We can’t have a “Why It Feels Great To Be A Pinoy” tag game without having the opposite of it. That’s why I’m starting this tag game myself… and personally, I believe this will help Filipinos be more productive (if acted upon) than the previous game.
To truly know ones self is the only way we could improve on it.
So, this tag game shall be called: “BAD PINOY TRAITS I’D WISH TO CHANGE”
There are lots to enumerate but I will only name about 3 of them to give others a chance to ponder the rest.
Let’s start…
- The “One-Upmanship” Mentality
Pinoys love this as much as the “Crab Mentality” we also possess (I’ll get to the “Crab-Mentality” later). It’s the trait most pinoys have that makes ‘em want to always be ahead of everyone else regardless of how complex or petty the situation is.
Say for example you’re in the middle of traffic… bumper to bumper… and all of a sudden the lane on your right starts to move forward. You decide to slide in since there is a considerable gap on that lane between the vehicle in front and the vehicle behind. You switch on your signal light to indicate your intention to move to the right lane. As soon as the vehicle at the back notices your right signal light blinking, he zooms straight forward not wanting you to get ahead of him or at the least slide in. What’s with that?! It always happens… and it doesn’t make sense!
- The “Crab-Mentality”
Crab mentality describes a way of thinking best described by the phrase “if I can’t have it, neither can you.”
The metaphor refers to a pot of crabs in which one tries to escape over the side, but is relentlessly pulled down by the others in the pot. This term is broadly associated with short-sighted, non-constructive thinking rather than a unified, long-term, constructive mentality.
It is also often used colloquially in reference to individuals or communities attempting to “escape” a so-called “underprivileged life”, but kept from doing so by those others of the same community or nation attempting to ride upon their coat-tails.
For Pinoys, crab mentality is the tendency to “outdo another at the other’s expense” or to “pull down those who strive to be better.”
- Ignorance and Willful Ignorance
Pinoys love to ignore rules and regulations. You can see this everywhere. Either falling in line at your nearby fastfood stall or simply just following your everyday traffic light.
It’s the choice to not act or behave in accordance with regard to certain information in order to suit ones own needs.
Willful Ignorance on the otherhand is a bad faith decision to avoid becoming informed about something so as to avoid having to make undesirable decisions that such information might prompt.
Oh! And notice how when other pinoys get away with not following the rules, others immediately follow suit… now THAT’S Pinoy!
I could go on and on… but where is the fun in that if I don’t give you guys the opportunity to think of the others. So go ahead… post your comments below… I’m sure you could come up with really good ones!
TAG TIME! Haha… now I get to tag 10 friends whom I haven’t tagged recently.
You’re TAGGED: Jun, Tingting, Jonas, Jim, Sir Martin, Jepoy, Laarni, Martin, Jay, and Eric
Bagong Puna