How Biased Are We? -- The Question Reader's Digest Failed to Ask
The Reader's Digest recently came out with quite a controversial, unscientific social survey entitled "How Polite Are We?" The study was composed of three tests conducted by the magazine's media correspondents in 35 major cities in the world. The criteria included testing locals on whether they opened doors for others, helped pick-up papers accidentally dropped by the researcher in the middle of a busy metropolis and if sales people said thank you upon purchase of items in various shops.
Surprisingly, New York came out on top followed by Zurich and Toronto while Mumbai miserably failed landing on the bottom of the list along with other Asian counties such as Hong Kong, Singapore, Seoul and Kuala Lumpur doing just a tad better. My own city, Manila, ranked 23rd. Although we didn't do too badly. I can't help but feel that the whole exercise was quite culturally biased. Especially for Asian cities, most of which landed in the bottom half.
The tests employed were in themselves very Western oriented. And granted that these are supposed to be universal social decorums (which is of course debatable), there are various reasons why some people may fail to put them into pratice. For one thing, it is not a common in the Philippines to hold the door for someone. We may hold the elevator if we are aware that someone else is intending to ride along with us, but with regular entrances we tend to be oblivious of another person walking behind us. Although there are instances where the Filipino male of the species are chivalrous enough to hold the door for a lady, myself being a woman, I am not keen on such idiosyncracies. And for anyone who's been in Manila long enough to notice the uniformed guards who sift through one's belongings before being allowed into any given establishment, it is quite natural to fall into the habit of expecting a paid security employee to burst the doors open for you. You find them everywhere-- financial, institutions, office buildings, even every god damn Starbucks outlet has their own security personnel. So there really isn't much chance to observe people actually practicing this type of custom. And if one happens upon a place where no uniformed guard is in sight, people do hold doors for you provided that you almost have your foot in the door. But if you are a few strides away from doing so, forget it. Personally, I do not see this as uncouth behavior. Aside for being too used to security guards doing all the work for us, failing to keep the door for someone isn't a sign of rudeness for us, unless of course someone blatantly slams it on your face, which I doubt is what the RD researchers experienced in the first place. In fact they even failed to define what constitutes the polite way of holding the door for someone, could it be waiting on someone 5 feet away, 5 steps behind you, or someone near the point of frottuerising one of your best ASSets (get it?). Suffice to say, this is not a very convincing criterion to begin with.
As for the case of helping a fellow commuter or pedestrian with things he/she accidentally dropped, one woman from Manila reasoned out that there is much reluctance in assisting a stranger especially since it might turn out to be a ploy by unscupulous individuals. It is no secret that Manila is home to quite a number of muggers and snatchers that lurk in the shadows, and as of late -- in sheer daylight, to catch their next prey. Not to further smudge the much mired image of Filipinos struggling to make a decent living, it is undeniable that many of our countrymen have chosen a life a crime amid much oppresion and inhumane living conditions. I myself have fallen victim to a few petty thieves , all the more reason for me to be weary of helping others and unwittingly endanger myself. But given a more secure location where one can gauge their own safety, I have reason to believe that an ordinary Filipino would instinctively pick up whatever items some careless klutz inadventently drops on the pavement. But I guess it still depends on whether the items in questions would at fall at least within arms reach can one expect help. If its a few meters away, its quite rare that an eager beaver would come rushing to be a hero. But again, for us, failing to do so, unless the items is almost at one's foot, is not necessarily a sign of uncivilized behavior.
Lastly, the test invloving sales personnel. Admittedly, unaccommodating or utterly impolite sales people abound in this god forsaken city. Its quite common to ask for assistance and be met with a smug face or a sarcastic remark. Whether they are just having a bad day (A typical Filipino's psyche is one that makes it difficult to draw the line between professional and personal affairs, one that frustrates most foreign employers) or they are so poorly compesated that they subtly try to sabotage the owners' business. Most Filipinos do not take pride in blue collar jobs and this attitude is very much reflected in the quality of service rendered towards customers. Sometimes I do feel for the hapless pawns of Capitalism. Its a rotten feeling to be overworked and underpaid. You work your ass off to make someone else richer while you are stuck with a fixed salary that could barely pay for utilities and to top it all off, the goverment enacts laws for you to bleed tax money off your nose. On the other hand, it equally sucks to be on the receiving end of a dissatisfied smart ass employee. I could just pluck their eyes out with rusty pliers. Arrgghhh! And the worst part is complaining to the higher ups isn't exactly fruitful. Yup, business as usual. I guess the results on this part of the study are not completely unwarranted. It may be a deeper issue concerning labor practices and wage disputes, inadequate customer service training or it could be the general attitude of workers towards their jobs. And whether such actions are forgivable depends how one sees it -- either symphatize with the poor wage earners OR expect no less than quality service regradless of the financial state or personal issues involving employee.
