What Do We Want For Our Country?

Is widespread prosperity the goal?

When I was very young, my even younger brother asked our two grandfathers, What is the difference between a Democrat and a Republican?  Now, one grandfather was a Democrat and one was a Republican.  And here we all sat together for this little conversation.  My Republican grandfather answered first.  Well I would say that we all want the same things, but we disagree on how to achieve them.  Obviously he was being diplomatic, but this left a lasting impression, and I more or less believed it for many years.

But I can no longer believe this.  I am 59 years old, and I have been following politics and culture since I was in high school.  If the above sentiment was ever true, it is certainly not true today.  Dear reader, let me ask you:  Do left-of-center types and right-of-center types (I no longer use the party labels) want the same thing?  Perhaps it is just me, but I do not think they do.

So while I appreciate what Peter Boghossian is doing, and I appreciated what Charlie Kirk tried to do, my question is this:  What is the point of these conversations when the goals are so diametrically opposed?  It is kind of like slavery:  At some point, there is nothing left to talk about.

The problem is that not only do we have different goals.  But we have different perceptions of the goals of the other side.

I think we can boil it down like this:

    The right would define their goal as:  Widespread prosperity

    The left would define their goal as:  Universal equality

    But how would the left define the goal of the right:  Prosperity for few

    And how would the right define the goal of the left:  Power for few

So where is the truth?  Well the truth depends on where you sit.  Yes of course I believe in absolute truth.  I believe the right-of-center types are correct, both in the description of their goal and in their perception of the goal of the left.  But any left-of-center type will make the exact opposite claim to truth.

The left may be delusional, but you have to remember that the left is a religion.  And like any religion, their doctrine is their truth.

So like 1860, really, what is there left to talk about?  I am not calling for war.  But it seems to me that we must admit reality.  These two sides will not, and perhaps cannot, be reconciled.  We can have a separation, which has already begun.  I predict this will accelerate.  But a chaotic civil war at some point seems just has likely.

𓐵

Citizen Vigilante

The film is sort of Death Wish meets contemporary European immigration.  With Armie Hammer stepping in for Charles Bronson.

I cannot say that Death Wish was ever my cup of tea.  Too much gratuitous violence, and in this case gratuitous sex, for my taste.  But if the powers that be in Europe, particularly the increasingly authoritarian German regime, feel the need to censor it, then I must do my small part to fight the censorship.

So is the movie any good?  Again, it's not really to my taste.  But if you like the John Wick series, you will like this.  And because the targets are immigrants rather than the mere thugs and criminals in Death Wish, there is definitely a political dimension to this film.  In the end, whether or not you appreciate this film probably depends on your own political convictions.

I will add that both Armie Hammer and Costas Mandylor are excellent in their roles.  Same for the supporting cast.  I suppose the film is classified as low budget, but it is well made and the reduced budget did not interfere with the story.

In summary I would say that the movie is worth watching for its message.  And here I mean, whether you agree with the message or not.  You need to hear it.  This problem is not going away.  And I do not believe that European leaders will sincerely address it.  European elites do not suffer the consequences of their policies and actions, so they do not care.  Ultimately that is the message of this film.

I hope it is the most widely seen film this year.

𓐵

The Lowe-Down on Britain

Rupert Lowe asks:  Is the British government a criminal enterprise?

Lowe says that change can be driven through the ballot box.  Well as a politician, he would have to say that, right?  But as in California and Minnesota, I'm not at all sure that will work any more.

Lowe thinks that people will vote for things to get worse before they get better.  That is wishful thinking; I do not believe that people will do that.  Collapse is inevitable.

I mean in Britain you have an elite class and a government class who absolutely refuse to hold rapists accountable.  Mind you, over decades.  They minimize it, they dismiss it, they hide it.  And it doing so, they prove themselves worse than the actual rapists.  It is, in fact, criminal.

Can the government at large be guilty of accessory and/or obstruction?  Or aiding and abetting?  Because that is exactly what happened.  And Keir Starmer was the head of the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS).

And this is before we get to the vast crimes of the Covid "pandemic" response.  Weinstein wonders aloud if the mRNA "vaccines" were not designed to create immunity (which so clearly, they were not), but rather purposefully designed to create some future vulnerability.  To what, we cannot yet know.  But given the players involved, this clearly is a possibility.  This would certainly explain the unhinged enthusiasm for the jab from the powers that be.

Whether designed for immunity or future vulnerability, my question is, what other alternatives are there?

Well there is pure profit.  But to me, that does not adequately explain the multi-government fervor, both domestically and internationally.  And the punishments for noncompliance.  The governmental actions and supposed reactions were unexplained, dark, and sinister.  We may not know the tree, but we sure saw the fruit.  It was not merely profit-driven; just my opinion.

In any case, these same people are in charge of the election processes.  So my question is:  Have we reached the end of functional democracy?

I think we have.  These people must be dislodged and prosecuted.  Keir Starmer must be jailed.  Along with many thousands of his ilk.  And now, I hear that Andy Burnham will be even worse.

But how will this happen?

The answer is obvious.

𓐵

The United Kingdom Today

Do not lay the blame at the feet of the immigrants.  Of course, they should be removed, but they are who and what they are.  No, the blame lies with the elites and their government minions.  They must pay dearly for what they have done to the country.

𓐵

What Should Be Done?

Under what circumstances is it okay to publicly call for civil war?

Is that ever allowed in polite society?

