Filipino Pride or my lack thereof

I am at a cafe with my new Amboy/Amgirl acquaintances, and some americans(black and white, yes), as well as some Europeans who have migrated to the US. We are a culturally diverse group of eight. And because I am the newest member in this makeshift Coffee Club, the focus is on the Filipinos today.

One AmGirl started talking about Filipino pride.

Apparently, Pinoys here in the US have enough of this stacked up in their system to last them 5 lifetimes. That's what she said. These Amgirls and Amboys have been here more than five years (indeed, others --- more than 10), and they all say that one of the few things they kept with them is the Filipino Pride. I asked them what that meant and one AmBoy basically said it was the equivalent of 'Proud to be Filipino' thinking. More commonly, though, this would be identified in any culture as just plain pride. They just went on and on about Filipinos sticking together and keeping their values and their Filipino ways even after adapting to the cultural ways in the US. I did not say a word. It was pretty interesting to know this stuff. From Amboys and AmGirls in their twenties and thirties. I was born and raised (and educated) in the Philippines, and I never (na-uh, not even once) heard of the concept of Filipino Pride. I started to think maybe I fell asleep in one of my Filipino or History Classes and so I missed out.

However, five minutes after that topic was over, the europeans-slash-americans moved into a new topic and start talking about upcoming elections in their former country of citizenship. And the AmPeople (if anyone dare ask, I'm defending myself via poetic license) start dishing out the dirt on the upcoming elections in the Philippines (which, by the way, they ghetto-ishly refer to as P.I.), with FPJ being the star of that line of conversation. And the Americans stand in awe and all they can say is 'That's fucked up,' and one European goes 'Whoa, that's messed up.'

I try to put in my two cents worth as I feel as though I am being attacked. And I say 'But you know, it's not all that bad,' and I go into this whole thing about corruption being present in most countries in the world. And politicking being the center stage of governments -- both first and third-world. And just as two Americans nod their heads in seeming agreement, this AmGirl suddenly butts in and says 'Yeah, but the corruption in the P.I. government is the worst.'

Pardon my agitation, but I just wanted to sock her in the face right there and then. I contained myself, of course (of course. The normal middle-class pinoy is non-confrontational, studies showed). But I felt that that comment was so blatantly stupid, I just wanted to tell her to go back home and eat some more hotdogs and paint her face, and maybe she could pass for a human being with average intellect.

I mean....Hello-uw! (say that with the right tone, and I swear to you, you'll sound like that girl in Clueless).
What was wrong with that picture?

I don't even wanna get into it because it's getting me so damn mad just thinking about it. But let me just say this.

If other people's views of Filipinos and of the Philippines are at an all-time low, it's either because no one bothered to give them an explanation, or because Filipinos themselves gave them that wrong impression.

(2 secs for you to think about this)

'Nough said by a person who has never (until the verbal exchange happened, as was just narrated) heard of the term 'Filipino Pride' described, defended and assaulted within 5 breaths of each other.

Note: This is one of those 'Did it really happen or was it all in my head?' stories. Go figure.