Mallari, Rachelle M.

BEEd 2A
GE-Ethics | ASSESSMENT 2

1. Discuss your understanding of cultural embeddedness in your

behavior. Cite some of your behaviors that you think are product of
culture.

For me, cultural embeddedness is the process of acquiring culture

or cultural knowledge and how it affects our behavior as a human being.
For culture is also one of the main shapers of our character and how we
behave righteously.

I am fond of serving at church to pray and have a strong devotion

since I was a child and I must say that I have been influenced by my
Grandmother who has been very religious up until now. She always take
me with her as she go to church to attend the mass and pray solemnly.

Another behavior that I have is that I am used to say po and opo to the
elderly (all the time) and greet them typically so by taking their hand lightly
on my forehead or what we call pagmamano. Growing up, our parents
strictly made us observe this good manners as it is one way of giving
respect to the elders.

Another example, my siblings and I are trained to be obedient all the time.
Since we are a child, we are disciplined by our parents. We have
experienced different types of punishments. I never understood back then
but now I have realized that is our parent’s way to make us a disciplined
human being.

2. Discuss your idea of cultural relativism. Cite three instances where

cultural relativism should be observed.

Cultural Relativism is the view that all beliefs, traditions, rituals

and cultures are related to one’s own standards. Since there are no
universal standard of morality exist and every society has its own culture,
no one has the right to judge another society’s customs for what is
considered right to others, can be considered wrong to another and vice
versa.

For example, here in the Philippines, premarital sex is morally

unacceptable but in other countries like the United States, losing their
virginity at teenage years is no big deal.

Another instance, here in the Philippines, abortion is the most evil act that
is strictly prohibited for it suggest killing the life of an unconscious human
 being but in other countries such as Poland, Turkey, Denmark, Sweden,
Iceland, Mexico etc., abortion is legalized in some special cases such as
pregnancy from rape, threat to mother’s health and fetal malformation.

In religious case, for example eating pig’s blood is just a normal thing to
Roman Catholics but eating blood of any animal is completely prohibited
and sinful to the members of Iglesia ni Cristo as it is stated in their own
bible.

3. Write an essay that will narrate your personal experience as to how

the problems that we experience today are rooted in Filipino culture.

In today’s generation, there are a lot of problems that we encounter

as millennials that are somehow rooted in Filipino Culture. We, millennials
call it the Toxic Filipino Culture. These are the cultures that were
somehow problematic and complicated for us, people.
The first experience that I encounter is when you are a servant in
church, you are expected to do only good things and to be righteous. Little
did they know, that being in church doesn’t always means that you are
perfectly good and righteous. I myself, claims that I am not always kind
and giving. I am imperfect that is why I turn to God for Him to fulfill my
shortcomings. I don’t understand why people tend to anticipate that every
church goer needs to be and to do good things all the time (which is
absolutely unrealistic) and judge them just because they don’t see the
good in them.
Another experience that I encounter is Mañana Habit. This is one of my
greatest problem today. I tend to postpone things that I should do today
and reschedule it again and again until I forget to do it. It is my fault to be
cramming when the deadline is near because of my non-stop
procrastination.
Another example is I can’t defend myself or explain my side when it
comes to arguments with my parents. In our home, they are always right
and I have no right to justify myself because if I speak up, I would be
considered rude and bad child. That is why I tend to share my thoughts
and feelings only to my siblings and friends and I just shut my mouth up
when my parents scolds me.
There are a lot of toxic Filipino cultures left unmentioned that we
still experience nowadays. And I think that it would be nice that we should
help in the proliferation of the good culture, change the bad habits and
help our society evolve into the best version it could be so that the future
generations will proudly apply the Filipino-style of parenting, judgment,
customs, ethics and different practices.