INXS, Piracy, and Tunisia
[Since I'd like to keep all my readers interested, the posting below has been edited. ]
As a Media Communication graduate, I am a media slave. I’m used to consuming the Media like Australians consuming beer; like a drug addict to bongs. I love it to death I can’t live without it (haha! That’s a bit redundant).
Then I came to Tunisia. I came here to do AIESEC as an MC CEED (that’s Member Committee – Cultural Envoy for Exchange Development for those non-AIESECers). I live in a trainees’ house, there are five girls at the moment living there including myself. But I am SO not prepared for the media consumption custom here: no TV, no English-speaking magazine, limited access to the radio, all movies in the cinemas are dubbed into French (I don't speak French), no internet (but if you’re lucky, you can get WiFi), and no newspapers. Our day to day consumption to the industry they call “media” is just movies in DVD format. Pirated ones (AIESEC Queenslanders, be prepared for this one: AAHHHHRRRRRRR!!!!!!).
Tell me how I feel about it. I feel like a smoker who just quit smoking… The craving has been driving me insane. I feel disconnected from the rest of the world. If you ask me what’s the Tunisian president Ben Ali been doing for the past two months, I’m sorry I can’t tell you. Not because I’m being secretive but it’s because I don’t know at all. Sad, isn't it?
And my craving has gone beyond its limits last Friday I felt the urge to buy DVDs and CDs. I asked Gogo (a Taiwanese, non AIESEC friend who’s in Tunisia to study Arabic at Bourguiba School) to show me where to buy them. Pirated ones are fine because a) they are so cheap (2 TND for DVDs; 1 TND for CDs), b) I don’t have the budget to buy the original ones, and c) everywhere you go in Tunisia, they are only selling the pirated ones. They don’t have HMVs or Tower Records here.
So I bought four DVDs: Legally Blonde 2 (ha! I’m an Indonesian “blonde”…I need to celebrate it!!), In Her Shoes (since I’m living with four other girls, I’m sure they’d appreciate this one), The Corpse Bride (love it!!), and The Motorcycle Diaries (never seen it but heard it’s a good one). And I also decide to buy myself a new CD. Since INXS’ song “Pretty Vegas” has been playing in my head since three/four weeks ago I decided to buy it. But good God! It was really hard to find it.
The place where we bought the DVDs also sell pirated CDs but they don’t have INXS’ Switch that I want. They don’t even know INXS (hehhh?? INXS is one of the biggest bands on the planet and they don’t know it?? Well, Leila – one of my friends here – didn’t know INXS but that’s probably because she’s from Texas :p). Then we went to another place… It’s a CD shop so I did expect they’re selling them. But they also never heard of INXS let alone actually selling the INXS’s CD. We finally got the CD from the third place…and believe it or not, they’ve also never heard of INXS although they have the digital copy of the album. Phew!! INXS pirate CD is finally at hand, I can listen to JD Fortune’s sexy voice singing the song that’s been stuck in my head for four weeks. Switch is good. Like it a lot!
Most Tunisians never heard of INXS because they don’t listen to Rock. They either listen to Arabic music (eg Egyptian, Algerian, etc) or Techno. Yeeccchh!!! Techno. Not that I’m saying that don’t like them, I sometime find Arabic music fine. But Arabic and Techno are just not my cup of tea.
Artists and IP owners might be screaming at me to the top of their lungs as I've bought those pirated CD and DVDs. I know that piracy is stealing…it is a crime. If I was a musician trying to make money out of the industry, I’d be very annoyed at myself right now. You’re like stealing something and selling it for 1/10th of its original price and still making huge profit out of it. I know that those monies should go to the IP owners (which, in most cases, are the artists themselves). But seriously, guys, IP owners, I know that you have all of those copyright bullshit, and I respect that, but get a grip! If you want to access markets like Tunisia…if you want to have at least some niche market in countries like Tunisia, you better start to accept the real-deal of piracy. See example of INXS above.
