{"id":1041,"date":"2010-10-18T22:19:51","date_gmt":"2010-10-18T14:19:51","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.nargalzius.com\/blog\/archives\/2010\/10\/18\/patriotism\/"},"modified":"2017-02-07T16:42:56","modified_gmt":"2017-02-07T16:42:56","slug":"patriotism","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/nargalzius.com\/blog\/archives\/2010\/10\/18\/patriotism","title":{"rendered":"Patriotism"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>What &#8211; no <a href=\"http:\/\/www.nargalzius.com\/blog\/archives\/2010\/10\/11\/formspring\">Formspring weekly post<\/a>? Fortunately I was able to find a topic I could dig deep into that was more interesting than Formspring questions.<\/p>\n<p>It started with this inspiring video:<\/p>\n<div align=\"center\">\n\n<!-- iframe plugin v.5.1 wordpress.org\/plugins\/iframe\/ -->\n<iframe loading=\"lazy\" class=\"youtube-player\" type=\"text\/html\" width=\"370\" height=\"208\" src=\"http:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/sF3yPcqO6gE\" scrolling=\"no\" frameborder=\"0\"><\/iframe>\n\n<\/div>\n<p>But then some people not only <a href=\"http:\/\/www.gmanews.tv\/story\/203620\/no-winnie-filipinos-who-go-overseas-are-not-traitors\">took it out of context, but also took offense<\/a>.<!--more--><!-- \/\/ --><\/p>\n<h1>Qualifications<\/h1>\n<p>First, to point out what should&#8217;ve been obvious; Prof. Monsod was targetting a <strong>very specific<\/strong> demographic: particularly those who&#8217;s educations were heavily subsidized, <span class=\"footnote_referrer\"><a role=\"button\" tabindex=\"0\" onclick=\"footnote_moveToReference_1041_1('footnote_plugin_reference_1041_1_1');\" onkeypress=\"footnote_moveToReference_1041_1('footnote_plugin_reference_1041_1_1');\" ><sup id=\"footnote_plugin_tooltip_1041_1_1\" class=\"footnote_plugin_tooltip_text\">1 <\/sup><\/a><span id=\"footnote_plugin_tooltip_text_1041_1_1\" class=\"footnote_tooltip\">In the case of the video, every UP student hehehe<\/span><\/span><script type=\"text\/javascript\"> jQuery('#footnote_plugin_tooltip_1041_1_1').tooltip({ tip: '#footnote_plugin_tooltip_text_1041_1_1', tipClass: 'footnote_tooltip', effect: 'fade', predelay: 0, fadeInSpeed: 200, delay: 400, fadeOutSpeed: 200, position: 'top right', relative: true, offset: [10, 10], });<\/script> and yet immediately left the country after milking the school for all its worth.<\/p>\n<p>So in case it wasn&#8217;t obvious, <strong>if you didn&#8217;t get any &#8220;special financing&#8221; (scholarships, etc.) for your education, then you&#8217;re not the type of person she&#8217;s referring to.<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>And yet, as my friend would say: <em>Bato bato sa langit&#8230; ang tamaan&#8230; TARGET!<\/em> a lot of people apparently were &#8220;hit&#8221; by this&#8230; and it&#8217;s either because they forgot to notice the context of the lecture, or if they were, in fact, the kind of people Winnie described.<\/p>\n<h1>My Take<\/h1>\n<p>The funniest thing about all this is that I personally am <strong>not<\/strong> one of those people who are, as they would say, &#8220;proud to be Pinoy.&#8221; At best, I don&#8217;t regret being Filipino&#8230; but proud? Hardly. I just can&#8217;t bring myself to feel that way given all the stuff I&#8217;ve been seeing over the years. <span class=\"footnote_referrer\"><a role=\"button\" tabindex=\"0\" onclick=\"footnote_moveToReference_1041_1('footnote_plugin_reference_1041_1_2');\" onkeypress=\"footnote_moveToReference_1041_1('footnote_plugin_reference_1041_1_2');\" ><sup id=\"footnote_plugin_tooltip_1041_1_2\" class=\"footnote_plugin_tooltip_text\">2 <\/sup><\/a><span id=\"footnote_plugin_tooltip_text_1041_1_2\" class=\"footnote_tooltip\">And the Manny Pacquiaos, Ondoy solidarity, etc. are not nearly enough to compensate for all the fuck-ups we&#8217;ve been through (and caused) as a people.<\/span><\/span><script type=\"text\/javascript\"> jQuery('#footnote_plugin_tooltip_1041_1_2').tooltip({ tip: '#footnote_plugin_tooltip_text_1041_1_2', tipClass: 'footnote_tooltip', effect: 'fade', predelay: 0, fadeInSpeed: 200, delay: 400, fadeOutSpeed: 200, position: 'top right', relative: true, offset: [10, 10], });<\/script><\/p>\n<p>Having said that, I find it very amusing that Filipinos living overseas take offense with any statement that questions their &#8220;patriotism.