Life Musings

Speaking of conformity... Philippine society is openly racist, and often intolerant of other cultures. We don't think of ourselves that way, but that racism and cultural provincialism shows in subtle ways.

Filipinos openly ridicule the Chinese, for example, and people with dark skin. It is commonplace to have laughable caricatures of the Chinese in our TV sitcoms, and much of our comedy pokes fun at people with dark complexions. (Do the terms "Elizabeth Ramsey" and "Nognog" ring a bell?) In more civilized nations, such humor would be considered unacceptable, and yet it is warmly embraced in Filipino comic strips, movies and television.

"But wait!" one might say. "Aren't Filipinos fond of American culture? Aren't we infatuated with things from the Western world?" Yes and no, I say. I think it's a mixed bag. On the one hand, we admire a great many things about Americans and Europeans. On the other hand, we still maintain an element of racism toward them, as we often ridicule people with American or European accents. Filipino entertainment often features foreigners (and sometimes, Filipinos) whose American twang is a subject of humor and ridicule. I've also seen how Europeans who visit the Philippines are greeted warmly, and yet ridiculed behind their backs for their funny accents and strange languages. In more cultured nations, such jokes would be considered a sign of poor breeding, and yet they are exceedingly commonplace amongst Filipinos.

So how does this harm the Philippines? Apart from being morally objectionable, it also displays our lack of openness to other peoples and cultures. This, in turn, limits our ability to learn from them -- to accept the positive things about those cultures, without embracing everything about them. The Chinese have lived within our borders for centures now, and have shown themselves to be astute and industrious businessmen. Instead of emulating their hard work and entrepreneurial spirit though, we ridicule them instead, treating their funny accents and mannerisms as something to laugh at. It's an abominable attitude, to say the least.

This is even true of our attitude toward American culture. We admire them, but mostly in areas such as their music, their movies and TV shows, and their physical appearance. Do we strive to emulate their individualism and drive, their general desire for self-improvement, the value they place on education, or the way they embrace cultures from around the world? Sadly, no. Instead, we consider such things to be "too American" and treat these values as though they were un-Filipino. What a shame.


When I mentioned this on a Filipino forum one time, some people agreed with me. One bozo, however, objected by saying "But there is racism in the USA too! Remember Rodney King?" Frankly, that's a foolish objection. YES, racism still exists in the USA, but most people recognize this as an evil phenomenon. In contrast, racism is deeply ingrained in Philippine culture, to the point where moviemakers have no problem with depicting pathetic Chinese stereotypes, or ridiculing people with black skin, or portraying people with comically exaggerated American accents. In other countries, this would be considered to be in poor taste, but these jokes are tacitly (often heartily!) welcomed in Philippine media.