Timex 7: would 6 strangers care to dine with me at a buffet in Makati or Manila?

[christian5327]

The Philippines is a very cliquish place separated by class and geography. I would like to try a social experiment to see if 6 intelligent strangers from different walks of life can congregate together over a wonderful brunch with conversation on various topics. Credentials are irrelevant so long as the person is intelligent and insightful. I would be paying for the meal, perhaps even drinks. This will not happen overnight since I am in Seattle. However, I plan on visiting Manila more often in the future. All one has to do is email me through my account here their full name, address, email and then in a brief passage explain why they would be a good fit for this group.

I know, many will be very skeptical of this but then again there will be others that will be extremely curious. I am not asking for anything in return. Besides, the bill for such a small group would be a pittance compared to its counterpart in the United States. None of you here I'm sure have had this kind of opportunity to meet several intelligent and knowedgeable perfect strangers not affiliated whatsover with your social circles.

Obviously, one limitation is that a person be near Metro Manila. If you are a worthy candidate but live beyond the reaches of Metro Manila then I will hire transportation for you. The buffet will be one that is top rated with elegant surroundings. No, it will not be one in which you eat with your hands nor will it be one in which only Filipino food is served. I want the ambiance of the place to stimulate conversation. Should this turn out to be an all day affair I will book one or two rooms at the Jupiter Arms in Makati for anyone that would have to travel far from Metro Manila.

Your comments and questions on this post would be very much appreciated.

[channa_masala]

You're kidding right? You let us know your full name, address and all about yourself first and then if we find you interesting we will pay your airfare to visit Manila, hows that? Amazingly presumptuous and condescending of you. Not the kind of person I want to meet in my lifetime. There! You wanted comments, you got one and expect a lot more.

[christian5327]

You're kidding right? You let us know your full name, address and all about yourself first and then if we find you interesting we will pay your airfare to visit Manila, hows that? Amazingly presumptuous and condescending of you. Not the kind of person I want to meet in my lifetime. There! You wanted comments, you got one and expect a lot more.

I am paying for everything. The reason why I am doing this is not for my sake. I am not screening people for my purposes but I want to ensure a true mixture of people from all walks of life. Here in the USA people from all walks of life do meet so I want to see if it works in the Philippines. Besides, I would like to see the discussions that evolve from this encounter. So, it is not about me liking or disliking a particular person, even finding them personally interesting. It is about the contribution that they can make to the table as a whole. Your comments though appreciated greatly reflect your assumptions, prejudices and bias. You are also projecting your values and beliefs as well. For example, you would not do this experiment since you think I am 'kidding'. You also assume that anyone that does this is being condescending and presumptuous. How can you determine immediately whether or not you want to meet a particular person? I hope that you are not the type of person that allows his or her assumptions and prejudices to dominate. I make no judgments against you but base my analysis on fundamental psychology.

Presumption is presuming a given result. I am not presuming that I will be able to find anyone at all since I am not in control of people responding. Also, I don't see this as beyond decorum or protocol but rather a chance for people just to relate to each other in a human fashion. After all, the one commonality that everyone will have at the table is that each one will have been on pinoy exchange. Condescending is a word that means descending to a lower level. I am gathering a group of people so that all of us can see each other eye to eye, as equals around a roundtable of discussion. You assume that I am stooping to a lower level by doing this when in fact I just want a level playing field dialogue between strangers to occur. This gathering will be at an elegant restaurant in a hotel because I want it to be memorable for everyone. It will not be food that you can eat with your hands because not everyone will be from the same social class. It will not just include Filipino food because the food should be as varied as the people and their experiences.

My name is Christian Santiago. 3024 NE 143rd Street Apt 101, Seattle, WA, 98125. My phone number is 206.496.5477. What else you would like to know? I would appreciate a phone conversation very much. What is your phone number? I will pay the charges by calling you first.

[channa_masala]

I didn't say that anyone who does what you want to do is presumptuous and condescending. Only you are and your statements in your original post betray it, your comments portray your values and beliefs as well and I don't care for your values and beliefs. You plan on coming to the table from a position of intellectual superiority and not as an intellectual equal and again your comments betray it. Yes these are assumptions based on what message your post conveys. I love eating with my hands and don't care about elegant surroundings. Yes, I am prejudiced against intellectual snobbery. Thanks for posting your info in public, perhaps someone with your values will strike up a conversation with you that you would enjoy.

[channa_masala]

Looks like you read my mind and clarified your post. You don't sound so bad now after all. lol Anyway good luck.