It’s true, if you’re in the industry, just because there are countries difficult to get through doesn’t mean that we have to legalise piracy everywhere around the world. The question is how far you can go with piracy policies. The lines are too thin.
Compared to the countries I've been to, I think Tunisia is one of those countries which integration to the globalisation is very slow. It is a country where law against piracy is non-existent and where the censorship is fully controlled by the government. There are only two TV stations in the country, the government-run Tunis 7 and the private-run Hannible. They have three radio stations, and newspapers have just about the same number as radios. They do have imported magazines, but the content of local publications are pretty much the same (in my perspective). Their content is pretty much the same due to the censorship law. And the Internet? Although you can access pretty much everything through the Internet, it is still depending on you which sites you’re visiting. I’ve never seen someone (Tunisian) visiting non-Arabic-/French-speaking websites. I know that there are very limited numbers of Tunisian who can understand and speak English, but it seems access to the outside world to Tunisians is rare and Tunisians proactivity to get information to the bigger world is not helping the country to move on.
Wait a minute?? Do Tunisians even care about information stream? Or about globalisation??
Tunisian economy is highly controlled by the Government. I had a discussion with an economist who works for the Indonesian Ambassador’s office here in Tunisia. He said that Tunisia is like Indonesia in the ‘70s-‘80s. This is backed by Belha (my team leader), who also told me that MNCs would find difficulties investing in Tunisia: they first need to find Tunisian companies who can buy their licences in order to bring their business in Tunisia. Global companies needs here to be represented by local companies…like Motorola is being represented by CellCom.
Me thinking: maybe this is why they don’t have Macka’s and KFCs here… But even so, Macka’s and KFCs in Indonesia are “owned” by Indonesian companies, who bought the franchise from the head quarter in the US for the whole Indonesia. So every Macka’s/KFC/Starbucks/Mango/Versace/the Body Shop/Debenhams/any international brand’s store you go to in Indonesia, they are generally owned by Indonesian companies. The people who own these companies are usually Indonesian conglomerates. They’re probably in the list of the Top 10 Richest Families in Indonesia. They’re like the sheiks of Indonesia.
This proves me that Indonesia is more open to globalisation while Tunisia’s attempt to opening itself to globalisation is still over-controlled by its Government. I read a book The Age of Access by Jeremy Rifkin that talks about, well, the age of access: access of and for information, access to the international economy, access to local market (for global companies)…any kind of access, basically. He believes that in the era of the new economy, access of any kind is the most important element. I read the book two or three years ago so I can’t fully remember what it is about but I’m damn sure it’s about the “age of access”. I remember thinking that the book provokes my way of seeing globalisation, but then again, I haven’t read Naomi Klein’s No Logo.
But Tunisia’s access to all these globalisation things is limited (again, after comparing it to countries I've been to). I can only find one Mango store, one Zara, and no The Body Shop. I found one Nokia store so far but it is actually a Tunisiana’s store (Tunisiana is the biggest GSM provider in Tunisia). When the rest of the world is competing to be part of globalisation, Tunisia is still in its own phase…taking its time and just have the “ça va” attitude most Tunisians have to everything:
“Our transportation system suck…. Ah! Ça va!”
“Our media is over-censored… Ça va!”
“Our access to globalisation is too-controlled… Ça va!”
“We don’t know who INXS is… Ça va!”
“We don’t have any law against piracy like the rest of the world… Yeah, you know what our attitude towards it by now.”
Ah, Tunisia!!!!!
Siska
As a Media Communication graduate, I am a media slave. I’m used to consuming the Media like Australians consuming beer; like a drug addict to bongs. I love it to death I can’t live without it (haha! That’s a bit redundant).
