E-mails, News Group Discussions, and other Commentary 

Over the past 3 years or so that "The World's HARDEST World War Two Quiz!!" has been on the World Wide Web, we have received many emails. The negative far outweighing the positive... and really, that is OK. That means that I have hit upon a nerve. Like a cancer, the deeper you dig, the uglier it gets. By far, the greatest response has come from white American males, who staunchly defend the USA's actions in WW2 with regards to the treatment of the Republic of the Philippines. They really think that the USA did nothing wrong. They would prefer to keep things quiet and maintain the status quo. That has worked for many years with Filipinos being largely ignorant of their recent history and quite content to just "go along". 

But...  maybe, one day, a Filipino kid will happen across "The Quiz!!" and be inspired to learn more and even be able to make a difference in the Philippines...

So, anyway, I received an email from andylisaandcats that was not particularly interesting nor provocative but I answered and also decided to post my response to the Usenet discussion group SOC. CULTURE. FILIPINO. I had been lurking there for a little while just reading the various posts. I wanted to see some reaction from Filipinos while generating a little traffic for the website.

Here is my first post to the newsgroup. 

Message 1 of 52 in the Usenet group SOC.CULTURE.FILIPINO        Subject thread: Great plan to help Philippines

***  NOTE  *** I have taken the liberty to differentiate my posts / comments from those of the responders by using different colors. The current author will be in bold type. My posts / comments will be in blue, the responders will be in red. Past posts will also be italicized as well.  Formatting may be changed to increase readability. All information will be left intact as was first presented.

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From: "RASSLE Co." <[email protected]>

Hello,

I received this email in response to my web page.

"The World's HARDEST World War Two Quiz!!"

http://www.jps.net/rassle

My reply to this is also posted. Your comments are welcomed. Thank you!

Take care,

Steve Pertubal

RASSLE Co.

email - [email protected]

Thank you for stopping by and thank you for your insight. Your perspective is correct in the limited scope that was presented, but I was trying to get people to stop and look further back, BACK to WW2 and see how things in the Philippines got that way.

At the end of WW2, Japan, Italy, and Germany were all in ruins, but the United States as the victors, had the obligation to rebuild these countries. Not with stone axes and carabao but with the most modern equipment at the time. Take into account, that most of the commercial industries were not touched (IE. Japan's automobile factories). This gave these countries the gigantic head start in EVERYTHING that they enjoy today.

On the other hand, the Philippines was an ALLY and the Filipino people were trusting that their great friend, the United States, would also rebuild their country to an even greater degree than the ENEMY countries. Somehow, things got political, the Philippines got backstabbed and the U.S.  got away with another one!

Yes, the Philippines is a dirty place, but it is hard to think about painting some walls when you're starving to death. So, I think your tourism solution is simplistic and typical of people in the USA. Perhaps, you were there to watch Claire Danes film her latest epic.

That's the way I see! It may not encompass all the facts, but I'm still learning... If you have any more information, I would appreciate the enlightenment.

And you know, there isn't a whole lot that I can do about it (besides bitch and moan) and all I really want to do... IS GET SOME SOCCER SHOES DONATED TO THE CHILDREN OF THE PHILIPPINES!!

just looked at your quiz and the proposition of "What did the Philippines do wrong"?  

Firstly I can offer an example first hand. I like to travel and have a friend in the Phils so I got some tourist information brochures. All the countries were in there: Thailand, Singapore, Malaysia, Tiawan and Philipinnes too. Sometime later an update to the brochure arrived announcing that as not one single person had booked a holiday to the Philippines the prices were slashed!

Why is this? I have visited the Asian area and can compare. Most Asian cities are polluted, crowded, but modern and they work. On arrival at Manila the poverty and filth is overwhelming. Yes I know you can't hide the poor. The river that runs through the city is thick with rubbish and filth. People living in shacks. Bad crime (as you walk shifty eyed people are watching your every move). An appalling city. I went to Cambodia which had the shit bombed out of it by the Yanks, and it is doing better than the Philippienes as a tourist destination. All the places I saw in the Philipines were ruined by the local populaces talent for throwing their rubbish all over the place. If you want visitors (foriegn currency= local wealth) then dont be so dirty!  

The one bright spot was Marinduque, they had an island policy of KEEP TIDY an what a lovely place it was. If all of the Phils could follow this ideal then tourism would take off. By the way tourism is for many countries by far the biggest revenue earner, so Philipino's clean yourselves up and you won't be moaning about how well clean countries such as Japan, Italy, and Germany are doing!