[christian5327]

I didn't say that anyone who does what you want to do is presumptuous and condescending. Only you are and your statements in your original post betray it, your comments portray your values and beliefs as well and I don't care for your values and beliefs. You plan on coming to the table from a position of intellectual superiority and not as an intellectual equal and again your comments betray it. Yes these are assumptions based on what message your post conveys. I love eating with my hands and don't care about elegant surroundings. Yes, I am prejudiced against intellectual snobbery. Thanks for posting your info in public, perhaps someone with your values will strike up a conversation with you that you would enjoy.

Intellectual snobbery? I plan on coming to the table from a position of intellectual superiority? More assumptions here on your part. I state that "credentials don't matter". Are you also assuming that a participant can just eat in silence without contributing anything to a particular discussion?The only thing I want is meaningful dialogue to occur on a range of topics. You might enjoy eating with your hands but I cannot just assume that the others will like it as well. You assume that I will be doing all the talking or even any of the talking. I would be there mostly to listen. I don't think you understand the concept of diversity. You assume that you set the standards. I choose a hotel in Makati also because of its central location. Remember, this will draw people from a wide area a little beyond Metro Manila. Logistically, Manila or Makati has to be the forum of interaction. Let me ask you a simple question. Do you know people from many of the different social classes in the Philippines? Tell me, what are my values and beliefs in my post other than openness and willingness for dialogue to occur between different segments of society? You make assumption after assumption. The biggest assumption that you make is that you believe that I am doing this to hurt other people, to make them look inferior or to self-aggrandize myself. The world cannot work if people hurt each other instead of listening and talking to each other. People should be judged by their ideas and their character rather than anything else. You make these conclusory statements about me without thinking deeply about the intent behind this undertaking.

[channa_masala]

Yes I do know people from different social classes both in the Philippines and abroad. My assumptions about you were based on your first post, it smacks of snobbery, since you didn't elaborate on the statements you made. On an anonymous forum all we have are words to communicate our true intent and yours did a bad job of communicating your intent. I do not feel the same way after you elaborated on certain statements. You yourself picked those statements out and elaborated on them and that shows you realize that they could convey the wrong impression about you.

[christian5327]

Yes I do know people from different social classes both in the Philippines and abroad. My assumptions about you were based on your first post, it smacks of snobbery, since you didn't elaborate on the statements you made. On an anonymous forum all we have are words to communicate our true intent and yours did a bad job of communicating your intent. I do not feel the same way after you elaborated on certain statements. You yourself picked those statements out and elaborated on them and that shows you realize that they could convey the wrong impression about you.

No, I had to justify some of my statements because of a perceiver that colored those words with his own biased interpretations. Smacks of snobbery??? How does footing the bill for people that might have interesting things to say snobbery? This is exactly my point about the Philippines. It must come together and set aside all of the colonial mentality and social class discord that separates it. I have written another post about this entitled "In order for the Philippines to develop as a country fairness must be first". There is also this thing called the benefit of the doubt. There must be a cultural presumption that Filipinos are out for the good of each other.

This brings an interesting point to the proverbial table. What happens if you are sitting across from someone so different from you that you and the other person begin making assumptions about each other? This is the risk that I run in doing this. It will literally be people that are different from each other, except they would all share nationality and pinoy exchange as commonalities.

There is a frightening parallel here in the United States and it concerns black and white race relations. Contrary to what some people might think, race relations is uneven in the United States. However, generally it is caused by either group assuming things about the other. For example, blacks are negatively portrayed as welfare recipients and criminals. The reason why this occurs has to do with the fact that blacks and whites generally do not associate or even live with each other in the same neighborhoods. Of course, there are some blacks in non-black neighborhoods and even some whites in non-white neighborhoods but generally speaking when one sees a racial map of the United States, blacks tend to be clustered together in certain areas. It is human nature for people to desire living and congregating with others that resemble them but the fact remains that blacks are the most segregated group in the United States.

[channa_masala]

Everyone has biases, even you. Are you free from bias? The statement you made that colored the words that followed was 'All one has to do is email me through my account here their full name, address, email and then in a brief passage explain why they would be a good fit for this group. ' Admit it, wasn't that a bit presumptuous on your part to assume that people would send you all their information, without you divulging anything about yourself? I didn't pull any assumptions out of thin air, it all came out of that single line.

[christian5327]

Everyone has biases, even you. Are you free from bias? The statement you made that colored the words that followed was 'All one has to do is email me through my account here their full name, address, email and then in a brief passage explain why they would be a good fit for this group. ' Admit it, wasn't that a bit presumptuous on your part to assume that people would send you all their information, without you divulging anything about yourself? I didn't pull any assumptions out of thin air, it all came out of that single line.

