Living in the Philippines is like living in the 17th century. It’s literally like stepping back in time

Violence IS the Filipino’s preferred solution. It’s the way humanity has solved things since time immemorial in the absence of other solutions. Civilization is the deliberate abrogation of that basic human drive, and it’s not as simple as just writing some laws and paying some people to dress in police uniforms or judge’s robes. Without the underlying ideas, all you end up with is a sham and a money sink – which is indeed what we have here.

Filipino society is “backward” in the objective sense of the word: living here is like living in the 17th century. It’s literally like stepping back in time. I recognize the culture and mode of living from descriptions of my own country … 400 years ago. Apart from the weather, and the presence of some pointless anachronisms (eg., tricycles), it’s EXACTLY the same.

Duterte’s big mistake, I think, is assuming he’s going to fix 400 years of stalled social evolution in six months, or a year, or whatever he’s promising this week. It’s going to be a helluva long process, and all he can really do (assuming he wants to) is set the ball rolling.

As I’ve said before, I don’t think there’s any effective way to do that except carefully-applied brainwashing: sending out people into key positions to put different ideas into the heads of children (not adults – they’re unfixable). Hopefully, when they grow up, they’ll be thinking more like [civilised people] and less like tribal savages hooting at each other and waving sticks.

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