Then I came to Tunisia. I came here to do AIESEC as an MC CEED (that’s Member Committee – Cultural Envoy for Exchange Development for those non-AIESECers). I live in a trainees’ house, there are five girls at the moment living there including myself. But I am SO not prepared for the media consumption custom here: no TV, no English-speaking magazine, limited access to the radio, all movies in the cinemas are dubbed into French (I don't speak French), no internet (but if you’re lucky, you can get WiFi), and no newspapers. Our day to day consumption to the industry they call “media” is just movies in DVD format. Pirated ones (AIESEC Queenslanders, be prepared for this one: AAHHHHRRRRRRR!!!!!!).
Tell me how I feel about it. I feel like a smoker who just quit smoking… The craving has been driving me insane. I feel disconnected from the rest of the world. If you ask me what’s the Tunisian president Ben Ali been doing for the past two months, I’m sorry I can’t tell you. Not because I’m being secretive but it’s because I don’t know at all. Sad, isn't it?
And my craving has gone beyond its limits last Friday I felt the urge to buy DVDs and CDs. I asked Gogo (a Taiwanese, non AIESEC friend who’s in Tunisia to study Arabic at Bourguiba School) to show me where to buy them. Pirated ones are fine because a) they are so cheap (2 TND for DVDs; 1 TND for CDs), b) I don’t have the budget to buy the original ones, and c) everywhere you go in Tunisia, they are only selling the pirated ones. They don’t have HMVs or Tower Records here.
So I bought four DVDs: Legally Blonde 2 (ha! I’m an Indonesian “blonde”…I need to celebrate it!!), In Her Shoes (since I’m living with four other girls, I’m sure they’d appreciate this one), The Corpse Bride (love it!!), and The Motorcycle Diaries (never seen it but heard it’s a good one). And I also decide to buy myself a new CD. Since INXS’ song “Pretty Vegas” has been playing in my head since three/four weeks ago I decided to buy it. But good God! It was really hard to find it.
The place where we bought the DVDs also sell pirated CDs but they don’t have INXS’ Switch that I want. They don’t even know INXS (hehhh?? INXS is one of the biggest bands on the planet and they don’t know it?? Well, Leila – one of my friends here – didn’t know INXS but that’s probably because she’s from Texas :p). Then we went to another place… It’s a CD shop so I did expect they’re selling them. But they also never heard of INXS let alone actually selling the INXS’s CD. We finally got the CD from the third place…and believe it or not, they’ve also never heard of INXS although they have the digital copy of the album. Phew!! INXS pirate CD is finally at hand, I can listen to JD Fortune’s sexy voice singing the song that’s been stuck in my head for four weeks. Switch is good. Like it a lot!
Most Tunisians never heard of INXS because they don’t listen to Rock. They either listen to Arabic music (eg Egyptian, Algerian, etc) or Techno. Yeeccchh!!! Techno. Not that I’m saying that don’t like them, I sometime find Arabic music fine. But Arabic and Techno are just not my cup of tea.
Artists and IP owners might be screaming at me to the top of their lungs as I've bought those pirated CD and DVDs. I know that piracy is stealing…it is a crime. If I was a musician trying to make money out of the industry, I’d be very annoyed at myself right now. You’re like stealing something and selling it for 1/10th of its original price and still making huge profit out of it. I know that those monies should go to the IP owners (which, in most cases, are the artists themselves). But seriously, guys, IP owners, I know that you have all of those copyright bullshit, and I respect that, but get a grip! If you want to access markets like Tunisia…if you want to have at least some niche market in countries like Tunisia, you better start to accept the real-deal of piracy. See example of INXS above.
It’s true, if you’re in the industry, just because there are countries difficult to get through doesn’t mean that we have to legalise piracy everywhere around the world. The question is how far you can go with piracy policies. The lines are too thin.
