What do you think about the James Soriano thing?

For the record, whatever I answer is not because James Soriano is my brother. But because regardless of whether or not I am related to him, I would still defend him for the main reason that many people misunderstand and misread his article.

OBVIOUSLY, he wasn’t trying to degrade the Filipino language. He wasn’t trying to degrade anything at all! He was simply making a commentary regarding the educational system and what it has done to him as a Filipino.

What he wrote in the latter part of his article was obviously satirical. He was making fun of himself and the fact that he IS the manifestation of the split-level Filipino. It was obvious right after he devoted two whole paragraphs to praising the Filipino language and said that he is not better than a “malansang isda”. (turning point right there)

He says it in such a charged way because that is the reality of how our language is perceived. It is a tragic fact, but it is how most of us perceive our own language. That although it is our identity, we are still brought up in a foreign language and in turn, we begin to identify ourselves with that language. Suddenly, the context in which we live in is different from who we naturally should be.

He mentions that Filipino is not the language of the learned. Maybe it is true. In school, you are not primarily taught in Filipino. Rather, to be learned and to be educated means to be educated in English and everything else that is taught with it. That is why I believe he wrote “So I have my education to thank for making English my mother language.” He is thanking his education for putting him in this situation. If you guys don’t get sarcasm, then I feel very sorry for you.

And when he said, “I may be disconnected from my being Filipino, but with a tongue of privilege I will always have my connections.” it shows what we have given up in exchange for “connections” and “privilege”—our identity.

I could go on and on analysing his article, but I am starting to believe that it might be a fruitless cause. Like most of the internet-dwellers out there, people will read what they want to read. They will interpret anything however they want to interpret it.

Now, I cannot stop those who don’t agree with my brother’s article. However, if there is one thing that I can’t tolerate are the personal remarks that are made about him. No one has a right to call him uneducated or stupid for the simple reason that 99.9% of the people who hate on him don’t even know him at all. I don’t mind reading about people disagreeing with his point, but I DO mind reading about people making remarks about his appearance, upbringing, and humanity.

A lot of you demand intellectual discourse, but majority of you can’t even keep yourselves from making cheap attacks.

THUNDERCATS ARE GO!