In my college there was only one other Pinoy, who, despite his US citizenship, displayed undeniably Pinoy traits, which ranged from the irrelevant (like his prominent accent), to the irritating (inefficient). He attempted to latch on to me; he expected me, as a kabayan whose English was better than his, to write his papers for him. He did not expect me to charge him, but I did, and he paid. I did not, and would not, have done it out of altruism. Or out of some kind of twisted brotherhood.
Obviously this was all wrong in so many ways. It’s certainly illegal to plagiarize, maybe worse morally, maybe not, to make a business out of it. How his money covered up his academic inadequacy is a splendid display of corruption.
I figured, what the heck, both parties had something to gain from this corruption; this rich, useless dude ended up passing the course and he had had a reason to “socialize” with a kabayan who would have ignored his sorry existence were it not for the business advantage. I was a highly skilled, willing-to-work student with hardly any spending money in an expensive foreign country.
I think I worked out the most win-win situation despite the criminality of it all. The alternative would have been him failing the courses, having no one to talk to (no ethnic group would take him), and me penniless and painfully embarrassed about That Other Filipino (with a US passport).
I am proud not to have put a patriotic lacquer on the fiasco the way Pinoy politicos do. Besides, how could I? I was pumping out papers for any nationality that put francs in my pocket. Business is business.
Work dignifies us while laziness diminishes our pride, indeed.
Saturday, September 5, 2009
Comment posted on the "Why are we ‘a nation of servants’?" topic on The Brown Raise Movement http://www.thebrownraise.org/?p=564
I have this Cantonese friend who went to Boracay. Coming back home to HK she posted on facebook: "Back from the Philippines, I'm so dark I look like a maid". A couple months after the Philippine trip she went to Thailand. I just had to ask her what she looked like as a result of her Bangkok weekend. "What else but a prostitute", was her answer. Hilarious. So...what's worse? None of our Thai friends freaked out about her very public comment, just like I didn't freak out about her "maid's tan". Because I'm not petty enough to freak out about that, really. Was it supposed to make me feel bad?
I'm not in any way defending Tsao but I think it must be pointed out that Pinoys have been reacting so strongly to what he said in one article when the snobbery at home, here in the country, is just as, if not more intense. It's certainly ubiquitous. I'm sure some of you were discouraged by your parents to be behavioral equals of your household help. Who here wasn't raised to be more educated, have better table manners, speak better, in general not act like maids? Who here isn't guilty of ever thinking, "she looks like a maid/he looks like a driver"? Seriously. Does it hurt more when a non-Filipino speaks of our realities?
How about the uproar over that actress who, after filming in the country, commented that Manila was "filthy, polluted, slum city". Some of the indignant people were a bunch of my Mom's friends, upper-class, educated, ersatz Filipino aristocrats. Mom and I couldn't figure out what their problem was. Were they contesting the fact that Manila IS filthy, polluted, and slummy? Can ANYONE deny it? Or were they pissed off because someone foreign cunt vocalized these absolute truths? It's as if this actress (who she is is completely incidental) was violating a gag order (confidentiality agreement) by describing the city.
What I think is that we as a people are pathologically melodramatic; it cripples us. So much time and energy are wasted wallowing on shit that at best gives our realities a cheap, trivial, and temporary varnish and at worst keeps us just the way we are. Sinking.
I'm not in any way defending Tsao but I think it must be pointed out that Pinoys have been reacting so strongly to what he said in one article when the snobbery at home, here in the country, is just as, if not more intense. It's certainly ubiquitous. I'm sure some of you were discouraged by your parents to be behavioral equals of your household help. Who here wasn't raised to be more educated, have better table manners, speak better, in general not act like maids? Who here isn't guilty of ever thinking, "she looks like a maid/he looks like a driver"? Seriously. Does it hurt more when a non-Filipino speaks of our realities?
How about the uproar over that actress who, after filming in the country, commented that Manila was "filthy, polluted, slum city". Some of the indignant people were a bunch of my Mom's friends, upper-class, educated, ersatz Filipino aristocrats. Mom and I couldn't figure out what their problem was. Were they contesting the fact that Manila IS filthy, polluted, and slummy? Can ANYONE deny it? Or were they pissed off because someone foreign cunt vocalized these absolute truths? It's as if this actress (who she is is completely incidental) was violating a gag order (confidentiality agreement) by describing the city.