&#8221; Sometimes I&#8217;d like to say <em>&#8220;you know, you don&#8217;t have to pretend that what you&#8217;re doing out of the country is truly so you can help THE country.&#8221;<\/em> Come on people, let&#8217;s call a spade <em>a spade.<\/em><\/p>\n<p>Yes, you send money\/support <strong>to your families<\/strong> (or your favorite foundation\/cause) &#8211; anyone could do that <strong>regardless of nationality<\/strong> &#8211; it doesn&#8217;t make you special &#8211; and it certainly doesn&#8217;t let you off the hook if you took advantage of a subsidized education. Rationalize all you want, but at the end of the day, you chose YOUR life instead of your country.<\/p>\n<p>And here&#8217;s the kicker, while choosing that way is indeed unfortunate, but I don&#8217;t think there&#8217;s anything wrong with it. The difference between me and these &#8220;affected people&#8221; is that I can admit my preference. I can admit that given the choice, I <strong>would leave<\/strong> if it meant getting a better future for myself (and my family&#8217;s).<\/p>\n<p>But make no mistake, I&#8217;m owning up to that decision; that I choose <em>my<\/em> happiness over my country&#8217;s welfare &#8211; and in saying that, I don&#8217;t feel the need to explain myself even if it means being branded as a &#8220;traitor.&#8221; Because you know what? Maybe I am one! I&#8217;m not really bothered by it &#8211; what <em>will<\/em> bother me, is if I don&#8217;t provide for my family &#8211; what <em>will<\/em> bother me is if I&#8217;m unhappy with <em>my<\/em> life. <\/p>\n<p>Call it selfish (it certainly is) and I&#8217;m guilty as charged \ud83d\ude42 I wish these defensive people would do the same; it would certainly get a load off their chests. Stop pretending you actually care about the country when you certainly don&#8217;t prioritize it.<\/p>\n<p>As for me, I couldn&#8217;t care less about talk of patriotism. To me, ultimately, we aren&#8217;t any better than other countries the same way they aren&#8217;t better than us. People are <strong>people<\/strong> PERIOD. If I&#8217;m proud to be anything, I&#8217;m proud to be <strong>human<\/strong> &#8211; or more importantly, proud to be <strong>me.<\/strong><\/p>\n<h1>So, does that mean you&#8217;re on the OFWs side (albeit in a roundabout way?)<\/h1>\n<p>It depends on the context. One big caveat has something to do with how they acquired their education. <\/p>\n<p>If they financed their education themselves at full cost, I believe they have the right to do whatever the hell they want to do and go wherever the hell they want to go simply because they paid the &#8220;premium&#8221; (i.e. full cost) to decide as much.<\/p>\n<p><strong>However,<\/strong> if their education was subsidized by a scholarship, or by the state &#8211; then I believe that it&#8217;s common courtesy to be indebted to said school\/state. And <em>that&#8217;s<\/em> when Professor Monsod&#8217;s argument becomes <strong>inescapably true.<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>There are so many analogies that show this &#8220;sentiment&#8221; at play. One is how carriers subsidize their phones. You have the option of getting a carrier-subsidized unit for a fraction of its true retail value &#8211; but you&#8217;d be tied to the service for a certain period &#8211; until you essentially pay off the &#8220;debt.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>Or in relationships&#8230; actually let&#8217;s <strong>not<\/strong> get into that &#8211; but I&#8217;m sure you already know what I mean \ud83d\ude42<\/p>\n<p>Or how about training in a job; the reason some jobs have bonds is because they invest on you as an employee, and it would be a waste of investemnt if you spend money on an employee who&#8217;s just going to leave you as soon as they get the &#8220;training&#8221; and go to a higher paying company.