Compared to the countries I've been to, I think Tunisia is one of those countries which integration to the globalisation is very slow. It is a country where law against piracy is non-existent and where the censorship is fully controlled by the government. There are only two TV stations in the country, the government-run Tunis 7 and the private-run Hannible. They have three radio stations, and newspapers have just about the same number as radios. They do have imported magazines, but the content of local publications are pretty much the same (in my perspective). Their content is pretty much the same due to the censorship law. And the Internet? Although you can access pretty much everything through the Internet, it is still depending on you which sites you’re visiting. I’ve never seen someone (Tunisian) visiting non-Arabic-/French-speaking websites. I know that there are very limited numbers of Tunisian who can understand and speak English, but it seems access to the outside world to Tunisians is rare and Tunisians proactivity to get information to the bigger world is not helping the country to move on.
Wait a minute?? Do Tunisians even care about information stream? Or about globalisation??
Tunisian economy is highly controlled by the Government. I had a discussion with an economist who works for the Indonesian Ambassador’s office here in Tunisia. He said that Tunisia is like Indonesia in the ‘70s-‘80s. This is backed by Belha (my team leader), who also told me that MNCs would find difficulties investing in Tunisia: they first need to find Tunisian companies who can buy their licences in order to bring their business in Tunisia. Global companies needs here to be represented by local companies…like Motorola is being represented by CellCom.
Me thinking: maybe this is why they don’t have Macka’s and KFCs here… But even so, Macka’s and KFCs in Indonesia are “owned” by Indonesian companies, who bought the franchise from the head quarter in the US for the whole Indonesia. So every Macka’s/KFC/Starbucks/Mango/Versace/the Body Shop/Debenhams/any international brand’s store you go to in Indonesia, they are generally owned by Indonesian companies. The people who own these companies are usually Indonesian conglomerates. They’re probably in the list of the Top 10 Richest Families in Indonesia. They’re like the sheiks of Indonesia.
This proves me that Indonesia is more open to globalisation while Tunisia’s attempt to opening itself to globalisation is still over-controlled by its Government. I read a book The Age of Access by Jeremy Rifkin that talks about, well, the age of access: access of and for information, access to the international economy, access to local market (for global companies)…any kind of access, basically. He believes that in the era of the new economy, access of any kind is the most important element. I read the book two or three years ago so I can’t fully remember what it is about but I’m damn sure it’s about the “age of access”. I remember thinking that the book provokes my way of seeing globalisation, but then again, I haven’t read Naomi Klein’s No Logo.
But Tunisia’s access to all these globalisation things is limited (again, after comparing it to countries I've been to). I can only find one Mango store, one Zara, and no The Body Shop. I found one Nokia store so far but it is actually a Tunisiana’s store (Tunisiana is the biggest GSM provider in Tunisia). When the rest of the world is competing to be part of globalisation, Tunisia is still in its own phase…taking its time and just have the “ça va” attitude most Tunisians have to everything:
“Our transportation system suck…. Ah! Ça va!”
“Our media is over-censored… Ça va!”
“Our access to globalisation is too-controlled… Ça va!”
“We don’t know who INXS is… Ça va!”
“We don’t have any law against piracy like the rest of the world… Yeah, you know what our attitude towards it by now.”
Ah, Tunisia!!!!!
Siska
posted by siz at
11:19 PM
17 Comments:
Hi Siska,
Thanks for your comment on my blog. I got to see yours and I am astonished... is this really the country I grew up in!????
You talk about Tunisia with a very confident tone, stating what (all) Tunisians think, know, don’t know, want or do not want… as if it was absolute truth, I just would like to ask you a few questions:
How long have you been in Tunisia for!?
How many Tunisians from different social circles/ages/interests have you met!?
How broad is your knowledge of the Tunisian society/culture!?
Some of the things you said are true, but many things are absolutely wrong, quoting you: No internet, no newspapers in English, all Tunisians listen to Arabic music and Techno, 3 Tunisian newspapers, very limited number of Tunisian English speakers…
It is an offensive and a very intolerant attitude to generalize your tight view (related to your personal experience) to a whole country and a whole population… you should learn to relativize…
Maybe when I am back to Tunisia we'll have the opportunity to meet and talk about all this… in the meantime, I wish you a nice stay…
Cheers
A.
