CALAWOD, FEBE NAOMI DC.

Assignment #5

KAS 1- T3 February 27, 2020

Examples of the Issues and Problems in History

1. Public/Popular History
President William McKinley termed “benevolent assimilation” which refers to the American
policy of absorbing the Filipinos into their culture out of their desire to “civilize” the Filipinos.
According to him, Filipinos are too uneducated and uncivilized to govern themselves, hence the
need for American intervention. However, the total opposite can also be said for the reason
behind it. In truth, America valued the Philippines mainly because of economic and strategic
reasons. Located in such a vital area and blessed with many natural resources the Philippines
was a tempting target for any country seeking to expand its power and influence in Asia.

Source: 8 Dark Chapters of Filipino-American History We Rarely Talk About (2019) from
https://filipiknow.net/philippine-american-history/

2. Generalization
For their loyalty to the Spanish and, later, the Americans; and for their role in the arrest
and capture of General Emilio Aguinaldo, the Macabebes and generally the Kapampangans,
were lunfairly branded as “dugong aso.” They were generalized and were called traitors up until
this day, for throwing their co-Filipino under the bus. However, in another perspective The
Macabebe Scouts captured Gen. Aguinaldo not because they were traitors, but because they
wanted revenge. They complained that the Tagals (Tagalogs) murdered them and burned their
villages, and they asked to be protected and given arms to protect themselves.

Source:

“The fight to remove ‘dugong aso’ tag,” by Tonette Oreja, published 2014, online at the
Philippine Daily Inquirer. From https://www.batangashistory.date/2018/09/macabebe-
scouts.html
https://www.facebook.com/ccw.pampangachapter/posts/not-traitors-but-avengersthe-
macabebe-scouts-captured-gen-aguinaldo-not-because-/1512048105792072/.
3. Conspiracy Theories
Emilio Aguinaldo killed of his rivals.
On June 5, 1889, Aguinaldo sent a telegram to Luna, asking to meet in a convent. When
Luna and his aide arrived, they found not Aguinaldo but rather a group of assassins who shot
and stabbed both men to death. According to theorists, Aguinaldo’s mother peeked from the
window of the convent and asked, “Is he still moving?” Even though Aguinaldo wasn’t directly
linked to the killings, it wouldn’t have been out of character for him. Those who ran for the
presidency years later used this to their advantage, casting doubt on Aguinaldo’s legacy by
pointing out the unsolved intrigue behind the murders of both Luna and the Bonifacios.

Source: https://listverse.com/2014/10/19/10-conspiracy-theories-from-the-philippines/

4. Myths and Mythology

Gregorio del Pilar was the last man to die at the Battle of Tirad Pass, desperately
charging into battle with his white horse whilst clutching a saber before falling to the superior
firearms of the Americans is a myth. As fate would have it, del Pilar actually died early in the
battle and it was due to his own carelessness. A few minutes into the battle, del Pilar raised his
head because of the tall cogon grass and ordered his men to stop firing because he wanted to
see the American position. Carrasco warned the boy general that he should crouch down
because he was being targeted. Unfortunately, no sooner than he said that, an American bullet
found its mark and shot through del Pilar’s neck, killing him instantly.

5. Nationalism
The period of German nationalism has long been known as a time of dramatic disturbance
marked by the decline and disintegration of the old Holy Roman Empire, the development of
civil society, the Enlightenment, and its mental, cultural, and political consequences from the
decreasing cohesion of the Christian confessions to the development of liberalism.

Source: Jansen, C. (2011). The Formation of German Nationalism, 1740-1850

frhttps://www.oxfordhandbooks.com/view/10.1093/oxfordhb/9780199237395.001.0001/oxfor
dhb-9780199237395-e-11om
6. Nostalgia

For years Marcos apologists glorified Ferdinand Marcos and his doings and would always
defend his legacy, always using the same arguments like he made the country rich, and that he
built a lot of infrastructures, and that the Philippines was the Tiger of Asia at that time. Most of
the Marcos apologists view Martial Law as a time of economic growth and stability however,
they have put aside the fact that Ferdinand Marcos, is a dictator who enforced kidnapping,
torture, rape, massacres and tons of human rights abuses and has no right to be a hero.

Source: Confessions of a Former Marcos Apologist from

https://www.42rulesforlife.com/marcos-apologist/

7. The Noble Savage

In the study “Pre-arranged Marriage Among B’laan Secondary Students: Tales Of Joy
And Sorrow”, conducted by Helen B. Matas, she stated that B’laan students involved in pre-
arranged marriage, experienced eight major themes generated which were agony and torment,
confined and held captive,contempt, absence of courtship, violence, suffering and deprivation,
harmonization, and freedom regained. Matas stated – “ The results of these pre-arranged
marriage experienced by B’laan students imply that Philippine Government needs to address
these complex issues of our femalestudents who are victims of this kind of tribal marriage, pre-
arranging the marriage of young children as part of their culture and tradition.”

Source: http://www.ijoart.org/docs/Pre-
arranged_Marriage_Among_Blaan_Secondary_Students_Tales_Of_Joy_And_Sorrow.pdf

8. Eurocentrism
In most sociological theory textbooks, Europeans are the knowing subjects, that is, the
social theorists and social thinkers. To the extent that non-Europeans figure in these accounts,
they are objects of the observations and analyses of the European theorists, such as the
Indians and Algerians in Marx’s writings or Turks, Chinese, and Jews in Weber’s works. They do
not appear as sources of sociological concepts and ideas. For example, Maus does not refer to
any non-European in his chapter on the antecedents of sociology (Maus 1962 [1956]: ch. 1).

Source: http://sociology.iresearchnet.com/sociology-of-race/eurocentrism/
9. “Top-down” or “Bottom-up”
Examples of “top-down” history includes Chinese books that talk about the power and
dynasties of China throughout the years. On the other hand, examples of “bottom-up” history
are C.L.R. James’ Black Jacobins and W.E.B. DuBois’ Black Reconstruction, both penned in the
1930s. These works gave voice to slaves, ex-slaves and workers. By and large, however, they
were anomalies. Both works garnered little attention from the history profession.

Source: https://solidarity-us.org/p2189/

10. Militarization of History

Japanese militarism is the ideology of Japan that the strength of the military is the strength
of the nation and that militarism should dominate the social and political aspect of the nation.
The need for a strong military to secure Japan's new overseas empire was strengthened by a
sense that only through a strong military would Japan earn the respect of western nations, and
thus revision of the unequal treaties.

Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Japanese_militarism