<\/p>\n<p>Education is just the same, the principle behind scholarships\/state subsidies is that the school\/state recognizes an individual&#8217;s potential and is willing to invest on them. They expect you to use what you have learned for the betterment of the country. Let me repeat that because it sounds <em>mildly<\/em> important; the betterment of <strong>the country.<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Call it unfair, but the fact is that <strong>more<\/strong> is expected from people who take advantage of scholarships\/government subsidies simply because there is no free lunch&#8230; and their education is essentially &#8220;on loan&#8221; &#8211; and if you choose to &#8220;loan&#8221; from your country (i.e. the state\/taxpayers) then you better believe that you are indebted <em>to<\/em> your country.<\/p>\n<h1>But what about &#8220;paying it forward?&#8221;<\/h1>\n<p>Ah yes, that seems to be the magic bullet all the overseas people use to justify their decisions. To a certain extent, it <em>is<\/em> a legitimate claim. Like the doctor in the article; she certainly has probably &#8220;saved lives&#8221; through her education.<\/p>\n<p>But it&#8217;s really not that simple. <span class=\"footnote_referrer\"><a role=\"button\" tabindex=\"0\" onclick=\"footnote_moveToReference_1041_1('footnote_plugin_reference_1041_1_3');\" onkeypress=\"footnote_moveToReference_1041_1('footnote_plugin_reference_1041_1_3');\" ><sup id=\"footnote_plugin_tooltip_1041_1_3\" class=\"footnote_plugin_tooltip_text\">3 <\/sup><\/a><span id=\"footnote_plugin_tooltip_text_1041_1_3\" class=\"footnote_tooltip\">And again, this is all assuming that you had a subsidized education<\/span><\/span><script type=\"text\/javascript\"> jQuery('#footnote_plugin_tooltip_1041_1_3').tooltip({ tip: '#footnote_plugin_tooltip_text_1041_1_3', tipClass: 'footnote_tooltip', effect: 'fade', predelay: 0, fadeInSpeed: 200, delay: 400, fadeOutSpeed: 200, position: 'top right', relative: true, offset: [10, 10], });<\/script> The fact that the state invested in you means that it was expecting that &#8220;paying forward&#8221; to happen in local soil. In the case of a doctor, the expectation is not only to save lives, but to be the catalyst that would nurture more doctors to improve the medical system <strong>in the country.<\/strong> &#8211; why in the country and not anywhere else? Because the Philippines funded your education &#8211; so why should it not be the one to reap the benefits? That&#8217;s what it means to invest in someone. Christ, even Jesus &#8220;invested&#8221; in humanity because he wants us to go to <em>him<\/em> eventually. <span class=\"footnote_referrer\"><a role=\"button\" tabindex=\"0\" onclick=\"footnote_moveToReference_1041_1('footnote_plugin_reference_1041_1_4');\" onkeypress=\"footnote_moveToReference_1041_1('footnote_plugin_reference_1041_1_4');\" ><sup id=\"footnote_plugin_tooltip_1041_1_4\" class=\"footnote_plugin_tooltip_text\">4 <\/sup><\/a><span id=\"footnote_plugin_tooltip_text_1041_1_4\" class=\"footnote_tooltip\">Not Buddha, not The Flying Spaghetti Monster, not Allah, HIM<\/span><\/span><script type=\"text\/javascript\"> jQuery('#footnote_plugin_tooltip_1041_1_4').tooltip({ tip: '#footnote_plugin_tooltip_text_1041_1_4', tipClass: 'footnote_tooltip', effect: 'fade', predelay: 0, fadeInSpeed: 200, delay: 400, fadeOutSpeed: 200, position: 'top right', relative: true, offset: [10, 10], });<\/script> No, it&#8217;s <em>not<\/em> an unreasonable expectation to have!<\/p>\n<h1>But the system is so corrupt, etc.<\/h1>\n<p>Another argument is it&#8217;s such a waste for their talents to be used by a system that&#8217;s so utterly broken &#8211; when they can be so much more productive elsewhere. Again, this is a perfectly legitimate stance to have. In fact, that&#8217;s exactly how I feel hahahaha! <\/p>\n<p>But again, assuming your education was funded by the state, then you have more of a responsibility than people like me who paid the full cost of education. While we both can certainly leave, but people like me have more of a right to do so because we&#8217;re not indebted to anything &#8211; we paid the premium for our passage. <span class=\"footnote_referrer\"><a role=\"button\" tabindex=\"0\" onclick=\"footnote_moveToReference_1041_1('footnote_plugin_reference_1041_1_5');\" onkeypress=\"footnote_moveToReference_1041_1('footnote_plugin_reference_1041_1_5');\" ><sup