In the United Kingdom, it is not any one event or situation, but the cumulative actions and attitude of those in charge.  Over, say, the last decade or so.  The government, the courts, the police, all of them.  It should be noted that this situation has evolved under both of the two major political parties, first under the Conservatives and now under Labour.  Is it not time to remove them?

The problem stretches beyond government.  It is really the elites, who are immune to the consequences of unchecked immigration, versus the working and middle classes, who are forced to suffer the actual consequences.  Because the immigrants do not live and work among the elites; rather they burrow down with the working classes.

The elites and their government henchmen are responsible for the rape and murder of the lower classes.  It may be the immigrants doing the actual raping and killing, but clearly it is the elites who are responsible.  And they are completely cavalier about it.  The only question I really have is:  How long are the people of Great Britain going to put up with this?  How many daughters have to be raped and how many sons have to die?

Believe me, if it was the sons and daughters of the elites, this problem would have been solved years ago.  But they could not care less about the sons and daughters of their inferiors.  They look down their noses, call them racists, and put Tommy Robinson in jail.  When will it be enough?

Of course, I am not British and it is not for me to say.  But if any government acts this way, regardless of how it is installed, should something not be done about it?

I'm asking.

I hope the British will as well.
𓐵

The Ultimate Excuse For Bad Behavior

It's their culture

It always seems to start with noise in public.  No matter what, public noise, the speakers, the smartphones, loud voices, whatever it is, well, it's their culture.

And because it is their culture, you are not supposed to complain.  And if you do have the temerity to complain, you are expected to accept it's their culture as a legitimate excuse; and let that be the end of it.

Well no, just no.

But noise is only the start.  Bad behavior in restaurants, undisciplined children running amok, cultural scams like the skin tax, praying en masse on the streets and sidewalks, the amplified adhan five times a day, the lack of daily bathing, the failure to respect lines (queues), elastic punctuality, the list is endless.

And don't get me started on table manners and eating habits.  Now I do not care what people eat.  Different cultures eat different things.  But I do care a great deal if your culture attempts to control what I eat.  No, that's really bad, and no, I don't care if it is your culture.  Not even a little.

Lately ghetto and racket behavior are ruining, or threaten to ruin, all public spaces.  But don't you dare complain; you see, it's their culture.

And notice this:  It's their culture is rarely applied to good habits.  Why?  Because few of us notice a culture's good habits.  Why would we?  Oh, he bathes every day?  I hadn't noticed.

So each of us can decide for ourselves whether cultural practices should be accepted.  But I do not accept, cannot accept, the cultural excuse for bad behavior.  Bad behavior is bad behavior.  And here is a dirty little secret that only gets revealed over time and only if you pay close attention.  People are fully aware that their cultural practice is bad.

Does anyone really believe that Pakistani rape gangs are unaware that rape is unneighborly?  The idea is absurd.

One final example that I like to use is people from Holland and Germany and Scandinavia, who love to tell others how direct, blunt, and frank, they are, as a culture.  But I have long suspected that what is really going on is that they use frankness as an excuse for rudeness.  And moreover, they are perfectly well aware that this is what they are doing.  Bad behavior is bad behavior; and rudeness is rudeness.

They all know.  Of course they know.  It's my culture is just the most efficacious excuse.

Remember, culture is what we tolerate.

If you want to improve your culture, do not tolerate bad behavior.
𓐵

South Africa 2026

When I was coming of age, in the seventies and eighties, my parents taught me that the apartheid regime in South Africa was racist and evil.  When I went off to college in 1985, I found fellow students protesting the South African government and US investment in the country.  They set up encampments on the quad calling for the university to divest from this segregated country and its racist ruling white minority government.

I never joined the protests.  Not because I was unsympathetic to the cause, but because I saw the protests as less about the injustice in South Africa, and more about the protesters' need to protest.  And importantly, to be seen protesting.  If it had not been this issue, it would have been something else.  Anything else.  That was my immediate impression, and I still hold it to this day, forty years later.

And we all know the history.  Apartheid ended in South Africa in 1994.  And I bet most of those protestors never gave the country another thought.

Right?  Well.  Here is South African, Winston Sterzel:

Now Winston blames the communist ANC.  And sure communism may play a part.  But the real problem is corruption.  This is true in most third world hellscapes.  Whether a government leans left or leans right, it is the culture of corruption that results in what you see in this video.

What most people do not understand about corruption is this:  You do not find corruption only at the top.  No, corruption permeates society from top to bottom.  You cannot only say things like, they have a corrupt government or they are corrupt crony capitalists or corrupt communists.  Because where you have those things, I assure you, the cab drivers and the street vendors are also corrupt.  Corruption is not an elite issue; rather it is a cultural failing.

Returning to communism, it is interesting that it seems to take hold most easily in corrupt cultures.  I do not think this is an accident.  Something for nothing, provided by somebody else is appealing to the corruption-minded.

I am not saying that apartheid was a good system.  And I am certainly not calling for its return.  But today, the citizens of South Africa have no one to blame for the failings of their country except themselves and the leaders they vote for.  They have the government and the society that they want.  They have the government and society that they deserve.

So that's okay then.
𓐵

The Tipping Point is Near

Boghossian:  Enablers, you are going to get what you deserve



It is long past time to admit that there are vanishingly few moderate and/or good Muslims.  The absolute best they, as a group, will ever do is remain silent in the face of Islamic misconduct.  And more generally, the misconduct of people who also happen to be Muslim.  Before you berate me for this observation, watch the above video with Lubna Zaidi.

