How convenient [prustrations]

Image from miggyzaballero

I've seen a lot of something like this lately:

Filipino Blogger says "Filipinos are so stupid, they hate it when people criticize them."



Well how convenient. So now I should just let you be with your statement? And just let you call me and my kind stupid? Oh yeah, never mind all the achievements I have personally attained, right? (You might wanna ask me first what are my achievements.)

What now if I react towards you, I'm just being the stupid Filipino you say I am? And so what if I criticize you, too? You won't hate it? You won't call me a classic example of that stupid Filipino you were talking about?

But then you'll be the "stupid" Filipino that you are, too, if you hate my criticism of you, right?

Wait a minute. You're Filipino, too, right? So then, aren't you stupid, too? Well, hello, kapatid!

Well you know what, if you hate Filipinos a lot, why don't you just leave the Philippines? Because duh! There's lots of us here. For someone who calls out others as stupid, I thought you'd be smart enough to know that. Why put yourself in the situation you're in? Why allow a lot of hate to run through your veins? Nobody ever taught you that all that negative energy is bad for your health? OMG.

Well, so maybe you're not that stupid. But you know, I see that the only difference between you and the people you are describing is you know English. And you've been around a bit. You can understand TV shows and movies in English. But if you're really smart enough, you would know that not knowing English does not necessarily mean dumb. Personally, I think you are as Pinoy as I am and those others who you label "stupid."

I'd like to think that I'm not like you, though. I wouldn't want to call others stupid.

But you know what, and you know this already: you're not stupid. You know what you are? You're young.

I've been there, too. Hated Filipinos. Maybe since I was 11 when I first started visiting the US on a regular basis for "summer vacation." I met someone who was 30 already when he first lived outside of the country. When he came back, you know what I heard from him? "Why are Filipinos like this and like that? Why can't things in the Philippines be like this and that in other countries?" Well, I'm 35 now. I've known a lot more non-Filipinos. I've been to a lot more Asian countries particularly. I've been to this one country where man, my first impression was: "I love the Philippines!" You might want to visit that country, too. E-mail me if you want to know which country that is. But you want to get to know more and visit even more countries as much as you can. And try to stay there with certain people. Because of course people are generally nice to you if you're a tourist. I hope you aim for that. It's not that simple though; maybe it's other things I studied and learned in life, too. But when you'll have come to the state that I am in now - no hate for my own kind - and then maybe together we can start laughing about our youth.