How will the crab mentality, hypocrisy, and lack of Philippine pride be eliminated in the Philippines?

Question

So many times I've seen Filipinos look so high at foreigners, that we as a people almost always fall head over heels towards foreign (especially American) products and foreigners themselves and sometimes to the point that we are easily tricked by them. A perfect sign of colonial mentality.

But at the same time, when we as a people try to emulate other countries' success, we criticise ourselves by saying that it's shameful or "nakakahiya" and that we would just fail because only foreigners can do it. A perfect example of crab mentality, hypocrisy, and lack of pride.

Now I ask , when and how will this end?

Here's a more specific example. A lot of Filipinos love anime. But a lot of them don't know that a lot of their favorite anime are made here. And if you tell them that little truth, granted some of them will be proud, but a lot will either a) think you're lying or b) suddenly criticise their favorite anime by saying things like "Oh no wonder the proportions are wrong, the animation is a bit ugly, etc. etc. etc."

In the past, we've tried to make video games that are anime themed but a lot of potential game developers get dismayed because they get criticised for being shameful and a Japanese wannabe. But when the Koreans did it by making anime-themed online games, we're now eating it off the palm of their hands and now they're popular worldwide as a haven of online game development. And it's ironic since Koreans by culture have more the right to feel shame by copying the Japanese since they, by culture, have issues against Japan.

@danoCHka

Hey calm down ^^, I never said ALL Filipinos are so narrowminded and stereotypical that we would only like "american" products and discard our own. That's so old, narrow, and unreal. I asked this question because of experience with REAL examples of crab mentality in our nation. The "american thing" is old and only a few Filipinos are still like that, but there're new forms of crab and colonial mentality in our nation such as what I've mentioned above. And if you'd like, I'll add more examples ^^,

I know crab mentality exists in other countries, I never said that only we have crab mentality. And that's not the topic at hand. The topic is crab mentality in our country and how do we solve this. Crab mentality in other countries does not concern us, that's their problem ^^,

Answer 1

I think we need to re-invent ourselves. Let's start with the high-profile people like celebrities, athletes, politicians. If these glimmering personalities would make it cool to use or wear local products, just maybe the rest of us, nobodies, would follow suit. Maybe we can even have a new slogan like "hanep basta noypi" - which could mean "anything Pinoy is cool."

Answer 2

I would like to defend in this statement the crab mentality, because it is generally consider bad. I like to show, that it could also peceived as good. I just like to broaden the view. :) Some traditional societies without central governemt implement strict rules to preserve the social status quo of their members. Some of that societies have a hierarchy (with a leader, noble and common men), some not. The aim of that rules are to stabilize these societies and to avoid unrest. If there's no hierarchy these rukes prevent the origination of an upper class. Most people nowadays abhor these ideas. Individualism and the idea of property (land and others; the more = the more successful = the better) seems to be all right. The quest for equality become outdated, ugly, despicable. It is replaced by charity actions of the affluent. But for what does someone need millions of dollars? A villa with 20 rooms? A hazienda of 1000 ha? I know, that all the hard-working people, becoming prosperous in that way, will condem my view as just envy and maybe they are right. Still I cannot stop believing, that a society, where equality of the people is enforced, is also not the unhappiest of the world. A well-known, still functioning example are the San in Africa and the Aeta in the Philippines (as far as I know) and tribes in South America, hunter-gatherers, an egalitarian society without society. In the Philippines the distance between poor and rich is incredible. Maybe 100 families rules the economy of the country and maybe 1% of the people are considered very rich, while 50-60% are considered poor. So maybe for justice the Philippines need much more of a crab mentality? This is more a start for a discussion than my final point of view. Thanks.

Answer 3

Crab Mentality, Hypocrisy, and lack of Philippine pride will finally be eliminated if the Filipino stop their Colonial Mentality. This is to be done using radio broadcasting and education. Government laws should place a time limit on TV shows airing Mestizos and instead promote those which air indigenous or native beauty.

Furthermore, to counteract the perception that Philippine products are crappy, the government should be strict in its standards in the manufacturing industry.

People will still want to marry foreigners or does not want to speak the native Philippine languages should instead be asked to emigrate to other countries so prevent further denigrating the Filipino.

American influence must also be tapered by limiting military bases and the presence of the army in the Philippines. Meanwhile, East Asian influence must also be checked, because TV shows, particularly Korean TV shows, also reflect beauty standards that are hard to reach by most Filipinos. Racially, Koreans, Chinese, Japanese, and Europeans have a lot more in common, lumping them together in a "Eurasian" race, distinct from the Filipinos and Malays who are lumped in the "Indo-Pacific" race.