Just as with our political class, where it is not the politicians that are the problem; rather, it is the voters.  It is not the Muslims that are the problem.  Rather, it is what Boghossian and Zaidi label, their enablers.  Typically, but not exclusively, from the left.  They tolerate or even allow the misconduct, and then turn a blind eye to it.

Stop pretending.  Stop the wishful thinking.  Stop the suicidal empathy.  It is time to be serious.

* Apologies to Malcolm Gladwell and Ray Kurzweil.
𓐵

Philippine Culture in One Photo

The most typically Filipino thing I have ever been able to photograph

What do we see in this photo?  On the far left, we see a rice field with newly planted rice seedlings.  If you look carefully, above the green rice field, you can see an as yet unplanted field.  In the middle, we see an irrigation ditch that services these same rice fields and many others.  To the right of the ditch, we see dirt dredged out of the ditch with a backhoe.  And finally, on the far right, we see a concrete road.

As you can see, irrigation workers have dredged the ditch and left the dirt in the margin (or if you prefer, on the road shoulder).  In any other place, the workers would have used the backhoe to move the dirt into an awaiting truck, to be hauled off to some place in need of fill.  Believe me, the Philippines has no shortage of places that could use the extra fill.

But as you can see, that is not what they have done.  They have left the dredged dirt in the margin.  Where, because of the road, it can only go one way:  Back into the ditch.  And with the amount of rain we see in the Philippines, that will not take long at all.  It was raining when I took this photograph.

Again, what is this?  Many people consider Filipinos to be lazy.  But that is not true; I see extremely hard working Filipinos every day.  That rice field was planted by hand; back-breaking work.  And believe me, the guys I saw dredging this ditch are not lazy.  I passed them working on this project many times.  But what is this?  I mean seriously.

We are going to all the trouble to increase the flow and capacity of the irrigation ditch, but then we are going to leave the excavated dirt where it can only flow right back into the ditch that we just worked so hard to clear.  Practically immediately.

And how often is this done?  I mean, if the excavated dirt was trucked away, would this need to be done again?  Maybe once a decade, or so.

What is that?

Before we go, one final note.  Look again at that dirt.  That is grade A volcanic top soil.  I know North Carolina coastal plains farmers who would kill for dirt like that.  Just one example of the many natural resources of the Philippines.  Judging by natural resources alone, the Philippines should be a rich country.  But it is the culture that keeps it poor.

𓐵

The Unreported Philippines

The delicate art of living in a flighty culture

 

I have noticed that no one tells the truth about living in the Philippines.  I have written about this before.  No one really lies; they just leave stuff out.  And the omissions are fairly extensive.  So here, let me point out a few quirks of living here.  I will skip the obvious, like don't drink the water and Filipino time, and focus on what no one talks about.

Before we start, what do I mean by flighty?  I have seen the modern usage of flighty culture.  While I appreciate the concept, that is not what I mean.  I use flighty in its traditional sense.  Flighty means fickle and irresponsible, frivolous, undependable, capricious, unstable, skittish, forgetful, volatile and excitable, inconsistent, unserious, guided by whim or fancy rather than by judgment or settled purpose.  And that is exactly what I mean when I use the term flighty culture here.  So with that clarification, let's get started.

In no particular order:

• If you see it, buy it
  
  Inventory management is beyond the Philippines.  I don't know if it is a function of the shipping logistics of seven thousand plus islands, or if it is a function of Philippine culture, or both.  But I suspect culture plays at least as large a role as cumbersome logistics.  If it is consumable, buy more than one; in fact, buy all they have.  It may be a while before you see it again.  And you may never see it again.
  
  
  
• Electricity is expensive
  
  I cannot speak for everywhere in the Philippines, but we pay roughly double the rate we were paying in North Carolina.
  
  
  
• The power goes out routinely
  
  And because electricity is so expensive, most Filipinos use very little.  Consequently, when the power goes out, you will notice, but the Filipinos around you will not.
  
  
  
• No traffic law enforcement
  
  The traffic laws in the Philippines are basically identical to those in the United States.  They are just not seriously enforced.  The easiest way to improve quality of life in the Philippines would be for the government to enforce the traffic laws.  But I never see any movement in this direction.
  
  This is not a question of resources; there are an abundance of law enforcement officers who could do this.  Rather this is a choice that the Filipinos have made.
  
  
  
• Chaos reigns supreme
  
  So the roads are chaos just like everything else.  Chaos is a life style choice here.  And yes, it is a choice.  I know it is a choice because I notice places where it does not apply:  Banks, and high end shopping malls and hotels.  But that's the extent of it.  Chaos everywhere else.
  
  
  
• There are no addresses
  
  Just one aspect of the chaos.  Sure there are some addresses, but most buildings are not marked.  Everyone walks around with a smartphone, but they make no attempt to use modern mapping apps available to overcome this problem.  Google Plus Codes and apps like What3Words. No addresses required.  But again, they choose chaos.  More on smartphones below.
  
  
  
• There is no mail
  
  Bills are delivered by hand, and now by email.  There are post offices, but you must go to them because they will not come to you.  No mail also means that you must go somewhere to pay those bills.
  
  
  
• Lack of seriousness
  
  No mail is a great example of the lack of seriousness that you find here.  Filipinos are just not serious people.  About anything.  Traffic, education, medical care, agriculture, sanitation, water systems, just pick any topic and you find something that they are not serious about.
  