Whoa whoa whoa... Hang on a minute there, buddy.
Probably I wasn't successully write this posting. Yes, Tunisians might find this insulting because I did make a LOT of generalisations. Not all Tunisians listen to Arabic or Techno, there is English-language newspapers, and there are more than three newspapers being sold on the street. Also, I never said that there's no internet here, I was just saying that most Tunisians hardly access English-speaking websites...
Moreover, Englsih-speaking Tunisians exists (you for example) but MY access to all this IS limited.
This is MY perception of the world that I'm in while I'm in Tunisia. My perception doesn't necessarily that it's the truth, and yes, I must admit that it is still very limited. I'm just blogging about my finding so far... I'm pretty sure it's shifted as I'm spending more time here :)
Like I said this is just MY perception. I'm more than willing to broaden it.
Cheers,
Siz
Great Siska, so if it is your own perception as you say (which makes sense) why presenting it as THE absolute reality... !?
All I said is that you probably should relativize, the words you use have a huge impact on how the reader perceives your opinions...
I am pretty sure your perceptions will change... the cultural schock graph that AIESEC highlights is real... One needs some time to adjust to differences, to finding a meaning to them and to start appreciating them...
Tunisia is a beautiful country with all its imperfections) and I wish you to enjoy it...
cheers
A.
Well, huuh....this is my blog. This is my "website" of my opinions... Don't take it seriously ;)
Siz
wow. word war. hehe. strange i had to read the comment part.. hmmm.
i'm a communications major myself and if I were to let my degree rule over, i'd go nuts in Tunisia (given all you've said).
but i am from the philippines. a country whose reputation has been scarred, tainted and everything else you can think of. i share Siska's call on 'relativizing' primarily because we share the same passion of defending our bruised homelands but, you did draw sense in a lot of areas. areas i can relate to as a communications major and with that said, i applaud your boldness.
Ah marketing/communications people. Always with the talky talky.
Like it or not human beings make generalisations to help make the world seem sane. If we didn't would we ever learn anything (hmm, the stove is on. Last time I touched a stove that was on I got burnt. I wonder what will happen if...ouch. I think I am not going to touch any more stoves).
It sounds like you are having a great experience over there siska - I want more photos!!!
Hehehe... Al, photos are coming soon. I noticed you and Lil are planning to visit Jessie in Paris. Any chance to drop by in Tunis?
Siz
yes, generalisations make the world seem same but it doesn't do anything other than compound an otherwise objective point of view.
while i am all for learning, i think it should always be beyond what meets the eye.. after you've proven that touching a lit stove can hurt you, it's that understanding why you got hurt in touching it that makes you the conscious person you are the next time around.
i am dismissing any of your thoughts.. as you said, this is all talky talky, right Alistair?
How do we know for certain that conciousness influences actions and not vice versa? Perhaps what goes on in our heads influences the outside world. Perhaps we make up things in our head to make sense of all the crazy things going on in the world.
It is just a question of free will. And talky talky.
Looks like we might not even make it to paris. How about meeting in London or Amsterdam?
Hehehe... I guess we all agree to disgree...
Al, Paris or Amsterdam, aye?? Sounds good. But I've also been thinking to visit Zara in Oslo. When are you guys going anyway?
Siz
PS: Al, didn't you notice I made pirate noise on this posting (the posting, not the comment)?
that is generally true.. everything we have as facts today was some random person's theory centuries ago and that right there proves how much the world in general is depended on a person's thoughts. whoever he might be.
i'm personally not getting much sense from this anymore. haha. we're flooding siska's comment page (sorry dear), better continue our debacle elsewhere
cesemrondario@hotmail.com
Hi Siz,
Im always interrested to read posting or comments about my country, and i had the chance to read yours.
