The Adventure Of Super Kamote

This is a very disturbing open E-mail letter to all Filipinos around the world; specially here in North America!, from a man who has the power to reach millions of people. (he’s a radio talk host)

Please read on…………..

This is an open letter email by Art Bell, a radio talk show host in Nevada(more info in the email itself). Here is yet another person who has taken; advantage of his power and privilege to use hateful words and racial stereotypes that breed further ignorance and intolerance in our society.

Art Bell is a talk radio host who has two shows that he broadcasts from his home in Nevada, that is rebroadcast by 400 stations across the country.

He’s written 2 books. He lived in Okinawa, Japan for some years and had a radio program on the English station here. And, though it’s hard to believe after reading the following letter from him, he actually has been to the Philippines (he’s traveled fairly extensively around the world).

Filipinos…..*make me puke* (Art Bell)

As we’ve all come to notice, in the past few decades, Filipinos have begun to infest the United States like some sort of disease. Their extensive involvement in the U.S. Armed Forces is proof of the trashy kind of qualities all filipinos tend to exhibit on a regular basis. You can see this clearly by studying the attitudes and cultural Icons of most Filipino Americans.

Origins of Pinoys/Pinays:

Are th ey really asian? Well we’ve come to accept the fact the filipinos come from a part of the world known as South East Asia. But the term “Asia” is used in the wrong way. You may notice that contemporary Filipino Americans try very hard to associate themselves with groups that we know as Asian. I cannot count the number of times I have seen a ‘Third World’ Filipino try to connect themselves to the chinese or Japanese people. There is no connection and here’s why. The Philippines is a Third World country. Nothing respectable has EVER been created by Filipino people during our entire human history. Young filipino men in America have become obsessed with “import racing”. They have an enormously perverted affection for Japanese cars. It’s a common phenomenon. In their minds, these Filipinos somehow believe that they are asian and that it somehow connects them to Japanese people and japanese cars. They often take credit for the ingenuity of Japanese people and say how it’s an “Asian th ing”. This term…”Asian thing” derived directly from African American slang “black thang”. “It’s a black thang.” “It’s an asian thang.”

You can see the connection. It’s even funnier that, in Japan, Filipinos are heavily discriminated against. The only filipinos that can live successfully in Japan are the filipino prostitutes. But that’s the case for most Filipino people no matter where they live in the world. Now we’ve come down to this fact…and it is a fact.

Nothing in Filipino Culture can be seen as Asian.

They have no architectural, artistic, or cultural influence which is in ANY way, asian. Thinking of the great countries in Asia such as Japan, Korea, and China there is no way you can possibly connect the Philippine Islands. This assault by filipino americans to connect themselves with the great peoples of North East Asia is foul and disgusting. Try visiting a young filipino’s web site too.

You’ll see something called the “Asian IRC Ring”. It has to do with the chatrooms. The most horrible thing about this is that these TRASHY people are trying to associate themselves with Asia again!! People in Asia don’t act like this at all. What we are seeing here is the natural Filipino in its element with full access to technology and this is how they act! You will consistently see this behavior over and over again.

Another interesting thing is that these “thirdworld” people also frequent RC chatrooms such as #chinese #japan and #asian. They must believe that they are somehow related racially or culturally to North Asians. But it’s completely WRONG! There might have been some distant contact With China and even less with Japan during World War II, but these people are actually more closely related to african americans and Mexican americans.

Do the parents of these young filipinos know what’s going on? Would they accept this? I believe that they would and do. This is the natural “Trash” element in filipinos manifest ing itself. Nothing good has ever come from Philippines and I don’t believe anything good ever will.

Your culture and technological advancement does no! t even come CLOSE to What Chinese, people have done in the past and what Japanese and Korean people are doing now! Everything you do is distinctly filipino. You cannot take credit for Japanese cars, video games, or Hentai! It’s not an “asian thing” it’s an “American thing”. You have no concept of culture…no concept of asian ideas or asian philosophy! Can you demonstrate how you use Confucianism or Taoism in you everyday life?? You can’t. And you will NEVER be able to.

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I find this funny, he is right in some ways where we, as Filipinos don’t actually have an “Identity”. I think this is due to the confusion of our mixed races from Hispanic, Chinese, American and Malay origins. I see it in malls, imagine young generations wearing ski caps and ski goggles in a tropical country, baggy low rise pants like that of African Americans living in the Bronx of New Yor k, not to mention endless whitening products being sold at department stores and drug stores.

But his ignorance also blinds him from the other truth. That while we may glorify Anime shows and Japanese Internet gaming, he is not aware that a nameless Filipino may be responsible for some technical aspects of some Japanese software. He is not aware of our contribution to the the society in general .Technological advancements that may have aided post war navigations and landing on the moon. That the antibiotic Erythromycin was discovered by Dr. Abelardo Aguilar from Iloilo creating the brand “Ilosone”.

Thomas Edison may have discovered the electric light bulb and the fluorescent lighting was thought up by Nikola Tesla. But the fluorescent lamp we use today was invented by Agapito Flores (a Cebuano named Benigno Flores of Bantayan Island, according to the Philippine Daily inquirer), a Filipino scientist. Americans helped then-Philippine leader Ramon Magsaysay to develop it for worldwide commerce. That the personal physician of former U.S. Pres. Bill Clinton is Eleanor “Connie” Concepcion Mariano, a Filipina doctor who was the youngest captain in the US Navy. A Filipino writer Jose Rizal could read and write at age 2, and grew up to speak more than 20 languages, includind Latin, Greek, German, French and Chinese.