Well, if the person said that they hate Chinese as a part of their information and it turns out that some people in the group happen to be Chinese, then what? How about a Catholic saying that they dislike all Muslims but at the table there are conservative Muslims(they exist in Manila). Of course we have our biases. I have all my information on my profile, by the way. My bias here is that I always assume that things are going to be alright. Then again, someone in that group could go ape sh1t and start throwing things at another person.

[channa_masala]

People at the table will most definitely make assumptions based on their life experiences. People make assumptions about me all the time because Im not Filipino and so do I. Perhaps all the social classes coming together as one is just a fairytale and your experiment will prove it.

[christian5327]

People at the table will most definitely make assumptions based on their life experiences. People make assumptions about me all the time because Im not Filipino and so do I. Perhaps all the social classes coming together as one is just a fairytale and your experiment will prove it.

You're not Filipino? Tecnically, I am an American of Chinese and Filipino descent. This involves diversity at all levels not just social class. It is interesting to note that social class is not as big of a sticking point in the United States as it is in the Philippines. Indeed, it is not even as much of a sticking point in Spain as it is in the Philippines. I was shocked as an adult to see the dynamic in the Philippines. Previous to visiting as an adult, I was only there for about 5 years as a small boy while my parents were getting a divorce in Seattle.

People in America make assumptions about everyone else all the time but the difference is that America places such a high value on fairness. So, a person can think negative things about a person but still try to treat them fairly, even if they are a stranger. This is the land where a lethal injection execution will not take place if alcohol and cotton swabs are missing.

Technically, the Philippines is actually more diverse than the United States in some ways. Human migration has occurred longer in the Philippines than it has in the United States. The cuisine tends to be a blend of so many different influences while American cuisine is predominately Northern European. The one thing that stands in my mind that still amazes me about America is that people here may distrust their government but they have a strong belief that it will function as it should. There is also a strong streak of public service here. For example, there was a case of this man who surrendered a $1.2 million dollar NFL contract just so he could join the military in order to serve in Iraq. Sadly, he died. Though people here are divided in many ways, everyone comes together in times of crisis. So, speaking of more bias, I bring egalitarian principles that I learned in America to the table in Makati or Manila even though the Philippines does not emphasize these principles as much.

It is also amazing that there are cultures, even entire political systems that allow their assumptions and biases to cause unfair treatment to occur. The United States just like any other country has been guilty of this though it always strives for fairness. The 800 pound gorilla in the corner is that if fairness is so valued then there shouldn't be any wage disparities between whites and minorities, between women and men or racial profiling by the police. There shouldn't even be different boxes for different races on any application or quotas set aside for certain underrepresented minorities at universities.

[tahann]

If ever there is an air of arrogance (although it may not be intended) read from the thread starter's post, I think it is from the impression that he thinks he is doing a favor for other people without emphasizing (or even denying) that he is getting something in return.

[christian5327]

If ever there is an air of arrogance (although it may not be intended) read from the thread starter's post, I think it is from the impression that he thinks he is doing a favor for other people without emphasizing (or even denying) that he is getting something in return.

You don't know what I think. I gain a broader perspective on human interaction from this social experiment, while the other participants would as well because each person in the gathering will be more dissimilar than similar at many levels. How do I know that each participant other than myself would benefit in this manner without being a mind reader or making assumptions? It is because each person's presence and consent to be present in such a gathering would tacitly communicate a willingness and openness to interact with other complete strangers.

At the gathering, only names will be introduced to the participants. I wish I could remain anonymous in terms of personal information along with the others but somebody has to put this group together. Obviously, I will be the one to know more information about the others than the others will know about each other, but it cannot be helped. So, I will do very little talking in this gathering, perhaps facilitate conversations with questions.

Information will be disseminated a certain time after the end of the interaction in an anonymous manner. So, I could tell everyone that the group consisted of individuals from Manila, Metro Manila, the Provinces, etc. without saying that X was from Manila, Y was from Cebu, etc. All the information will be revealed about the others in this manner. All devices during the encounter will be held by hotel staff and deactivated. I am toying with the idea of a transcript being taken of this encounter, perhaps even published in a newspaper there because I believe that something like this will be a story of interest to the general population there. To my knowledge, something like this has never been attempted. The societal dynamics there in the Philippines makes it less likely that such an encounter takes place. I want no publicity nor credit for this. I would rather remain anonymous in the entire process but logistics dictate that this cannot be possible.

[JobyBryant24]

I am interested in this kind of invite. I feel safe naman with anywhere and everywhere around the metro. And keep the budget, i can handle my own. Only If i get to be chosen.