While I was writing my post on Pedro, I remembered something I composed back in December, when Pacquiao won against dela Hoya. It could have been the similar use of a fictional style — or all those Ps in the title.
But it’s probably the theme. For like lottery and religion, a lot of Filipinos have bet their hope — and pride — on Manny Pacquiao. In this case, however, I think it would be wiser to just bet money (compared to Lotto this is a much better investment). Yet with every match — the one with Hatton is less than two months away — Manny’s heroic status continues to grow — they even made him Filipino of the Year.
Just to be clear, I have nothing against Pacquiao (watching him reminds me of watching Ippo, which I equally enjoy). But I do have something against his proxies . . .
Reposted from my blog:
A great day for all Filipinos?
After winning his Dream Match against Oscar dela Hoya, Manny Pacquiao announced that he’ll share his 523 million peso prize with his countrymen. So if you’re Filipino, just visit the nearest Metrobank or BPI branch, present two valid IDs with your birth certificate, and claim your prize.
But wait! Before you leave, note that there are at least 88.6 million Filipinos, and that 523 million pesos divided by 88.6 million people is 5.90. This six pesos won’t even cover your commute. And there’s one more thing you should consider — You don’t deserve that money. Not six pesos, not even one.
But at least one Filipino thinks he does. Let’s call him Mr. Proxy.
Mr. Proxy thinks that because “Filipino” is written next to “Nationality” in his birth certificate, he has a right to share in Paquiao’s pride. After all, as Pambansang Kamao (National Fist), Manny’s hands are the hands of every Filipino, right? His every win and loss belongs to the Filipino people, right? But does Mr. Proxy deserve the pride he feels for the victory of his proxy?
Is Proxism Proper?
A student joins an art contest. His father, an architect, paints a portrait, submits it in his son’s name, and wins. Should the son accept the award and feel proud about it?
A father kills his neighbor. His son confesses and is prosecuted in his place. Should the father accept his son’s sacrifice and feel proud about it?
If you answered “yes” to any of these questions, I hope that instead of reading this you’re on your way to Metrobank with Mr. Proxy. If you didn’t, then congratulations.
Pride is Personal
If you are still reading this post, you know that every person wins and loses, lives and dies, and is rewarded and punished by the thoughts of their own mind and the actions of their own body.You decide right and wrong by your own moral compass, which apparently still works. That’s something you can be proud of (aside from not thinking twice about whether that first paragraph was true. Just so we’re clear — No, it’s not).
Because pride is reserved for those who use their talent and strength to achieve their values. That someone is born with a certain race is as trivial as being born with big nostrils.
But Mr. Proxy, who is probably harassing that poor Metrobank teller, is not unusual. Aside from using proxies in weddings and baptisms — an irrational practice in itself — he uses proxies in other situations unknowingly. What’s worse is he’s proud about it.
My Proxy is Better than Your Proxy
Pissing contests are common in the arena of acquaintances. Mr. Proxy and others like him take pride in who they know –
“My godfather is Mayor of Makati!” “Really? Well my uncle’s aunt is President of the Philippines!” “Hah! A friend in my extended network in Facebook has a friend in his extended network in Multiply who own’s Google!”
So you know someone who knows someone who knows a successful businesswoman. That woman worked just as hard in the office as Manny trained in the gym. What did you do, Mr. Proxy? Get a business card autographed? Take a picture with her? Friend her in Friendster?
Not Pride but Admiration
Manny Pacquiao is not great because he’s Filipino. He’s great because he trained hard, fought even harder, and became the best pound-for-pound fighter in the world. It was his body that was bruised, his bones that were broken, and his fists that almost knocked dela Hoya out.
Now, Proud Mr. Proxy. What did you bring to the table besides your chips and your cola? What did you do besides cheer and pray and watch?
Oh, sorry. I almost forgot. You were born Filipino. Not by choice, but by chance. Not by force but by fate. And that six pesos of pride you got not by power but by proxy.
Yes, it was a proud day. But only for Manny Pacquiao. Like Efren Bata Reyes and Paeng Nepomuceno, Jose Rizal and Andres Bonifacio, Paquiao is a great man — he just happened to be born Filipino. Filipino or not, what you should feel for these great men is admiration — not shared pride.
Pieces of Proxy
Mr. Proxy doesn’t use only people. He uses objects as proxies, too — a car for his manhood, a piece of parchment for his intelligence, a bible for his beliefs. But in every case, the question he fails to ask himself, the question we should always ask oursleves is this:
What did I do to deserve it?
