Philippine Star columnist William Esposo is at it again. In his latest column titled “How come that we’re the first to put our country down?”, the Chair Wrecker writes:
Hostage Crisis Handling can be easily addressed by proper staffing, better planning and training and the procurement of better equipment. The bigger Philippine tragedy which is more difficult to address is our damaged culture. We are our country’s greatest enemies, especially those who have a major influence on how we acquire information and shape our opinions.
I don’t know about you but I think Esposo is not the best person to lecture us about our damaged culture nor is he in any position to tell us who our greatest enemies are.
For one thing, Esposo himself is part of mainstream media and as such actually holds some influence on how people shape their opinions. Esposo himself thinks highly of his own genius when it comes to mass media and communications. Here are some of his career highlights, which he probably wrote himself on his website.
Billy devised the vital unconventional media plan that offset the Marcos regime’s media monopoly. The presidential snap election of 1986 which culminated in the great people power revolt was mostly credited as a media effort. And the whole world followed the events through the media.
In 1987, Esposo spearheaded the media campaign for the ratification of the new Philippine constitution. He also directed the publicity effort for the new party, Lakas ng Bansa, which evolved into the LDP – President Aquino’s main party. And he also advised the media campaign for the administration’s Senatorial lineup which eventually won 22 of 24 seats in the 1987 elections.
Truly a legend in his own mind.
I normally don’t resort to shooting the messenger, but Esposo is just begging for it. In case you forgot, just like the once highly respected Conrado de Quiros, Esposo had no qualms about using his position as a columnist to condition the minds of the public that Noynoy Aquino is this country’s best hope. He deliberately used propaganda to trick the gullible into voting for Noynoy and he succeeded in turning some people into yellow zombies precisely because he knew enough how to exploit the Filipino’s “damaged culture.”
I wonder if Esposo was actually referring to himself when he wrote:
We are our country’s greatest enemies, especially those who have a major influence on how we acquire information and shape our opinions.
Now, just to be fair, let’s check if there’s some sense in Esposo’s latest rant.
To summarize what he wrote, Esposo is basically complaining about those who continue to criticize the government’s dismal handling of the hostage taking incident at the Quirino Grandstand and the subsequent backlash. He is obviously disappointed with those who appear to be pandering to the indignation of Hong Kong’s government and people. He points out:
The fact is our government and people have more than undertaken enough to express our collective regret and apology over the hostage tragedy. The fact is President Noynoy Aquino (P-Noy) has more than bent over backwards to try to ease the pain of the Chinese people, including those in Hong Kong where most of the fatalities came from. The fact is that there is a multi-agency probe underway and there is no attempt to cover up for anybody.
For some reason, this paragraph from Esposo reminds me of a statement made by Senator Tito Sotto:
“It’s sad, there’s this Filipino practice of self flagellation. I don’t think we should overblame ourselves for what has happened,”
Esposo also seems to encourage that other despicable trait of many Filipinos to hit back with equal if not greater vitriol when criticized even if the reason for the criticism is completely valid. That’s the impression one gets with this bit of praise in his column:
Frankly, many Filipinos have been more circumspect about this hostage tragedy than Philippine media. On Facebook and the blogs, you’ll see many Filipinos who have taken China and the Hong Kong local government to task for their arrogance and overbearing attitude towards us and our government.
Like Eat Bulaga’s Tito Sen, Esposo basically wants us to stop criticizing ourselves. I suppose Esposo and everyone else who thinks like him subscribe to the odd notion that if one is Filipino he should not be overly critical of Filipinos because to do so “simply borders on treason.”
It escapes Esposo that the bigger “crime” that borders on treason is the deliberate effort to make people stupid.
I hope Esposo hasn’t forgotten that he was partly responsible for the Aquino nightmare this country will have to endure for the next couple of years. For that alone, I think, Esposo should consider a shift from writing columns to repairing wrecked chairs.
Esposo is a fracking idiot. Plain and simple. And he loves fracking Pinoy Pride, which I wrote against.
[Reply]
Esposo is simply pointing out the media’s tendency to sensationalize news reports by delivering information without proper context. He is not hitting on the Filipino for being “overly critical,” rather he is pointing out that these criticisms are borne of a media continuing its disruptive and destructive behavior.
