Filipinos cannot progress...

[lovesong]

I don't know if I'd say defeated. I also don't want to imply that my view represents all Filipinos. I'm just one dude who happens to be Filipino and grew up in California. I'm just saying that the Philippines has had a very rocky recent history and that observers should look to the history (of any country) to try to be more understanding of why things are the way they are.

From my experience, my black friends from the U.S. exhibit different attitudes than that of UK origin or Canadian origin. Well, let's see. If your great grandpa was forced to clean up after some asshole his entire life, you don't think that would have some effect on you? Lack of positive reinforcement and hope can greatly influence people for the worst. While Obama definitely gives pride to being African-American, I sometimes think other factors like the Cosby Show showing Africans in a positive light and hip-hop/R & B being successful in the mainstream have been beneficial for a black person's sense of self worth. So until the Philippines can accomplish that, it will be difficult to progress.

Similar to this website. I'm assuming Winston had a lack of positive reinforcement growing up Asian in America ,ala media's perception of Asian males being one factor, thus making him feel depressed and less worthy as a potential mate, but then arriving in other countries, did wonders for his self esteem and only unleashed his brilliance in other areas. Why couldn't this also apply to a whole nation?

Growing up, I played in a band and did lots of hallucinegenics to "expand my mind" and reach new levels of awareness to create music (blame it on Jim Morrison) and while drug use is frowned upon, in hindsight, it was actually good for me as I was never aware of a lot of the societal views that many of my fellow American born Asians often speak about. I was in my own musical world. You create your vibe. You create your world and allow others into it. (Okay, I don't know why I typed this last paragraph, haha.. sorry, it's 2am in the morning so I'm starting to zone)

To end, I watched a recent episode of Nightline and they showed the founder of Panda Express. When asked why Panda Express is so successful, very little was said about the actual food. What was emphasized was the well being of the people. The founder, an Chinese immigrant, strongly believes in changing his employee's lives for the better. And I believe Google has the same working philosophy. So I think governments need to recognize that in order for a country to progress economically, the country must also progress individually.

[lovesong]

Whoops, in the last sentence, I meant to say that the countries' people must progress as individuals.

[momopi]

To end, I watched a recent episode of Nightline and they showed the founder of Panda Express. When asked why Panda Express is so successful, very little was said about the actual food. What was emphasized was the well being of the people. The founder, an Chinese immigrant, strongly believes in changing his employee's lives for the better. And I believe Google has the same working philosophy. So I think governments need to recognize that in order for a country to progress economically, the country must also progress individually.

My mother used to be an area manager for Panda Express. I've meet the owner and his wife in person. Panda Express is where it is today because the owner's wife is a dragon lady. If it was up to the husband alone, he'd still be running sit-down restaurants in Pasadena, instead of >1,200 store chain with >$1 billion revenue. The owners do not franchise and use their own money for expansions. The pay is below industry average but they make it up with superior health insurance coverage (health, dental, vision).

Back when my parents were self-employed, I was paying for their health insurance, which was climbing from $500/month to >$700/month. If my mother hadn't gotten the job with Panda Express, which reduced her monthly health insurance cost to $60 (with my father included), I'd have never been able to move out and buy my first condo 12+ years ago. Panda Express is a business and they're in business to make money, which means they push their managers hard to increase sales. But I'm very thankful that the owners insisted on affordable full health care coverage for their employees.

[Repatriate]

There are some interesting observations about Filipinos here and I have to agree with a lot of them. However, i'd have to also say that this inferiority complex or colonial mentality doesn't exist in just the Phillipines. I've seen it in many countries in SE Asia. I think what's unusual about it in the Phillipines is that the country is so westernized that theoretically speaking it should be on par with let's say Singapore when it comes to economic/educational success. Yet its GDP per capita is less than China's..which is really abysmal considering China has something ridiculous like 10x the population of the Phillipines.

Filipinos i've hung out with can be an odd bunch at times. I think the biggest thing I have noticed is a distinct lack of introspection with quite a few of them. They are just willing to go with the flow most of the time or do things that I would consider short sighted such as telling obvious lies to people or petty scams. I do think in NE Asian culture the people tend to sit and rationalize things a bit more. It's much more complex than that but there's definitely a big difference between SE and NE Asian culture.