Did I earn that prize, that pride, that value through my own personal power? Or did I use someone or something else as my proxy? To those who answered the latter, there is still hope. Metrobank is open till 3 PM.
Popularity: 2% [?]
Your pointed postings punctuated with “p’s” are perfectly profound.
Put a whole bunch of Mr Proxys together and you have the ideal conditions for “mudslide mentality” – no individual roots.
2 very good reads – thanks.
what? don’t me give this crap. :)
Hi Ryan,
We pick our ‘proxies’ not because we are Filipinos but because we are human.
When we take pride in our proxy/ies, our kinsmen, our people, we celebrate or humanity.
When man landed and walked on the moon in 1969, we cheered, humanity cheered.
It’s the exaltation of the spirit.
Sorry to have disappointed you. Any suggestions so I could do better next time? :D
No bro you did not. Your perspective resonates. believe me.
And As will realizem this is what’s great about FV.
You have a focus group and the rest all reading you.
Keep punching, kapatid.
Erratum: And as you will realize…
Hi Ding,
If we let the good actions of our fellow Filipinos exalt our spirit, then must we also let their evils damn our souls?
I believe we are damned and saved by our own actions. I’m not saying we shouldn’t feel good about others’ achievements. Only that we express admiration, not shared pride.
Ding,
My comment was actually directed at leytenian, who called “crap.”
Thanks for the encouragement, and I’ll keep rolling with the punches ;)
Ryan, Welcome to the fray, and welcome to FV..
I echo Ding’s sentiment, keep true to yourself, you need not compromise your views or stand, just keep an open mind towards the discussion and debate.. learn along the way, but always keep on writing.
There are times where we will disagree, but we shall disagree in a civil manner, that is all that is asked..
Again, welcome.. welcome.. great to have you on board..
Our proxies’ evild damn THEIR souls.
We do not by sharing in their successes get co-opted by their other side, if dark forces like absolute power corrupt them.
Rather in the give and take, in the nation body politic, if you will, we nudge them, give them feedback, hey even battle them if it comes to it, to make them go back or stay the curse of good governance.
If they refuse to be accountable and transparent and govern with integrity WE DUMP THEM and history’s harse judgment they will reap.
LOL :) mr. tani… it was a test .welcome sir.
I dunno. To paraphrase Socrates: a post unexamined is not worth blogging. This, is to me is play on words:
“Paquiao is a great man — he just happened to be born Filipino. Filipino or not, what you should feel for these great men is admiration — not shared pride.”
The post praising people seem to be clueless.
Pride should be clearly substantiated by achievement. unless you achieve you cannot be proud of anything of consequence.
So what does “Proud to be Pinoy” mean?
Absolutely nothing.
Unless of course some of our “experts” here can step up and cite specific examples of achievements that can be attributed to Filipinos collectively.
“Like Efren Bata Reyes and Paeng Nepomuceno, Jose Rizal and Andres Bonifacio, Paquiao is a great man — he just happened to be born Filipino. Filipino or not, what you should feel for these great men is admiration — not shared pride.”
Ryan,
I agree with you of Pacquiao, I admire his physical prowess, not including his pesos for us in the bank but rather his pesos lost in the cockpit arena and in the race track, which could spread about and, in some ways, help in this economic crisis.
What I would rather disagree with you is your equating him with the likes of Andres Bonifacio. While Bonifacio died of his patriotism, Pacquiao might choked with his money.
No pride here, but aside from admiration I envy the guy.
My wife kept on bugging me why I did not chose boxing as my career, heheh.
@ Ellumbra:
Really glad you liked it :D
@ Nick:
I’m having the time of my life, thanks again :)
@ Bert:
Not for one second did I think Pacquiao was on the same level as Bonifacio or Rizal, but I get your point. And on the same note I find it an ill omen that anyone should think “Filipino of the Year” is best deserved by a boxer.
@ benign0:
My sentiments so eloquently expressed. Thank you!
And I want to repeat your challenge to FV’s readers:
Can anyone “cite specific examples of achievements that can be attributed to Filipinos collectively”?
Nice article, Ryan.
No. Thank you, Ryan.
It is indeed a simple challenge — but maybe not to the small-minded. ;)
Specific example of Filipino achievement…collectively? hmmm.