It is stupid to say that Esposo is deliberately making people stupid. His column points out that it is the ordinary Filipino who is taking this issue on with a critical mind. For while we are justly expected to resolve this situation, we must never sacrifice our dignity as a nation and resort to kissing ass.
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reader,
i beg to disagree.
when esposo campaigned for noynoy using his column he used every tactic to “stupidify” his readers.
his constant highlighting of false and misplaced pinoy pride is one example.
esposo knows better but he chooses to be an agent of stupidity.
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bp Reply:
September 3rd, 2010 at 8:58 am
reader,
perhaps this article by a foreigner could provide better context.
the author basically wrote the same thing only her prose is much better than mine.
here’s the link.
http://www.theaustralian.com.au/news/world/filipinos-on-the-defensive-after-siege-fiasco/story-e6frg6ux-1225913475922
take note of the last few paragraphs especially the very last one.
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Reader Reply:
September 4th, 2010 at 2:17 am
The Australian viewpoint used in the article uses a racist and isolationist lens in analyzing the crisis. Filipinos are neither racist not isolationist. The context provided by the article cited is, therefore, invalid. Your context is much more valid, simply because you are a Filipino.
Are Filipinos playing victim in this crisis, as is asserted by the incredibly ignorant Australian editorial? I don’t think so. Do Australians really think that we should do more apologies?
Do you really think that we need to do more than what has been and is being done? After the endless apologies, the official investigation, the final findings and the final apology, what more do you suppose is to be done to appease the Chinese?
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bp Reply:
September 4th, 2010 at 2:38 am
reader,
yes, some of us are playing the victim, as usual.
i don’t think we need to issue more apologies but we do need to do things better. however, given our collective track record for failing to learn the lessons arising from tragic events i’m not counting on it so much. i’m keeping my fingers crossed though.
care to explain your reason for saying the australian article is racist? it’s not racist at all too me. regardless of who wrote it, the article does raise some valid points. you just need to read it with an open mind.
Jay Reply:
February 3rd, 2011 at 11:02 am
Wow you think Endless apologies fixes things, kind Reader? Or not assisting HK officials in the investigation, as they certainly don’t trust the country’s law enforcement agencies with such a wonderful display of incompetency during that time? Or the unexpected outrage when Mendoza was given a soldier’s burial, while the tombs of the chinese came back to hong kong all mixed up? Or the President’s utter lack of dignity in the apologies he made?
If Kissing ass meant being sorry while explaining things, then yes that would be for the best while assisting the nation in any way possible with the investigation. Considering the Philippines is in no better position than the ass kisser the moment they screwed up in a matter of 8 hours.
Sorry Mr. reader, I agree with bp.
You should know what Mr. Esposo is doing is not nationalism. It’s called jingoism. Look that up in the dictionary.
Obvious troll is obvious.
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BP,
Since the editorial was written through an Australian lens, the writer’s claim of Filipinos racism as evidenced by its “defensiveness” in the aftermath of the crisis is based on Australians’ own tendencies for racism. Filipinos have never been racists, for in fact we suffer from the reverse phenomenon of inferiority complex. Australians, on the other hand, have cultivated a culture of racism well documented by news clippings and scholarly research.
For this Australian to claim that we are being racist in defending our country from condemnation that has gone overboard is flatly racist. It has pigeonholed the Filipino as a people who are afraid of their own destiny. We are painted as stupid airheads when it said
“Not enough voices are decrying a sick public culture that banalises violence and murder, applauds the armed and dangerous macho men who try to take on the “system”, and prefers the beauty pageant circus of Miss Philippines reaching the top 15 of Miss Universe to a wholesale examination of the national conscience, and concrete steps to prevent such a tragedy happening again.”
It even goes on to suggest that Filipinos tolerate race-related violence. Note how when the article said “Currying populist favour, senator Kiko Pangilinan…” it implied that we approved of Mendoza’s actions, suggesting that we as a people tolerate racist hatred and murder.
The government is undertaking a transparent investigation hell bent on finding out what went wrong. It is also due to submit recommendations for reforms to be taken. The Filipino nation is now circumspect of how our cultural tendencies when it comes to reacting to grief (the photos, the jokes, the presidential grins) can appear as callousness to other cultures. We have apologized totally and sincerely to those offended, both through official communications and informal channels, and we have vowed to correct what went wrong.
