More on the Filipino Psyche: Segurista Mentality
8.06.2004
Segurista is someone who would not take risk - someone who will bet only if he will surely win - and someone who will take action only when the outcome is for certain. Today's feature on the problems of the Filipino as a people is this mentality of not acting until every possibility is accounted for, and a certain winnability is assured.
Believe it or not, but even if people tell you they are risk takers, most are not. These are people who even as they have their own decisions to make, will defer to authority when any action is risky. The Filipino culture is not one that encourages radical thinking, non-conformists, nor one that will handle dissent quite well. Hence, words like: baduy, jologs, wala sa uso, sira-ulo, nagrerebelde and walang galang, among several hundreds more words that can be ascribed to the dissenters - all labelled as crazy in the most negative connotation of words, and in effect labelling them as defiants.
"Bakit hindi ka lang maging tulad ni ___ ganito, ganyan." or Words to the effect that compares one with the neighbors or cousin's career, "why not be like him, most courteous and all?"
"By the time we finalize things the world has decided something for us already, by then Filipinos would have been left out if we play the game only when we are sure to win"
Fill in the blanks - you can put so many examples. Our society is handled by those in authority and in the home it is the one who's in charge who makes decisions for others: Sige, mag-saudi ka na nga lang. One can say that it is communal, or that we care about others hence the ambivalence in any decisions - that we need to consult just about every friend, every tita (aunt) before doing anything - but is it really that we care about what others have to say? Or only because most of us are not mature enough to handle our own affairs and face up to it?I do understand there are things we need to defer to authority --- but if we take action everytime and attack it with the same pattern of ' hey wait a minute, let's see how it goes... or what's in it for me, is it sure to win..." By the time we finalize things the world has decided something for us already. Kierkegaard says that is the paralysis of indecision - too much thinking in between actions. Perhaps that's what stagnated this country - we all want to be winners but we all want to be sure winners.
Well that doesn't happen all the time people. Let's think outside the box, Pinoys. Take some risk sometimes, take the initiative and champion a culture of entrepreneurship. Perhaps it's time not to cast out the non-conformist, those with eccentric ideas, those with crazy opinions. Let's not be driven by fads.
Let's welcome ourselves in the modern world of fast-paced decisions. Enough of the old crap.
Labels: Culture, Musings, Philippines
posted by Jdavies @ 8/06/2004,
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The Author
J.Davies
Jdavies lives in Quezon City, Philippines and has been blogging since 2002. A brand manager in a leading technology company and a freelance new media/web strategy consultant, he has refocused his blogging from personal, political & sociological observations, to marketing-related efforts and Internet trends that are relevant to his career and branding advocacies.
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This blog is a depot of thoughts and observations on marketing trends which remain personally relevant to the Author as far as his marketing career is concerned. Having evolved from the personal blog of Jdavies, much of the earlier work contained herein are laced with personal speculation, political views, and similar advocacies. These posts are being kept for posterity's sake and for no other reason. No effort is being made to claim that the author will not contradict himself from his previous positions or that such advocacies are absolute.
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