Nevertheless, I still do not completely agree with how this study was conducted especially the standard by which the 35 nations are measured upon. There are many ways by which Asians, especially Filipinos show politeness and respect toward each other. For one thing, we respect our elders and usually do not answer back to our parents. Westerners find this as submissive behavior for their culture values assertiveness and self expression. Filipinos consider this disrespectful much like being slapped on the face. We also use different sentence structures when addressing older people or individuals of higher authorithy. We find it inappropriate to call our parents or our bosses by their first names. Such practice is considered rude unlike in Western countries where it is totally acceptable and is the norm. Westerners can be very direct and have no qualms about looking one in the eye to gauge the person's sincerity. Asians on the other hand feel self-conscious when placed in such situations and may consider it too forward or intimidating. I can come up with a lot more examples but I think you already get the point.
Its just very unfair that most Asian countries are placed in a bad light by sweeping generalizations. Instead of promoting understanding amongst cultures this survey succeeds in perpetuating stereotypes and casting unfair judgements. Filipinos may fail in some aspects of this test but it is wrong to label us as impolite, or worse, uncivlized. If we continue to impose such biased standards and fail to see the bigger picture and the greater scheme of things, people from different cultures may never develop respect and understanding toward others. The real complexion of a society cannot be judged by three simplistic and shallow tests. Each country is capable of expressing care and concern in its own way and not by unfairly comparing them to vague and biased Western social practices. It might not be wrong to compare how people react towards holding doors for others, helping someone pick up items he/she dropped or how sales people express gratitude towards a customer. But to equate such tests to how polite an entire nation is, is absolutely unacceptable.
Surprisingly, New York came out on top followed by Zurich and Toronto while Mumbai miserably failed landing on the bottom of the list along with other Asian counties such as Hong Kong, Singapore, Seoul and Kuala Lumpur doing just a tad better. My own city, Manila, ranked 23rd. Although we didn't do too badly. I can't help but feel that the whole exercise was quite culturally biased. Especially for Asian cities, most of which landed in the bottom half.
The tests employed were in themselves very Western oriented. And granted that these are supposed to be universal social decorums (which is of course debatable), there are various reasons why some people may fail to put them into pratice. For one thing, it is not a common in the Philippines to hold the door for someone. We may hold the elevator if we are aware that someone else is intending to ride along with us, but with regular entrances we tend to be oblivious of another person walking behind us. Although there are instances where the Filipino male of the species are chivalrous enough to hold the door for a lady, myself being a woman, I am not keen on such idiosyncracies. And for anyone who's been in Manila long enough to notice the uniformed guards who sift through one's belongings before being allowed into any given establishment, it is quite natural to fall into the habit of expecting a paid security employee to burst the doors open for you. You find them everywhere-- financial, institutions, office buildings, even every god damn Starbucks outlet has their own security personnel. So there really isn't much chance to observe people actually practicing this type of custom. And if one happens upon a place where no uniformed guard is in sight, people do hold doors for you provided that you almost have your foot in the door. But if you are a few strides away from doing so, forget it. Personally, I do not see this as uncouth behavior. Aside for being too used to security guards doing all the work for us, failing to keep the door for someone isn't a sign of rudeness for us, unless of course someone blatantly slams it on your face, which I doubt is what the RD researchers experienced in the first place. In fact they even failed to define what constitutes the polite way of holding the door for someone, could it be waiting on someone 5 feet away, 5 steps behind you, or someone near the point of frottuerising one of your best ASSets (get it?). Suffice to say, this is not a very convincing criterion to begin with.
