Tuesday, August 30, 2011

Mideo Cruz' "Kulo" and James Soriano's "Language, Learning, Identity, Privilege": My Humble Opinions


Let me jump into the firestorm that is James Soriano's Manila Bulletin article entitled Language, Learning, Identity, Privilege (in http://everythinginbudget.blogspot.com/2011/08/mila-d-aguilar-in-reply-to-james.html; scroll down after Ms. Aguilar's response).

I have never read so much pagbubuhat ng bangko (bench, not bank), and so much pangungutya from a Filipino writer of his own race. He has undone what our vanguards of cultural equality have painstakingly done in word and deed in just a few paragraphs:

"These skills were required to survive in the outside world, because we are forced to relate with the tinderas and the manongs and the katulongs of this world. If we wanted to communicate to these people — or otherwise avoid being mugged on the jeepney — we needed to learn Filipino."

"But perhaps this is not so bad in a society of rotten beef and stinking fish. For while Filipino may be the language of identity, it is the language of the streets. It might have the capacity to be the language of learning, but it is not the language of the learned."

And his coup d'grace:

"So I have my education to thank for making English my mother language."

Read more: http://everythinginbudget.blogspot.com/2011/08/mila-d-aguilar-in-reply-to-james.html#ixzz1WUtY1AGZ

I have read two responses to Mr. Soriano's now-much-googled piece. Mila Aguilar's is the kinder
rejoinder:

"This is not to disparage James Soriano, a young man who may have learned German, but hasn’t yet seen the world in all its gritty detail. I wouldn’t quarrel with him, especially since I’m a very old woman of 62; but I would love for him to learn a thing or three about his country."

Inez Ponce De Leon in her blog did not mince her words:

"Your opinion piece did not raise Filipino or English to any level whatsoever. It only showed your readers that you brought Filipino down to the level of admonitions, a language of mere orders, a means of communication with those whom you perceive to be beneath you."

"Can you not see what you have done? English is not a language for you, Mr. Soriano. It is your weapon to wield so that you can reassert your perceived superiority over everyone else.

http://inez.abcruz.com/Diary/2011Aug27Sat060531

This issue brings back to mind the spectre of the CCP-Mideo Cruz "Kulo" exhibit. In my very limited understanding of visual arts, I will not even attempt to deconstruct the pieces that I saw online. I just didn't feel like looking at it for longer than a second. Kinilabutan ako sa hiya. Isn't art supposed to make you look closer and longer at something? I don't know. As I said, ME=Art-stupid.

But I do know a tad about English. It was and still is my bread and butter. Like the three aforementioned writers, it is my language of choice and comfort. But Filipino is the language of my blood. It was never just a subject to me. It is in my veins, from home to work and everywhere in between. I listen closely to the dialogues in Amaya and play Joey Ayala songs on my laptop. If that puts me in the level of manongs, tinderas and katulongs, based on Mr. Soriano's simplistic social stratification, then it makes me proud to be Filipino.


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