Chris At Home

A Jawa American Living in Mindanao

Balancing Act

Sunday, June 4, 2006 2:36:54 AM

I'm pretty hard on those wacky Islamists, so I intend to make this a fair and balanced blog by pissing off my Catholic friends. I went to Mass at the local cathedral last Sunday (I'm not Catholic, I just always seem to be at Mass most Sundays). Here is what I learned:

  • "Knowledge is power." Why? According to the priest, because someone with knowledge about you might blackmail you and post the information on the internet. (Bwahahahaha! He guessed my nefarious plot!)
  • "They make you believe only white people are beautiful, not brown people." Who is they? I immediately assumed the aristocratic Chinese-Filipinos, since the Philippines inherited Chinese obsession with fair skin, including a huge market for whitening and bleaching creams. Nope, the priest clarified to blame Westerners because commercials on Filipino TV show white people. I spend a lot of time watching TV, but the vast majority of whites are shown in locally made cigarette commercials. The rest are in perfume and cologne commercials imported from Europe.

    Of course, I have never met a Western guy in the Philippines who didn't like brown-skinned girls or they wouldn't live here. Maybe all of those Western women force their Filipino husbands to use bleaching creams?
  • The media is conspiring to kill natural Filipino morals, especially imported television shows. Since Baywatch and that ilk are not shown here, I assume he meant CSI, House, Lost and WWF.
  • Constantly begging for coins during the sermon, prayers and communion is acceptable, if the target is a foreigner. Sitting in the holy water font is also acceptable, if you are a 10 year old beggar. Telling said kid, "Show some respect, you are in church!" in Visayan is not acceptable if you are married to my wife.

Is there a Catholic version of a fatwa? A Papal bull or something?

Prostitution in the PhilippinesHaditha

Comments

Anonymous Sunday, June 4, 2006 4:01:21 AM

Cyber Agnes writes: Before I migrated to Canada, I had the same way of thinking as the priest. I was baptized a Catholic and was educated by Catholic teachers and professors, so maybe I got the idea on how immoral the Western society was from attending church or from what our teachers told us. Well, also coming from a very conservative family, seeing even an R-rated movie or love scene was forbidden in our household. That's why when I came here to Canada, I found that expressing your love in public was a culture shock and quite too liberal. However, as I slowly learned and assimilated the Canadian way of life, I realized that being liberal and intimate outside of marriage is a much lesser evil than what the Filipino politicians/police/military force have committed and have done to the Filipino people. Filipinos (especially the clergy) have chosen to be blind and have used the Westerners/foreigners as a scapegoat to cover up the moral and social crimes committed by those who are in power. With regard to Filipinos' obsession to having a fair complexion, I think it goes all the way back to several centuries ago when the 'mestizos'(Spanish or Chinese) were regarded highly more than the 'indios.'

Anonymous Sunday, June 4, 2006 4:03:31 AM

Marcus Aurelius writes: Wow, In a similar situation my wife would be willing to speak whatever language to tell the child the show respect. Hehehe, We were in Madison and walking around last night a bum asked us for some change. We continued walking on and The Empress started editorializing rather loudly how no one was getting change from us to purchase a pack of smokes. I agree, but the last thing I want is some crazy homeless guy going crazy on us. What you said does not piss this Catholic off. Idiot priests are idiots and the claims this one makes sound like standard Leftoid fare. Actually he is not so far off on the knowledge thing.

Chriscbjohnso Sunday, June 4, 2006 6:08:53 AM

I felt likely I was listening to someone who spent too much time reading Left blogs and had half-digested the talking points. I had noticed before that the more upper-class the person, the more likely they are to have Left beliefs here. I wonder if it is church influence. What they teach is closer to a Central American Liberation theology than Catholic doctrine in most sermons.

I do love the local village priests. They travel a circuit and only do mass once per month in each village church. The ones I have met have been very kind, very compassionate and have spoken simply regarding the basics: the 10 commandments, how to treat your friends and family, how to be a good person.

I was a ninong (godfather) for a baby in one town further up the mountains. The church showed weekly donations for the previous 2 years on the wall. The highest take was ~600 pesos. That is saving souls on a shoestring.

Regarding the politics, I think there are only 2 groups: the corrupt ruling class and the reformist hard Left. There is no right-wing reform agenda, no moderate reformers (those who claim to be moderate reformers look like the same ruling class but using smoke and mirrors). I was planning to link to the anti-prostitution Gabriela website, but most of their politics are unpalatable ot me. Besides, I sent them an email asking for information on what they were actually *doing* to stop prostitution and never receieved a reply.

My wife said I have to be nice in church. She is right, of course. As always.
Chris