Lunes, Oktubre 14, 2019
I remembered how I wrote an article about the absurdity of obsessing over Pinoy Racial Purity which I'd dare compare it to the Aryan racial purity stupidity. What's the use of being angry towards other races for being racist towards Filipinos (though some of these anger is more on imaginary racism while being racist towards others) if they are racist towards others? I remembered a couple of Filipinos who'd assume that so and so is racist towards them but man do I read their cancerous racist comments against others? Some of them call K-Pop guys as "fags" even if these guys have been hardened through military training. Then there are crazy disparaging comments towards why the Philippines about Catriona Eloisa Magnayon Gray and Pia Alonso Wurtzbach were half-white and weren't born in the Philippines. Does the being half-something of any of the candidates or the fact they weren't born in the Philippines to mean they can't be considered Filipinos? Screw the Jus Sanguinis rule then! It's because anybody who is a CITIZEN of the Philippines and pledging his or her loyalty to the Philippines must be considered a FILIPINO.
Truth is "Pinoy racial purity" is more gray than black and white. A restudy of anthropology shows modern Filipinos are a mixed race. How many Filipinos can truly say that they are Pure-Pinos? Are the Badjaos and Aetas even of the same race or are they Filipinos by the virtue of migration and citizenship? A study of anthropology will reveal that the brown features aren't exclusive to the Filipino people. A good trip around Southeast Asia will reveal that the Malaysians and Indonesians are brown. South Asians have a lot of brown people like the Indians and the Nepalese. I met some Indians with different shades of brown. If I'm not wrong some of the settlers in the Philippines were also Indians. Then you can have the Spanish occupation where raping of native women happened so how sure are you that you don't have Spanish blood? Maybe you have a Spanish ancestor. Then there's the Japanese occupation and the Imperial Japanese soldiers had Filipino comfort women. Some Chinese either married Filipino women or sired illegitimate children with them can make you wonder if you have Chinese blood. You can see the long history that most Filipinos are a descendant of several factors and made of many ethnic groups. Hmmm... I wonder did that Peke Aeta even realize that the Aetas are of African descent too? Can you be certain that you don't have ANY foreign blood whatsoever?
Why am I really more accepting of Pinoy interbreeding or interbreeding, in general, depending on the situation? I can take a look at the modern Chinese vs. the more typical Chinese. Ever noticed some Chinese women look really pretty in contrast to the others? You can owe that to the British occupation in China or some stranded Europeans who have interbred with the Chinese. Some of the greatest Pinoys to ever walk are a result of interbreeding. Leandro Locsin obviously had Chinese ancestry. Jollibee a Filipino-owned worldwide corporation is owned by a Filipino of Chinese descent. You can see that both Regine Velasquez-Alcasid and Lea Salonga-Chien are very mestiza looking. I think the whole generation of not just learning new stuff but interbreeding has brought in better Filipinos. Some more "native" Filipinos have also succeeded by learning new stuff even if they haven't intermarried with other races. Nobody has the right to tell Liza Soberano of how "Filipino" she is except that she is still a Filipino by heart in spite of her half-heritage. Need I mention some of my favorite Japanese celebrities are half-breed? Sayaka Akimoto is obviously half-Filipino as evidenced by her skin tone and facial features.
Need I mention Filipino aesthetics aren't purely Filipino? Well, I'm not going to talk about the whole fact that sh*tty teleseryes are filmed using imported equipment that much here. Rather, I'd like to mention that Filipino aesthetics copied from obvious foreign sources. I don't know if it's true that Chinese traders introduced roasting pork or did the Spanish do it. Regardless, I really always admit that many of my favorite Filipino foods are born of foreign influence. You can take the palabok has both Spanish and Chinese influence. Halo-halo is Japanese shaved ice with a Filipino twist. I could talk about many Filipino foods are derived from Spanish influence. In turn, that makes me more easily adjustable to enjoying Spanish and Mexican foods because they are more or less similar to the Filipino taste. I have nothing against taking foreign inspiration to create something new for Filipinos because if it wasn't for that - I don't think I'd enjoy halo-halo and palabok for a start! Filipinos do owe foreign influence for what they enjoy. Foreigners may too owe Filipinos for enjoying some new stuff. It's all about cultural exchange just like when Filipinos once traded before they were occupied by the Spanish Empire. In short, Filipinos can't even have a "pure Filipino culture" because even their non-colonized ancestors already traded stuff with other people. I wonder what culture did the native Filipinos give to other races during their long history of trading then? I even want to assume that Filipinos who think Chinese brought the concept of lechon here are probably wrong. I'd assume that the Chinese may have learned it from Filipinos instead.
We just need to accept that the modern Philippines is a result of racial and cultural interbreeding. How much foreign influence or "Pinoy" influence is there is but a gray area. If we're to think about it that what's important is that we're learning new stuff. We throw in the good and throw out the bad. It's like we can respect Chinese business ethics but not Chinese drug dealers. We can continue Spanish-style cooking but not the Spanish manana habit. If it wasn't for Pinoy racial and/or cultural interbreeding then the Philippines would still be stuck in the stone age. It doesn't matter anymore of how much "purely Pinoy" or how much of foreign influence is there because they will always be gray areas indeed!