Consider our instincts: We are parochial and insular. We value hierarchy and paternalism and rely on political patronage and oligarchy that ours is a culture of impunity.
Recall Bill Gates: “Our genes influence our intelligence and talents, yet they can develop. Suppose you mistakenly believe that your capabilities derive from DNA and destiny rather than practice and perseverance. In that case, you operate with what Dweck calls a ‘fixed mindset’ rather than a ‘growth mindset.’ Our parents and teachers exert a big influence on which mindset we adopt—and that mindset, in turn, has a profound impact on how we learn and which paths we take in life.” [Carol Dweck is the Lewis and Virginia Eaton Professor of Psychology at Stanford University. Dweck is known for her work on mindset. She was on the faculty at Columbia University, Harvard University, and the University of Illinois before joining the Stanford University faculty in 2004. She is a Fellow of the Association for Psychological Science.]
Why do we struggle with foreign and trade relations?
Let’s pause and ponder, given my DNA. I am essentially from Central Luzon but have more roots in China and India than the rest of the Philippines. Yet, I’m the least surprised given our history: “Long before the Spaniards came to the Philippines in 1521, the Filipinos had established trade relations with neighboring lands like China, Java, Borneo, Thailand, and other settlements. Barter was a system of trading commonly practiced throughout the world and adopted by the Philippines.” [Wikipedia]
[Those familiar with the blog will recall that my MNC-company obtained my US passport for business reasons. In those days, I could not travel to places like India at a moment’s notice. My Philippine passport had to be submitted to the authorities in India and couriered back to New York. As a volunteer expert in Eastern Europe sponsored by USAID, I became a card-bearing resident of Sofia; and was offered citizenship for my contributions. Being a dual citizen gives me a full plate, and I don’t need more to be a citizen of the world.]
Let’s push the envelope further. Recall the law of divine oneness that science demonstrates via the photosynthesis phenomenon. Hence, schooled on interdependence. And we recognize that who and what we are will translate to a subset of a more extensive set – called the universe.
Let’s jump to two further subsets, democracy, and autocracy. And as the blog argues, democracy is the mirror image of Christianity, i.e., the imperative of personal responsibility for the common good.
Here are tangible examples: Think of North Korea, China, and Russia on the one hand and freedom-loving nations on the other.
And then put that side by side with our value of hierarchy and paternalism. Do we see why we have a soft spot in our hearts that Rizal articulated as “He who submits to tyranny loves it”?
The above-referenced countries are the trouble-makers, and they share one thing in common, autocracy aka tyranny. And we don’t have to go very far. Myanmar is a neighbor. And Russia, for example, is again on the wrong side of history — as in Syria.
Still, freedom-loving people must recognize that “globalization” — as the barter trade of old — is a manifestation of interdependence. Why are the UN and wealthy nations not stepping up to the plate? Biden must deliver on his promise of American moral leadership though the challenge is beyond COVAX.
Some of our media editorials continue to manifest the above struggle because of our values. Physical distance alone, for example, does not spell what is supreme – as in the truth. Please think of the Hong Kong people and why they are rising against China. Or Ukraine, why they turned their back on Russia.
Yet, perfection is not of this world. And I have no respect for US politics – and don’t exercise the right to vote except in the last presidential election, i.e., to kick out a tyrant from the supposed model of democracy.
They demonstrate how cognitive development – the ability to move beyond binary thinking to relativism – can suffer a decline – as in tribalism. As argued by The Economist, the rightist elements of America are an oxymoron Christianity-wise – and anathema to democracy. [There is the converse, of course, nations that cannot learn to put their houses in order — and tyranny will be at the core; Venezuela, despite holding the largest oil reserves comes to mind — will be trouble spots. And they can undermine the world order as in Afghanistan. And in our case, think of our culture of impunity and underdevelopment and why we can’t overcome insurgency.]
Do we suffer – like the Americans – from a decline in cognitive development compared to our forebears? How come China and Thailand – among our barter trade partners in the old days – continue to this day as solid export players?
And it is in agribusiness and beyond.
“Our low productivity is especially evident when compared to some of our Asian neighbors. In 2016, compared to Thailand, Indonesia, Malaysia, and Vietnam, the Philippines were the only country that posted a trade deficit with $5.1 billion in food exports against $11 billion in imports.
“The US Department of Agriculture also noted that the total factor productivity index of the Philippines only increased by 0.64 percent from 2005 to 2015—a measly growth compared to Malaysia with 1.8 percent, Indonesia with 2.12 percent, Thailand with 2.16, and Vietnam with 2.21 percent.
“To address this, one of the long-term interventions suggested during the hearings was for the country to invest more strategically towards making the production of our livestock feeds more efficient as this is a major contributing factor to the overall cost.” [“Self-Reliance In Food,” Sonny M. Angara, BusinessMirror, 23rd Apr 2021]
Let’s again pause and recall a recent posting: “Double-loop learning will occur only when we rethink the fundamental assumptions and values that support the policy’s logic. That is why the blog keeps raising our instincts: We are parochial and insular. We value hierarchy and paternalism and rely on political patronage and oligarchy that ours is a culture of impunity.”
