Paradise: Lost and found

The original title to this piece was supposed to be "Crabs cursing themselves" in reference to the Filipino term "crab mentality," depicting Filipinos like crabs that pull each other down in an attempt to climb over others to escape from the pot.

- CITO BELTRAN

For decades, if not half a century, we have believed in the lie that the crab mentality was uniquely Filipino, given that other countries or cultures we are familiar with, don't practice it. The problem with our reference points is that the countries we were historically familiar with, such as the United States, Japan, etc., were never conquered, colonized, brainwashed, and enslaved for 300 plus years.

If we actually looked for similar cases, I have been told that South Africa during Dutch colonial rule, for instance, manifested a cultural behavior where the true natives or the black South Africans shed a lot of blood during so-called tribal wars.

But in reality, they were simply unconsciously directing their anger towards a lesser enemy given they did not stand a chance staging a bloody rebellion against the Dutch and apartheid in the early years.

In the Philippines, the oppression of Pinoys was extended because the Philippine economy for the last 100 years has been controlled by colonial remnants and foreign entities who played Filipinos against each other at work and in politics to this day.

Unfortunately, educators and scientists have not successfully educated Filipinos to redirect the anger, frustration, or desperation towards a more positive and productive view of life. We did have the "bayanihan" and barangay models, but colonial mentality and politics turned them into a joke or another cause for division and control during martial law.