TheMason Posted July 4, 2009 Posted July 4, 2009 I am a Filipino and it upsets me to see how some foreigners treat my countrymen. Some of you are very nice but the bad foreigners make all foreigners start to look bad.Are you equally upset about the way some Filipinos treat foreigners? The tendency to draw a stereotype based on the actions of some foreigners is the same behavior that fuels sterotypes about Filipinos being mail-order brides, gold diggers, or a country of servants. Let's face it, the headline 'Foreigner Donates Time and Money to Teach Local Children' doesn't make the news, but 'Drunk Foreigner Abuses Locals' is a media sensation. By the same token, 'Filipina and Kano Happily Married After 30 Years' is not news, but 'Filipina Abandons Husband to Die in Cebu' is. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mik Posted July 4, 2009 Posted July 4, 2009 I didn't see the TV news featuring Mr "D", but it sounds like it could have been titled "Reasons why some people shouldn't drink".Magnum Force (1973)Harry Callahan: "A man's got to know his limitations." Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sampaguita Posted July 4, 2009 Posted July 4, 2009 I am a Filipino and it upsets me to see how some foreigners treat my countrymen. Some of you are very nice but the bad foreigners make all foreigners start to look bad.Are you equally upset about the way some Filipinos treat foreigners? The tendency to draw a stereotype based on the actions of some foreigners is the same behavior that fuels sterotypes about Filipinos being mail-order brides, gold diggers, or a country of servants. Let's face it, the headline 'Foreigner Donates Time and Money to Teach Local Children' doesn't make the news, but 'Drunk Foreigner Abuses Locals' is a media sensation. By the same token, 'Filipina and Kano Happily Married After 30 Years' is not news, but 'Filipina Abandons Husband to Die in Cebu' is.Sir surely you are not saying that it is OK get drunk and assault or insult a Filipino? I have seen too many times to count in my lifetime where a foreigner who must think he is better than a Filipino will bully or verbally insult them because they did not understand what was asked, and the problem seems to be getting worse as time goes on. Many times when I have been with my husband in a store or restaurant a foreigner will say "what are you stupid" to a sales person or waiter and it is actually the foreigner who is the one being stupid because they are in the Philippines and English is not the national language so unless they have learned to speak Tagalog or Bisaya perfectly and the way we speak it, how do they expect us to understand them with their twang in their voice and on top of that we do not learn English the way it is spoken in the US or maybe other countries. I am educated and I have a hard time understanding the way many foreigners speak English and many of you speak too fast too. So to answer your question, yes it upsets me equally when some of my countrymen treat foreigners poorly or take advantage of them, but for the most part most of the Filipinos I know hold most foreigners with the highest regard and some seem to even put you all up on a pedestal and isn't that one of the reasons so many go to the Philippines. Also I did say some foreigners but the bad ones do in my opinion make many of the good ones look bad and that hurts me too because my husband is an American and I fear that he too will be treated poorly or arrested because of what others do even when he treats all people with respect that deserve respect.Also the news is not fair in the Philippines but the news in the United States is equally unfair and only bad news seems to get reported in both places from what I read or see on TV so your point is not valid. When talking about stereotypes seeing men old enough to be my great great great grandfather walking around the malls with girls young enough to be my great grandchildren and hugging and acting like school kids does sort of make for a stereotype of its own. I think some foreigners should think about how Filipinos view them when out in public in a typically reserved country. I am not saying that they should not have those girlfriends or wives but they should think about how they behave in public and not make a spectacle of themselves if they do not want to create that type of stereotype. Also many of us are treated poorly by our own people because of the stereotype some foreigners create with their actions, one day when I was with my husband walking to our home and two other foreigners we know joined us walking, a truck load of uneducated Filipinos asked me if I was going to take them all on and that is because of how they see foreigners because of how they act in public, so any of us with a foreigner must be a bar girl in their minds. So unless the growing number of bad foreigners stop coming to the Philippines or alter their behavior, I fear that most of you will be seen as bad, not by me because I have lived in the US and see many more than just visitors or expatriates but by the many of my countrymen who have not had the opportunity to see any but the small number they meet in the Philippines. Last, how do you suppose stereotypes get started in the first place, what one does often reflects poorly on what people think of others. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
