Wednesday 21 December 2011

The Mistress, The Flag

It's a generally accepted statement that having a mistress is a bad thing.

Having 'another woman' (or another man) is mostly never a good thing in any culture, and is frowned upon by most members of any society. This split in loyalties has been described in more colorful language than one can bear to hear, and has destroyed many a good relationship, far too many for counting.

Why then, do we Filipinos tolerate dual-citizenship?

In my opinion, having 'another flag' is far worse than having another woman.
This is not only a split in loyalties; I believe that this is tantamount to having no loyalties at all. One's flag must be the object of one's complete loyalty, one's perfect allegiance.

It pains me to see people renouncing their nationalities.. and worse, publicly swearing fealty to two nations. To fit in? To find better employment? To have benefits for one's children? What reason is so compelling and so potent as to make an individual turn his back on his flag? Only death should separate a person from his loyalties to his culture, traditions, and country. 

Whatever your nationality is, hundreds and thousands of people bled and died so that you may have that sense of belonging to a particular territory. It is identification redeemed in warm, red currency, and dual-citizenship makes a joke of this payment.

Jay~

4 comments:

  1. the reality about how they perceive their future in one's country makes them look for 'better' options than just stay. "for security purposes". This is quite prevalent especially here in PH.

    It is one thing to have dual-citizenship as a back-up and another to denounce one's culture.

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  2. jusap: Thanks for the wisdom as always, bro. I posted this when I thought about some of the people I know from school.. Nothing good to say about the Philippines, "can't even stand the people", and worse, calling literally everything palpak. That hurts, because this place has so many good things too, not least of them the culture.

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  3. Denouncing your own culture is a sad thing indeed. I don't mind dual citizenship though - especially in a certain country I'm thinking of (you know the one): why stay if you aren't going to be given the same opportunities and chances as others who claim the same nationality?

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  4. Nikki: Yes, I know which country you're talking about :) Hmm, you have a point, especially when AFFIRMATIVE ACTION occurs quite often. In that case, I totally agree with Sam Huntington's (read his books; they're amazing eye-openers) opinion that countries get messed up systems like that because they're not composed of civilizations (same culture), but rather of same political (sometimes) ideals. In that sense, I suppose it would still be better to have just one; the 'better' one perhaps. Having two - like in a relationship - just complicates things, in my honest opinion..

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