  Now of course, there are some serious people here.  And of course, there are plenty of unserious people in the West.  I think it is a question of percentages.  There are enough serious people in the West to make the societies work.  Likewise with Japan, Singapore, etc.  Evidently, there are a lot less in the Philippines.  See Bifurcated Culture below.
  
  
  
• There are no landfills
  
  Well I am sure there are, but there is no sanitation infrastructure.  And because of this, most people either burn their own trash, or throw it in the river.  This is how the Pacific Ocean came to be the primary landfill for the entire country.  And the most common smells in the Philippines are not adobo, lumpia, and lechon cooking, but rather burning plastics.
  
  
  
• Smartphones and smartphone zombies are everywhere
  
  It is difficult to describe this phenomenon.  The smartphones are toys, and never tools.  And the last thing the Philippines needs is a ubiquitous gadget that fosters a lack of seriousness.  I would say that the introduction of smartphones has been a cultural disaster for the Philippines.  Most people use their toys everywhere and without headphones.  Quiet dinner with the wife in a fancy restaurant?  No chance.
  
  
  
• Noise
  
  This brings me to noise in general.  The Philippines is the loudest place I have ever visited.  Noise is everywhere.  And in the Philippines there are only two volume levels:  Off and as high as it goes.  If you are looking for peace and quiet, I urge you to not come here.
  
  One other note about the noise:  Crisp amplification is limited by the quality of the speakers.  And all speakers have a limit to their clarity before the sound becomes distorted.  That is, there is a point at which, it is so loud, that you cannot understand what is being amplified, the voice or the music, etc.  In the Philippines, you can rarely understand the voices because the volume levels are too high.  And it never occurs to them to turn it down a bit.
  
  Ultimately the noise just amplifies the chaos.
  
  
  
• There is little appreciation and little consideration
  
  This takes a while to notice because Filipinos are extremely pleasant on a surface level.  But live here a while and you will see this often and everywhere.  The noise is only the first thing you will notice.
  
  
  
• Karaoke
  
  The noise and lack of consideration warnings absolutely apply to the primary Filipino pastime of karaoke.  I have never understood why karaoke has to be amplified at all, much less at full blast.  But if you cannot hear it half a kilometer away, evidently there's no fun in it.
  
  
  
• Undervalued time and no urgency
  
  As I mentioned at the start, everyone knows about Filipino Time, the tendency of Filipinos to be late.  But where does this come from?  I think two places.  One is the lack of consideration mentioned above.  While some may care about their own time, Filipinos have practically no consideration for the time of others.  Two is the fact that many of them do not even care about their own time.  When you have very little to do, time is unimportant.  And I promise you this, if you do not care about your own time, you certainly will not care about someone else's time.
  
  Similarly, there is no urgency in the Philippines.  For anything.  I have never once seen a Filipino or a group of Filipinos or a business or a government agency do anything with any urgency whatsoever.  It is as if the concept does not exist.  As an example, we once sat in an airport for twelve hours because our flight was moved from seven am to seven pm; of course without notice.  But we seemed to be the only people who cared.  Luckily I had booked our connecting flight for the next day, just because of this type of unforeseen nonsense that is so very common here.
  
  Actually, this is not entirely true.  I once saw a Jollibee gutted and renovated.  This was done in maybe three weeks total.  In fact, there was urgency to get the place re-opened.  But this sort of thing is rare.
  
  
  
• Acceptance and proliferation of the alphabet people
  
  There is a large LBGTQIA+ community in the Philippines.  I do not know if more people here identify as part of this community, or if people here feel more comfortable being open about it.  But either way, you notice more of this in the Philippines than elsewhere.
  
  Gender roles are heavily segregated here.  And I do wonder if this is not a backlash against the mainstream idea of what it means to be a man.
  
  
  
• Breadwinner culture
  
  You will find many families with one breadwinner.  And that gives others in the family an excuse to not work or be under-employed.  Sometimes the money that the breadwinner shares with his or her family is used for legitimate expenses.  But too often it is not.  A sense of familial duty, and often guilt, keeps the money flowing regardless of how it is ultimately used.
  
  
  
• Bifurcated culture
  
  There are people in the Philippines, millions of them, who are serious and motivated and ambitious.  Of course there are.  And many of these people end up leaving to work overseas.  Leaving the people behind who are less serious, less motivated, and less ambitious.  So if you are impressed with the Filipinos you have met in your own country, like I was, just understand that you will not often find that when you get here.
  
  
  
• Bahala na culture
  
  Before coming to the Philippines, one needs to learn the cultural term bahala na.  I have written somewhat empathically about this in Half-Assed as a Cultural Norm, where I wrote about the lack of exposure to conscientious behavior.  But what I have learned, and what we have to accept, is like most things in life, doing a half-assed job is a choice.  And there are consequences to this choice.
  
  
  
• Prejudice against hard work
  
  In the bifurcated and breadwinner and bahala na culture, work is most often done elsewhere, whether overseas, or in Manila, or just in town at the office.  But in the provinces, if you are seen to be working hard or even just generally busy, many Filipinos will have a negative perception of you and your busyness.  Yes, it is odd.  I think it has to do with their belief that if you are trying to better yourself, you believe that you are better than them.  And of course, you are.  You know it and they know it.  And they do not like it.
  
  If you did not believe that you are better than them, then you would loaf around all day like they do.  I mean, obviously.
  
