Embarrassing Ignorance

I remember somebody from TV saying that there are two deadly things in this world: apathy and ignorance. Today as I was browing the Zamboanga Today website, I read an article by Riza Locbao about the new title of Zamboanga City. In the past I have also wrote an article about this. However, when I read Riza's article, I get where all the confusion is coming from.

Apparently, most people (who were against calling Zamboanga city Asia's Latin City) thought that the word Latin in the new title referred to the Romans. Riza Locbao goes to ask: What’s our historical connection to Latin? She even researched if there is a link between the Sama, Subanen and Tausog (who were the ancient inhabitants of Zamboanga city) and the Latins.
All this confusion came from the misconception that the word Latin in Asia's Latin city referred to the Romans.

How incredibly embarrassing!

Yes, I am embarrassed for these people! This simple mistake could have been avoided if we just read more. This just goes to prove how badly written our history is. In our history books, you would never find the link between the Philippines and Mexico when our country was practically under Mexico for quite a long time.

If it was common knowledge to Filipinos that Mexico and the Philippines were once connected, then people won't go as far as thinking that (when Zamboanga city is being branded as Asia's Latin City) the Latin in its new title refers to the Romans or Latins.

In this article, I have cited several reasons on how Zamboanga city can be called as Asia's Latin city.

Comments

  1. It's music to my hears when I hear people say that they learned a lot from my articles. Muchas Gracias Mario.

    ReplyDelete
  2. hey my friend, you're right, ignorance is embarassing, i was watching a Spanish program here, and they were in Colima, Mexico and they mentioned the Filipino influence there, maybe that's something that might interest you, hasta luego =)

    ReplyDelete
  3. Wow, that is interesting. Maybe you could tell me what exactly was our influence to Mexico.

    ReplyDelete
  4. Here you have a couple of sites where the history of Manzanillo, Colima is briefly told.

    http://www.gomanzanillo.com/history/index.htm

    http://es.wikipedia.org/wiki/Historia_de_Manzanillo


    As they mention The Galeon de Manila or The Nao de China, here you have another two links where you can get informed about it.

    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Manila_galleon

    http://es.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gale%C3%B3n_de_Manila


    Hope you enjoy the reading!!!!

    ReplyDelete
  5. Just to correct it a bit:

    In fact, Mexico and Philippines were closer than we all can now remember.

    We must admit, however, that many still question the validity of the term "Latin America" as an apropriate name for the American sub-continent.

    Its success, to a certain extent, has been due so far to the agreement between the Anglo-Saxon world and the Latin one on using it as a way of expressing an old polarization.

    Perhaps at bottom some Philippine people connect the word "Latin" with such nationalistic antagonsims. Or perhaps they just don't want to look back in time, preferring to look toward the future.

    The case of Zamboanga is clear to me. You don't look for increasing any "ism", but for simply pointing out the city's Hispanic heritage. So, these people should be convinced by solid arguments, in the same way you've done on your latest post.

    I learn a lot reading your entries, thanks for such a great work.

    ReplyDelete

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