The Australian viewpoint fails to acknowledge this. Instead, it chooses to paint the entire Filipino people to something that its readers can perhaps better identify or relate to. Utterly ethnocentic and racist.
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bp Reply:
September 5th, 2010 at 2:36 pm
perhaps you’re basing your opinion of the author of the australian article on a false assumption that all australians are racists, are you not? because you are then you are basically looking at the article through tainted lens.
but even, for argument’s sake, that the author is indeed a racist aussie, your claim that the article itself is racist may not be accurate.
as i suggested earlier, look at the message not the messenger.would be more interesting to discuss the point mentioned therein.
this has never been an issue about race you know. bringing up the race card just muddles the discussion don’t you think so?
even then i’ll post a more thorough reaction to your comment later i’m just a bit occupied at the moment.
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Reader Reply:
September 5th, 2010 at 7:56 pm
BP,
First off, this issue has been tainted with race issues from the point when media reported Chinese hostages openly asking whether they were singled out because of their race.
However, my argument claiming that the article is racist simply revolves around the analysis of the content of the article. I do not claim that all Australians are racist, I’m just saying that since Australians live in a society that encounters racism as a daily occurrence, the article’s author is inevitable tainted with the concepts of racial tensions.
My basis for saying that the author of the article was racist is the content of the article itself. The author immediately reveals her tendencies in the article’s first paragraph:
“… is doing what is does so well: playing the victim.”
She goes on to say this in the second paragraph:
“The sullen collective reflex in the aftermath of this embarrassing confirmation of all the worst stereotypes of The Philippines as a lawless, chaotic nation of rank incompetents…”
Then the article questions our values as a people:
“Most appallingly, Mendoza enjoyed national hero status…”
And then paints us as unwilling to examine our faults:
“The histrionics are drowning out the minority calling for a calm, clear-eyed look at the rottenness at the core of The Philippines’ police, government and media.”
Do we really think this way:
“…a societal head-in-the-sand mentality to prevail in a nation that thinks saying sorry many times should be enough.”
when we are demonstrating that, after tha apologies, concrete steps are and will be taken in correcting what went wrong?
Then the article brands us as racist:
“But the defiant reaction in The Philippines is to turn its back on reality and take refuge in economic patriotism and racist nationalism.”
The brash generalizations about the Filipino people, combined with the poorly researched ground conditions in the Philippines given by this article, wreaks of racism.
We cannot let the point of the article slide, as it slanders the Filipino people and brands us as unwilling to face failure and incapable of improvement. The fact that it totally ignores the government’s efforts to rectify what went wrong further supports the position that the article was written simply to paint the Filipino in a bad light.
BP, what was the article’s point, in your opinion?
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bp Reply:
September 6th, 2010 at 12:13 am
reader,
inasmuch as i would love to discuss with you on this issue, i don’t see the point seeing that you’re sticking to your claim that the aussie article is racist, which it is clearly not. ironically, the act itself of claiming racist undertones where there is really none is exactly one of the points of criticism raised in this article.
you ask what i think is the article’s point. in my opinion, its main point is there in the title. “Filipinos on the defensive after siege fiasco”
is this not true? i don’t know if you use facebook because if you do it would be impossible for you not to be aware of the outpouring of so called “pinoy pride” comparable only to when chip tsao wrote his now infamous piece or when teri hatcher delivered a “racist” line she did not even write herself.
now if you ask what i think the author’s objective is for writing this article then i’d say that, without a doubt, she is pointing out a flaw in our ways. sure, coming from a non-filipino that may seem out of place, condescending maybe even insulting. but so what? it’s not as if we don’t have opinions about other people too.
again, i reiterate, this is not about racism. insisting that it is only strengthens the aussie author’s point.
why not point out those ideas in the aussie article that is false.
you wrote:
“We cannot let the point of the article slide, as it slanders the Filipino people and brands us as unwilling to face failure and incapable of improvement.”
so what do you intend to do about it?
can you honestly say that on a collective level the filipino nation has shown an ability to face failure and an ability to improve? of course, i don’t mean to say that this applies to all filipinos. there are always exceptions.
on the matter of improvement, i can give you proof of a collective failure to improve. two words: erap, noynoy. go figure.
let’s drop the race card because this is not about racism.