  
  
• Scam culture
  
  I will tell you my first experience with this, but it never ends.  So we cook with propane, and propane trucks drive around all day, and they only take cash.  The first time they came to us, I gave the driver cash, but I needed change.  Response:  No sorry, I don't have change.  He was just hoping to put a few extra pesos in his pocket.
  
  
  
• Other money issues
  
  You will pay a skin tax on any merchandise items that are not pre-priced.  So shop accordingly.  Your Filipina's family will ask for money.  This may well be okay, but it is expected that you will give it to them.  And if you do not, or cannot, that too is okay, but your relationship with them will suffer.  Give some thought to the moral dimensions of this dynamic.
  
  
  
• Limited customer service
  
  If you are used to United States levels of customer service, you will be disappointed in the limited customer service you find here.  But it is really just a question of adjusting your expectations.
  
  
  
• Low trust society
  
  Limited customer service is a function, one of many, of a low trust society.  If you cannot trust people, you surely cannot accept their merchandise returns.  This attitude spreads to every nook and cranny of society.  And coming from a high trust society, it takes some getting used to.
  
  
  
• Pervasive fickleness
  
  I do not know how else to label this.  But it is a cultural phenomenon here that applies to everything.  Filipinos are flighty people.  Very little can be agreed on in advance, because one or more parties will change their minds, often without informing the others.  Dangerous last second lane changes on the highway, usually to make a turn, are epidemic.  I think it goes back to the lack of seriousness.  This leads to a lack of dependability and a lack of predictability and a lack of consistency.  Get used to it.
  
  
  
• Beware questions
  
  It is worth knowing that in the Philippines there is a cultural aversion to questions.  Both asking questions and receiving questions.  At first I thought this was a function of there being something to hide or something shady.  And it is certainly true that some Filipinos will interpret any question as an accusation.  But I now realize that this has more to do with sheer lack of interest.  They have no interest in asking and they have no interest in answering.  Ultimately, they have no interest in knowing.  And I think this demonstrates a fundamental, cultural lack of curiosity.  Coming from the West, which is a curious culture, this is a difficult adjustment.
  
  
  
• Restaurants and utensils
  
  Let me end with restaurants.  Many Filipinos will eat with their hands at home.  But I have never seen this in restaurants.  They will use utensils.  But just know in advance, that it is only the high end restaurants that will give you a knife.  Low and mid-range restaurants will not give you a knife, and if you ask, they do not even have knives available.  So order accordingly.  This is so pervasive that I know of one buffet style restaurant that is so averse to giving their patrons knives that when I order the pork chops, the server will take out a pair of kitchen shears and cut the pork chop up before serving it.  And this is fortunate because like everywhere else, you are only offered a fork and spoon.  I don't get it.

There are other cultural oddities, like skin whitening, that are truly infuriating, but that do not really affect an expat's life and routine.  Further, I have left out political and religious issues.  I will leave those for Filipinos to discuss themselves.  This is a purely cultural list; well as much as that is possible.  I think it is interesting to note that other than my brief comments on money, none of the above are the result of poverty or the third world status of the Philippines.  No, these are cultural choices that Filipinos make.  And I offer this list not to change, or even criticize the Philippines.  I did not come here to change the Philippines.

The art of living in the Philippines is learning to endure the cultural flightiness.  Money and experience help.  It also helps, if you can manage it, to maintain a certain degree of separation from the native culture.  But that is my own strategy.  Others might think, but I am going there to immerse myself in the Philippine culture.  That works for some.

So let me offer you a thought experiment, as a sort of test.  You are sitting in a nice restaurant having a quiet dinner with your wife, and the table right behind you has four people, all on their smartphones, and none of them are using headphones or ear buds.  And all of their respective volumes are turned up to full blast.  And it is not just that table, as you look around the restaurant, most occupied tables share this same lack of consideration for others.  So you go find the manager to complain, and you find him, sitting at an unoccupied table having a Zoom-style call with his wife on his smartphone.  Again without headphones.  He's shouting because she is having difficulty hearing him.

That's the setup; here's the test:  Is this okay with you?  And it is not only in nice restaurants; maybe you are in an elevator or on a bus.  Maybe you are in a fancy department store.  Is this okay with you?  But it does not end at the restaurant, when you get home, your neighbors are having a party, on a Monday night, singing karaoke at the top of their lungs, which is not as loud as the over-amplified music, until after midnight.  Because they do not work the next day, and they may well not work at all.  Because they have an overseas foreign worker (OFW) breadwinner in the family who regularly sends them money.  Is that okay with you?

It is worth pointing out that many of your neighbors are in this situation, to one degree or another.  And none of them have all that much to do tomorrow.

Here is another, highly relevant, test.  Many of the above factors will only affect you in small ways, or only every so often.  But it is the cumulative effect of the culture that you must consider and ask yourself:  Is that okay?  Can I live like that?

If so, you might love Philippines culture and want to immerse yourself in it.  If not, you will have to find ways of enduring Philippines culture.  So decide for yourself.  I offer this list to other potential expats thinking about relocating here.  Make of it what you will.

But no one else is going to tell you.

𓐵

Stay Out of China

And stay away from Chinese nationals everywhere

The benefits are illusory and costs will bankrupt you.  It is a culture of corruption and cheating and short cuts.  It is not only CCP officials you have to worry about; remember Andrew Breitbart's adage:  Politics is downstream from culture.  You see this even with some Chinese-Americans who start businesses in the US.  It can be difficult for them to overcome the ingrained, native, low-trust culture.

