Why An Onion Skinned Attitude Won't Help the Philippines!

Yes folks... this is the mascot of Failipino Pride

I wanted to write on this not ever since the satirical blog "So What's News?" released that picture above called B. Sibuyas for Tekken 7. Although the picture is an obvious fake but somehow, it well portrays the onion skinned mentality of many Pinoys. Now being a Pinoy does not mean a person is a Pinoy Pridist or FLIPFAG. However what is sad to say is that there are more Pinoys who choose to become FLIPFAGs/Failipinos than who choose to become the enlightened Pinoy/Filipino. The attitude of being onion-skinned refers to one who is easily offended by just almost everything, refusing to discern words and being overly sensitive.

I was tempted to write this as an issue started with Josie Rizal (A Filipino character for Tekken 7)which people viewed as an insult to the national hero Jose Rizal. What has happened is that National Center of Culture and Arts of the Philippines had responded to it, revealing how onion-skinned they really are. I mean, South Koreans DID NOT even react to the villainous Juri in Street Fighter (who was Korean) nor did Spain react against Vega (Balrog in Japan) and he was also a villain. So why get mad over Josie Rizal? The whole issue of the NCCA and the conflict it had with Namco Bandai is just a microcosm of what's wrong with our country. Come on, is it really that important of an issue?

What I have observed is that Failipinos are obviously onion-skinned crybabies one way or another. After all, do not they uphold the wrong value of Pinoy Pride right? It just reminds me of some idiotic FLIPFAG sailor whose name I will not mention but he said, "If you don't accept Pinoy Pride, I better not see you n the Philippines or I will punch you!" to me in the Get Real Philippines group. What I noticed is that while they are quick to criticize others, they refuse to give a critical outlook on things hence why they cannot accept criticism. For them, they have their wrong outlook that, "I am always right and you are always wrong. I am smarter than everyone else." type of attitude. A good critic criticizes himself first before others and his/her purpose of criticism is out of concern for the well-being of people he/she cares about. FLIPFAGs are a bad type of critic... they make biased criticisms, based on their bloated ego, OA personality and the like... that is they just criticize you to overpower you than to help you just like Krisis Aquino and her supporters.

Sad to say but when you think of it, the Failipino value of having an onion-skinned outlook in life is really a result of almost 300 years of Spanish occupation. Not only did they give the name "Philippines" after a Spanish king called Philip I, they have also contaminated it with its wrong values. When I think about studying Jose Rizal's life, why was he sentenced to death in spite of the fact that he DID NOT do anything heinous? He was not even guilty of anything worthy of death... it was all because his writings criticized the inhumanities of the government of his time and the lifestyles of people. When I think about the Spanish, even some Filipino-Spanish friends of mine refuse to be called Spanish because of negative connotations it had with Spaniards. Based on stereotypes, anybody who was a Spaniard was described to be arrogant, self-centered and conceited. You can see how Imperial Spain itself had a reputation for being an arrogant imperial force and sad to say, even if Imperial Spain left Manila, Manila never left Imperial Spain's arrogant system.

Likewise, even some of today's laws and proposed laws are a result of being onion-skinned crybabies. When I think of the Congress' proposal to disallow Filipinos from bringing in copyrighted materials from abroad, it's obvious that our entertainment industry is full of onion-skinned crybabies. When I think of the anti-cybercrime law, the reasons for wanting it implemented were not even logical. First, cybercrime law is NOT necessary because any form of harassment, cyber or not, is still harassment and two, cyber-theft can be prosecuted under theft laws so it's redundant. The cybercrime law is no better than the oppressive Marcos years. I mean if the late Ferdinand E. Marcos Sr. had journalists shot down because they criticized him or maybe, just maybe, he had the parents of whoever offended Bongbong in school arrested, jailed and paid a hefty fine. For the cybercrime law to lock anyone for liking a STUPID MEME of politicians or statements against them proves how our country has an onion-skinned culture... they can't handle the truth and they want to repress the truth.

It can also be observed how the culture is full of onion-skinned people during last year's One Direction ticket line incident. Now I have nothing against buying that ticket if you have excess money but I find it impractical considering it's just an hour concert vs. if it was a packaged tour. Now I could be wrong but I felt like the onion-skinned attitude also happened when some people made comments that it was impractical for those teenagers to buy a ticket that expensive and I was one of them. Now I can understand the feeling of sadness when you miss a chance of a lifetime but the way they acted was like as if them celebrities knew them. While some of my friends found the whole incident funny, I didn't because it reminded me of how stupid the culture is. If you think I'm jealous, again what's there to be jealous about? Jealous of their impracticality? Besides, it seems to be that part of their onion-skinned behavior is that, they think everyone who points out their mistakes are but a bunch of jealous people. For them, criticism always equals jealous and all criticism is bad. Again crying is normal, getting upset is normal but throwing a tantrum is very uncalled for, heck even one parent showed her stupidity on national television.

Not to mention, I have observed how these onion-skinned losers DO NOT even take things into context. When you think about it, FLIPFAG Internet users do not even bother to read a post completely. They just read the word "Failipino" even if the word was used like, "You can be born Pinoy but you can choose not to become a Failipino." they erupt and say, "How dare you call us Failipinos! We are Filipinos!" showing how often that they KEEP MISSING THE POINT. While one must learn to use their heart, but the heart is never meant to operate without the brain and vice-versa. We feel with our hearts but we think with our brains. FLIPFAGs only think with their emotions without letting the brain rationalize through their feelings. They show it with their rude and crude language in social media. Whether or not they use "Anonymous" is not the issue but sometimes, it proves that they are a bunch of cowards or even if they use their real names, they are still a bunch of cowards because if you criticize them, even as nicely as possible, do not expect them to play nice with you. That's why I've been blocking people left and right to avoid confrontation with a group of idiots who don't see they are the ones who are stupid.

It's also a thinkers-doers situation. Why does a thief get afraid that somebody will steal from him or her? It's as the Tagalog proverb says, "The thief is angry with his or her fellow thief." and it does make sense. It reminded me of why would a womanizer then doubt his wife or mistress on cheating on him? It's because he is exactly doing the same thing to both parties. Their onion-skinned attitude may step from this reality because they are very good at insulting others, they immediately think that when they are corrected or constructively criticized, they are insulted. After all isn't the Golden Rule said, "Do not do unto others as you do not want others to do unto you?" or if stated positively, "Do unto others what you want others to do unto you?" In short, life is all about give and take. Parasitism does not last long as a parasite would one day kill its host. Instead, it's all about mutual benefit that is a give and take relationship.

So why doesn't an onion-skinned personality help? Like it or not, we all make mistakes and nobody likes being told they are wrong when one's pride is sky high right? In life, we are destined to stumble down. Even some of the best are destined to stumble down sometime in their life. What may work yesterday may not work today. In life, we can never say we'll never make bad decisions. We all need feedback not in a one-sided manner but a cycle of feedback since everybody's a critic in their own way right? I mean, let's just think what's one of the biggest secrets of success for businesses? It's all about feedback and analyzing them. When you think of it, I remembered how a Chinese restaurant I enjoyed eating it would always ask for customer's opinions and complaints so they can give better service. Likewise, some software companies always had an "send error report" program installed just in case, their program had bugs so they can fix it. A life without constructive criticism is just like having food without spice. After all, constructive criticism is not just praise but it also reveals to us what we need to do and how to do it.