I had no idea where do u come from, or how long r u staying there, but just wanted to clarify few things :
English is the THIRD Language in tunisia, it comes after French, so it's normal that its not widely spoken or used over there, and in couple of years (6 or 7 years) we will see more & more people using it, because now it's been included in the program of primary schools, which mean students will have the chance to practice it for at least 6 years befor they go to university (while in my generation and im only 25, we use to study english in the last 4 years in high school with an average of 2 hours /week.) And dont even ask about how it was in the past :)
So, if the Tunisians are not really reading or using English media sources, it doesnt mean that there's something wrong !
Second thing, is that Media access is now much better in Tunisia because :
-we need to consider the cost of living/income to figure out, how much left to spend in MEDIA.
-the Government had a very good initiative that consists on providing the FAMILY COMPUTER (Desktops & Laptops) with approved loans from local banks and paiement facilities.
-ADSL network covers almost all tunisian territory, and everyone could get it (its just too slow i know :)
-Almost every single tunisian family have a satellite dish at home, which allow them to access humdreds of channels and get any kind of info they seek.
-foreign magazines & newspapers are available in the market but not widely used besicaly because of their price : just too much expensive !
So, i agree with you that we have many restrictions (in the economic sector), but things are moving slowly, and hopefuly getting better.
So, u can be online if you go to cybercafes, library, university, or just grab your laptop and enjoy the free wireless in Tunis Carthage airport :)))
Cheers
Emir
The goverment influence a lot of things in Tunisia, like Media ! And u mentionned that already, BUT still,
Hi Siz,
Im always interrested to read posting or comments about my country, and i had the chance to read yours.
I had no idea where do u come from, or how long r u staying there, but just wanted to clarify few things :
English is the THIRD Language in tunisia, it comes after French, so it's normal that its not widely spoken or used over there, and in couple of years (6 or 7 years) we will see more & more people using it, because now it's been included in the program of primary schools, which mean students will have the chance to practice it for at least 6 years befor they go to university (while in my generation and im only 25, we use to study english in the last 4 years in high school with an average of 2 hours /week.) And dont even ask about how it was in the past :)
So, if the Tunisians are not really reading or using English media sources, it doesnt mean that there's something wrong !
Second thing, is that Media access is now much better in Tunisia because :
-we need to consider the cost of living/income to figure out, how much left to spend in MEDIA.
-the Government had a very good initiative that consists on providing the FAMILY COMPUTER (Desktops & Laptops) with approved loans from local banks and paiement facilities.
-ADSL network covers almost all tunisian territory, and everyone could get it (its just too slow i know :)
-Almost every single tunisian family have a satellite dish at home, which allow them to access humdreds of channels and get any kind of info they seek.
-foreign magazines & newspapers are available in the market but not widely used besicaly because of their price : just too much expensive !
So, i agree with you that we have many restrictions (in the economic sector), but things are moving slowly, and hopefuly getting better.
So, u can be online if you go to cybercafes, library, university, or just grab your laptop and enjoy the free wireless in Tunis Carthage airport :)))
Cheers
Emir
Hmm.. I have a feeling that this discussion will go around and around forever. It seems that everyone wants to be listened but don't show any willingness to listen. It's not gonna solve the problem.
Emir, I know that English is the third language here. And I never said that it's a bad thing. Perhaps my posting came across otherwise. I agree with Phillipe Legrain who said that English isn't a necessity, but it is beneficial to learn. It's like microsoft, he said, you don't have to use it, but because everyone is using it, it'd be beneficial for you if you use it as well.
I do notice that many homes have satellite dishes. But how many of them have cables? I doubt its existence in Tunisia because it's not available yet. Maybe because it's too expensive for the Tunisian market, which is understandable. Foreign magazines are also available and are expensive.
So what? It's the same as Indonesia, maybe Phillippines (correct me if I'm wrong, Ces), and in a lot of latin American countries.