Chinese culture is the societal embodiment of Gresham's Law.

𓐵

Winston Marshall and Louise Perry

The deliberate obtuseness of government towards immigration

The unfortunate reality of the coming civil war, no matter what form it may take, is that the belligerents will be lower class and lower-middle class native British people on one side and Muslim immigrants on the other.  In an ideal world, a just world, it would be the natives versus the government that has delivered this mess upon the nation.  And here I mean each and every individual member of government who played a part.  These are the people who should pay most dearly for their own recklessness.

To all the striving middle class and upper-middle class Brits who Perry describes as not wanting to be like Tommy Robinson, I would simply say:  It is not your daughters getting raped.  You could not care less about those working and lower class girls.  This says something fundamental about your character.  And it is your indifference that will be largely responsible for the coming civil war.  Honestly, you richly deserve what is coming.

𓐵

The Elevator Test

Peter Boghossian on social cohesion

After living in the third world for the last four years, I can assure you this test is valid.  If members of a society never learn to treat each other well, we cannot expect them to come into our societies (of the West) and treat us well.  And this is an obvious test; there are less flagrant attitudes and behaviors.  If high-caste Indians look down on all other Indians, they will undoubtedly look down on you as well.  After all, you are not even Indian, much less Brahmin.

𓐵

Dave Rubin and Andrew Gold

Gold:  I have to censor myself partly because I might get killed by people who live around here

The British are doing this to themselves:

BREAKING: UK police stopped a woman from walking her dog, saying it could offend the local Muslim population — and ordered her off her own street. pic.twitter.com/aguR9J24zq

— Eyal Yakoby (@EYakoby) October 19, 2025

Honestly, if you live in Britain, it is time to leave.

𓐵

Burn It All Down

It would be better if young people laid in a field and looked at the sky

Peter Boghossian on the universities (three minute compilation video)

So, is this the correct position to take?

Here is where I am:

Question:  What is the mission of the academy?

Answer:  To teach people to think and how to think.  I mean, we could all go to trade schools.  We could have trade schools for medicine.  No, the core mission is teach young people how to think.

Are they doing that?  Obviously not.

So what are they doing instead?  Proselytizing leftist doctrine; like the religion that it has become.  And campuses are their cathedrals, attended by priests and monks and various other clerics and votaries of the left.

Don't believe me?  Talk to young college graduates.  Even if they are not overly political, they are completely unable to think.  They confuse narrative for thought.  This is how we get Queers for Palestine.

There is also a side-effect of all this indoctrination.  Even though they know absolutely nothing, they overestimate how much they do know.  After all, they have the parchment on the wall to prove it.

I mean for Christ's sake, what does a degree from Utah Valley University even mean?  For many so-called students, college is a very expensive four-year party.  They are not there to learn any more than the clerics are there to teach.  Do the time, get the credential, then tell everyone how smart you are.  Meanwhile I read that they no longer read books.  No surprise there.

To a large extent the students are there under duress.  They cannot get the jobs they dream of, unless and until, they get a piece of paper.  So they all go to the college that will give them the most valuable piece of paper that they can get.  And if you are forced to be there, you might as well have a good time.

But the clerics of the left, they are there leeching off their student-hostages and the rest of us.  Indefinitely.  The academy gives them a better income than they could make doing anything productive.  And it gives them authority to pontificate on all matters, political and otherwise.  They are missionaries:  Yes, of course we will feed you and your children; but first, we all must attend church.

There is no fix for this.  And no will to fix it.

Burn it all down.

And start over.

𓐵

Carlson and Knowles

Hateful menopausal ladies and their gay sidekicks



Like Richard Dawkins, I am an atheist and a cultural Christian.  Really, is there any other legitimate choice?  I mean, you can be a Christian or a Jew, but if not, what are your choices?  No matter what you may think of other religions, they are all objectively inferior to Christianity and Judaism.  All of them.  Certainly the modern religion of puritanical leftist ideology is detrimental to human understanding and progress, and individual mental health.

I say this as someone who stands back from the Christian church and looks at it and also looks at the alternatives.  As an objective observer, it is impossible to believe that Islam offers a preferable life path.  Let's murder all the gay people?  And anyone who might leave the faith?  Please.  I mean, they reason like angry toddlers.  And even if I, as a Muslim, would not do this myself (note, because of something beyond my own religious convictions), I support, directly or indirectly, those who do.

Let us be serious and stop pretending that there are redeeming qualities in the Islamic faith system.  Say it with me:  My apostate friends and family, and my gay friends and family, and any and all apostates, from any religion, and any and all homosexuals, should not be put to death.  If you cannot say this publicly, your convictions are inferior.  Period.

And I say this as someone who is, at best, ambivalent about gay demeanor and behavior, and honestly about gay people themselves.  Ambivalent at best, and sometimes quite a bit less generous than that.  However, I do not think that they should be killed.  No genuinely moral person does.  And no genuinely moral religion calls for such.

But here, I only use Islam because it is the largest alternative to Christianity.  This logic applies to all non-Christian, non-Jewish religions.  Asian religions may not murder apostates, but they tend to be morally ambiguous.

