spontaneous, wayward and off-beat remarks back into meaning. He is the interpreter, in a way. Masterful at digging specific lessons from the sometimes esoteric commentary.

Edgar, thank you for all that you have given to this blog this past year.

If it were practical, I'd list the names of all the people who offered up comments this year. The list is  long. If I list only some, I am unfair to the rest. So I shall refrain. Y'all know the regulars, and they make for a great Society, rich in personality, rich of mind and heart.

Every comment offered to this blog is like a brick in a building. And our building was strong and elaborate this past year.

Thank you literate masons all so very much. I hope more join in the conversations during 2013.

What else did we do this past year? Angry Maude made her debut in 2012. I hardly think an angry, frazzled battleaxe cousin really counts as a guest contributor. We also named the Top 5 Blogs of the Philippines, due for a refresher in a few weeks. We awarded several Golden Bluttos, awards of great indistinction.

We recognized that kids ought to be central to the values we prize.

JoeAm narrowed his 2016 favored presidential aspirants down to Jun Abaya, Tony Guingona, and Sonny Angara, with Mar Roxas awaiting review. By the end of 2013, Joe will decide which one candidate he believes is best for 2016. The early rendition is done intentionally to improve the likelihood the discussion will have  influence in how things shake out.

We identified four institutions that work against the best interest of the Philippines: (1) the anti bloggers, (2) the political Catholic Church (distinguished from the local service-oriented Church), (3) China, and (4) the chronically corrupt.

We parsed cross-cultural attributes of American and Filipino ways of life. We engaged in politics and examined this incident or that. We ridiculed those worthy of the distinction. We joked and played satire games.

We took ourselves seriously, but not too seriously.

So I say, fellow members of our fine Society, let's get on with 2013, eh? January 2, we begin again. Happy fools among happy fools, circling the prickly pear and turning the Philippine upside right.

Be of sharp mind and good heart in 2013.

Thanks for a great 2012.

Write on.

About Americans

Guest Article

By Coco Villa

American Cowboy

Talking about Americans and American culture one can talk about different layers. A visible outer layer with things such as clothing, language, food, and housing. A middle level consisting of norms and values and beliefs in what is right and what is wrong. Deep inside is the core that makes them tick, things you don’t know too well and when others tell you, you get confused or irritated. The visible layer can be seen daily on TV, the invisible layers are the subject of this blog.

All the following statements are unscientific and just reflect my personal observations and thoughts. I worked half my career for American companies, living in Michigan, in the Mid-West and around Atlanta. I spent holidays in Florida and California.

Let’s first ask if it makes sense to talk about Americans as such; does the stereotypical American exist?

STATEMENT 1:  Americans do not exist

1.       To describe a population statistically you need two parameters, the average or mean and the dispersion or variation. When you compare parameters between the US and Europe, it is remarkable that the US has much more variation, the normal distribution curve being very flat. As the USA has a large population there are always plenty of people at the excellent side, but also plenty of people far below average. The average is not always above the European average, even if the number of top notchers in America is larger. For instance, the difference between a degree from a second class college in the US and one from an Ivy League university is enormous. Not so in Europe. Out of the top 10 universities in the world, eight are American and two are European. In the top 200 you find more European universities. Same for museums, income, housing . . .

Filipino Cowboy

Conclusion: the large extremes of the flat distribution differ so much that it is impossible to talk about a typical American. You always have a large section of the population with the opposite characteristics.

2.       I lived in Detroit, and in Metro-Detroit alone you can make a world tour, from Germany through the Middle East to black Africa and China . . . all in one town. Appearance changes, food changes, even languages. You find extreme wealth on one side of the street, poverty at the other side and a lot of police in between. When travelling, one cannot compare Texas with New England, Florida with Alaska, the bible belt with San Francisco, the rural plains with New York. Nature is different, dialects are different, norms and values are different, surviving strategies are different.

Conclusion: the differences are too big to talk about one American culture.

3.       America often has the best athletes, the most gold medals, but also the most obese citizens. You see the typical California girl on roller-skates and the couch potatoes with a 6-pack in a rusty pick-up. Noble price winners and a high percentage of illiterates. Astronauts and plenty of citizens with no clue how the rest of the world might look (and Fox isn’t telling them, either).

Conclusion: the typical American does not exist.

4.       Immigration is so high and millions are not fully assimilated yet, Cubans in Miami, Mexicans in the South, Chinatowns, Filipinos everywhere . . . providing a lot of cheap imported labor. Top universities and top industries attract the best scientists from all over the world, making a lot of the American human capital imported capital. A lot of raw materials and goods are imported below reasonable market prices and foreign debt is enormous. American wealth is imported wealth.

Conclusion: American success is imported success.

5.       Social mobility in the US is much lower than in many other countries. Getting higher-up is more difficult. The prison population is higher than everywhere else in the world. Gun violence is a multiple of all other nations.

Conclusion: the American dream only exists as a dream and it is not based on reality.

STATEMENT 2: Americans exist

1.       Once you understand one American airport you understand all American airports. If you have seen one Wal-Mart, you have seen all Wal-Mart’s. One language is dominant and can be used everywhere, one type of road sign, one type of doorknob everywhere. On Fridays the throughput time for all TGI Friday restaurants is 47 minutes, the time between entering and exiting the establishment, based on one optimal process, applied in every TGIF restaurant.

