Don't talk about what you don't understand

Submitted by a Filipino liberal (Philippines), Dec 24, 2006 at 02:15

Oh, be quiet, you don't know anything about the Philippines. As to the problem with Muslims in this country, I say that we, Christian Filipinos, are wrong. Yes, I'm saying that. Ever since the Spanish colonial period, when the Spanish taught those Filipinos who had converted to Catholicism to hate their Muslim countrymen, (they used the good ol' divide-and-conquer strategy, like all good imperialists should) right up to the present, the majority Christian Filipinos, who make up 90% of the population, have discriminated against and persecuted Muslim Filipinos, who number about 5 percent.

Naturally, some Muslims would get angry about this, and it's our fault. Of course, if the Muslims adopt terrorist tactics in retaliation then that's wrong too! But it still doesn't change the fact that the roots of the current conflict lie in our treatment of Muslims.

"where on earth it is written that every single person/land/group of people is supposed to have equal resources, wealth, chances?"

Isn't that what I just said? That not all places on earth, and hence not all countries, have equal amounts of resources, equal climate conditions, etc? That's a fact. What I don't know to be a fact is that just because this is the case, it doesn't mean we should not try to make the world a better place for everybody. To say that we should not try to change conditions and just accept them because that's "the way things are" is similar to saying that because in nature animals kill each other, we should do the same. It doesn't follow. Besides, to say that developing countries are poorer than developed countries because developing countries naturally have less resources conveniently ignores the fact that for several centuries white nations exploited the resources of these nations for themselves (which is probably the only reason they're richer now.)

While it would be nice for everyone to have equal (large) amounts of wealth, I'm not even asking for that. Some people can be richer than others, they just turned out lucky in the "game" of life. What I'm asking for, at least, is that everyone at least has enough wealth to satisfy all their needs (forget wants) and live a dignified existence. Of course, this will be difficult, because I believe that it is human nature (that is to say, I believe it is the first instinct of most humans) to, when they find themseves ahead of someone else, instead of helping that someone get to where you are, try to keep him from reaching you. I believe humans are naturally selfish, and competitive, not compassionate, and even more so nowadays because capitalism, the economic system in vogue today, actually encourages these traits as "Good Things". It's human nature.

But whoever said that human nature was correct?

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