id=\"footnote_plugin_tooltip_1041_1_5\" class=\"footnote_plugin_tooltip_text\">5 <\/sup><\/a><span id=\"footnote_plugin_tooltip_text_1041_1_5\" class=\"footnote_tooltip\">And before you start trolling on that statement, take note that I actually still live in the country<\/span><\/span><script type=\"text\/javascript\"> jQuery('#footnote_plugin_tooltip_1041_1_5').tooltip({ tip: '#footnote_plugin_tooltip_text_1041_1_5', tipClass: 'footnote_tooltip', effect: 'fade', predelay: 0, fadeInSpeed: 200, delay: 400, fadeOutSpeed: 200, position: 'top right', relative: true, offset: [10, 10], });<\/script> Can you say the same for yourself?<\/p>\n<p>There was one comment from <a href=\"http:\/\/www.gmanews.tv\/story\/203620\/no-winnie-filipinos-who-go-overseas-are-not-traitors\">the article<\/a> that pretty much sums up what people <strong>should&#8217;ve<\/strong> taken from the lecture.<\/p>\n<blockquote>\n<p>The video made me realize that indeed I owe my country more simply because I was educated through taxpayer&#8217;s money. That, I think, was the point she was driving.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p>Yes, the system is indeed broken, but have you ever stopped to think why the state invested on people like you? Maybe, <em>just maybe,<\/em> the school\/state was investing in you so <em>you yourself<\/em> could be the solution to fixing the broken system. And we all know that could only be accomplished if you&#8217;re actually <em>in<\/em> the country.<\/p>\n<p>And I believe that Prof. Monsod said <em>exactly that<\/em> in her little speech.<\/p>\n<h1>At the end of the day<\/h1>\n<p>If you don&#8217;t want to be subject to this &#8220;guilt-trip,&#8221; then there&#8217;s an easy solution; PAY THE FUCKING FULL COST OF EDUCATION UPFRONT (or later with interest &#8211; because that&#8217;s just how economics works). Or if you must &#8220;loan&#8221; get it from a bank, or a person and not from the schools\/state (i.e. subsidies\/scholarships). Otherwise, shut your trap and accept the fact that you are <strong>not<\/strong> the patriot you think you are &#8211; by any stretch of imagination. The sooner you can accept that about yourself, the less guilt you&#8217;ll have to worry about (and the less offended you&#8217;ll probably be) \ud83d\ude09<\/p><div class=\"speaker-mute footnotes_reference_container\"> <div class=\"footnote_container_prepare\"><p><span role=\"button\" tabindex=\"0\" class=\"footnote_reference_container_label pointer\" onclick=\"footnote_expand_collapse_reference_container_1041_1();\">Notes<\/span><span role=\"button\" tabindex=\"0\" class=\"footnote_reference_container_collapse_button\" style=\"display: none;\" onclick=\"footnote_expand_collapse_reference_container_1041_1();\">[<a id=\"footnote_reference_container_collapse_button_1041_1\">+<\/a>]<\/span><\/p><\/div> <div id=\"footnote_references_container_1041_1\" style=\"\"><table class=\"footnotes_table footnote-reference-container\"><caption class=\"accessibility\">Notes<\/caption> <tbody> \r\n\r\n<tr class=\"footnotes_plugin_reference_row\"> <th scope=\"row\" class=\"footnote_plugin_index_combi pointer\"  onclick=\"footnote_moveToAnchor_1041_1('footnote_plugin_tooltip_1041_1_1');\"><a id=\"footnote_plugin_reference_1041_1_1\" class=\"footnote_backlink\"><span class=\"footnote_index_arrow\">&#8673;<\/span>1<\/a><\/th> <td class=\"footnote_plugin_text\">In the case of the video, every UP student hehehe<\/td><\/tr>\r\n\r\n<tr class=\"footnotes_plugin_reference_row\"> <th scope=\"row\" class=\"footnote_plugin_index_combi pointer\"  onclick=\"footnote_moveToAnchor_1041_1('footnote_plugin_tooltip_1041_1_2');\"><a id=\"footnote_plugin_reference_1041_1_2\" class=\"footnote_backlink\"><span class=\"footnote_index_arrow\">&#8673;<\/span>2<\/a><\/th> <td class=\"footnote_plugin_text\">And the Manny Pacquiaos, Ondoy solidarity, etc. are not nearly enough to compensate for all the fuck-ups we&#8217;ve been through (and caused) as a people.