As a guy that heard and read numerous conflicts that abound the argument mentioned in the title in this entry, I am truly disheartened. Not only to the fact that there is an unbelievably number of people that thinks according to the idea of the argument, but because inspite of all the peers/friends/colleagues that I have already given advise regarding this, they're still hooked to it.
Love is an electromagnetic impulse from the hypothalamus gland. Well, as far as physiology is concerned, it is. Anyway...
I am surprised-- and appalled-- by people who actually believe (usually not consciously) that love and related processes are in that organ: the heart. The media and other social institutions have already ingrained to almost all people that love resides there, which is NOT. The heart is not also pink, or red; its actually black.
The reason why many people, including intellectuals, attribute love to the heart is because when experiencing ANY EMOTION, an individual immediately feels something in his/her heart. And love, being the most influential emotion, gained the right to be primarily attributed to the said organ. So?
Love or any emotion are located inside the brain. So?
The reason, I believe, that many people find it hard to solve problems like "career vs. relationship" is because they dicotomize the mind from emotion. In Filipino parlance: "isip laban sa puso". And in thinking in such a limiting framework, the possible solutions are also limited because one thing is exclusively in one and cannot be in the other. What people do not realize is that the two are separate, yet intertwined, ideas. That is why I believe that, forgive me from sounding cheesy, true love is a balance between the mind and emotion. Partly logical, partly not. The same thing goes for the problem with most people is that they think with their hopes and dreams, rather than with their minds (more on this in another post that I'll make).
We are too saturated with bivariate logic, as if it is is truth speaking for itself. I envy the natives that I know, because that do not think really that way. They do not over-departmentalize things so that they could still see the inter-connectedness of all objects.
I hope, reader, that you take my side, even if only patially, on the matter.
Merci!
Tuesday, June 26, 2007
Friday, June 22, 2007
On SHC's English Campaign
The BED of Sacred Heart College has been implementing the english campaign to the students. At first, it was OK for us way back in highschool. But 2 or 3 years ago, it reached a distressing level, at least for me. They are mandating the students to speak the language exclusively, save for some exceptions like their Filipino or Sibika classes. Worse, they are not letting ANY articles in the school paper in Filipino because of the campaign. The rationale is obvious: to make the students "competitive" in the future by speaking it. Again, this spells doom, at least for me. And I am NOT over-reacting. What I'm about to say below is not based on hearsay or indoctrination. It is actually pedantic.
Language, defined, is a collection of spoken words that is arranged arbitrarily and used by a particular group of people.
Words are representations of everything in a people's experience. Therefore, a word cannot exist in a language if the people who use it originally DO NOT experience it. For example, the Filipino word yelo came from the Spanish hielo, the term for ice. Why did we copy it from them? Because it DOES NOT exist in the original experiences of our ancestors.
It therefore follows that an individual's limitation on language is also his/her limitation on his/her world. We did not experienced hamburgers until the americans came so we do not have a native term for it, it DID NOT EXIST in the world of Filipinos before they introduced it here.
That is why if you want to control or influence a group of people, you have to alter and modify their culture by any means. And language is one effective avenue for this. Ever wonder why the youth nowadays are not that nationalistic anymore compared to past generations? That is because most of them speak a language that is already buthcered, mixed or combined. In the Filipino layman's term-- chopsuey na walang lasa (tasteless/bland chopsuey). Therefore, it is reasonable to think that when a group's commitment to their own language falters, their genuine, indegenous culture also suffers. This contributes to the diminishing nationalism not only of the youth, but majority of the Filipinos. And for god's sake, nationalism does not merely border on basking in the light of glory when athletes or performers win in international competitions.
Going back to the original topic, the primary reason why the BED implements such things is to encourage the students to be fluent in the language, therefore increasing the probability that they would join the bandwagon of foreign employment and contribute to the ever-increasing brain drain in the country, in the case of SHC-- NURSING. You do not know how much it pains me to hear people look for JOBS and not CAREER; how everybody wants to be a nurse not because of their calling to take care of the sick, but primarily TO EARN MORE MONEY ABROAD. The same goes for those wanting to be in the US Marines, Armed Forces or call centers. And I blame the educational system for this, aside from the government and media.
I do not condemn the campaign, I just want to emphasize that it must be lessened a little. They're even suppressing creativity and academic critical mindedness by forbidding articles or literary pieces IN FILIPINO in the school paper. I mean, can you imagine how sick this is, the consequences of this in the future just for the quick remedy of hoping to solve the financial needs? Very few realize that this kind of scheme, this kind of sick thinking, would not really cure the structures of our society-- it would only make matters WORSE. We need a cure, not a remedy. Add that to the static thinking that many people have these days, looking at progress SOLELY on the economic side. Our fellow countrymen need us, not those foreigners.
To you who are reading this, may you not prejudge me. Think thrice and consider what I have said before doing so.
There goes my two cents.
Salaam malay kum
Language, defined, is a collection of spoken words that is arranged arbitrarily and used by a particular group of people.