Or that a Filipino genius was responsible for the near hiatus in the PENTAGON and White House nearly infiltrationg their closely guarded secrets with the “ILOVEYOU” bug. Nuisance maybe, but still one heck of a ‘beautiful mind’…not to be underestimated.

The list goes on and on, but who cares right? Certainly not Mr. Art Bell…Boy, I’m not surprised.

Perhaps Art Bell does not know that although we consider ourselves ASIAN because we are strategically located in the Southeast asian region of which our nearest neighbors are Malays, ASIA does not mean only Chinese and Japanese race of people. Then maybe it is his conno tation that “Asia” meant only our economically successful, paler brothers and he considers Malays such as Thais, Malaysians, Indonesians, and ourselves as a “Third World” race. Then it is “his” ignonimity that would make a civilized person of whatever race puke. Imagine literally connecting Chinese, Koreans and Japanese to the Philippine Islands which is archipelagos away from the countries he has mentioned. I also wonder where he got the impression that we aspire to be Japanese( ???) Hispanics maybe but not the Japanese. But even Hispanics today do not mind sharing their “surnames” to their Asian brothers who they have colonized for 3 centuries.

Another sad reality that although most Filipinos working overseas are domestic helpers and prostitutes, who does he think educates the toddlers of Hong Kong, Singapore, Taiwan and Tokyo? Parents of these countries rarely have time spent with their children, leaving them to their Filipino nannies. And with regard to prostitution. Fi lipinos are not the only ones working as one. I HARDLY SEE FILIPINOS STARRING IN PORN MOVIES. THERE MIGHT BE A FEW FILIPINOS WE HAVEN’T SEEN , BUT MOST ARE FROM MR. ART BELL’S RACE.

He also mentioned that we have no concept of culture..no concept of asian ideas or asian philosophy. How can we demonstrate Confucianism or Taoism in a Christian nation? IS HE INFORMED THAT THE PHILIPPINES IS THE ONLY PREDOMINANTLY CHRISTIAN/CATHOLIC NATION IN ASIA?! YOU HAVE TO USE COMMON SENSE IN A LOT OF THINGS SOMETIMES…

The Philippine Star 05/16/2004

Patricia Evangelista, a 19-year- old, Mass Communications sophomore of University o f the Philippines (UP)-Diliman, did the country proud Friday night by besting 59 other student contestants from 37 countries in the 2004 International Public Speaking competition conducted by the English Speaking Union (ESU) in London.

She triumphed over a field of exactly 60 speakers from all over the English-speaking world, including the United States, United Kingdom and Australia, reported Maranan.

The board of judges’ decision was unanimous, according to contest chairman Brian Hanharan of the British broadcasting Corp. (BBC).

PATRICIA’S SHORT SPEECH WORTH READING….

I thought — if I just wished hard enough and was good enough, I’d wake upon Christmas morning with snow outside my window and freckles across my nose!

More than four centuries under western domination does that to you. I have sixteen cousins. In a couple of years, there will just be five of us left in the Philippines, the rest will have gone abroad in search of “greener pastures.” It’s not just an anomaly; it’s a trend; the Filipino diaspora. Today, about eight million Filipinos are scattered around the world.

There are those who disapprove of Filipinos who choose to leave. I used to. Maybe this is a natural reaction of someone who was left behind, smiling for family pictures that get emptier with each succeeding year. Desertion, I called it . My country is a land that has perpetually fought for the freedom to be itself. Our heroes offered their lives in the struggle against the Spanish, the Japanese, the Americans. To pack up and deny that identity is tantamount to spitting on that sacrifice.

Or is it? I don’t think so, not anymore. True, there is no denying this phenomenon, aided by the fact that what was once the other side of the world is now a twelve-hour plane ride away. But this is a borderless world, where no individual can claim to be purely from where he is now. My mother is of Chinese descent, my father is a quarter Spanish, and I call myself a pure Filipino-a hybrid of sorts resulting from a combination of cultures.

Each square mile anywhere in the world is made up of people of different ethnicities, with national identities and individual personalities. because of this, each square mile is already a microcosm of the world. In as much as this blessed spot that is England is the world, so i s my neighborhood back home.

Seen this way! , the Filipino Diaspora, or any sort of dispersal of populations, is not as ominous as so many claim. It must be understood. I come from a Third World country, one that is still trying mightily to get back on its feet after many years of dictatorship. But we shall make it, given more time. Especially now, when we have thousands of eager young minds who graduate from college every year. They have skills. They need jobs. We cannot absorb them all.

A borderless world presents a bigger opportunity, yet one that is not so much abandonment but an extension of identity . Even as we take, we give back. We are the 40,000 skilled nurses who support the UK’s National Health Service. We are the quarter-of-a-million seafarers manning most of the world’s commercial ships. We are your software engineers in Ireland, your construction workers in the Middle East, your doctors and caregivers in North America, and, your musical artists in L ondon’s West End.

Nationalism isn’t bound by time or place. People from other nations migrate to create new nations, yet still remain essentially who they are. British society is itself an example of a multi-cultural nation, a melting pot of races, religions, arts and cultures. We are, indeed, in a borderless world!

Leaving sometimes isn’t a matter of choice. It’s coming back that is. The Hobbits of the shire travelled all over Middle-Earth, but they chose to come home, richer in every sense of the word. We call people like these balikbayans or the ‘returnees’ — those who followed their dream, yet choose to return and share their mature talents and good fortune.

In a few years, I may take advantage of whatever opportunities come my way. But I will come home. A borderless world doesn’t preclude the idea of a home. I’m a Filipino, and I’ll always be one. It isn’t about just geography; it isn’t about boundaries. It’s about giving back to the country that shaped me.

And that’s going to be more important to me than seeing snow outside my windows on a bright Christmas morning.