About: Philippine is a culturally rich country. The reason behind our country’s diversity is its convergence with other cultures from the past centuries. Within this blog, I will be talking about the misdirected perception of Filipinos to our culture.
Why do we Filipinos prefer the culture of other countries? Why do we find their culture far more superior compared to us? In our current generation, it is difficult to grasp which culture is ours. It is scary to think that we do not know the original Filipino culture is like. Our country s so diverse that we barely even know who we were before the Spanish Colonization. If we were tribal men before the Spaniards, then what happened to it all. Why were we not able to preserve our real culture? And even if it did, why can’t we improve our culture from what is left. Colonization is the root of it all. It is the reason why we call ourselves “Filipinos”, or so it seems.
At first, the south-east Asian islanders came to us for trading and for sharing their culture. Then there is the Chinese who provided their culture. Some of their customs can still be seen today, like the concept of “respect and honor to the family” and removing the slippers or shoes when going inside the house. The Spanish came next with their crosses and talks about order. They provided their culture as if theirs were superior to ours, yet we complied to it. We thought befriending a Spaniard would lead us to a higher state in life, but it was all part of their plan to conquer our country. And in the end, we still ended up being inferior compared to the Spaniards. After that, a higher power came to our land, the Americans. Then we ended up being a Neo-American Colony. The culture of other countries pacified us, which resulted to the coexistence of different cultures within our culture.
Our culture is dying, like a withering flower. We never acknowledge our own culture. Our “original culture” is being drowned from all the other cultures out in the world. I wouldn’t blame the other countries for sharing their identity, but rather our incompetence and lack of love to our works. If we do love our culture and country, why did we let other cultures’ influence our own culture. From Animism to Catholicism, from animal skin to cotton t-shirts, from tribal songs to Korean pop, etc.; it is our own fault that our country does not have its own identity. The ideology that other countries’ culture being better is wrong. It is wrong to think that their culture is better or superior than ours because it will make our culture theirs. Their culture is ours. It is no better than Filipinos being Spanish, Filipinos being Chinese, Filipinos being Spanish, or Filipinos being American. From it all, it is hypocritical for us have Filipino pride even though we aren’t proud of our own culture.
It is never wrong to admire other cultures or know other cultures, but it is wrong to think that their culture is superior than ours. That ideology is the root cause why our culture is dying and why we do not have our own identity as a country. It is because of this that we always get easily colonized by different countries. We should love and preserve our culture. This is essential because it is what keeps our identity. It is what makes us Filipinos. In the end, our culture will be responsible for our country’s unity and peace.
JohnChristopherCarnate 