The Insecurity of the Filipino Braggadocio

""Valar Dohaeris". All men must serve. Faceless Men most of all."

―"Jaqen H'ghar"


It is not very uncommon to see a Filipino admit they were wrong. 

It is rarer for you to see a Filipino who will say, "I'm sorry, I was wrong." - and then actually atone for the mistake and then some more.

What you almost always see rather, are these two: projection and deflection.  



This permeates Filipino social discourse all throughout and on all levels.

Sometimes, I even think that my generalized statement is mostly accurate because of cultural factors.

In the era of fake news and an over-saturated social media stream, the best narcissist always takes center stage.


I know that this may also be true for other cultures.

But then again, I am constantly confronted with the swagger of the Filipino braggadocio.

The braggadocio, swishes his sword of greatness with words like a red ribbon on a Chinese New Year


Hidden in crass language, the Filipino braggadocio is an expert at word play.

Some would say it is a form of philosophy (small P) in and of itself

But that would be an insult to Philosophers (big P)


Self Aggrandizement

Have you ever attended a conference, a seminar or a group activity, where the speaker actually and sincerely downplays his actual achievements? Never.

Sometimes, I fancy attending one and it would be in the form of:

Speaker: "Hello, I am Mr. So and So, and I am nobody, no one and nothing."

Audience: Silence.

Speaker: "I, a being of nothing, humbly come to you in the hopes that something would come out of nothing."

Now, at the end of the talk, the audience would be fascinated, enthralled and actually thrilled that their 3,500 peso seminar fee was not put to waste.

It would only be at the end, the very end - when the audience have already left and are already in their vehicles going home, that they would find out that they have spoken with somebody.

Those days of powerful silence and humility are gone.