Political Self and Digital Self

Dimensions of Being a Filipino

(1) Pinagmulan:

  • also known as socio-political dimension

  • Factors are the following:

    • born in the Philippines
    • parents who are Filipinos
    • residing in the Philippines
    • Filipino Citizen

    Basis of Pinagmulan:

  • 1987 constitution with the following conditions

    • citizens of the Philippines at the time of the adaption of this constitution
    • whose fathers and mothers are citizens of the Philippines
    • born before January 17, 1973, of Filipino mothers who elect Philippine citizenship upon reaching the age of majority
    • naturalized in accordance with law

(2) Kinalakhan

  • also known as cultural roots
  • revolves around participation and being immersed with cultural milieu acknowledged as Filipino

2 types of political involvement

  • proactive engagement in the area - public office, political street demonstrations
  • public problem solving - organizing

(3) Kamalayan

  • also known as consciousness
  • four factors including:
    • psychological dimension
    • awareness of self as Filipino
    • acceptance of membership in the category “Filipino”
    • pride in this membership

Culture

  • all socially learned behaviors, beliefs and values
  • shapes the way we think, do things, feel, behave and relate

Filipino Values

  • Hiya

    • timidity, shyness, embarassment
    • sensitivity to others, consideration of the feelings of others

    reasons of hiya:

    • tied to the need to be accepted by others
    • relation to social expectations and the need to conform

  • Utang na loob

    • also known as debt of gratitude
    • principle of reciprocity
    • expressing gratitude
    • nature and proportion of the return is contingent on the person’s status and kind of the exchange that befits

  • Pakikisama

    • maintaining SIR (smooth interpersonal relations)
    • conformity
    • extended to pakikipagkapwa

  • Pakikiramdam

    • heightened awareness and sensitivity
    • similar with empathy, sensitivity and awareness
    • measuring (pagtantya) of other, observant and watchful, cautious “feeling of the other”

Basic Filipino values

  • close family ties
  • respect for elders
  • economic and social upliftment
  • patience and endurance

Gradiations/Levels of Being a Filipino

  • pilipino sa pangalan
  • pilipino sa puso

Challenges in Forging a Filipino Identity

  • Individual level and Institutional level

  • Individual level

    • contradictions in the everyday behavior
    • filipinos do not exercise their rights unless their interests are threatened

  • Institutional level

    • do not usually acquire a sense of national identity from family
    • they look to schools to teach nationhood its associated values
    • nature of kinship affiliation
    • government infrequently apears as a role model of positive values

Nationalism

  • devotion to or advocacy of national unity and independence
  • most important prerequisite to the formation of national consciousness
  • serves to bind individuals or groups to “common values, attitudes, purposes and ways of actions

ways to practice nationalism and patriotism

  1. be an active filipino citizen

    1. awareness of current events
    2. participate in government programs (progression and development); voting

  2. study the philippine history

    1. learning and understanding of the philippine history
    2. importance of love for the country
    3. recognize abuse of political power

  3. support local products

  4. speak filipino language

    1. Jose Rizal highlights importance of speaking national language as a way of displaying love for one’s country
    2. serves as an identifier of being a Filipino

  5. do not spread fake news and be democratic in engaging with dissent

what does self presentation do?

  • reinforces the different social roles/identities
  • gain social rewards
  • affect self-esteem
  • catharsis
  • different emotional experiences
  • people reading our posts may pick up negativities and call our post toxic

Digital citizen - a person who has the knowledge and skills to effectively use digital technologies to communicate with others, participate in society and create and consume digital content

Digital citizenship

  • appropriate online etiquette
  • literacy in digital technologies
  • understanding of ethics and related law
  • how to stay safe online

Erik Qualman - “We don’t have a choice on whether we do social media, the choice is how we do it.”

Cultural milieu - external cultural background in which social actions occur

Naturalized - foreign citizen becomes a citizen of a new country

Contingent - occuring and existing only if;

SIR - smooth interpersonal relations

Measuring - pagtantya

“pagka-Filipino” - social category that denotes an evaluative aspect of being a member of that social group

quality of being Filipino; Filipino-ness - identity’s performative aspect that brings impetus to personhood (Tolentino, 2001)

Impetus - force that encourages actions

Nature of kinship affiliation - reason in preventing the development of sense of community

Traits and values - important indicators of being a Filipino

Catharsis - releasing; to vent on

Erving Goffman - used the term impression management

Impression Management - a process by which people cannot control the impressions others have towards them

Self-presentation - communicating an image of ourselves to other people