Certainly there are questionable elements in the Christian and Jewish faiths as well.  But I submit to you, dear reader, that they are the best of the many alternatives.  Certainly as Jews and Christians practice their respective faiths today.  And whether you are a believer in the Divine, or not, Christianity and Judaism do allow each of us to pick and choose what to practice and believe without fear of, well, death.

So as a moral person, your choices are:  Be a Christian, be a Jew, or be an atheist and a cultural Judeo-Christian.  That's it.  And yes, if you were born in India or China or Saudi-Arabia, this admonition still applies to you.  I mean, what are the alternatives?  Be an atheist and a cultural Muslim?  What does that even mean?  Again, okay, you, yourself, do not murder the apostates.  Perhaps it is more plausible to be a cultural Hindu.  But I submit if you are an atheist and a cultural Hindu and a moral person, you have been greatly influenced by Judeo-Christian ideas.

Anyway, all of this to merely explain that even as an atheist, I can appreciate a discussion of the role of the Church in our culture.  And how I would rather live in a culture dominated by Christianity than any other religion.  Most especially the religion of puritanical leftist ideology.  Just look at the United Kingdom to see a society where the role of the Church is now, basically, nonexistent, replaced by leftist ideology and Islam.

I have said this before, and I will say it again, almost all people, including most atheists, need faith in something.  And if it is not going to be Christianity, it is most likely going to be something significantly worse.

𓐵

Peterson's Message to Musk (and the rest of us)

On Tommy Robinson and Schools of Education

Peterson first discusses the abysmal treatment of Robinson by the government of Great Britain.  Britain has become a theocracy with dhimmi-servants running the government, the judiciary, and the police (my description not his).  Then Peterson moves on to our own nightmare, the university schools of education, which supposedly train teachers.  I have written about this existential threat before.

𓐵

The Path Out of Poverty

Maybe this path will not work for everyone.  But if you are reasonably intelligent and ambitious, this is the way.

• Get as much education as you can.
  
  
• At a minimum, you must learn and use proper English.  This is true no matter where you are.  If you are rich in Malaysia or Guatemala or Kenya, fine, you don't need English.  But if you are poor, master English.
  
  
• Get a job.  If there are no jobs, then you must make your own; find a need and fill it.  Do what needs done; haul water for your neighbors, plant the rice, whatever.  Do not wait for the work to come to you; you must go find the work.
  
  
• Do not have children.
  
  
• Find a partner doing likewise.  Do not look for a partner to raise your children.  Instead look for a life partner.  This is a subtle but important distinction.  Yes, children are a part of life; for many the most important part.  And no, it is not fair, but if you are poor, you simply cannot afford children.  And they will keep you poor.  So make your choice.
  
  
• Also regarding children, you must break from the mindset that only your children can and will care for you in your old age.  Once you breakout of the jail of the poverty-minded, you will discover that you can and should take care of yourself in your old age.  This view of children as retirement is a big part of what keeps people poor; because this mindset encourages people to have children they cannot afford.
  
  
• Get married.  But don't be in a rush.  Only get married if and when you find the right one.
  
  
• Still do not have children.
  
  
• Focus on your (two) careers; make something of yourselves.
  
  
• Never lie, never look for shortcuts.  These are popular strategies of the poverty-minded.  Be honest or stay poor.
  
  
• Along the way, read everything you can, both fiction and nonfiction.  You must learn to learn and learn to think.  These are skills that most poor people just never develop.
  
  
• Also learn to be considerate, grateful, friendly, respectful, and quiet.  Yes, be quiet.  If you think these attributes are beneath you, okay fine, stay poor.
  
  
• Do not surround yourself with poverty-minded people.  Leave them behind.  Leaving poverty most often involves leaving your community.
  
  
• Be faithful to your spouse.
  
  
• Only then should the two of you even consider children.

Yes, it is this simple.  If anyone tells you otherwise, they are lying to you – To serve their own interests, not yours.  The primary key to this path is to have children only when and if you can afford it.  If you cannot manage this, again okay fine, stay poor.  I realize this advice may run counter to the teachings of your faith and/or the desires of your family.  You simply must put these influences aside until you, and you alone, are ready.

And yes, of course this applies in the United States as well.  I have written on that specifically here.

𓐵

The Entitled

A Culture of Entitlement

I wrote last week about how in the Philippines there is little consideration and little appreciation.  But if these qualities are missing from a culture, what replaces them?

Entitlement.

If you are entitled to something, there is no need to feel appreciation for it.  For example, ordinarily, if someone gives you money, you would be grateful and appreciative.  But if you feel entitled to that money, then you also feel as if you need not be grateful for it.  Or more bluntly, if they owe you the money, then of course, no need to be appreciative.

So, if you have a family member, working overseas for slave wages, and they send you money...are you grateful for it or entitled to it?  What if it is an adult child sending money to his or her parents?  Does the child owe his parents?  In Asia, the answer is usually yes.  Okay, we are not in Kansas anymore.

So the parents may very well feel entitled to that money.  What about other family members?  Well in the Philippines there is actually a law that you must help immediate family with their financial necessities.  You may not have to buy them a car, but they might expect you to help pay for their children's schooling.  So they are also entitled.

Yes, entitlement is such a large aspect of Filipino culture that they have enshrined it in the law.  Your family is entitled to the benefits of your labor.  Question in passing:  What does that make you?

Well in the Philippines, they have a name for that.  The breadwinner.

And this labor need not be overseas.  If you work in any capacity, in the Philippines or overseas, and especially if you have a "good job," then yes, your family feels entitled to the benefits of your labor.  And God help you if you start a successful business.  It's worth noting that, regardless of the reality, many businesses appear successful from the outside.  So you will pay.

