My comment on a community contrarian's last words
Due to some technical limitations on Blogger's end, I wasn't able to leave a comment on Mr. Joe Rivera's blog. Below is my comment on his last post in its entirety.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
I came across this post when Kapisanan shared the link on Facebook a few days ago. The comment I left was:
"And I'm just hearing about this blogger now?!? I'll be sure to look him up when I make my way east. Articulate and insightful, I wish I had been able to engage him at the apex of his blogging activity. Critical dissent is essential and I hope a similarly capable voice takes his place."
The Filipino community in Toronto seems to share similar challenges as the community here in Vancouver. I found myself nodding to many points made in this post and you've been able to articulate some of the more pervasive symptoms of insularity better than anyone else I've come across. Due to this post, I was motivated to read your other blog entries and I've been sharing them with my networks here in Vancouver.
I don't necessarily agree with all of your viewpoints but I share your sentiment in that, in general, something needs to be done. I recently decided to get involved with the community because I was constantly exposed to people whining about what's wrong with the community (and the world, in general). I knew I wanted to do something but only felt empowered and equipped to do so very recently (that's whole other story). In the short span of time we've been active, we've received enormous support and have been inspired by all the young people wanting to be involved and by the elders wanting to contribute.
But we continue to have these issues.
I think you hit the nail on the head with your description of our community's seeming obsession with beauty pageants, song competitions and sugary variety shows. People clamour for these "Filipino" events but no one can answer satisfactorily what makes these events "Filipino". Sure, a gathering of Filipinos may satisfy the criteria for some but for those of us (an increasing number of us) that want to celebrate and share our rich cultural heritage there needs to be something of greater substance that goes beyond "Pinoy Idol".
As evidenced by organizations like Kapisanan, young Filipinos are now applying their interpretations of our culture (with great aplomb) and wish to not just preserve and share, but to augment and broaden.
---
I applaud your contrarian disposition and I wholeheartedly agree that critical dissent is essential to the progression of dialogue within our community. While I respect your decision to retire from this form of writing, I implore you to continue find ways to continue to engage members of the community. There are those willing to listen and participate in productive discussion and I believe we can build on these conversations and apply creative but practical solutions to these issues that plague our community.
Some are better equipped for discourse than others. In my opinion, skilled communicators that can articulate our community's aspirations and frustrations have a responsibility to do so. It's not just to initiate critical conversations within the community, but to also share with the world all aspects of our culture… putting into context our current complexities and rich history.
I'll be looking you up when I visit Toronto.
RJ Aquino
1 Comment
