“[W]e … appear to be stuck in place, held back by deep divisions and endless political bickering, and seemingly condemned to watching our neighbors pass us by, one by one.” [Falling behind, again (?), Cielito F. Habito, No Free Lunch, Philippine Daily Inquirer, 10th Oct 2017]
The wife won’t tire reminding the writer, “don’t look around to pin blame on another.” We all know that but the human condition is such that man’s instinct is to protect and defend one’s self-esteem. Think Trump and his the-best-defense-is-offense tweets 24/7 and the brazen lies that will make Lyin’ Ted a saint, if not Crooked Hilary straight.
“To say that we all struggle with confirmation bias is not to say that some individuals don’t overcome it better than others or that some aren’t closer to seeing the truth of things better than others. Objective reality exists, truth matters, and we have to pursue them with purpose and without fear. But in our present moment, truth, including truth that unsettles us, has far too often become subordinate to justifying and defending at all costs our own, often unsound, preconceptions … You can see that in others. But can you see it in yourself?” [Seeing Trump through a glass, darkly; Peter Wehner, The New York Times, 7th Oct 2017; Wehner is a senior fellow at the Ethics and Public Policy Center, served in the previous three Republican administrations]
The writer couldn’t have said it better. Wehner continues: “But here’s the thing: What’s easy to see in others is hard to see in ourselves. I can assure myself that my intellectual integrity is superior to theirs, yet in my honest moments I recognize that I struggle with these same human frailties and flaws … I have some of the same mental habit that I’m critical of in others.
“When I served the George W. Bush White House, I believed before the war began that it was justified … These suppositions caused me to ignore, much longer than I should have, the problems inherent in our occupation strategy … I relay all this because confirmation bias is far more difficult to overcome than most of us like to admit. We are ever in search of data that confirms what we want to believe. ‘Illusions is the first of all pleasures,’ Voltaire said.
“I am highly critical of President Trump, and that puts me at odds with a vast majority of my fellow Republicans.”
The writer is highly critical of Juan de la Cruz. Because in his heart of hearts he believes we are better than this – still underdeveloped and the regional laggard and most recently overtaken by Brunei and Vietnam in competitiveness. But we see it through the prism of the war on poverty and, more recently, the war on drugs. And to be highly critical of Juan de la Cruz puts the writer at odds with a vast majority of Filipinos.
We must know by now that Malaysia, for example, did not share our short-term prism when they addressed rural poverty. Instead of parceling out land they pooled them to attain economies of scale. They could see beyond the horizon.
It is not surprising given the phenomenon of the growth versus the fixed mindset is a relatively new discovery from the social sciences. We are still held in place by Pinoy creativity or “abilidad” as well as our moral uprightness – as in holier-than-thou. And we have yet to recognize they are a manifestation of our fixed mindset.
It reinforces our backward orientation and our inability to be forward-looking. Worse is we’ve never demonstrated foresight. And are now debating, for instance: If federalism is the solution, what is the problem? But we like the low-hanging fruit. OFW remittances and the BPO industry instead of industrialization in tandem with infrastructure development.
We keep highlighting that electricity in PH is the most expensive in the region. But that is just the tip of the iceberg. We never understood that the problem is development; again, because we lack foresight. And why we fall into the trap of debating which comes first, the chicken or the egg.
The latest UN Sustainable Development Goals have recognized this challenge. To quote from an earlier post: “[T]he SDGs can be a weapon for growth and sustainability. The point is how to fulfill the SDGs through a more pro-active and forward-looking national development program.” [SDG 9 commits PHL to ‘inclusive, sustainable industrialization,’ Rene E. Ofreneo, BusinessMirror, 30th Aug 2017]
“However, one of the goals can also be an instrument for the realization of the other SDGs. This is SDG 9, which commits nations to ‘build resilient infrastructure, promote inclusive and sustainable industrialization and foster innovation.
“In other words, infrastructure development, industrialization and innovation … will pave the way for the realization of the other goals.”
It takes a growth mindset to develop the ability to look beyond the horizon. Every nation started out poor. But that is why there is such a thing as development. But we can’t imagine and visualize a virtuous circle as in an ecosystem. That is too far out for Juan de la Cruz? Why? [And why the blog always closes with the quotes below. They aren’t meant to bore us, they are for us to reflect on.]
He is parochial and insular; hierarchical and paternalistic; relies on political patronage and dynasties and oligarchy. That is why we are constantly amid a perfect storm.
And why we are defined by crab mentality, i.e., we can never ever prioritize given the elements that consume us. And which is confirmed by another phenomenon, the irrationality of man. “People give into biases when making decisions, and that human miscalculation can come with serious consequences.” [Misbehaving: The Story of Behavioral Economics by Richard Thaler, 2015; Thaler is the winner of the 2017 Nobel prize in economics]
In the meantime, the elite class – and going by the admonition of the wife, that includes the writer, given he spent the first 20 years of his career in the Philippines and represented the employers’ group – must defend how they’ve called the shots for decades.
“Why independence, if the slaves of today will be the tyrants of tomorrow? And that they will be such is not to be doubted, for he who submits to tyranny loves it.” [We are ruled by Rizal’s ‘tyrants of tomorrow,’ Editorial, The Manila Times, 29th Dec 2015]
“As a major component for the education and reorientation of our people, mainstream media – their reporters, writers, photographers, columnists and editors – have an obligation to this country . . .” [Era of documented irrelevance: Mainstream media, critics and protesters, Homobono A. Adaza, The Manila Times, 25th Nov 2015]
“National prosperity is created, not inherited. It does not grow out of a country’s natural endowments, its labor pool, its interest rates, or its currency’s value, as classical economics insists . . . A nation’s competitiveness depends on the capacity of its industry to innovate and upgrade.” [The Competitive Advantage of Nations, Michael E. Porter, Harvard Business Review, March–April 1990]
“Learning and innovation go hand in hand. The arrogance of success is to think that what you did yesterday will be sufficient for tomorrow.” [William Pollard, 1911-1989, physicist-priest, Manhattan Project]
“Development [is informed by a people’s] worldview, cognitive capacity, values, moral development, self-identity, spirituality, and leadership . . .” [Frederic Laloux, Reinventing organizations, Nelson Parker, 2014]
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