The Filipino Boomer Paradox: FOREIGN-MADE Smartphones in Hand, Anti-FDI Rants Online

Henry Rose Lee

There's always the statement about stubborn boomers, isn't there? I'm glad not every boomer I meet is stubborn. There's this sad truth—we have boomers who tend to think everyone after them is "having it easy"—all the while ignoring the convenience cost. As of recent, I thought about how funny Facebook posts can be against the Philippines and foreign investments. I could see some classic Gen Z rants (done by the now-defunct Philippine Anti-Fascist League) posting against FDI as "destructive and exploitative". I often assume that there's a pipeline of ideas, like the parents were probably members of Makabayan Bloc's fronts. This time, I want to focus on a particularly funny pattern I wish I noticed sooner. That pattern is all about Filipino boomers (1946—1964) using foreign-made smartphones to type anti-FDI rants!

I noticed several anti-FDI rants (especially in the comments section of several constitutional reform pages or in the news pages) are made by mostly boomers. As always, I refuse to reveal their identities here or post all their comments. I checked on their profiles and some of them, based on their profile photos, are already people who are around 62 years old to 80 years old today. I observed these things about stubborn boomers who make comments on social media, especially on Facebook:

1. The irritating phrases like "When I was your age... (insert brag)" or "Back in my day." This is the fallacy of milestoning. They ignore the fact that we learn from the old but we also need to learn new stuff. This can also be called the seniority flex.
2. The tendency to treat the 1987 Constitution of the Philippines as if it's so holy and sacred. This is where they think that the problem is the people, not the system. One of the stupidest arguments I've even run into lately from an old grandfather is, "The person who follows the law follows the right system. The person who doesn't follow the law isn't following the right system." This is a circular argument because manmade laws are subject to error. The right system doesn't only require obedience. The right system also corrects error so people don't follow the wrong orders! It's like the wrong software can cause the best PC to crash several times over. This is why also their source of anti-FDI rants, whenever they cite Article XII as if it fell as a "divine message from Heaven" instead of something to reconsider, could be holding us back.
3. They think that just because the current 1987 Constitution of the Philippines doesn't encourage corruption openly, like putting a phrase, "Politicians may steal public funds"—having such rules alone would be enough. However, as I want to stress, the presidential system's lack of weekly questioning makes it easier to commit acts of corruption because when the cat is away, the mouse will play. That's why I've been advocating for a parliamentary Philippines.
4. Many of them are practically ignorant about how basic business and economics work. It becomes annoying when I start to notice the following things the boomers are ignorant about in their comments, such as: 
• Their comments about how job markets work are really annoying. One old man I ran into even said that the problem isn't the 60-40 protectionist measures (and another old man called it very pro-Filipino), but the quality of the job applicants. This is ignoring simple supply and demand.
• They think that economics can be simply legislated. They think that something like wage increases, prices of goods and services, etc. can just be reduced or increased by the power of the pen. I often cite Venezuela as a stark warning how trying to do so has catastrophic results. Some of them prefer to blame the Estados Unidos or the USA, rather than look at the poor economics done by deposed president Nicolas Maduro (who's rather fat while his people starve) and the late Hugo Chavez. What makes it funnier is that some people even felt that the late Benigno Simeon C. Aquino III was the "best president ever" because he supposedly "magically dialed down gasoline prices". Based on that logic, why don't they say that Ferdinand E. Marcos Sr. was the best president ever, because gasoline prices were even lower at that time, thanks to a destructive subsidization of gasoline?!
• They have a poor understanding of what profits are. One of the biggest, most stupid things they tend to say is that only FDIs will get rich if we let them invest in the Philippines. What's ignored is that FDIs will only get rich based on net income after taxes. It's because they have the tendency to think that revenues are profits when they aren't the same thing. 
• They don't really understand how countries like Singapore, Vietnam, Taiwan, South Korea, Japan, China, or any first-world nation developed into first-world countries. They say all sorts of crazy stuff like that these countries isolated themselves first, developed through autarky, all before opening up to the world economy. Please, history says otherwise! In fact, I even realize some of them might even think that the Philippines will get richer by blaming its richer Asian neighbors. 
• What I might want to emphasize is also the tendency to become that annoying Flor Contemplacion crybaby. I mention Singapore, and several of them may start singing "Kahit Konting Awa" (Just a Little Pity) and mention how they cried back in 1995, thinking of how Singapore unjustly executed Flor. This is my favorite breaking point. You may want to read my critical review of The Flor Contemplacion Story.
• The tendency to misread sources. I can go ahead and rant all I want that the first Marcos Administration wasn't under a parliamentary system. However, many stubborn boomers still continue to insist otherwise.
• Not to mention, when they run out of arguments, the next cycle is to hurl insults, play DARVO (Deny-Attack-Reverse-Victim-Offender), or repeat the same argument all over and over again. This is proof they've run out of things to say.

I probably barely even covered a fifth or a tenth of their stupidity. In fact, the irony of the situation with the smartphone being used (or perhaps a tablet or iPad) is that none of the equipment is even Filipino-made. The smartphones were developed because of a system upgrade. They ironically used stuff that were created by systems upgrade and produced by foreigners, to defend the 1987 Constitution of the Philippines from ever being amended!