Jay Reply:
February 3rd, 2011 at 11:06 am
@reader
I love it how pinoys think they can toss racism around and claim being a victim as something right and valid.
Ever thought about the ones who cry racism, in a non-racist issue, are the ones who ARE RACISTS themselves? Where the author points out the different shades of gray of accountability, you only see in black and white; Everybody else who hates the race and the Pinoy race who are innocent because they are victims of circumstance.
I really do think that the Filipino nation has shown an ability to face failure and improve. As I have stated, the government is doing a whole lot of investigating, and the public is doing a whole lot of contemplating.
The Australian article was castigated to be racist because it passes judgment on the Filipino people by casting it as a failed culture. As a Filipino, I took offense. Your observation is correct, BP. It was out of place, insulting and condescending. I dared to say racist.
But I do agree that the racist article was a distraction. The issue is whether we should continue flagellating ourselves over what happened, or do what Esposo said and think critically, and move on.
Of course, moving on is in no way to gloss over what had happened, and this is why part of the moving on process is to investigate and examine what went wrong and improve on that. The fact that we are bothering to do this proves our ability to face failure. The possibility of this inducing reform will prove our ability to improve. As a Filipino, I am confident that we have the ability to improve.
I intend to move on from this tragedy, and I want to see tangible improvements in the many wrongs that there are in this country. If there is a race card being played here, it’s how we Filipinos can be the first ones to crap on our own race.
[Reply]
reader,
you wrote:
“But I do agree that the racist article was a distraction.”
i don’t remember saying the “racist article was a distraction.” i hold that it is not racist, remember? what i did say is:
“this has never been an issue about race you know. bringing up the race card just muddles the discussion don’t you think so?”
in any case, here’s something about moving on from this issue:
http://antipinoy.com/filipinos-have-no-right-to-move-on-from-the-mendoza-hostage-crisis/
the main quote i wish to highlight is this:
“The call to “move on” is not ours to make.”
esposo’s call is misplaced and full of crap, the sort which showbiz-patriots seem to like a lot. (hey, i’m not in anyway making any allusions. just want to be clear about that.) here’s another site that makes a clear point about filipinos of this sort.
http://hero-kahit-di-uso.blogspot.com/
btw, i know what you mean about being racist against fellow filipinos. i hope you don’t think that’s what i’m about but in any case here’s some clarification about “filipinos” being a race.
http://wiki.answers.com/Q/What_is_the_race_where_Filipinos_belong_to
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Hyden Toro Reply:
September 8th, 2010 at 1:01 am
MOVE ON TO THE NEXT TRAGEDY…
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reader,
btw, after you read the “hero kahit di uso” site, tell me if you still think we — as in majority of filipinos — really have what it takes to improve.
the way i see it, as long as we remain the same — overly sensitive to criticisms including valid ones, unable to anticipate, more focused on showbiz displays of patriotism, etc — we will fail at “improving.”
in my opinion, if we don’t change our bad habits like the ones i enumerated above we will never have the proper mindset that can bring about real change.
here’s the correct link:
http://hero-kahit-di-uso.blogspot.com/p/ano-hero-ka.html
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We think for ourselves. We choose what we believe. Our Divine Source has equipped us with the mental faculties, to see what is false, or what is true. If we surrender, our Divine faculties to unknown people, like: Esposo, Quiros,Lopez Media networks, etc…we defeat ourselves. No one can condition your mind; if you will not allow it. Same way as our Hero Jose Rizal had stated:”There are no tyrants; where there are no slaves.”
Consequently; we do not believe in identifying the Hostage Incident Tragedy, to the prestige of the Filipino people. It is not our mistake. It is the mistake of a President; who Failed in his Leadership, in meeting a crissis situation. It is not right to tie the President’s irresponsible behavior to the honor of our country. Noynoy Aquino’s immature behaviors is his own alone…not ours…
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It is not right for anybody to identify the Tragic Hostage Incident to the whole Filipino nation; nor to the Filipinos, like you and me. It is Noynoy Aquino, and his reacting officials; who are at Fault.NOT US. Noynoy Aquino does not Represent me. I am also detached from his inability to his inutil actions, during the hostage crissis. Esposo, Quiros, etc…you can write your deceptive articles. However, I know the truth and will never be affected by them. You can write what you want. I will not believe them…
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