hey! nothing beats a hearty debate! how can we express our innermost views if we don't let it bleed?
after all, a one-sided discussion won't go anywhere. if everyone agrees on one thing, that would be the end of critical thinking!
anyway, to add something to what alex wrote, the americans were smarter than the spaniards. or perhaps, shrewd is a more fitting term.
i think i wrote about this some months ago here in this forum, something about a comm1 paper where i classified our colonists into two- the smiling, and the angry colonist.
the angry colonists basically tried to conquer us through terror, brutality and force- the japs and the spaniards. the smiling colonists utilized a subtler approach.
of course, there's no point denying that the US atrocities during the Fil-Am
war have been cruel and brutal. But what alex did not mention was that while the yanks shot 10-yr. old kids back then, they also went village to village, winning the people over with candy treats for the kids. of course, both operations weren't done on the same area. this is why there were US-loyal filipinos back then.
the media also played a part, as usual. the first Sakay films portrayed him as a bandit, rather than a revolutionary.
nationalism, ironically, still fared better than, despite the flag law- the yanks baned the display of our national colors and our national flag.
sure, they may have helped us fight the spaniards, but for what reason?
aguinaldo (not dennis) got betrayed by his yankee allies. why?
everything got skewed after WW2. we celebrated the yanks, but forgot the HUKBALAHAP. the government even hunted these people down, of course, per instructions of the loaners.
now, fast forward to the present (skipping a very large episode reagarding the US Bases). if you, for example, are neck-deep in debt, is it wise to accept another loan to improve your condition?
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oo nga pala, napansin ko lang, sa personal experience ko. bakit lahat ng mga naging history teacher ko, hindi pro-bases?
puwede ka sigurong maging nationalistic kahit di mo gaano gamay ang kasyasayan mo, pero hindi puwedeng hindi ka maging nationalistic kapag gamay na gamay mo...