Atlantic Monthly’s writer, James Fallows, greatly criticized our country, Philippines, and our sense of nationalism, which is why Teodoro Benigno, as a Filipino himself, wanted to refute Fallows’ statements. Although at the end of Benigno’s first paragraph of his article, he concluded that Fallows’ claims are indeed true especially in saying that the Philippines is experiencing a declining culture.
(1) The article, “The Real Culprit”, was written by Teodoro Benigno, a Filipino columnist, in respond to James Fallows criticism on our country’s culture.
(2) Benigno wanted to debunk Fallows’ criticisms but truth be told, his claims were true and this time, it was time for the Filipinos to realize what really happened in our culture. In spite of the fact that most Filipinos would react against to these criticisms, as our sense of being nationalistic, Benigno specifically wrote this article for the Filipino citizens to read.
(3) The evident texts were James Fallows’ direct statements, and quotes of different politicians such as Ferdinand Marcos, Benigno Aquino, Claro Recto, and Lee Kuan Yew regarding the Philippine democracy as his support to his claims. Benigno tackled many aspects of our culture, since the Spanish Colonization era through Erap’s presidential reign, such as education, politics, and economy, in comparison to other underdeveloped countries during the Marcos reign. In the end, the Philippines really failed to further develop as a country and instead countries such as Burma left us, Filipinos, behind because of our “damaged culture”.
(4) This article left its readers, especially the Filipino citizens, an impression of what is the real reason why our country is declining and it also provides us sufficient information of how our country is depicted by other countries such as the United States of America. Furthermore, the subtext of this article is to not only to inform the Filipinos of the shame we are getting due to our “damaged culture” but it also persuades us to change this perspective by having deeper understanding of our culture and stand as a country.
(5) The Spanish influence, along with the American, and Japanese brought so much change in our culture that their lifestyles are also ours. The Philippines developed as a country without realizing its full identity and capability as a nation, which is why issues such as corruption and the like were also inherited from the colonizers. Benigno, in his article, blamed corruption, started by former President Erap, as the major issue that contributed to our “damaged culture”. Benigno stated that Filipinos developed a mindset that if our country’s leader can do such thing, we citizens can do the same, which further increase the rate of corruption in the country in the latter years. Corruption has become a part of the Filipinos’ lifestyle that we do not even bother to solve immediately.
(6) Much of the content of the article committed the rhetorical appeal of Ethos since it did not only made use of an authoritative tone but also quoted important and famous people in regards to the topic being discussed. The article also committed the logical fallacy of Transfer; basically Fallows’ statements were mainly use to support his claims as well as the views of Aquino, Marcos, and the other mentioned icons.
(7) The positive messages presented was seen in Fallows’ description of the Filipino people, he stated that we, Filipinos, are as strong and kind as the Japanese yet he quickly countered his statement, which is the negative message as well, by saying that we lacked nationalistic ideas and that everything in our country that is shared is either abused or neglected.
(8) Generally, this whole article disempowers the Filipino people as they are deeply criticized for having a “damaged culture” that they never wanted to experience since the colonialism eras. As a country, this is a let down to our image and to our nationalistic pride. However, through this article, Filipinos would realize that indeed we are suffering from many political and cultural issues but this also suggests a course of action that we, as citizens of this country, should take in order to correct the mistakes we have been committing over and over again. Benigno, despite of supporting almost every claim of Fallows, wrote this for the Filipinos to have a keen interest in making a change and having enough awareness of the reality behind all of these issues. As a Filipino, he would not just write an article criticizing his own country but would also share a deeper thought of the issue.
(9) In my opinion, the untold part of the article is how the Filipinos reacted during the times we were conquered and suffered under the issue of corruption, it is relevant to tell how the Filipinos fought during those times, and how we can bring that sense of nationalism again today to heal our “damaged culture”.
(10) Reading the article for the first time was hard to absorb since it talked about a crucial part of my identity as a Filipino, which was culture. Criticisms from foreigners are hard to grasp since one will have an immediate response because he is being somehow discriminated. As I read throughout, I realized that this article tackled so many aspects and criticisms that one cannot take in just one read. This article requires one to be open-minded in order to understand the reality just like what Benigno did when he further elaborated the issue.
