Colonial mentality is “the internalized attitude of ethnic or cultural inferiority felt by people as a result of colonization. It corresponds with the belief that the cultural values of the colonizer are inherently superior to one’s own.” That definition is probably too narrow as that mentality also extends to politics and economics.
Japan has a strong, successful national government. Maybe we need an emperor thought to be a direct descendant of the sun goddess Amaterasu. Singapore works also so change the political system so one man can be the leader for 31 years and then Senior Minister/Mentor Minister for another 21 years. China took 800 million people out of poverty, so a centrally planned economy is what is needed.
But what is sort of the opposite of “colonial mentality” when some in a nation think that it is so exclusive that external factors have little or no impact on internal conditions and situations?
Critical thinking requires hard work. You need to gather a wide range of verifiable data, not just opinions. That data must be examined in context such as perhaps the reason it is difficult to buy snow boots in the Philippines is because there is no snow. The analysis must deep-dive the information to understand how it all fits together. Conclusions—and therefore solutions to problems—must come from the analysis. The analysis should not simply support a pre-conceived conclusion.
Lazy thinking means to prove, analyze, and conclude an issue in 140 characters on Twitter. “Inflation Higher, Inflation Bad, Administration Bad.” Total intellectual success and with 89 characters left over.
“The country’s headline inflation jumped to 3.3 percent in November, higher than the previous 2.5 percent in October, the Philippine Statistics Authority said Friday. Inflation for food index at the national level moved up at a faster pace of 2.1 percent during the month after five consecutive months of deceleration.” Facts.
Analysis: “The pace of price increases likely accelerated in November due to higher energy costs and more expensive food items caused by the series of typhoons.” “The Filipinos will have to pay a heavy burden and price under Duterte incompetence.”
There it is. All the critical thinking you could ever need about Philippine inflation and well within the 140-character limit.
Maybe we should look a little deeper. The United Nations World Food Price Index is currently at 105. That is up from 85 (24 percent) in early 2016 and higher than the June 2020 reading at 92 (6.5 percent). Who cares? It is still the fault of typhoons/government since we are 7,000 islands in the middle of the ocean 1,200 kilometers from continental Asia.
Except, our Import Dependency Ratio for food has risen steadily to 30 percent in 2019 from 23 percent in 2017 and 22 percent in 2016. The Philippines needs to import most of its dairy requirements. Local production is 4.7 percent and imports account for 95.3 percent. We imported $1.6 billion of wheat last year. Total grains imports are forecast at 8 million tons in 2020. The country is set to import 3.1 million tons of soymeal. In 2000, we imported 94 metric tons of beef. In 2019, that jumped to 185 metric tons.
When the price of your “Jolly Spaghetti” or “Spaghetti and Meatballs All’Amatriciana with freshly grated Parmesan cheese” goes up, it might be because of something more than typhoons or government.