Filipinos describe themselves as ‘humble’ but are everything BUT humble!

I’ve heard Filipinos describe themselves as “humble”. What they usually mean is that they’re lazy: they don’t want to be anything more than they are, and they don’t want anything from life unless somebody drops it into their lap. These people pretend to be content in their self-imposed poverty and ignorance because they listen to that “blessed are the poor” nonsense from Church leaders.

Many Filipinos are the complete opposite of humble. It’s drummed into them at school that the Philippines is the best country in the world, and Filipinos are racially superior. Problem: this brainwashing conflicts with reality. Objectively, the country is somewhere in the bottom 20, depending on what you’re measuring. To avoid psychological pain, they have to warp reality to fit their beliefs. Extreme arrogance – proclaiming Pinoy Pride as loudly and aggressively as possible – is the only way to swamp the quiet voices telling them, hey, look, everything ISN’T perfect.

Now, consider what “collectivism” means: the individual is of no value. His purpose is to serve “society”, and “society” mostly means people with power: the local warlord, the family matriarch, or the violent lowlife uncle. Imagine a Filipino who stands up and says to the Mayor: hey! You’re supposed to be making life better for us; why do you allow criminal gangs to operate here? Why are you stealing all the funds for policing? The Mayor will be genuinely surprised that this ant, this peon, is making such a noise. His purpose in life is to give the Mayor money, and if he doesn’t like it, maybe it’s best if he disappears. Other people will shrug and say, “well, he had it coming”, because they know that he had no value. They know that they have no value. They know their place.

A house divided against itself will fall.

These values are deeply entrenched. They are passed on to children by parents, siblings, schools. One Filipino (or even small groups of Filipinos) cannot change it, partly because their ingrained beliefs will recoil at the idea, and partly because they will be harshly punished for trying. It has to happen with group support, and at a modest level of power. For example, I can imagine a well-intentioned Mayor, with powerful supporters to protect him, making the necessary changes in local education.

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