Is the Philippines worth defending?

By -
I recall enjoying immensely the book Rocketmen which I mentioned briefly in my piece Great nations achieve great things:
Craig Nelson introduces his book Rocketmen, with the story of a 1969 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. Wilson responded by saying that it will contribute nothing, but that the American people's capacity to undertake endeavours like those is what makes the United States of America worth defending.

Perhaps from that simple anecdote we can begin to understand why Filipinos feel they owe nothing to their country. It is because they see in it nothing to be objectively proud of -- nothing to serve as basis for pride that is of substance.

Comments

  1. EdMarch 20, 2012 at 3:37 PM

    1) You read a book. The typical pinoy will watch noontime network programming and not read a book. That affects their values and perspectives.
    2) Who cares about people who adminster concussions or can sing other people's songs? If you want to look for a reason to be proud or ashamed of our country men look no further than the 2010 elections and who came in first, second and third and what values were promoted and what the electorate responded to. Nothing really matters after that.

    ReplyDelete
  2. qwitzachMarch 20, 2012 at 3:54 PM

    Ahahaha. The country's armed forces can't even defend the Philippines. Clutching at straws here.

    ReplyDelete
  3. DarkDestinyMarch 20, 2012 at 4:41 PM

    Mahatma Gandi once said:
    "You must be the change you want to see in the world."

    Disowning and hating on the country is just taking the easy way out. Instead we must be the change we want to see in our country. We can't say that it's their(Filipinos) problem, it's ours.

    ReplyDelete
  4. Ben KritzMarch 20, 2012 at 6:41 PM

    Even Uganda has a space program.

    ReplyDelete

Post a Comment

Popular this week

The sound of a #Tagalog convo: 'like chickens and hens cackling in unison'

By -
Image
While I'm not sure the language should totally go the way Latin did, one can't deny the limited use of Tagalog. As it is now, a sentence can't be done without two or three borrowed words in English which makes it redundant in academia. Somehow you gotta address the technical jargon but there really is no equivalent to it in Tagalog so the English term just ends up jammed in between the local vernacular. Nevermind the fact that reading Tagalog online is cringey no matter who wrote it. Add the fact that it just doesn't sound pleasing to the ear. Normal conversation with Tagalog is like chickens and hens cackling in unison to the uninitiated. It's the peasants' language through and through. ------------ This is a GRP Featured Comment. Join the discussion! http://getrealphilippines.com/blog/2014/06/kudos-to-the-commission-on-higher-education-ched-for-finally-junking-tagalog/comment-page-1/#comment-544143
Read more

Poor people in the Philippines seem to prefer poverty over aspiring to be not poor

By -
Image
Sadly, a MAJORITY of the poor people here are bad people. That is WHY they are poor. They disrespect others, they disrespect themselves, and they disrespect God’s creation. Exactly how do they think they’ll be rewarded for that? If you genuinely had empathy, you would be able to get inside their heads and understand why they do these things, and perhaps know how to fix it. However, you are confusing “empathy” with “sympathy”. I have yet to meet a poor person who actually WANTS to do the things necessary to escape poverty. The funny thing is, everyone can see that I’m more successful than they are. They think this is because I’m “rich”. I’m sure a lot of them are full of jealousy (as benign0 describes) and sit around thinking “ha, it’s not fair, that foreigner is so rich and I’m so poor. I guess it’s OK if I steal his stuff”. Which they do. Regularly. I grew up poor. I know how it feels to be hungry, all the time, every day. I decided I didn’t like feeling like that. I’m successf
Read more

Filipinos "nice" but lacking in common sense -- IT business manager

By -
Image
As someone whom invested heavily in the Philippines managing an IT company, I view your assumptions as narrow minded. I’ve given hundreds of Pinoys IQ tests as part of the selection process, the vast majority of these IT graduates ( the cream of the crap ) performed dismally. After two years operating we decided to close up and retain Singaporean Chinese staff and Brazilians. One staff member does the work of approximately 10 Pinoys. The biggest issue was a sheer lack of common sense, they can do black and white but seldom grey. Higher order thinking skills and abstract reasoning skills seemed to me missing, as they would perhaps with someone diagnosed with mild Asperger syndrome. As people I found them nice, but rarely kind. Big difference there, anyone can smile. ---------------------- This is a GRP Featured Comment. Join the discussion !
Read more