We in the West would call this charity.  And the receivers of such charity might feel shame for taking it.  But entitlement wipes away all shame.  It is forced charity and there is no shame.  It is breadwinner culture and there seems to be no incentive to join you as such.  And if you are "providing" why should they provide for themselves?  If there is any shame involved, it can only be the breadwinner's shame for not providing.

Now misguided family dynamics are one thing.  But this family entitlement then permeates through the entire culture.  Entitlement becomes part of every aspect of Filipino life.  It is this pervasive sense of entitlement that leads to the lack of consideration.

People are entitled to misbehave.  They use their smartphones, without earbuds, in public.  They drive without a license, breaking traffic laws, without fear of any repercussions.  They happily skip ahead of you in line.  If the clown next door is loudly playing karaoke late on a school night, well he's entitled.  They'll join you for lunch or dinner, but stay on their smartphone the whole time.  Why are they so rude?  It's entitlement.

Filipino time, though widely accepted as a cultural idiosyncrasy, is a clear lack of consideration.  Entitlement.  I've written about chronic lateness before.  The Filipino skin tax?  They are not grateful for my business; rather they are entitled to overcharge me.  With no shame.

I would argue that it is the entitlement mentality that is the genesis for the lack of appreciation and consideration.  They don't appreciate, they are owed and thus entitled.  They have little consideration, they are entitled to do as they please.

𓐵

Paradise Lost

Smartphones have ruined the Philippines

The Philippines suffers from a serious lack of seriousness.  I am really not sure why this is.  But I suspect that, if pressed, Filipinos will likely blame the Spanish occupation.  But no one does press the issue; it is part of their culture.  I would say lack of seriousness is their culture.

Just to give some examples.  Driving is a mess in the Philippines.  Why?  Many drivers are not licensed and there is little serious traffic enforcement.  They are predominantly Christian, but have few serious (actual practicing) Christians.  They are a nominal democracy, but vote buying is common and openly public.  Many people own dogs and cats, but serious (responsible) pet ownership is rare.  We are surrounded by rice farmers, yet the Philippines still must import about half of its rice needs.  It's a topic for another post, but a little seriousness applied to farming would go a long way.

Pick any topic or cultural dynamic, and you'll find something Filipinos are not serious about.  In fact, I challenge you to find anything they are actually serious about.  Well there is Jollibee.  Filipinos are quite serious about Jollibee; and rightfully so.

Enter the smartphone.  First introduced by Apple in 2007, and followed by numerous competitors, today these devices are ubiquitous.

For what?  I mean, for what purpose is everyone using these devices nonstop?  Have you noticed?  It is all nonsense.  While they have any number of possible productive uses, for most people, smartphones are sophisticated toys.  This is certainly true for the people who use them the most.  In fact, I would argue that there is an inverse relationship between device usage (time) and device productivity.  This is simply the world we live in; clearly true for both the United States and the Philippines.

So problem number one is this:  The introduction of smartphones has been devastating for the Philippines.  A less-than-serious society inundated with relatively cheap sophisticated toys.  Can you imagine?  These toys are a national distraction.

Which brings us to problem number two.  The Philippines has a unique smartphone usage habit:  They use the bloody things everywhere, but no one uses headphones or earbuds.

Okay "no one" is too strong.  But earbud usage is maybe one in a hundred.  Everyone else inflicts their smartphone noise on their surroundings.  And of course, it is the kind of noise that reflects the nonsense they are using their smartphone for.  Utter stupidity.

And they do not even try to do this quietly.  I mean hey, if you are going to forgo earbuds and inflict this on others, you clearly don't care enough to try to keep the sound down.

In fact, noise in the Philippines, any kind of noise, comes in two, and only two, variations.  Off and full blast.  In passing, it is worth pointing out, that noise, mostly but not exclusively, outrageously loud music, is just another sign of the cultural lack of seriousness.  I read recently that "culture is what a society tolerates."  Filipinos tolerate inane noise everywhere which is a primary contributor to the lack of seriousness.

And smartphone noise is omnipresent:  Public transportation, elevators, doctors' waiting rooms, restaurants.  Yes, fancy restaurants.  In fact, it has become impossible to have a nice quiet dinner with your spouse.  Some clown, or group of clowns, will be seated near you, and immediately pull out their noisy toys.  And it will not stop until they leave.  We mostly get takeout for this very reason.

But it is not just others.  If you go to dinner with a group of people, there will be multiple people in your group who will blast their smartphone throughout the meal.  Don't bother asking why they are there?  My advice:  Don't go.  And for God's sake, don't pay.

If you are walking around, do not be surprised if the clown in front of you just stops because he or she has been so captivated by their phone that they cannot move.  Happens all the time; particularly at doors and the top of escalators, which require some minimal level of their attention.  But it is too much for the smartphone zombie.

And all lines.  If the grocery line is not moving and the clerk is just waiting for the next customer, it is because the customer is buried in her smartphone.  It seems that her smartphone nonsense is more important to her that getting through the line and on with her day.

So this brings me to the final point.  A question:  Do Filipinos know that this is rude?  My personal opinion is they do know.  It is simply that in the Philippines there is another cultural dynamic at play:  Little consideration; little appreciation.  They know; they just do not care.

So is it still paradise?  Only if and when you can avoid the culture.

𓐵