Words are representations of everything in a people's experience. Therefore, a word cannot exist in a language if the people who use it originally DO NOT experience it. For example, the Filipino word yelo came from the Spanish hielo, the term for ice. Why did we copy it from them? Because it DOES NOT exist in the original experiences of our ancestors.
It therefore follows that an individual's limitation on language is also his/her limitation on his/her world. We did not experienced hamburgers until the americans came so we do not have a native term for it, it DID NOT EXIST in the world of Filipinos before they introduced it here.
That is why if you want to control or influence a group of people, you have to alter and modify their culture by any means. And language is one effective avenue for this. Ever wonder why the youth nowadays are not that nationalistic anymore compared to past generations? That is because most of them speak a language that is already buthcered, mixed or combined. In the Filipino layman's term-- chopsuey na walang lasa (tasteless/bland chopsuey). Therefore, it is reasonable to think that when a group's commitment to their own language falters, their genuine, indegenous culture also suffers. This contributes to the diminishing nationalism not only of the youth, but majority of the Filipinos. And for god's sake, nationalism does not merely border on basking in the light of glory when athletes or performers win in international competitions.
Going back to the original topic, the primary reason why the BED implements such things is to encourage the students to be fluent in the language, therefore increasing the probability that they would join the bandwagon of foreign employment and contribute to the ever-increasing brain drain in the country, in the case of SHC-- NURSING. You do not know how much it pains me to hear people look for JOBS and not CAREER; how everybody wants to be a nurse not because of their calling to take care of the sick, but primarily TO EARN MORE MONEY ABROAD. The same goes for those wanting to be in the US Marines, Armed Forces or call centers. And I blame the educational system for this, aside from the government and media.
I do not condemn the campaign, I just want to emphasize that it must be lessened a little. They're even suppressing creativity and academic critical mindedness by forbidding articles or literary pieces IN FILIPINO in the school paper. I mean, can you imagine how sick this is, the consequences of this in the future just for the quick remedy of hoping to solve the financial needs? Very few realize that this kind of scheme, this kind of sick thinking, would not really cure the structures of our society-- it would only make matters WORSE. We need a cure, not a remedy. Add that to the static thinking that many people have these days, looking at progress SOLELY on the economic side. Our fellow countrymen need us, not those foreigners.
To you who are reading this, may you not prejudge me. Think thrice and consider what I have said before doing so.
There goes my two cents.
Salaam malay kum
Friday, June 15, 2007
Unknowledgement
The author of this blog acknowledges the fact that you, who are reading this, might be also like him. Moreover, he wishes to offer you, whatever your socio-demographic is:
1.) that he is a southeast asian islander, and is proud to be one.
2.) that he, despite his unapproval of what his countrymen's attitudes are, still cares for his nation
3.) that he has a grasp of why and who foreign people are to blame for no.2
4.) that he is an eclectic Catholic, not limited by boundaries of any religious (or philosophical) dogma
5.) that his faith crosses (and transcends!) different religions
6.) that he does not believe so much in bivariate logic
7.) that he holds that it is very stupid to assume that intellectuals are ONLY in the urban areas
8.) that, unless one has a projectile-firing weapon aimed at him in a radius of more than 4 feet, he is not to be messed up with physically
9.) that he does not have time for any emotional blackmail, especially by his former and present dates
10.) that even as it seems to be that he is a chauvinist (for narrow-minded jerks) because of his dating skills and knowledge, he is actually somewhat a feminist
11.) that despite his dating skills and knowledge, he did/does not have a girlfriend yet
12.) that he is STILL a virgin
13.) that he does drink but does not, and would never, smoke
14.) that he loves food, real food, and so he likes to cook too
15.) that he hates chocolate, except for native tableya
That's all for now.
1.) that he is a southeast asian islander, and is proud to be one.
2.) that he, despite his unapproval of what his countrymen's attitudes are, still cares for his nation
3.) that he has a grasp of why and who foreign people are to blame for no.2
4.) that he is an eclectic Catholic, not limited by boundaries of any religious (or philosophical) dogma
5.) that his faith crosses (and transcends!) different religions
6.) that he does not believe so much in bivariate logic
7.) that he holds that it is very stupid to assume that intellectuals are ONLY in the urban areas
8.) that, unless one has a projectile-firing weapon aimed at him in a radius of more than 4 feet, he is not to be messed up with physically
9.) that he does not have time for any emotional blackmail, especially by his former and present dates
10.) that even as it seems to be that he is a chauvinist (for narrow-minded jerks) because of his dating skills and knowledge, he is actually somewhat a feminist
11.) that despite his dating skills and knowledge, he did/does not have a girlfriend yet
12.) that he is STILL a virgin
13.) that he does drink but does not, and would never, smoke
14.) that he loves food, real food, and so he likes to cook too
15.) that he hates chocolate, except for native tableya
That's all for now.
Wednesday, June 13, 2007
Now...
For various reasons, I have already forgotten my password to my former blog, lotusnglucena (memory is often what we WANT to remember anyway). So I made another one. As for now, I do not have anything in mind to post in particular significance. Instead of wasting more time here, I'll just play DotA.
Merci!
Merci!
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