As for the case of helping a fellow commuter or pedestrian with things he/she accidentally dropped, one woman from Manila reasoned out that there is much reluctance in assisting a stranger especially since it might turn out to be a ploy by unscupulous individuals. It is no secret that Manila is home to quite a number of muggers and snatchers that lurk in the shadows, and as of late -- in sheer daylight, to catch their next prey. Not to further smudge the much mired image of Filipinos struggling to make a decent living, it is undeniable that many of our countrymen have chosen a life a crime amid much oppresion and inhumane living conditions. I myself have fallen victim to a few petty thieves , all the more reason for me to be weary of helping others and unwittingly endanger myself. But given a more secure location where one can gauge their own safety, I have reason to believe that an ordinary Filipino would instinctively pick up whatever items some careless klutz inadventently drops on the pavement. But I guess it still depends on whether the items in questions would at fall at least within arms reach can one expect help. If its a few meters away, its quite rare that an eager beaver would come rushing to be a hero. But again, for us, failing to do so, unless the items is almost at one's foot, is not necessarily a sign of uncivilized behavior.
Lastly, the test invloving sales personnel. Admittedly, unaccommodating or utterly impolite sales people abound in this god forsaken city. Its quite common to ask for assistance and be met with a smug face or a sarcastic remark. Whether they are just having a bad day (A typical Filipino's psyche is one that makes it difficult to draw the line between professional and personal affairs, one that frustrates most foreign employers) or they are so poorly compesated that they subtly try to sabotage the owners' business. Most Filipinos do not take pride in blue collar jobs and this attitude is very much reflected in the quality of service rendered towards customers. Sometimes I do feel for the hapless pawns of Capitalism. Its a rotten feeling to be overworked and underpaid. You work your ass off to make someone else richer while you are stuck with a fixed salary that could barely pay for utilities and to top it all off, the goverment enacts laws for you to bleed tax money off your nose. On the other hand, it equally sucks to be on the receiving end of a dissatisfied smart ass employee. I could just pluck their eyes out with rusty pliers. Arrgghhh! And the worst part is complaining to the higher ups isn't exactly fruitful. Yup, business as usual. I guess the results on this part of the study are not completely unwarranted. It may be a deeper issue concerning labor practices and wage disputes, inadequate customer service training or it could be the general attitude of workers towards their jobs. And whether such actions are forgivable depends how one sees it -- either symphatize with the poor wage earners OR expect no less than quality service regradless of the financial state or personal issues involving employee.
Nevertheless, I still do not completely agree with how this study was conducted especially the standard by which the 35 nations are measured upon. There are many ways by which Asians, especially Filipinos show politeness and respect toward each other. For one thing, we respect our elders and usually do not answer back to our parents. Westerners find this as submissive behavior for their culture values assertiveness and self expression. Filipinos consider this disrespectful much like being slapped on the face. We also use different sentence structures when addressing older people or individuals of higher authorithy. We find it inappropriate to call our parents or our bosses by their first names. Such practice is considered rude unlike in Western countries where it is totally acceptable and is the norm. Westerners can be very direct and have no qualms about looking one in the eye to gauge the person's sincerity. Asians on the other hand feel self-conscious when placed in such situations and may consider it too forward or intimidating. I can come up with a lot more examples but I think you already get the point.
Its just very unfair that most Asian countries are placed in a bad light by sweeping generalizations. Instead of promoting understanding amongst cultures this survey succeeds in perpetuating stereotypes and casting unfair judgements. Filipinos may fail in some aspects of this test but it is wrong to label us as impolite, or worse, uncivlized. If we continue to impose such biased standards and fail to see the bigger picture and the greater scheme of things, people from different cultures may never develop respect and understanding toward others. The real complexion of a society cannot be judged by three simplistic and shallow tests. Each country is capable of expressing care and concern in its own way and not by unfairly comparing them to vague and biased Western social practices. It might not be wrong to compare how people react towards holding doors for others, helping someone pick up items he/she dropped or how sales people express gratitude towards a customer. But to equate such tests to how polite an entire nation is, is absolutely unacceptable.
posted by hotheadchick @ 10:18 PM
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