\u201cThis is a country where power and money really counts,\u201d said the late Larry Hillblom, the eccentric American multi-millionaire who founded DHL Worldwide Express. It was a remark he made to my father and me as we breakfasted in the lobby of Manila\u2019s Admiral hotel back in 1993, just two years before he died in an airplane accident somewhere off Pagan island. It was a lesson I never forgot.<\/p>\n
It is no wonder, then, that visiting scholar Vicente Rafael approached the photographic images of America\u2019s colonial foray into the Philippine islands from a Marxist-based cultural studies perspective. In an essay he recently presented at the University of Hawaii, Mr. Rafael spoke in insecure, victimized terms. In examining the historical photos of America in the Philippines, he spoke of peculiar notions such as \u201ccolonial exploitation,\u201d \u201cthe imperialist gaze,\u201d \u201cpredatory objects of foreign intent,\u201d \u201cweapons of subjugation,\u201d \u201cdialectical images,\u201d and \u201cthe politics of seeing.\u201d<\/p>\n
Through these historical photographs, Mr. Rafael painted a vivid picture of American colonial exploitation. Images of Filipinos progressing toward civilized Western standards in dress, education and manner were sharply contrasted with \u201cIgirot\u201d Filipino mountain people, tribal savages all; thus justifying America\u2019s sublime policy of \u201cbenevolent assimilation.\u201d<\/p>\n
But as Mr. Rafael himself later conceded during questioning, Filipinos themselves discriminated against one another, drawing class distinctions based on wealth, education and race. The \u201cillustrado\u201d class, as they were known, those with some European ancestry, fared far better than the purer indigenous Filipinos of greater Malay stock.<\/p>\n
\u201cHow do you suppose true Filipino patriots like Manuel Quezon and Carlos Romolo would respond to your [blatantly leftist, anti-American] presentation?\u201d I asked the professor.<\/p>\n
\u201cI wouldn\u2019t know,\u201d responded Mr. Rafael, evading the question. \u201cThey are both dead.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cYes, but surely you could speculate. Carlos Romolo was a prolific writer. He left a substantial body of work,\u201d I countered.<\/p>\n
Carlos Romolo and Manuel Quezon, the Filipino elite, the Spaniard meztisos, the professor replied, would not consider the tribal \u201cIgirot\u201d mountain savages to be true Filipinos at all. They were completely embarrassed when the Americans displayed them at some sort of state fair in the United States–apparently, a showcase for the \u2018White man\u2019s burden,\u201d a.k.a. \u201cbenevolent assimilation.\u201d<\/p>\n
The so-called \u201cpolitics of seeing,\u201d the politics of power relationships, really, remains in the Philippines to this day. It was there both before and after American rule.<\/p>\n
Americans \u2014 or for that matter, Europeans \u2014 did not introduce exploitation and abuse into their colonial outposts. According to author Thomas Sowell, for example, black slavery took place in Africa centuries before the introduction of Western Europeans into
\nthe continent. And yet still, the West continues to be vilified in \u201cintellectual\u201d and academic circles everywhere.<\/p>\n
When in doubt, the leftists tell us, blame America. Blame the evil, greedy West for all of our miserable afflictions.<\/p>\n
But to be fair, this isn\u2019t always the case. When President Harry S. Truman was showing Carlos Romolo around his new presidential library in 1950s Missouri, he pointed toward a photo of General Douglas MacArthur and sarcastically declared, \u201cAnd over there is God himself.\u201d<\/p>\n
To which Mr. Romolo replied, \u201cBut, Mr. President, in the Philippines we think he is.\u201d Sadly, for many Americans, almost nothing is sacred.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
\u201cThis is a country where power and money really counts,\u201d said the late Larry Hillblom, the eccentric American multi-millionaire who founded DHL Worldwide Express. It was a remark he made to my father and me as we breakfasted in the lobby of Manila\u2019s Admiral hotel back in 1993, just two years before he died in an airplane accident somewhere off Pagan island. It was a lesson I never forgot. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-44900","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-local-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/44900","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=44900"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/44900\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=44900"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=44900"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=44900"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}