Answer 4

Wow, everyone's so depressing here. Guess aside from crab mentality, lack of hope is another problem our country is facing hehehe. Fortunately I have a more possitive answer.

The guy above was right, our children are the answer. For those of you born in the late 70's or 80's like me, remember how back in the 90's when we were highschool students that brands like Bench were looked down upon and everyguy prefers to wear Polo Sport and Tommy Hilfiger? And do you also remember how back then Pinoy bands are considered corny? I'll never forget when I asked my friend back then how come he loves listening so much to Guns N' Roses he said to me "Eh ano gusto mo pakingan ko? Eraserheads at Barbie's Cradle?!" And I also remember how back then during PE we all knew which guy in our batch is wearing which Nike Jordan model shoes?

But look at the times now. Kids these days love pinoy bands and they're everywhere. Bench can now be seen everywhere while Tommy Hil and Polo Sport are virtually gone from people's taste. And I don't even know what're the new Nike Shoes these days. My little siblings find it weird when I would tell them about my days in highschool which was only 7 years ago.

Times are changing, and kids these days don't have the tainted prejudice we old people have against our own country and we can trust on them to remove (well almost) crab mentality and other negative views on our country. Let's just hope that we don't stain their minds.

Answer 5

I don't think that these Filipino traits will stop, they are deeply embedded in our culture. We grew up with these kind of thinking and it is hard to eliminate them from our minds. The new crop of Filipinos may gradually change some views but it will not stop. There's a new breed of Filipinos who still hanker for anything foreign. As to the "nakakahiya" attitude, we can't blame ourselves because we, Filipinos, are basically shy and always feel inferior even if a large part of our people have reaped rewards and accolades from other countries. And even in our own backyard, with our own kind, we still feel we are inept.

Answer 6

this is a toughie. as this kind of mentality exists everywhere. it's not only unique to us filipinos. it is pervasive and as prevalent in other countries as it is in our culture. how will this end, you ask?

it will end if you eliminate the entire people and start from male citizen 1 and female citizen 1 who are not prejudiced and without any biases and begin to indoctrinate them with good human relations and values. but this is next to impossibility.

No one can impose sense of values into other people. If you would remember in the early days of Martial Law during the Marcos era the slogan, "sa ika-uunlad ng pilipinas, disiplina ang kailangan". It was very laudable and we saw some changes but it did not stick with the people because it lost its effectiveness when the momentum of the movement waned.

Learning and developing sense of values start when a person is at a very impressionable age. This stage is when the child spends his/her time at home. Thus, to change people's mentality should start at home. But if the parents themselves are guilty of such mentality how do you think the child will not also have the same kind of mentality?

Answer 7

it may be lessen, but it will never be eliminated. once etched in our society, it will always be there. and that's the same goes with some other countries as well.

dude, don't tell me that crab mentality and lack of nationalism is a uniquely filipino trait. i'm so pissed with people saying that filipinos are over-the-top xenophillic the same way i get pissed on filipinos who crave on anything foreign and discard anything local. sawang-sawa na ako diyan. and describing filipinos who love anything "american" in a stereotypical way? can't you see we're more open than that american thing nowadays?!?! please see the world in the wider perspective. crab mentality goes in other countries as well, rich, poor or whatever.

Answer 8

unfortunately,its part of the culture.and sadly its one of the embarrassing attitude that we have.additional to that is "utang na loob",if you wanna help,then don't expect anything in return or else it'll not be "help" but debt. Filipino's must have their pride.I'm working in UAE,in the largest advertising agency in the whole middle east and we are only 2 Filipina's here and the rest are Lebanese and British. But both of us are excelling. I am always proud to be a Filipino.

Answer 9

I think that having bad traits does affect Philippine's development but it's there! Done, it can't be change until we teach our children, the coming generation not to practice the bad traits mentioned. Values Education, GMRC should be given more importance in Elementary level.

Answer 10

we lack nationalism. we belittle our country because.. well, what's not to belittle? the government of course, sucks. that's probably the basis of all hiya in this country. there's probably no hope for all this to end. we're all used to belittling our country because of our past. or probably.. if we have a great leader like Marcos (before he went crazy with the martial law) who could really set an example for the rest of the nation.. we'd probably have some hope. but then, all leaders are put in office because of money and the good leaders usually dont have that. and thats what sucks..