Jose Rizal and Today's Filipino Nationalism

Jose Rizal and today’s Pinoy nationalism is filled with ironies. To begin with, I’m not saying Jose Rizal was wrong, it is today’s idea of Pinoy nationalism.

Who was Jose Rizal? I won’t be writing about his whole biography here. Go to National Bookstore, buy a Rizal book.

Okay, basically, Jose Rizal was:
1. Rizal was part Chinese, Japanese and Spanish. His great great grandfather was from the mainland China. He may appear brown Malay in the photos. But usually photos could not show a person’s foreign features especially at that time.
2. He spoke different languages. Used Spanish in most of his writings. Could also be fluent in German since he spent many months in Germany.
3. He used European made products. Since he was traveling out of country, it is just right for him to use the products of the country he was visiting.

Today’s erroneous idea of a true Filipino:
1. Should speak tagalog.
2. Should patronize Filipino products.
3. Should work and live only in the Philippines.
4. Should have a dark brown skin.
Read more about this in my previous entry entitled, “Wrong Ideas about Filipino Nationalism“.

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