I think a lot of you saw the video of the American guy, Jimmy posted on YouTube? Been hearing and seeing him on TV and on the internet. So I checked out his video “The 20 things he hated about the Philippines”. To be totally honest he was partly right on the subject he was talking about. Most of the videos he was showing was totally true. I know there has been lots of uproar over that video. I’ve seen positive and negative comments about it. I even saw government officials comment about it. Before this famous video, they also had the “20 things I love about the Philippines.” That video didn’t make it big on YouTube and the news over here. But the one that he had of what hated here in the Philippines really made it big on the news over here. It’s like a viral video that its talked about here for days and days and it made front page on the newspaper.
Jimmy Sieczka
Really he was right on the subject matter. The only thing I don’t like is that he was swearing too much. His delivery I think really pissed off a lot of people. I think a lot of the foreigners here would not want to do what he did. I will not encourage Bob to do it. Like some of the Filipinos would say over here to the foreigner “you’re just a foreigner.” Bob experienced being told about that statement a few times. I don’t want Bob to be in big trouble here. Like what we always says here on LIP, we could not and will never change the 90+ million Filipinos. I know if its a Filipino would make that video and say what he says, I think its more acceptable to the Pinoys here than him. Brutal honesty is just not sitting well here. They will say the honest truth here differently, not the way that Jimmy did. I know that sometimes brutal honesty is really needed here especially in the business area of the country. But the more you say it, the more you are hated here.
I’ve seen on TV that Jimmy made an apology to the people he offended. I’ve heard people saying that he should not. They said he didn’t do anything wrong. He was just making a point that the other Filipinos would not dare to do. I wonder if the famous actors/actresses make similar video pointing out to the politicians of whats happening in the country when it comes to roads, economy and the way business is being handled here. Do you think the politicians will listens to them? And what do you think the reactions of the people? What do you think if just an ordinary person would make a similar video, do you think the people here would have an uproar over it? Were the egos of the Filipinos offended by Jimmy, just because he’s a foreigner?
It really is an interesting thought from people. I can see the open mind of the Filipinos because some saw what Jimmy meant to say. They were even praising him of his boldness. Some people really didn’t see what he was meaning to say. It still a hot topic here in the PI. I know it will die down soon. I hope that Jimmy still have more friends over what happened. He is free to say what he says, this is after all a freed country. We can say what we wanted to say, right? Feel free to say what you think about it. Just don’t swear please.
Cheers!