Agree to disagree, but Filipinos are easily one of the most toxic groups of people to ever be on the internet, and that’s saying a lot.
Filipinos have such an immense sense of pride in themselves that oftentimes, they don’t even see it becoming borderline conceited. Social media has fueled that even more in the past few years—especially when it comes to seeing our culture in headlines and such.
Take seeing actors or personalities abroad apparently having some part Filipino in them, for example. Filipinos online immediately take that fact, make it their personality for a few days, and will not hesitate to shove that fact down your throat.
And with that immense “Filipino pride” or hubris, comes the highly toxic behavior that gets people on the internet to cringe at us. What that is, you may ask. Well, it’s quite literally how Filipinos will utilize mental gymnastics to get their points across and rationalize their cringe-y and downright wrong Internet behavior.
And honestly? We deserve to be ridiculed for it.
For the past few weeks, Filipinos have been given quite the spotlight in some news headlines. And no, it wasn’t all entirely good.
First up, we had that Benny Blanco and Jollibee fiasco that got Filipinos around the world angry. Well, sure, we’re going to have to say that maybe Benny Blanco did deserve all those reactions from Filipinos after disrespecting what is considered to be one of the foundations of Filipino culture.
But did Filipinos have to end up cyberbullying him for it? *shrugs*
Next, we have Filipino internet finding out about the Captain’s Peak Garden and Resort smacked right in the center of Chocolate Hills in Bohol, which by the way, is a protected landscape and UNESCO geopark. We wouldn’t have found out about it (nor it wouldn’t have made noise) if it weren’t for the vlogger that posted a promotional video for it.
Many were upset at the fact that there was a resort in the middle of a beloved tourist spot in the country and a (supposedly) protected geological monument, and were rightfully so. However, there were also others that were defending the business in question.
Their reasoning? Since Bohol attracts tourists, the Chocolate Hills are a profitable source of income as well. Also, because the resort was technically far from the Hills themselves. Some were even saying that the reactions that most people had were purely based on their emotions.
Oh, and others even started bringing up the ethnicity conversation, which by the way, is far from relevant in this.
It’s disturbing to say the least when some Boholanos would view the criticism of Captain’s Peak Resort Chocolate Hills fiasco as an affront on their ethnicity.
What is so difficult to comprehend that the issue is all about heritage preservation, and not about non-Boholanos not…
— Mark Lopez (@MacLopez769) March 17, 2024
Last but not least, this one is still a hot topic for many netizens.
The “feud” between Australian singer-songwriter Lenka and our homegrown “Queen of Bangsamoro Pop” Shaira.
We all know how that’s been going on, right? But, in case you don’t:
Shaira Moro, most popularly known nowadays as the “Queen of Bangsamoro Pop”, had released a song titled “Selos” on streaming platforms. On March 19, 2024, the viral song was taken down everywhere after a copyright issue was raised by Australian singer Lenka.
The melody of Shaira Moro’s “Selos” was pointed out to be the same as Lenka’s 2008 song, “Trouble is a Friend” by a netizen on Instagram.
After taking down the track, AHS Productions released a statement saying that they had removed the song from streaming platforms as they were in the process of securing a cover license for Moro’s song.
The move was taken in negatively by some Filipinos, who immediately went on Lenka’s social media and barraged her with hateful comments. Some even alleged that the Australian singer herself was “jealous” of the clout Shaira was getting over “her” song.
Unsurprisingly, others also wrongfully called the action ‘Islamophobia,’ which to be honest, was quite a farfetched take.
A few days after “Selos” was taken down, another song from Shaira Moro was removed from all streaming platforms. The track “Forever Single (Walang Jowa) was recently seen to have charted in the Top 10 of Spotify PH’s viral songs but was found to have been removed on March 24, 2024.
The track was pointed out by some social media users to be similar to Indonesian band Papinka’s song “Masih Mencintainya.”
From these 3 instances alone, we can see how Filipinos will do their best to bend logic and rationality just to “protect” their Filipino identity even if they’re the ones in the wrong.
Which, honestly, isn’t as surprising, seeing the state of our political and societal climate at the moment. We get that we’re all for supporting our countrymen and nation, but do we have the self-awareness to see when we can overstep that and see how conceited we can be?
Tbh, no. We don’t. That’s just how we are, apparently. Once we’re backed up in a corner, we’ll just do whatever we can to wear the other ones down just to make ourselves feel right.
Talk about the amount of mental gymnastics chronically online Filipinos do, right?
Other POP! stories that you might like:
Internet responds to tweet slamming medical interns and clerks for watching The Eras Tour
20+ unhinged comments found on Lenka’s Instagram after ‘Selos’ controversy
‘Paid Award’ rumors spark following recognition of Pinoy ‘Leonardo da Vinci Award’ recipients
Misinformation and deepfakes proliferate as integration of AI in journalism continues
#JusticeForKillua: Outcry over brutal killing of dog sparks call for accountability