Posted: July 30th, 2012, 7:15 pm
Dear Chaste Filipina,"God grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change;
the courage to change the things I can;
and the wisdom to know the difference."
....
While I certainly agree with much of your view and sympathize with anyone in any culture who has been cheated or taken advantage of the issue here is whether the entire culture or country itself is a scamming, lying, cheating culture. If a tourist travels to NYC and has his pocket picked (which happens every day of the year) does that make NYC a city of thieves? OK, having lived in NYC in my past and been robbed, maybe that's a bad analogy
The point I am making is the OP made a series of blanket statements about an entire country of 100 million people based on his getting cheated and having his heart broken by a girl. This makes no more sense than my stating that 10 million New Yorkers are thieves based on my being robbed once. ...
But even more egregious to me is using quotes from the Internet to prove the OP's point. My God, it's the freaking Internet!! Google anything and you will find scores of people who hate it.
So, here we have a new member of HA (who we all know is not really a new member) with 20 postings hating PI (multiplied by the other forums where he has undoubtedly spewed the same shit) and what do you get? The Internet - where most truth is drowned out by the 1% of people who post the most.
I think one of the things here is that no one likes his native country/motherland to be criticized ( especially destructively) by foreigners. Most of us do not even like our city, province, or village to be criticized by those who are not from there even if it is true. The same goes for our family, religion, etc.
For example, I am originally from Ukraine and even though I am not a citizen of that country ( and never was) I was still born there and I do not feel good when someone starts criticizing it even if it is true. Especially if they do so disparagingly and generalize.
However, it does not mean that all things must not improve, corruption must not be reduced everywhere and we all do have to aspire to stomp out injustice, dishonesty and keep making our world a better place. All of us have to aspire to that.
For example, in Ukraine racism used to be rampant. Tourists or students who were not white would be attacked. One Korean guy went there and was slashed to death just because he was of another race. Arabs and Africans were beaten and some were killed. Is this good? Nope! If somebody dies there, I feel terrible. They are guests there and they paid money to study and chose that country, and they left their family to be in that country alone. Many complained online, on youtube and then Ukraine was shamed in the media for being a hateful and racist nation that hates blacks and Jews and Arabs and everyone who is not lily white. Well, the government there swore to start taking action. They jailed skinheads, they promoted tolerance and things have improved.
I love, actually I adore the Philippines but it must improve just like any other place must continuously improve. I did one thing there, for example. Back 20 years ago, the Philippine immigration was very unfriendly and it was called Committee for Immigration and Deportation. They used to be rude to me at the airport making comments about Americans and asking what I was going to do there in a threatening way.
So, I wrote a long letter to the immigration at the airport and asked them to stop being masungit and to remove the word "Deportation" from the title. Well, they did it. They are now called Service with a Smile, they are very polite and friendly and welcoming and there are many young people working there.
As far as the cheating taxi drivers, also, many improvements have been made- at taxi stands near department stores the guards now give passengers who are about to get into taxis small cards with the number plate of the taxi and numbers to call if the driver starts acting up. They even have boxes on that form that you can check if the driver refuses to convey a passenger, if he acts arrogant, if he overcharges, etc. I even saw a band on one of the overpasses where they were announcing fines and different punishments that would be meted out to drivers who commit the habitual offenses of asking for extra money above the meter fare, refusing to use meters, refusing to go to the destination that passenger gives them. Things are improving.
In newspapers many Pinoys write about how shameful it is that when foreigners visit or invest or retire in the country, the locals so very very often cheat them. It reflects bad on the reputation of the RP. So, people talk about it.
A TV or radio campaign would also be good.
I understand your comparison with pickpockets in NY, but in New York waiters would normally bring change, taxi drivers would use meters. Pickpockets are criminals, taxi drivers should not be. Waiters should not be.Sure, bad things happen in America, too and there is cheating and corruption, too but we must fight it there and in the Philippines and everywhere.
Americans sailors who got Pinays pregnant and left them are bad. Pinays who cheated Americans are also bad. So, we should do everything in our power to reduce that. Talk to people, educate them, etc.
For example, the US military used to be very arrogant and ill mannered. But in the last decade or so, the US government carried out a campaign to educate soldiers and sailors who are on leave to act respectfully towards the hosts. They had radio announcements, educational seminars and now US military men are much more courteous than before. They are still not perfect but things have gotten better.
Pretending to be a lover and taking a foreign man to the cleaners while he is in your country is a bad thing. Someone needs to work on that problem. Perhaps some day that, too, will be reduced. Seminars at schools, colleges etc would be a good thing. Just my few thoughts on this.
In whichever country we are, we always have to try to improve the world around us. It is just the right thing to do.
Cheating taxi drivers, racism, corruption and dishonesty, greed and lack of guilt, cruelty, selfishness, lack of compassion, lack of hospitality are all things that all of us can change if we all work together no matter where we are. It may take time to do it and sometimes even changing one person at a time can help make the world a better place. One less selfish person, one less corrupt and unscrupulous businessman, one less cheating woman, one less irresponsible boyfriend. Yes, it is going to take some time, and yes, it is not easy to change people but it is our duty to do it."God grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change;
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