MOD III: Florimar Jay Miyat
Posted by ip364 on May 16, 2009
REVISION
Module III
Cultural Encounters: Spain, America, and Japan as Colonizers
The readings were very eye opening. I learned quite a bit about all the different influences that colonizers had on the Philippines. Whether it be of positive outcome or that of a negative one, the Philippines is what it is today because of its interactions with other countries that surround them. If it were not for the Spaniards we would not be known as “Filipinos,” for it is a word that came from their language. We have Japan to thank for bringing to us the noodles we call pancit, and our version of their spring roll: lumpia. These are some of the good things that came out of colonization, but of course when there is good, bad is not very far away.…
(Thesis) Living the American dream, something that all Filipinos strive for when they make their way here to the land of the free and the home of the brave. As outrageous as it may sound, could America be doing more harm to our homeland and people then we would expect? I feel that America is in fact harmful to the Philippines as we will see through the changes found in food, jobs, and malls: America is a forceful influence.
Evidently America has gotten to the stomachs of the Philippines. It is appealing to have the quick and easy, ready to go, convenience and manageability of the foods. Americans would have it no other way: What is harmful is that some Filipinos have adopted that same attitude. It was once common for individuals who were always on the go to bring rice (and whatever was left from dinner) to work. Or what we Filipinos like to know as “balon.” But that is slowly being a thing of the past. Burgers are the new trendy thing to eat at lunch. It’s not hard to see why with American food chains like
McDonald’s, Kentucky Fried Chicken, and 7-11 popping up in our motherland. Even in many areas where surrounding homes can not even afford to buy a decent meal: as we saw in the video Cavite. Yet these American fast food chains remain so popular. Advertisement is the key reason why. Ironically when one sits to analyze the commercials and ads for these delicious foods, the Filipinos portrayed in them have the familiar face, and pale skin of an American (Fernandez). I am afraid of what is to come next for our people of the Philippines. For it is the bad fast food eating habits of the Americans that cause them to be one of the most OBESE countries in the world. Filipinos are then next in line to be an obese country. We will be accepting with open arms heart attacks, and disease.
America has given the Filipinos many opportunities, especially in the workforce. One of the main reasons why many Filipinos come to live in America is for working purposes. But America has always had a bad reputation in the eyes of those occupying these jobs. Filipinos who were once highly respected lawyers, engineers, and teachers in the Philippines come to America, they are downgraded to low paying clerical, and sales workers. Today it is common to see a Filipino working as a janitor or a maid, or any cheap labor job. In the article by E. San Juan Jr. he states that Filipinos only make 2/3 of an average white mans salary. Even though Filipinos have high educational achievements we have the lowest average income among the Asian race. Put into perspective America has not been the best place for Filipinos and work. Yet it is appealing and still is the place to come because of the fact that in the Philippines hard work is what is needed to survive,
while here in America hard work is something that you are rewarded for: no matter how low the pay is, America still has better conditions than that of the Philippines.
Why is it that the Philippines have three of the world’s top 10 largest shopping centers? two of them located in the capital of Manila. Americans have influenced our motherland so much to the point where 40% of the population in the Philippines lives just on $2 a day, yet the malls are always crowded (Reuters). Malling is the term used in the Philippines: it is in fact a verb which literally means: the act of going to a shopping mall and whiling away the hours. This can definitely be seen in malls here in Hawaii. Look at for example Pearlridge and especially Alamoana. Many teens go there just to kill time. A bunch of them do not even end up buying a thing. And that is exactly what the Filipinos are doing up there. “Malling is a way of life for them. Even with the economy as bad as it is, it is reported that 2.5 million individuals still visited the shopping centers. And I think that should tell you something. Why is it common to see such big malls in areas that seem so poor? With a bad economy I don’t think that people should just be spending their money right now. We Americans are hurting our people, for it is our money that we are sending back home ($16 Billion supports the retail sector). Still every couple or so years brings in even bigger and better malls. When will America stop?
We can definitely see that our America, whom many Filipino Americans call home is hurting our Filipino brothers and sisters in our homeland. We see through the different and adopted habits of the Filipinos how Americanized they are getting day by day. So is it ok that we’re living the American dream while our own suffer under the influence of a powerful America.