<\/td><\/tr>\r\n\r\n<tr class=\"footnotes_plugin_reference_row\"> <th scope=\"row\" class=\"footnote_plugin_index_combi pointer\"  onclick=\"footnote_moveToAnchor_1041_1('footnote_plugin_tooltip_1041_1_3');\"><a id=\"footnote_plugin_reference_1041_1_3\" class=\"footnote_backlink\"><span class=\"footnote_index_arrow\">&#8673;<\/span>3<\/a><\/th> <td class=\"footnote_plugin_text\">And again, this is all assuming that you had a subsidized education<\/td><\/tr>\r\n\r\n<tr class=\"footnotes_plugin_reference_row\"> <th scope=\"row\" class=\"footnote_plugin_index_combi pointer\"  onclick=\"footnote_moveToAnchor_1041_1('footnote_plugin_tooltip_1041_1_4');\"><a id=\"footnote_plugin_reference_1041_1_4\" class=\"footnote_backlink\"><span class=\"footnote_index_arrow\">&#8673;<\/span>4<\/a><\/th> <td class=\"footnote_plugin_text\">Not Buddha, not The Flying Spaghetti Monster, not Allah, HIM<\/td><\/tr>\r\n\r\n<tr class=\"footnotes_plugin_reference_row\"> <th scope=\"row\" class=\"footnote_plugin_index_combi pointer\"  onclick=\"footnote_moveToAnchor_1041_1('footnote_plugin_tooltip_1041_1_5');\"><a id=\"footnote_plugin_reference_1041_1_5\" class=\"footnote_backlink\"><span class=\"footnote_index_arrow\">&#8673;<\/span>5<\/a><\/th> <td class=\"footnote_plugin_text\">And before you start trolling on that statement, take note that I actually still live in the country<\/td><\/tr>\r\n\r\n <\/tbody> <\/table> <\/div><\/div><script type=\"text\/javascript\"> function footnote_expand_reference_container_1041_1() { jQuery('#footnote_references_container_1041_1').show(); jQuery('#footnote_reference_container_collapse_button_1041_1').text('\u2212'); } function footnote_collapse_reference_container_1041_1() { jQuery('#footnote_references_container_1041_1').hide(); jQuery('#footnote_reference_container_collapse_button_1041_1').text('+'); } function footnote_expand_collapse_reference_container_1041_1() { if (jQuery('#footnote_references_container_1041_1').is(':hidden')) { footnote_expand_reference_container_1041_1(); } else { footnote_collapse_reference_container_1041_1(); } } function footnote_moveToReference_1041_1(p_str_TargetID) { footnote_expand_reference_container_1041_1(); var l_obj_Target = jQuery('#' + p_str_TargetID); if (l_obj_Target.length) { jQuery( 'html, body' ).delay( 0 ); jQuery('html, body').animate({ scrollTop: l_obj_Target.offset().top - window.innerHeight * 0.2 }, 380); } } function footnote_moveToAnchor_1041_1(p_str_TargetID) { footnote_expand_reference_container_1041_1(); var l_obj_Target = jQuery('#' + p_str_TargetID); if (l_obj_Target.length) { jQuery( 'html, body' ).delay( 0 ); jQuery('html, body').animate({ scrollTop: l_obj_Target.offset().top - window.innerHeight * 0.2 }, 380); } }<\/script>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>What &#8211; no Formspring weekly post? Fortunately I was able to find a topic I could dig deep into that was more interesting than Formspring questions. It started with this inspiring video: But then some people not only took it out of context, but also took offense.<\/p>","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[11],"tags":[896],"class_list":["post-1041","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-perspective","tag-perspective"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/nargalzius.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1041","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/nargalzius.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/nargalzius.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/nargalzius.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/nargalzius.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1041"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"http:\/\/nargalzius.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1041\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1342,"href":"http:\/\/nargalzius.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1041\/revisions\/1342"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/nargalzius.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1041"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/nargalzius.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1041"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/nargalzius.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1041"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}