When we recovered from the shock, we realized there was nothing unusual about Americans attacking their own capitol. The death of democracy was how the democrats put it as if the killing of sovereignty of other nations was new to them. They prop up dictatorships until that dictator is of no use to them. Case in mind is Marcos. Think of all those despots and tyrants who made their marks in history because America was in their hearts and they were in the heart of the American government.
History, the alternative kind, has always proven our collective memory of the good America as blighted and bad. From cinema to personal accounts, the land of plenty and honey, the everlasting home of the brave, is not what we think it to be.
We who write and think America are all products of education that is decidedly American—from the notion of free speech to the bravado of openness and the false sense of objectivity. We love it always when, placed side by side with other Asians, we stand firm and proud for being more Americanized than any one of them. If this comparison fails, then there is the fallback—our Spanish-Latin verve.
Therein lies the problem really with our colonial history (as if colonization is not evil enough) in our attitude to organically arrange in our mind Spain, America and Japan as corresponding to: cruel but religious; cruel at first but cool later; and simply cruel and mean. Spain has an excuse—Catholicism; Japan has no excuse except a legacy of godless years. America, in the meantime, has all the plus points of being our comrade-in-arms during a war, of delivering to us modernization and gifting us with global connection via a language that is inter-national.
As for Japan, it is an afterthought, even up to now. One does not dream of Japanese citizenship; in a quick survey, many of us would want to die as Americans.
There is no bad judgement here. No one is to blame; there is only America to praise for their suave and relentless if not quiet campaign to make us think of that country in terms of symbols, signs and signals, effective and affective all.
We are so convinced of America we fought many of its wars: WW II, Korean War, Vietnam War….
Think of a country that we feel will embrace us for what we are. It is America. Think of a country whose history we are too familiar with. It is America. We know the history of Pilgrims but we do not care about “Indians.” We know the bravery of the land. We have memorized their heroes and read the books of those great men and women. We even memorize the speeches of their great presidents—Lincoln with his Gettysburg Address (Four score and seven years ago our fathers brought forth on this continent a new nation, conceived in Liberty, and dedicated to the proposition that all men are created equal.); John F. Kennedy with his inaugural speech (We observe today not a victory of party but a celebration of freedom—symbolizing an end as well as a beginning—signifying renewal as well as change.)
We even know Kennedy’s f–king middle name—Fitzgerald!
We of course feel that does not make us pathetic but intelligent. Indeed, the intelligent Filipinos are in the States, favored by the system with a significant number worshipping now at the shrine of White America.
We do not examine the fact that what we have are segmented and curated facts about America the good country. We love apple pie but we do not care about the disenfranchised Filipino apple pickers and their narratives of legacy of fighting for labor rights when other ethnic groups were easily cowed by an unyielding structure.
Our music is American music. Our local singers hitch their stars to the glitter of Las Vegas. You know those lines—if you can make it there, you can make it anywhere? New York, New York is not just a snappy tune; it is a song of goals and achievements.
Disneyland, Broadway, Jazz they are our heartbeats. Mickey Mouse, Teddy Bear. Hollywood.
We root for Ella, Billie, Louie, but we do not root for their sad histories. We love black music but do we love the Black? It is complicated, as we would describe our relationships online. We do not bother to think of this music as hidden for a long time, submerged under their white version, gentrified as usual.
Or, haven’t you heard of Filipinos who do not find the movement of the Black Lives Matter important to them?
When the videos of the Capitol siege were released, one photo stood out, that of a woman wagging a broom. A Filipina in the coup? Why not? We should be surprised that there was only one? Given the number of Pinoys cheering publicly for Trump, there should have been more.
The Americans are now reeling after the siege and what is now defined as a coup. America is divided. One guy did it and they are incredulous about it. They should not be. America has always been that—a country with its arrogance passing off as the grandeur of the land, a civilization victorious in denying its many roles in the violence against and violation of other cultures.
Commentaries after commentaries are accepting the truth: America, and its centuries-old experiment with the democratic ideas, is battered. Democracy will never be the same again.
What happens now to the Philippines that looks up to America as the bastion of democracy? I guess, we just have to look for other models, other countries for inspiration, and make us aspire to greatness and greater freedom. Or we could look inside.
E-mail: titovaliente@yahoo.com
Image credits: Jimbo Albano