Tuesday, May 19, 2009

I have always wondered...

proud to be Filipino


...if nationalism is innate to every individual?

do you feel proud when you watch Charice Pempengco belt it out and were being hailed and praised by other international musicians? Is it the same when it's Lea Salonga? Or Arnel Pineda?

do you feel proud living in a country that amidst the poverty is being admired by foreigners for its rich natural resources and beautiful, undiscovered paradise?

did you flare-up when you first heard Claire Danes said: "Manila is a ghastly place and smells like cockroaches," when Kate Beckinsale retorted how Manila stinks, or a sudden outburst when you first read Chip Tsao's article calling the "Philippines as a nation of servants" (a satire Tsao claimed) ?

did you stop patronizing a certain author or a tv series which you previously liked just because they dissed the Philippines for having emigrant women as its leading (shameful) exports and publicly belittling the practitioners of the medical profession in the country?

I say "YES" to all of these. They say that, national identity links the individual to the world order. So I guess, saying yes is also "innate" to me.

--------

photo was taken while we were on a road trip from Pili to Naga City.

6 comments:

Sidney said...

Hmmm... I might have traveled too much... my family might be too international... maybe I feel at ease in too many countries...maybe I understand too easily cultural differences...maybe I have too many foreign friends all over the world... maybe I understand that I am a human being like any other in this world... that this is a small world...and that we share it all...

So my answer is definitely NO !
(and of course I am thinking about Belgium) ;-)

my gulch said...

Sidney:
fair enough. i can't imagine you all teary-eyed while cheering for Charice Pempengco. but there might be some proximity to this kind of news since the Philippines is close to you.

but say, what if Belgium is being dissed in public, don't you get that feeling of being 'defensive' at times especially if you smell some racial slur into the statement?

maybe i have a misconstrued idea on the matter but it all becomes all personal to me if someone says bad things about my country (most especially if they are not true).

Sidney said...

I guess Belgian are not very nationalistic... how can we...we are just a tiny dot on the world map.
A year ago some journalists asked our prime minister to sing the national anthem of Belgium... and guess what he did... he made a mistake (it was not a bad joke !!) and sang the national anthem of France !!!!
Imagine GMA singing the national anthem of lets say Korea... not by malice but by ignorance !

Sounds like a good joke about Belgians...

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/world/europe/article2127100.ece

Sidney said...

Oh...and I forget the top 10 reasons to be proud about being a Belgian ! ;-)

TOP 10 REASONS FOR BEING BELGIAN
1. You get to speak three languages, but none of them intelligibly.

2. If other countries want to fight a war, they will do it in your country.

3. You can brew drinks out of fruit, and still call it beer.

4. You are either
4.a. Like the Dutch, just less efficient
4.b. Like the French, just less romantic
4.c. Like the Germans

5. Decent fries. Real mayonnaise. Great chocolate. The best beer.

6. No one knows anything about you, except for the Dutch and French and they make fun of you.

7. More scandals in a week than any other country in a decade.

8. You can drive like a maniac on the road and nobody cares.

9. All your famous countrymen are either imaginary, or sex-offenders.

10. Face it. It’s not really a country, is it?

Diong said...

These days I just imagine those who diss my homeland being punched by Pacquiao in the face :-) Not "teary eyed" too when watching Charice... but I am when I watch Pacquiao fight...

pieterbie said...

Difficult questions, but important enough to ask them.
Do I feel proud?
I guess the answer is: "Yes and no".
I'm not helping, am I?

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