Why Do Some Foreigners Act Superior To Filipinos?

[Travis]

first I am not sure if I put this in the correct place so if not please move it and sorry for the errorI believe that all men are created equal & I want to know if some men from certain countries think they are better than Filipino just because they happened to grow up in another country that afforded them an easier life? I would bet that some of the guys who treat locals poorly think they are better than them & that is why they act that way. I would also bet that those same guys would never have survived if they grew up poor or were place in a setting where they had to live like a poor Filipino. I know that I couldn't do it so I give Filipinos a lot of credit for their survival skills & I also treat all people with respect & especially Filipinos because the more I deal with them the more I respect them. I do not wish to insult any one kind of people but I suspect that you all know who you are, yeah you guys with the I am better than everyone else in the world, well I want to tell you that you are no better & when your time comes to meet your maker, you will see how wrong you have been your whole lives and pay for it. ok I said my piece and I apologize to all Filipinos for the way the drunk foreigners like the one I watched on tv treats you please understand that we are not all like him

[Mik]

I agree with you Traveler. Maybe that's why some of us moved to the Philippines. Many people in the US are getting weird. You can easily see it when out shopping for example.People seem more normal here in Cebu. Madness has not infected the general populace yet.

Edited July 4, 2009 by M.Morey

[jamesmusslewhite]

TES,and this is what I believe is the heart of the problem. Ignorance, and some have to feel as if they are better than the next. It is generally taught to them by others around them, Elitist, raciest, separatist, sect believers. It is in our DNA just lurking to show to the surface. North hates South, East hates West, Lowlanders hate Highlanders, Coastal hate Inlander, and vice versa. I believe that is a major flaw of our human nature, and we all have it. I know that some will say "NOT ME!" I am too good to be characterized with such a broad stroke. I am too smart, too religious, too good, Too ???. And there "it" is Hiding in each of us!I have a simple test: You have a special sports team? Do they have a rival team? They beat you in the big game, because of the play of one of their great players. You will despise that player. He then gets traded to your team, and you still hate him? No, now you can actually like him. What about that man has changed? A colored shirt? We hated him just last year, when he wore that other team's colored shirt, but now he is wearing our team's color shirt. Same man, different shirt, and now he is cool.We have to realize that we are all of one DNA, and we share a one common mother and father DNA. Our great ancestors stepped off the same boat together. Every man, woman, and child on this planet are cousins. We are all family. One big squabbling dysfunctional family. You know what they say about family?"If you could pick your family like you pick your friends, than you would have none of them either!" hehehe It is ignorance that divides us.I am not a huge Michael Jackson fan, but we were born in the same year. He did have a song that does seem appropriate for this topic, and has the simplistic solution to this universal problem.The Michael Jackson song "Man in the mirror" I have to look at the man in the mirror,I'm Asking Him To Change His Ways.No Message Could Have Been Any Clearer.If You Wanna Make The World A Better Place, Take A Look At Yourself And Then Make A Change.

Edited July 9, 2009 by jamesmusslewhite

[buster]

I think that acting superior shows both immaturity and arrogance. I have seen it in the Philippines but also in Bali Indonesia. Without wanting to generalise itoo much in Bali it is typically people on cheap package tours who are on their first holday overseas or sometimes a person who has been there before and is trying to show off to some first timers. As an Aussie I have cringed when i hear the way some fellow Aussies (but not only Aussies) speak to hotel or bar staff etc. I think it is inexperience in travelling and havhg no understanding of the people of the country they are visiting nor any inclination to learn or try to understand them. One pet theory I have is that they are people who have fairly ordinary lives in their own country who find themselves comparative millionaires in an Asian country and take the opportunity to lord it over the locals.As a person who loves meeting the locals and chatting and getting to know them I have great difficulty understanding this superior attitude especially when you remember that we are guests in their country.

[jamesmusslewhite]

I think that acting superior shows both immaturity and arrogance. I have seen it in the Philippines but also in Bali Indonesia. Without wanting to generalise itoo much in Bali it is typically people on cheap package tours who are on their first holday overseas or sometimes a person who has been there before and is trying to show off to some first timers. As an Aussie I have cringed when i hear the way some fellow Aussies (but not only Aussies) speak to hotel or bar staff etc. I think it is inexperience in travelling and havhg no understanding of the people of the country they are visiting nor any inclination to learn or try to understand them. One pet theory I have is that they are people who have fairly ordinary lives in their own country who find themselves comparative millionaires in an Asian country and take the opportunity to lord it over the locals.As a person who loves meeting the locals and chatting and getting to know them I have great difficulty understanding this superior attitude especially when you remember that we are guests in their country.

you understand the secret then;You have to first be willing to show respect, before you can earn the right to be respected. Sounds like your parents taught you to be respectful of others as you were being raised. Some people never got that lesson. Your theory about people finding themselves feeling that they now have money and acting the fool is very true. The old rich families have a term they use. "New Money" and the "Old Money" will not really associate with them for that very reason. "New Money" just do not know how to act, they can be multi-millionaires and still drink from the finger bowls. They just make fools of themselves.

[Travis]

you understand the secret then;You have to first be willing to show respect, before you can earn the right to be respected.

you are so correct

[tropicalwaste]

Ignorance and arrogance are the two root causes, look at Spain with its Brit invasion with the british menus in the restaurants etc. But also you see aggression in the people who are on the package holidays. Buy low budget but its big bucks to them so they act as if they are staying at the Hilton and want the same service. Ive spent most of my life in different countries and your right when you say its in the DNA. E.g. The Greeks look down on the Albanians and pay them lower salaries as seasonal staff. Also the fact Filipinos generally say to my wife im not like a foreigner but then again I dont see myself as a foreigner. Cebu is my home and where my family are, if you act like a foreigner in a foreign land you will always be one.There is also the fact people say "sir" and open doors for you etc. as a mechanic or some other working job back in your home countries how often would that happen? Thing is to keep a level head and there was something that bugged me the other day to do with the Philippines Blog awareds "open to Filipinos" so I emailed them saying is it only open to Filipinos?Reply came back - Yes.. only filipinos and foreigners with blogs on the Philippines..Made my day as I found it a bit offensive trying to intregrate into the Philippines fully to then find it was a grammer problem..but do I blame them for it? No.. because I should be speaking Cebuano..