brock Posted July 5, 2009 Posted July 5, 2009 When i see a foreigner with a girl out walking or in the mall or whatever, I am thinking its his gf or wife, But when a filipino sees a foreigner with a girl they assume she is a prostitute. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tom_shor Posted July 5, 2009 Posted July 5, 2009 When i see a foreigner with a girl out walking or in the mall or whatever, I am thinking its his gf or wife, But when a filipino sees a foreigner with a girl they assume she is a prostitute.Maybe we also need a topic Filipinos behaving badly. I have seen that kind of thing several times before. It is sad to see people who are guests in the Philippines behaving rudely. I suspect at least some of these people behave the same in their own country. Then of course you have those who feel since this is a foreign country it is ok to behave badly. I have met a few of these through the years. I try to stay away from them once I have identified them because I don't want to be collateral damage when it finally catches up with them. Maybe there should be some kind of exam for a drinking licence and those who can't hold their liquor should not be allowed to drink. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Travis Posted July 10, 2009 Posted July 10, 2009 When i see a foreigner with a girl out walking or in the mall or whatever, I am thinking its his gf or wife, But when a filipino sees a foreigner with a girl they assume she is a prostitute.if true that is very bad, how do you suppose we can change their thoughts? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tom_shor Posted July 10, 2009 Posted July 10, 2009 When i see a foreigner with a girl out walking or in the mall or whatever, I am thinking its his gf or wife, But when a filipino sees a foreigner with a girl they assume she is a prostitute.if true that is very bad, how do you suppose we can change their thoughts?We could wash their brains out with soap. Unfortunately for many people who think that way (Not just filipinos they are everywhere) there is nothing you can do. They are ignorant by choice and resist any attempt to enlighten them. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jamesmusslewhite Posted July 10, 2009 Posted July 10, 2009 (edited) I feel like we are the unofficial Ambassadors of our country, and the State we came from. I came from the "State of Texas", not the "State of Confusion". Edited July 10, 2009 by jamesmusslewhite Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BobNChe Posted July 11, 2009 Posted July 11, 2009 (edited) Just want to say this about that. :-)There are situations where I've seen even the most mild mannered individual get a bit over the line while drinking. It's one of the pitfalls of over imbibing. I'm sure the majority of us have been there a time or two, Filipinos included I'm sure.It's common to single out one incident and then form opinions. But in the long run most people who get themselves into a bad situation like that are not bad people, just human.Not to mention that if I am not mistaken, the incident which started this thread was instigated by an unscrupulous taxi driver who tried to take advantage of the man's condition and give him the scenic tour of Cebu. Had that not occurred, I'm not sure that we would even be discussing anything. To that end, the foreigner did not become abusive until he was unfairly taken advantage of. So is this a case of an abusive foreigner, or just a bad example (by a foreigner) of the consequences which can take place because of the propensity many Filipinos have to take advantage of foreigners at any given chance?There was another well established foreigner who went into the hospital recently for a hernia operation. The doctors and the hospital, in my opinion and his, took advantage of his condition and piled on inflated charge after charge. When he made a comment about it, the reply from one of the hospital staff was "you are a foreigner and it is so little money to you". That is exactly the way many Filipinos think, that it's ok to rip you off because you can afford it.I know for me it get's bad some days when even little things like jeepney conductors giving me incorrect change for my fair or trying to keep my change altogether, it really frustrates me. If you ask around and get down to the mentality behind it, it's always that the foreigner is rich and it does not matter to him. It's not the little things that happen, it's the constant barrage of little things that wear you down dealing with this mentality.I did not see the video clip so I have no opinion there, I'm just saying that we should hopefully jot judge individuals by their actions during one bad day.And James, most of the time Kanos (Aussie to New Zealanders) are relegated to being nothing more than Ambassadors of Kwan. Edited July 11, 2009 by BobNChe Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mr Lee Posted July 11, 2009 Author Posted July 11, 2009 (edited) Bob, I have heard every excuse in the book when people committed crimes against others, from I was drunk, to the one the Son of Sam used when he said his dog made him do it. The fact is that we are individuals who should be responsible for our own actions and getting drunk and using that as an excuse just does not cut it, and two wrongs do not make a right. People die when others drive drunk and the drunk drivers go to jail for the murder and do not get out because they were just drunk. The taxi driver did what so many Filipinos do to us on a daily basis as you so astutely pointed out and the answer is either leave the Philippines or learn to live with it. Sorry Bob but the I was drunk excuse is getting old to me and to the best of my knowledge David Berkowitz's dog never went to jail and David Berkowitz is hopefully still in jail and will hopefully die in jail. I do not know Mr. D and I have no ax to grind against him but the, I was drunk just does not cut it as an excuse anymore, what if he killed the taxi driver, would it still be OK? Yeah I know, he could have always paid off the drivers family, but is that really right either. Those of us who live in the Philippines or visit the Philippines, have no right to abuse the locals, period, and if one of us cannot learn to hold our liqueur then we really need to not drink in public anymore. Edited July 11, 2009 by Mr. Lee Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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