"Filipinoness"

Often when I go to Philippine cultural events, I always seem to find a large group of like dressed people (often tending toward FUBU) that always seem to make it known how much more Filipino they are compared to others around them. I'm not against people exclaiming their Filipino pride (in fact, I welcome any form of said pride), but when it turns into a dick measuring contest that is often measured by how many Rex Navarette lines they can spew out or by how many Filipino jokes they can tell over and over again, the whole thing transforms from a display of pride to a display of ego.

What's even worse is that "Filipinoness" is often measured by the aforementioned criteria of arm flailing rather than accepting the fact that the person is indeed Filipino as much as the other person. Maybe it's true that those born here in the United States are "less cultured" than those born in the Philippines or that those who research a lot about Filipino culture in their free time will be "more cultured" than those who didn't, but really, who is to say how cultured someone else might be compared to them? Such comparisons would only lead to those who wish to be "more cultured" to only fit themselves within a certain stereotype in order to be "more Filipino."

In my opinion, "Filipinoness" is merely measured by how much inner appreciation you have for the culture. Inner appreciation, to me, is defined merely as an appreciation that is taken to the heart rather than taken as a superfluous addition of knowledge. Being Filipino isn't about Rex Navarette punch lines, adobo jokes, dressing a certain way, etc.; it is about appreciating the hardships that our ancestors have gone through, appreciating Philippine culture beyond pop culture, etc.

I'm proud to be a Filipino and I'm proud to be American born as well. I recognize that since I am American born, a lot of the environment around me has changed me from what a prototypical Filipino should be to what an American is today. People do say I am "white washed," but then again, what is "white washed?" Is it my choice of clothes? My choice of words? My choice of interests? No matter; all I know is that I am who I am, and being Filipino is part of the identity that I've absorbed.

Perhaps I'm merely jaded by the "Filipino pride" that seems to engulf a lot of Filipino youth today, but I can't help but notice the amount of negative fervor that merely creates a single but stereotypical identity of the typical Filipino youth.