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  • Commentary: Calling Filipinos Resilient Is An Insult

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    Antoninho Arceo
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    1) The author takes issue with descriptions of Filipinos as "resilient" in response to disasters like Typhoon Haiyan, arguing that this characterization portrays Filipinos as passive and inert rather than capable of transformation. 2) Filipino culture has a worldview of reality and identity as metamorphic or capable of transformation, as represented in folktales of heroes who confront challenges and emerge transformed. 3) In the aftermath of catastrophic events like Haiyan, Filipinos do not simply spring back but are profoundly transformed, though the nature of that transformation is complex and difficult for outsiders to comprehend.

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    1) The author takes issue with descriptions of Filipinos as "resilient" in response to disasters like Typhoon Haiyan, arguing that this characterization portrays Filipinos as passive and inert rather than capable of transformation. 2) Filipino culture has a worldview of reality and identity as metamorphic or capable of transformation, as represented in folktales of heroes who confront challenges and emerge transformed. 3) In the aftermath of catastrophic events like Haiyan, Filipinos do not simply spring back but are profoundly transformed, though the nature of that transformation is complex and difficult for outsiders to comprehend.

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    11 views3 pages

    Commentary: Calling Filipinos Resilient Is An Insult

    Uploaded by

    Antoninho Arceo
    1) The author takes issue with descriptions of Filipinos as "resilient" in response to disasters like Typhoon Haiyan, arguing that this characterization portrays Filipinos as passive and inert rather than capable of transformation. 2) Filipino culture has a worldview of reality and identity as metamorphic or capable of transformation, as represented in folktales of heroes who confront challenges and emerge transformed. 3) In the aftermath of catastrophic events like Haiyan, Filipinos do not simply spring back but are profoundly transformed, though the nature of that transformation is complex and difficult for outsiders to comprehend.

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    Commentary: Calling Filipinos resilient is an insult

    By Ninotchka Rosca | Yahoo Southeast Asia Newsroom Mon, Nov 18, 2013

    Reuters/REUTERSRosarioCapidoscriesthankingGodthatsheandherfamilysurvivedtyphoonHaiyanas
    shepraysduringSundayMassatthedamagedSantoNinoChurchinTaclobanNovember17,2013.Mobbed
    bymore
    Theauthorofthispiece,NinotchkaRosca,worksasaliterarywriterandajournalist.Sheisalsoanactivist,
    advocatingforwomensrights.SheresidesinNewYorkCitybutlivesintheworld.
    Itwasdifficulttoseeandhearthosewordsrepeated,inmediareports,articles,militaryandevenWhiteHouse
    briefings:TheFilipinopeopleareresilient.Acharacterizationwhichshouldraiseanyoneshackles,withits
    imageofajellyblob,quiveringwhenpunched,thenquietingbacktowhatitwasbeforetherainofblows:sans
    sharpness,inertandpassive,nonevaluatingofwhathappenstoitsself.

    No,wearenotresilient.

    Webreak,whentheworldisjusttoomuch,andintheprocessofbreaking,aretransformedintosomething
    difficulttounderstand.Orwetakefullmeasureofmisfortune,wrestlewithitandemergetransformedinto
    somethingequallyterrifying.
    Itiswhatisandwhatisnt
    Thisisinsyncwithourindigenousworldview,expressedbyourriddles,thetalinhaga,onwhicheveryFilipino
    childusedtoberaised:anunderstandingofreality,includingourselves,asmetamorphic(or,capableof
    transformation).

    Aleafbynight;abamboobydayishowwelookatourburimat.Itisbothwhatitisandisnt.

    Andbecausethisisaworldviewwhichhastobelivedinsitu,itisunfathomabletotheoutsider,despite
    scholarshipandanalyses,whichcomeupwithnothingbutthelabelresilient.
    Wedontspringback,wetransform
    AcrossoceansandthroughoutthefivecontinentsofthisEarth,wecarrythetalesofouroldheroesandmuses,
    ourelementals,whoconfront,ineachretelling,testsofstrengthandspirit.

    Somebreak,likeMariangMakilingwhohidesinathousandyearhibernation;othersmetamorphose,like
    BernardoCarpiowhobecomesapillarofstonestoppingcliffsfromcavinginonhisvillage.

    Wemaynotremembertheiroldnamesnamesbeingthefirsttobeerasedundercolonialismbutwe
    rememberhowtheywereandhowwearesupposedtobe:metamorphic.
    WhathavewebecomeafterYolanda?
    ThesetwolegendsrepresentthetwinpossibilitiesfortheFilipinosmetamorphosis.Bothareinexplicable
    outsideofthelocalparadigm.JustaswhatwerewatchingnowintheaftermathofTyphoonHaiyan/Yolanda
    seemsinexplicable.

    Whocanfathomwhatdrivesawomantoopenbodybagsofputrefyingcorpsesinsearchofahusband,ason,a
    daughter?Attheendofagazethathaslingeredoverahundreddeadfaces,whatisshenow?

    Whocanmeasuretherageofthepeaceablemanbreakingthroughthewallsofgroceries,warehouses,shopping
    malls?AndhavingpiercedbothlawandwallsofAuthority,whatishenow?
    Theabsenceofthousands
    TosaythatFilipinosareresilientisanassuranceforthosewhohaveimposeduponthemmuchand
    repeatedly.

    Itistosaytothemselvesthatweshakeofftragedymuchlikeducksshakingoffwater.
    Itistoignorethemonumentstowhathasbeensuffered:matchstickdebrisofhouses,muckandmudof
    vanishedcities,stenchofthedeadandoh!theabsence,thousandsofabsence,ofthosewhousedtobeinour
    midst.Whocouldbesoresilientasnottobetransformedbythat?

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