What I think is that we as a people are pathologically melodramatic; it cripples us. So much time and energy are wasted wallowing on shit that at best gives our realities a cheap, trivial, and temporary varnish and at worst keeps us just the way we are. Sinking.
Wednesday, September 2, 2009
Comment on The Warrior Lawyer | Philippine Lawyer http://thewarriorlawyer.com/2008/09/25/bloggers-as-a-social-force/#comment-61702
The voice of the internet savvy Filipino has grown noticeably tacky, banal, and frightfully common. This is due to the internet having become available to a wider demographic. One can say this is good since it suggests that the methods by which people communicate are getting increasingly more available, which helps in boosting the economy (at best) and having the common man's voice heard (at the very least).
But at what price, indeed. A few years ago when there were less Pinoys using the internet the zeitgeist was less banal. As the quantity of users increased the quality of thought and/or the refinement of expression decreased dramatically; witless, inartistic, and unaesthetic ways of communicating have become ubiquitous.
As a democratic, capitalist people, we can't ban paying customers from playing in our previously "exclusive" sandboxes just because we don't like their accents or don't find their families in our "social register".
What we end up doing is enjoying the same rights to freedom of expression as they do. They have a right to say tacky things, we have a right to comment on their tackiness.
As far as business goes....I think blog writers can be proposed to endorse certain products. They will certainly know who their readers are and what products can or can't be marketed. This would avoid you blunders such as trying to market skin whiteners to readers who work hard on their tans at Tali Beach or by the Manila Polo Club pool. Or selling foie gras to people who are happy making pesto sauce out of McCormick packets.
The higher-end blog-writer/reader whose choices have been more discriminating will not take to an endorsement contract easily unless he or she has already been using the product or service and if, by endorsing it, he or she will not be sacrificing his or her integrity.
The pesto-sauce-by-McCormick-mix reader/blogger will, however, be much more receptive to a better, classier [sic] brand of pesto mix powder. Another place to see and be seen eating Spaghetti Carbonara. Another way to dress like Boy Abunda and talk like Kris Aquino. A chance to get Richard Gutiérrez's autograph.
I find it interesting how in all Philippine arenas the "elite", who are a frustratingly fickle market, work hard to find products they can call theirs, while everybody else sits back, relaxed, letting their "advisers" (advertisers) guide their purchase decisions.
Ironic, if you take these two behavioral patterns out of this context, the latter (everybody else) would seem the more "kingly" route.
But at what price, indeed. A few years ago when there were less Pinoys using the internet the zeitgeist was less banal. As the quantity of users increased the quality of thought and/or the refinement of expression decreased dramatically; witless, inartistic, and unaesthetic ways of communicating have become ubiquitous.
As a democratic, capitalist people, we can't ban paying customers from playing in our previously "exclusive" sandboxes just because we don't like their accents or don't find their families in our "social register".
What we end up doing is enjoying the same rights to freedom of expression as they do. They have a right to say tacky things, we have a right to comment on their tackiness.
As far as business goes....I think blog writers can be proposed to endorse certain products. They will certainly know who their readers are and what products can or can't be marketed. This would avoid you blunders such as trying to market skin whiteners to readers who work hard on their tans at Tali Beach or by the Manila Polo Club pool. Or selling foie gras to people who are happy making pesto sauce out of McCormick packets.
The higher-end blog-writer/reader whose choices have been more discriminating will not take to an endorsement contract easily unless he or she has already been using the product or service and if, by endorsing it, he or she will not be sacrificing his or her integrity.
The pesto-sauce-by-McCormick-mix reader/blogger will, however, be much more receptive to a better, classier [sic] brand of pesto mix powder. Another place to see and be seen eating Spaghetti Carbonara. Another way to dress like Boy Abunda and talk like Kris Aquino. A chance to get Richard Gutiérrez's autograph.
I find it interesting how in all Philippine arenas the "elite", who are a frustratingly fickle market, work hard to find products they can call theirs, while everybody else sits back, relaxed, letting their "advisers" (advertisers) guide their purchase decisions.
Ironic, if you take these two behavioral patterns out of this context, the latter (everybody else) would seem the more "kingly" route.
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