Conclusion: uniformity is so high that it only can be realized in a single nation, America exists.

2.       Being a country of immigrants, immigrants are common and well accepted. Most immigrants came with the same dream. The integration processes are well developed and build on that dream: “In the States you can achieve everything”. But you have to share American values such as hard work, caring for yourself, and loving the country. These values are repeated daily in every morning show and in every school. Every newspaper has a daily success story.

2,384 New Americans Arriving at Ellis Island, 1903

Conclusion: When even immigrants share the same dream from day 1 and then participate in the same patriotic parades, America exists

3.       On a civil war site I overheard a mother telling her kids: “ You know why the civil war was the bloodiest war ever fought? Why? Americans were fighting Americans and Americans soldiers are the bravest in the world!” (The fact is that the lack of hygiene killed more soldiers then bullets.)

Conclusion: chauvinism is widespread, America exists.

4.       For most Americans the world is split in two parts, America at one side of the border and the rest of the world at the other side. This mean you only need two sets of adjectives, one to describe Americans and one to describe the others. Differences between the Pygmies in Africa, Danes in Denmark or Chinese tai-pans in Hong Kong are minimal compared to how they differ from a true American.

Conclusion: it’s all about perception, America exists.

5.       The rest of the world recognizes an American straight away. Some arrogance with a sympathetic smile, a straight forward language with a clear accent, informally dressed, self assured but easy to approach. The rest of the world sees Uncle Sam as the ultimate policeman in the world, the ultimate superman to come to the rescue, needed or not. The rest of the world is envious for America's success.

Conclusion: if the world says that America exists, who am I to object.

AMERICANS AS THE OPPOSITE TO FILIPINOS

1.       Individual / Group

The Americans are focused on individual development and not on connecting with others. “I am responsible for my own success, the American Dream gives me all opportunities, the sky is the limit”.  They live in a crossfire of commercial impulses, often loosing the traditional cocoon of family, guild, and neighborhood. The Filipino’s main consideration is the opposite. “I am responsible for my family, and if I am more successful than my parents or siblings, I will (have to?) share with them.”

American Diplomat

If you go alone to a confrontation in the US, it signals that you are powerful and can make all decisions yourself, but if you go with a negotiating team, you are weak, you need support. Here it is the opposite. If you go with a large team all can see that you are important, that you have the means.

When I was new in the Philippines, I had to pay my water bill the first time. I worked the whole day and I intended to send my helper. I didn’t know where I had to pay, so I asked my neighbors but I couldn’t get a clear answer. The next day I asked my colleagues at work and eventually I got the location explained. Only later I understood how stupid I had been. Every tricycle drivers goes 100 times a month to that place, they know for sure. My neighbors, like my helper, did not understand why I didn’t trust her, why I had to control her and even worse why I had to take away the added value of the driver and his pride. Here people rely on “group knowledge”. In the States this is unthinkable, relying on others. You have to know yourself.

  

2.       Inside out / Outside in

In the Philippines, the description of a person’s surroundings is more revealing than the description of his character.

Americans define themselves from within, what they are, “Only I know who I really am”. Filipino’s (as Asians) do the opposite, they look at their relatives to know who they are, at their friends, their countrymen. “How my behavior is perceived makes me who I am”. Loosing face or losing esteem is to become a lesser person. After losing face, an American is still the same, it only means that he has to sell himself better the next time.

American children sleep alone in bed and their being ends where their toes feel the sheets. Filipino children sleep in clusters and their being starts where the others are not. It creates a different perspective. American children from a young age sit in their room alone, and even with a multitude of Facebook contacts, they are alone. Filipino children are together, even behind a screen in an internet cafe.

3.       Missionary / Detective

Americans (as Westerners) are missionaries. When they go somewhere they have to find out what can be improved, come up with a solution and convince the others to implement the improvement. Asians do the opposite. When they go somewhere they look for what they could copy and use to their advantage. Filipinos with their mixed heritage are confused. As Asians they would like to copy, but they want to be big boys, too, and like the Americans, find solutions for themselves. (Even worse, now they call copying plagiarism.)

“Obesity is a bigger health crisis globally than hunger, and the leading cause of disabilities around the world.” (The Lancet, British medical journal)  Plenty of American NGO’s offer solutions to eliminate hunger. Where are the Philippine NGO’s fighting obesity, explaining the benefits of hunger?

4.       Escalation policy

Filipino Congressman

Americans have a very elaborate way to escalate a conflict: 1. speak louder, 2. use rougher language, 3. stand closer, 4. use obscene signs, 5. touch the other person, 6. push him, 7. hit him, 8. hit as hard as you can, 9. fight for life or death, 10. shoot.

Filipinos stay friendly at levels 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7,8 and 9. Only a good observer might notice some nervousness.  The only escalation they know is 10: shoot. (Sometimes they shoot already on level 5.)

  

5.       Confidence

People are confident when their phenotype, the way they behave/culture, is close to their genotype, the way they are/nature. Americans have no problem in behaving the way they are. They affirm whenever they can that they are the biggest, the best. For Filipinos it is the opposite. They behave very politely to equals and superiors, but once “individually” in a car, they are the rudest drivers one can imagine. Triple lane, even fourth lane driving in a 2 lane street is common, blocking all traffic in either direction.

Americans always have the ultimate solution: 80% of the painkillers worldwide are consumed by the Americans, 5% of the population.