And I also notice that the local paper/television/any type of media are still too strictly governed. I'm a great believer in responsible free speech so I'd say that there should be more freedom in the press while also being responsible in what they are reporting.
Take Indonesia, for example, it has 11 TV station, only one of which is Government run. Press freedom exists but they (the press) also respect differences, they never touch issues such as ethnicity, religion, race, etc. On contrary, media in Australia can either be left- or right-winged.
In my perspective, Tunisia is still relying too much on the Government. Yes, although slowly Tunisia will probably get "there". But when it's finally get "there" many parts of the world would be somewhere else more advanced.
Maybe I'm just too "western" in this ideology but to me this dependency isn't doing much for your country.
I do respect your country, Emir, and I do believe that it has such potential to be a developed country. I was just hoping that it'll realise it. That's all.
Siz
I do notice that many homes have satellite dishes. But how many of them have cables? I doubt its existence in Tunisia because it's not available yet. Maybe because it's too expensive for the Tunisian market, which is understandable. Foreign magazines are also available and are expensive.
So what? It's the same as Indonesia, maybe Phillippines (correct me if I'm wrong, Ces), and in a lot of latin American countries.
--You said I could correct you, right? Well I am now. No. The Philippines DOES NOT have any of these problems you mentioned (with media and com).
1. The Philippines is the THIRD LARGEST SPEAKING COUNTRY IN THE WORLD. It's our second language and that's something I'm personally very proud of.
2. We have cables in EVERY home installed. HBO. AXN. CNN. BBC and every other international channels available. My TV's turned on right now and I have 72 channels, and mind you, only about 30% of it is local, everything is in international.
3. We have Cosmo, FHM, Vogue, People, O magazine and whatever other magazines available outside our shores.
We are indeed a third world country but we are a promising bunch. My country has an assortment of problems, yes. But we are at par in terms of innovation and technology advancement.. We are the texting capital of the world and this only reflects how much we value progress and change.
"In my perspective, Tunisia is still relying too much on the Government. Yes, although slowly Tunisia will probably get "there". But when it's finally get "there" many parts of the world would be somewhere else more advanced."
--that's a reality that people in Tunisia and in my country has to face. But do you realize that's the kind of mindset that pulls countries like mine down? What's the point on comparing ourselves to US, Australia and the like? What's the point? I know it's good to have a continuous reality check but that doesn't mean you have to stretch ourselves too thin just to impress the outside world. I am proud of my country and there are no buts in that statement.
I am not straying from facts. I know the reality in my country but if there's anything i've learned, it's to never capitilize on the problems, rather magnify the possiblities, work on them and make it through.
I have never believed in comparing basically because you can never be objective. Somewhere along the way, there are points no 2 things are ever the same. There will be differences that's why I personally think it's stupid to generalize.
i will be moving to australia to finish my degree soon and i hope people i meet there will embrace my culture the way i intend to do for theirs. And in my world, I think that's how it should always be.
Thanks for the correction, but I agree to disagree with you, Ces.
I'm damn proud of my country and being its citizen. I'm proud to know that although considered poor, our people struggle to achieve for the best. We believe in pluralism yet we continue to be united. We have one national language on top of hundreds of local dialects.
But at the same time, I know that my country isn't perfect...no country is.
But to me, comparison gives you a standard... Comparing my country to other, more advanced countries such as Australia and even Singapore and Malaysia, it makes me strive to do more for my country so it'd be as "big" as they are. I'd like to see my country standing proudly on the same hight beside them.
It's a simple wish, but difficult to achieve.
Again, I agree to disagree with you, Ces. Don't take it personally ;)
Siska
Don't worry, I never take things personally. I'm just really enjoying the debates. Hehe.
But yea, if there's anything we have in common, it's how much we love our countries. The Philippines is going through a lot right now and that's never gonna change.. even if we suddenly lose our cable access and the infrastructures plummet down. Hehehe.
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