Well, for one, we are a survivor.
However we are being drowned in the sand by our political leaders we are still up and fighting.
Imagine if our kind of leaders be ruling Australia, Japan, or, Singapore, maybe they’d be drowning themselves already in their own blood.
@ Benj: Thanks!
@ benign0: You’re welcome :) I think the difficulty comes from confusing what pride means. People think pride is any good feeling that comes from thinking about anyone’s achievements. So in this sense you can feel proud about anything, which makes pride meaningless.
@ Bert: There is no “we.” Each survivor ultimately has to survive on their own.
Though you are right — our proxies in government are making survival a whole lot harder. Which is why I don’t trust democracy — but that’s another topic for another day ;)
Just like any Song of the Week. Pacquiao has his
time. He is winning. So he is an idol of the
day. Like De la Hoya, one day he will lose. And
his idol days will also be over.
I just wonder why Filipinos are agog over education-optional sports. Does this mean Filipinos has to box our way out of our miseries?
I think pride is appropriate if we had something to do with it. The moon landing is a point of pride because it isn’t just the personal achievement of the three guys but also of the thousands of NASA personnel and the government (and, because of taxes, all Americans) that supported them.
The only people who can be proud of Pacquiao are his trainers. The rest of us can only admire him.
My points exactly, Patrick — admiration, not pride. Well said :)
Though I’m not sure I’d include the American taxpayers like you did. After all, the tax was mandatory. It would’ve been another thing if they had chosen to support it voluntarily.
So in the same way, the Jews should only ‘admire’ David for slaying Goliath?
Yes, that is exactly how those fictional witnesses should behave ;)
@Red
let me clarify something, and then complain about your definition of pride and your examples in “Is Proxism Proper”
A. what is Pride?
according to the internet/dictonary pride is a good feeling/satisfaction at one own’s OR another affiliated person’s achievement.
are you saying that this (standard) definition is wrong? that we should only feel pride for stuff that we accomplish ourselves?
in other words:
1) ADMIRATION is when you feel a sense of satisfaction with an allied/related person’s achievements
2) PRIDE is when you ADMIRE yourself. it only in this context that PRIDE is correctly used as a word.
is this a fair characterization?
B. Is Proxism= PRIDE?
to my knowledge, the difference between pride and admiration is identification (am i right?)
meaning “I am Proud of Pacquio, therefore its as if i share his achievements”
in when you use the word proxism, you actually mean pride, right?
and i think that for you, pride goes beyond identification. for you, it means equivalence.
i glean that from your examples:
“A student joins an art contest. His father, an architect, paints a portrait, submits it in his son’s name, and wins. Should the son accept the award and feel proud about it?
A father kills his neighbor. His son confesses and is prosecuted in his place. Should the father accept his son’s sacrifice and feel proud about it?”
identification is NEVER the issue here. what u are saying in example 1, the son should be proud to accept the award even though he did not create the art. The son and the father are EQUIVALENT.
Same with example 2.
This is probably why u use the word PROXY. This means, its as if we were the ones in the ring fighting.
by this same logic, if the son had sex with his mother, it would be the same AS IF his father had sex with his mother.
i believe pride is merely identification, we have pride with pacquiao NOT because its the same as if I had won. But only that i identify with our common heritage and nationality. It also give us a sense of hope — since pacquiao and i share the same background and experience, maybe I TOO can be great at something.
This sort of psychological identification is a powerful thing, and can inspire many people to greatness.
But that’s not how they behaved, unless you believe that the reason the Israeli flag has the Star of David is because they simply admire the individual.
(Note: I’m not suggesting to put the iconic crucified Pacquiao in the flag btw.)
cvj,
From what little I know of David he saved his people from the enemy, I’m not sure Pacquiao save us from an enemy except that he saved himself, unless, of course, if we go to the bank and find the unexpected deposit.
Yes, my wife was indeed inspired by the achievements of Pacquiao, she kept on pestering me and my eldest son to go boxing instead of a career in IT, heheh.
@Bert, which is why i said i don’t think Pacquiao should merit being put in the flag. A sports hero may be quite a few notches below a military hero, but the same principle operates.
cvj, is that like saying, “I’m proud of the military hero for saving my life, therefore I’m also proud of Pacquiao for getting rich and the belt”?
The belt yes, the ‘getting rich’ part did not occur to me.
what’s fictional style?. you mean, alliteration? which, to you, is fictional?