The past few months and weeks looking at Philippine politics have shown a number of very harmful fallacies common in Filipino thinking. Certainly my perspective is foreign. But then again, every country has to deal with foreign perspectives about them (link), including the famous “Xenophobe’s Guides” that humorously show quirks of nations, or “Meet the Germans” (link) by Deutsche Welle, with Rachel pointing out German quirks. But having seen familiar fallacies resurface, I cannot help but point them out right here:
- Too much Democracy is Harmful for Filipinos. Manny Pacquiao recently said this. But then, it is not the first time I have heard this. Now if Filipinos think democracy is the right to choose which side of the street they want to drive on, he is right. Well I am exaggerating this time, but clearly one has to “take care of one another” (link) as communities in order to have successful democracy and not anarchy.
- Criticism is Destabilization. Well, if the one in power is not really interested in the common good but only in the good of a certain group, then it IS destabilization – of a rule not according to the (theoretically) agreed rules defined by the Constitution.
- Loyalty is to the Government. The government is just the present management and staff running the state, and the state is supposed to serve the entire nation. Those who want to remove students for being critical are expecting subservience.
- Making abuses known abroad is betrayal. The assumed consensus that all people are for certain “measures” of government could probably be due to intimidation and ignorance. Other countries have to deal with reports from abroad as well. Very progressive countries like Germany even have their own Deutsche Welle reporting on issues within the country, without seeing this as an admitting failure.
- Admitting mistakes or saying sorry is either weakness or hypocrisy. The assumption that there are no honest mistakes is very much part of the culture. Trolls recently attacked VP Leni for a typographical error, assuming malice (link). Such a cultural attitude CANNOT, by any stretch, understand that Germany has really (mostly!) learned from its mistakes in World War 2. It gets: BBM and Imee.
- Criticism is Malicious. Just as there is no concept of an honest mistake, there is no idea that criticism can be a useful catalyst to keep everybody on their toes, keep them from getting too comfortable. Some Filipinos say that in Germany everything is perfect but people keep complaining. An Austrian friend of mine once said stuff is close to perfect over here because of complaints. Japanese Kaizen (link) is based on constant improvement of what is already good enough.
- Debates and discussion are useless. One group of Senate candidates maintains. Sure, many Filipino debates are one-upmanship and verbal showmanship without purpose. Often it is merely about who is to blame, which is why people often don’t give in an inch, as a witch trial or Inquisition attitude often still predominates. Think of the Dengvaxia matter which now has scientists who made no mistake being charged with homicide (link) and has caused measles to spread because people became afraid of vaccination. Proper discussions are there to help define the scope of issues, help compare solutions to decide which one(s) to take, and monitor the solution(s). Even errors can be stepping-stones to improvement. But that means assuming that honest mistakes exist, which is hard in a culture of distrust that throws out a Supreme Court Chief Justice on a mere technicality, but acquits Bong Revilla who clearly had strange money coming into his account.
- When you know you know. Admitting errors in judgement means incompetence. Doesn’t matter if you were fed incomplete information. Pretending that “drug matrixes” are without error even if some of those listed are already dead is “firm”. Such an attitude works in a village where you can easily verify with your senses. Wider geographical and social contexts mean you will ALWAYS have uncertainty. Meaning that consistent reporting and monitoring standards become important. Fake news and distortion of facts and context becomes even worse. Of course you cannot, like Mocha once did, say there are no EJKs ’cause you don’t see any. That is probably not just “illiterate” or “ignoramus” like some would say, but malice.
- Speaking Truth to Power is Disrespect. There is the story I read of a Korean air line that taught its crews to be polite but direct in emergency situations – after an accident where a co-pilot was too “respectful”, meaning indirect, to a pilot about how much fuel the plane still had – until it was too late. There are probably hundreds of ground-level situations in the Philippines where theory and practice are not aligned, but either those below do not speak up – or those above don’t want to hear. The story of MMDA wanting to press charges against someone who uploaded a video of a footbridge with electrical cables showing (link) is an example of power that does not want to correct mistakes, just HIDE them.
Of course it is possibly all just OK. It is logical, actually if one assumes that power and status make right, malice is to be assumed, and those lower are “resilient”, meaning they adjust and don’t complain about stuff like Westerners, yellows and reds all do. That there are no honest mistakes, just honest thieves who are way better than hypocrites, and that nobody ever learns anything after the new age of criminal responsibility, 12 years, because once you are conscious and when you know, you know all is clear.
If that is how the majority thinks – like the abandoned kids in Lord of the Flies – it is hard. Also if the preservers of culture stubbornly insist that a damaged mindset is correct and a more productive mindset is “Western”. But hope springs eternal and so let us just see.
Irineo B. R. Salazar
München, 5 March 2019