“The double-loop model is critical in leadership development. More work is needed to close the gap between leaders’ self-perception and others’ perceptions. Organizations need help to move in the direction that they want to go. Often that means we utilize the Double Loop learning theory developed by Chris Argyris.
“That demands moving from implicit and unchallenged assumptions to explicitly identifying and questioning those underlying assumptions in light of our results and consequences. ’Does what I say match what I do and my underlying values? How does it affect how I should interact with others and do my job?’
“Organizations must deal with double-loop problems that require dealing with their defenses as human beings. They must ask themselves, ‘Is this the way I always respond, and if so, how has it worked?’ If their reaction hasn’t worked, they have the opportunity to consider it from a different perspective or view of the situation.
“Most important, after an interaction or event that might have gone better, true and honest dialogue, either with self or others, needs to occur though it often does not. We dismiss it as a one-time occurrence or someone or something else to blame. Worse yet, if nothing is said, no conversation occurs, and those involved robbed of the opportunity to examine the event to look for double-loop moments.” [invistaperforms.org]
Consider: If we are to be self-sufficient in food, that means beyond food security, we have an innovative and globally competitive enterprise as demonstrated by our neighbors. It is outward and forward-looking, not inward and parochial.
In other words, in “single-loop learning,” the most common problem-solving style, we loop back to the action strategies and techniques we employed to assess what we obtained – or the results and their consequences. With “double-loop learning,” we loop back beyond what we did to why we do what we do – and re-evaluate and reframe our goals and values or beliefs.
Will we ever figure out that DNA and destiny go against the grain – of human development? Sadly, we take our instincts for granted that our caste system blinds us.
Yet, we like to point out the decline of America. That comes from tribalism – which we can differentiate between “white supremacy” and “black lives matter.”
Recall the “Southern strategy – a Republican Party electoral strategy to increase political support among white voters in the South by appealing to racism against African Americans. The civil rights movement and dismantling of Jim Crow laws (in the 1950s and 1960s) deepened existing racial tensions in much of the Southern United States. Republican politicians such as presidential candidate Richard Nixon and Senator Barry Goldwater developed strategies that successfully contributed to the political realignment of many white, conservative voters in the South who had traditionally supported the Democratic Party rather than the Republican Party. It also helped to push the Republican Party much more to the right.”
And here’s a contemporaneous translation courtesy of the conservative side of the New York Times op-ed section: “What’s happening can only be called a venomous panic attack. Since the election, large swathes of the Trumpian right have decided America is facing a crisis like never before. They are the small army of warriors fighting with Alamo-level desperation to ensure the country’s survival as they conceive it.
“When asked in late January if politics is more about ‘enacting good public policy’ or ‘ensuring the survival of the country as we know it,’ 51 percent of Trump Republicans said survival; only 19 percent said policy.
“Over 75 percent of Biden voters chose ‘a big, beautiful world.’ Two-thirds of Trump voters chose ‘our lives are at risk.’
“This level of catastrophism, nearly despair, has fed into an amped-up warrior mentality.
“Philosophic liberals — whether on the right side of the political spectrum or the left — understand people have selfish interests. Yet, they believe in democracy and open conversation because they have confidence in people’s capacities to define their own lives, care for people unlike themselves, and keep society progressing.
“With their deep pessimism, the hyper populist wing of the GOP seems to be crashing through the floor of philosophic liberalism into an abyss of authoritarian impulsiveness. Many of these folks are no longer even operating in the political realm. The GOP response to the Biden agenda has been anemic because the base doesn’t care about mere legislation, just their cultural standing.
“Republicans and conservatives who believe in the liberal project need to organize and draw a bright line between themselves and the ‘illiberals’ on their side. It is no longer just about Trump the man; it’s about how you will look at reality — as the muddle has always been or as an apocalyptic hellscape. It’s about how you pursue change — through the conversation and compromise of politics or intimidations of the macho display.
“I can tell a story in which the Trumpians self-marginalize or exhaust themselves. Permanent catastrophism is hard. But apocalyptic pessimism tends to deteriorate into nihilism, and people eventually turn to the strong man to salve the darkness and chaos inside themselves.” [“The GOP. Is Getting Even Worse: Trumpians have a venomous panic attack,” David Brooks, The New York Times, 22nd Apr 2021]
Why learn about others? To look outward and forward and learn how to benchmark – not to be a clone of another but to be inspired to progress and not decline cognitive development.
Indeed, to benchmark is not a cakewalk given our instincts: We are parochial and insular. We value hierarchy and paternalism and rely on political patronage and oligarchy that ours is a culture of impunity.
We can choose our values from perseverance and practice instead of DNA and destiny.
Gising bayan!
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