Stereotypes by George Hernandez

If you've ever known a Filipino, then you know we're just like everyone else: nuts. That aside, here are some stereotypes that are shared with other groups:

Filipinos are basically Asian in appearance, so we inherit some of the Asian stereotypes:
- Asians are smart. -->Sorry, but no one has idiot market cornered. Many Flips are smart, but I can't say that all Filipinos are smart.
- Asians are hardworking. --> From what I've seen, yes.
- Asians eat strange foods. --> There ar reasons for this stereotype.
- Asians have funky accents. --> Accents are fun as long as you can understand the person.
- Asians have strange customs. --> Don't we all?
- Asian women women are to be taken advantage of. --> Sorry, but this is not true.
- Asians smell better. -->True. Asian sweat is less stinky.
- Asians can't hold their liquor. --> True. Asians can't drink as much, but there are drunks in any race.
- Asians are better at music. --> Hard to say but Asian musicians do have a higher probability of having perfect pitch (43% v 6%).
- Indians are the only other Asians besides Filipinos that generally speak good English.
Filipinos are brown or dark skinned. This is such a stupid area to stereotype. Like other non-whites, we have a range from lighter to darker skin tones.
Filipinos are predominantly Catholic (although many in the south are Muslim), so we inherit many of the Catholic stereotypes:
- Catholics are ritualistic. --> Some are.
- Catholics lack birth control. --> The Flips with large families do. Silly.

The Philippines is still a Third World country, so the country inherits Third World stereotypes:

Third World officials are corrupt. --> Yep, pretty much. When you visit, keep this list in mind:
- watch your wallet
- watch what you drink
- watch what you eat
- don't get arrested
The following things are lousy in Third World countries:
- roads --> Especially out in the boondocks.
- hotels --> Depends.
- utilities --> Depends.

Folks from Third World countries are poor:

There are a lot of poor in the Philippines --> But there are rich everywhere and the middle class in the Philippines is growing.
Some Filipino Americans are poorer but Filipinos have been in America since at least 1763!

Here are some info bites about Filipino Americans from the the US Census (2004, http://www.census.gov/prod/2007pubs/acs-05.pdf). Note that Filipinos Americans rate better than Americans, White Americans, and Asian Americans in all categories.

Measured	Americans	White Americans	Asian Americans	Filipino Americans
Population	285,691,501	192,362,875 67.3% of Americans	12,097,281 4.2% of Americans	2,829,627 1% of Americans 23.4% of Asian Americans
High School Graduates	83.9%	88.6%	84.8%	90.8%
Bachelor's Degree or Higher	27.0%	29.7%	48.2%	50.2%
Median Household Income	$44,684	$48,784	$56,161	$65,700
Poverty Rate	13.1%	8.8%	11.8%	5.2%

Here are some stereotypes that are more Filipino-specific:

Filipinos are deterministic. Filipinos believe in fate, luck, and a lack of free will in general. Supposedly this comes from all the earthquakes, typhoons, volcanoes, corruption, Catholicism, etc. EG: bahala na means "I don't care what happens in the future, as long as I survive now." --> Some Flips are deterministic but its pretty stupid.
Filipinos are crazy, unstoppable fighters. We did kill Magellan. The U.S. Army also switched over to the M1911 handgun because the previous standard of .38 was found insufficient to stop the Moro insurgents during the Philippine-American War. The Filipino Martial Arts (FMAs) have spread all over the world since it is a living art that came from the abundance of knives and bolos in the Philippines because plants grow like crazy.

As far as Filipino Americans, those who don't know better may assume that we're fresh immigrants or FOBs (Fresh of the boat). However some Filipinos have been in America for a decent while: The first permanent Filipino settlement was established in 1763 in Saint Malo, Louisiana. As of 2007 there were around 4 million Filipino Americans or around 1.3% of the US population. For those who can't tell: Filipino American are the Asians who tend to have Spanish last names, tend to be Catholic, and tend to speak decent English. The Wikipedia article on Filipino American [W] is fairly decent.

"Flip"

"Flip" is usually either a hip, funky shorthand for "Filipino" or a derogatory acronym (Fucking Little Island Person) like "chink". I have never encountered the derogatory version personally, so for me "Flip" has the former connotation. If you want to use the word as an insult, then please say something like "you fucking Flip" for the sake of clarity --and then be prepared for a counter-attack.

"Pinoy" has come to stand for Filipinos living outside of the Philippines, but esp. in the U.S., however I'm not too sure about how many people are aware of this.

[tribo.org/history/history1.html]

Page Modified: (Hand noted: 2007-11-17 03:14:01Z) (Auto noted: 2007-11-17 06:21:15Z)