(1) The article, “The Real Culprit”, was written by Teodoro Benigno, a Filipino columnist, in respond to James Fallows criticism on our country’s culture.
(2) Benigno wanted to debunk Fallows’ criticisms but truth be told, his claims were true and this time, it was time for the Filipinos to realize what really happened in our culture. In spite of the fact that most Filipinos would react against to these criticisms, as our sense of being nationalistic, Benigno specifically wrote this article for the Filipino citizens to read.
(3) The evident texts were James Fallows’ direct statements, and quotes of different politicians such as Ferdinand Marcos, Benigno Aquino, Claro Recto, and Lee Kuan Yew regarding the Philippine democracy as his support to his claims. Benigno tackled many aspects of our culture, since the Spanish Colonization era through Erap’s presidential reign, such as education, politics, and economy, in comparison to other underdeveloped countries during the Marcos reign. In the end, the Philippines really failed to further develop as a country and instead countries such as Burma left us, Filipinos, behind because of our “damaged culture”.
(4) This article left its readers, especially the Filipino citizens, an impression of what is the real reason why our country is declining and it also provides us sufficient information of how our country is depicted by other countries such as the United States of America. Furthermore, the subtext of this article is to not only to inform the Filipinos of the shame we are getting due to our “damaged culture” but it also persuades us to change this perspective by having deeper understanding of our culture and stand as a country.
(5) The Spanish influence, along with the American, and Japanese brought so much change in our culture that their lifestyles are also ours. The Philippines developed as a country without realizing its full identity and capability as a nation, which is why issues such as corruption and the like were also inherited from the colonizers. Benigno, in his article, blamed corruption, started by former President Erap, as the major issue that contributed to our “damaged culture”. Benigno stated that Filipinos developed a mindset that if our country’s leader can do such thing, we citizens can do the same, which further increase the rate of corruption in the country in the latter years. Corruption has become a part of the Filipinos’ lifestyle that we do not even bother to solve immediately.
(6) Much of the content of the article committed the rhetorical appeal of Ethos since it did not only made use of an authoritative tone but also quoted important and famous people in regards to the topic being discussed. The article also committed the logical fallacy of Transfer; basically Fallows’ statements were mainly use to support his claims as well as the views of Aquino, Marcos, and the other mentioned icons.
(7) The positive messages presented was seen in Fallows’ description of the Filipino people, he stated that we, Filipinos, are as strong and kind as the Japanese yet he quickly countered his statement, which is the negative message as well, by saying that we lacked nationalistic ideas and that everything in our country that is shared is either abused or neglected.
(8) Generally, this whole article disempowers the Filipino people as they are deeply criticized for having a “damaged culture” that they never wanted to experience since the colonialism eras. As a country, this is a let down to our image and to our nationalistic pride. However, through this article, Filipinos would realize that indeed we are suffering from many political and cultural issues but this also suggests a course of action that we, as citizens of this country, should take in order to correct the mistakes we have been committing over and over again. Benigno, despite of supporting almost every claim of Fallows, wrote this for the Filipinos to have a keen interest in making a change and having enough awareness of the reality behind all of these issues. As a Filipino, he would not just write an article criticizing his own country but would also share a deeper thought of the issue.
(9) In my opinion, the untold part of the article is how the Filipinos reacted during the times we were conquered and suffered under the issue of corruption, it is relevant to tell how the Filipinos fought during those times, and how we can bring that sense of nationalism again today to heal our “damaged culture”.
(10) Reading the article for the first time was hard to absorb since it talked about a crucial part of my identity as a Filipino, which was culture. Criticisms from foreigners are hard to grasp since one will have an immediate response because he is being somehow discriminated. As I read throughout, I realized that this article tackled so many aspects and criticisms that one cannot take in just one read. This article requires one to be open-minded in order to understand the reality just like what Benigno did when he further elaborated the issue.
Reference:
Benigno, T. C. (2002, March 11). Culture: The Real Culprit. The Philippine Star. Retrieved from http://www.philstar.com/opinion/153449/culture-real-culprit