Transdisciplinary Design

Dancing with fire

Posted on October 18, 2019

In the Philippines, I frequently hear the phrase “Kinain na ng sistema”. In English, it translates to “consumed by the system.” I hear people casually say it a lot, in different contexts: when a teenager starts to get hooked to a TV show; when a fresh college graduate eventually becomes a workaholic; when an activist joins the capitalist workforce. All of them are described to have been “consumed by the system”. 

It was always fascinating for me to hear someone use that phrase, because I didn’t really know what they exactly meant. What does it really mean to be “consumed by the system”? I tried to dig around the internet and ask my friends what it actually means to them when they say or hear “kinain na ng sistema”, and got these answers:

• “I think Pinoys use it to refer to extreme dedication in a negative sense (borderline addiction)”
• “Depends. It can be when people lose hope at work, becomes disillusioned, lose sight of goals…”
• “State university students who say they want to change the world, but once they start working they just become part of the system”
• “It implies that whatever values you had before have been ground down by the realities and practicalities of working ‘within the system'”
• “Getting in too deep in the status quo”
• “It’s the end-result of ‘If you can’t beat the system, join them'”

As I think about it now, I realize how the phrase reflects such a passive, defeatist attitude. Come to think of it, an older and culturally-ingrained Filipino saying, “Bathala na” (“Leave it to God”), is similar in that it encourages the mentality that we are unable to do anything about the circumstances we find ourselves in. Isn’t it disheartening that we’re so used to casually saying that we’re getting consumed by a “system”? Isn’t it disconcerting that it becomes second nature to settle for what is rather than thinking about what could be?

What I find most alarming is that this defeatist, “Bathala na” mentality still holds true for most Filipinos even when it comes to the pressing issue of how the Philippines is being run by Rodrigo Duterte, who started an anti-drug war (which is essentially an anti-poor war). Since he started his six-year term in June 2016, there has been at least 6,000 fatalities from drug-related violence against civilians. 

Yet even with Filipinos’ human rights blatantly being violated, some have simply raised their white flag out of hopelessness and helplessness. In a recent conversation I had, my friend told me:

 “I remember one of my professors said that the most effective way to change the system is to do it from within… and through time, even the most ambitious of us can be worn down by the system. The challenge is to change the system without being absorbed by it. I read a post somewhere that ‘we live in a country where the greatest achievement is to leave it’ and it hit a spot. That’s exactly what I had in mind when I left – I did it and I’m not coming back.”

While I admittedly have been in the same boat of accepting defeat and thinking that all hope is gone, I’ve pushed myself to transition back to actively reject that thought and instead try to wrap my head around the situation and how our reality came to be like this. 

As an example, I’ve been thinking about how poorly-designed systems largely affect the behavior of individuals who interact within that system. For instance, when transportation infrastructure and the commute experience is neglected, commuters will do what they have to do in order to arrive at their destination on time, even if it means cutting lines. The Filipino concept of “kapwa” (“shared identity,” “equality,” and “being with others”) diminishes in these moments of commuting. In addition, when the passivity sets in, the effect is that Filipinos start to point fingers at each other, and often towards those from poorer socio-economic backgrounds. Allow me to elaborate. The middle/upper-class, blinded by their own privilege, can easily say that the Philippines isn’t progressing because Filipinos are “lazy” or “lack discipline”— can’t line up properly, can’t cross the road properly, can’t get proper jobs, the list goes on. However, I think it’s unfair to attribute such dysfunction to laziness and lack of discipline because I believe these are only manifestations of neglected systems and poor designs. It is unfair to blame the ordinary Filipino when public officials, national leaders, policy-makers have the opportunity in their hands to provide a better-designed system for transport, justice, healthcare, education, etc. Is it really the ordinary Filipino at fault for cutting lines in their commute when public officials don’t even acknowledge the transport crisis? Is it fair to call the ordinary Filipino “lazy” if there aren’t enough job opportunities or access to good quality education? 

How else can we be more (pro)active in the system(s) we’re part of rather than willingly let it “consume” us? I wish it was as simple as saying, “We need to intervene,” but I do acknowledge that there are risks that come with trying to do so, especially if we have to deal with the government (e.g. when Filipina senator Leila de Lima and journalist Maria Ressa spoke up against Duterte’s brazen disregard of human rights, they both got arrested to be silenced).

We need to get to the root of the problem(s) rather than turn to palliative care “solutions”. But how does one even begin, when a problem can be so daunting and risky? 

I recall Donella Meadows mentioned in Thinking In Systems: “We can’t control systems or figure them out. But we can dance with them!”

Well then, if that’s the case, then we dance with fire.

ZB

Sources:

Gripaldo, Rolando. Bahala Na: A Philosophical Analysis, 2015. https://www.researchgate.net/publication/238082707_BAHALA_NA_A_PHILOSOPHICAL_ANALYSIS1

Photographs, and Text Daniel Berehulak. “’They Are Slaughtering Us Like Animals’.” The New York Times. The New York Times, December 7, 2016. https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2016/12/07/world/asia/rodrigo-duterte-philippines-drugs-killings.html.

De Lima, Leila. “President Duterte’s War on Drugs Is a Pretense.” The New York Times. The New York Times, July 22, 2019. https://www.nytimes.com/2019/07/22/opinion/duterte-philippines-delima-drugs.html.

Ressa, Maria. “Targeted by Duterte.” Columbia Journalism Review, 2019. https://www.cjr.org/special_report/maria-ressa-duterte.php.

“Rodrigo Duterte.” Forbes. Forbes Magazine. Accessed October 17, 2019. https://www.forbes.com/profile/rodrigo-duterte/#1e74c0222b41.

CNN Philippines Staff. “Tulfo Not Sorry for ‘Lazy’ Filipino Workers Remark.” CNN, March 9, 2019. https://www.cnnphilippines.com/news/2019/3/9/tulfo-chinese-better-than-filipino-workers.html.

Villaluz, Nicole. “Why Can’t Filipinos Seem to Follow Simple, Basic Rules?” When In Manila, June 23, 2019. https://www.wheninmanila.com/why-cant-filipinos-seem-to-follow-simple-basic-rules

Concepcion, Frankie. “The Myth of ‘Kapwa’.” Rappler, March 5, 2016. https://www.rappler.com/move-ph/balikbayan/voices/124625-myth-kapwa-filipino-trait

Meadows, Donella H., and Diana Wright. Thinking in Systems: a Primer. White River Junction, VT: Chelsea Green Publishing, 2015.

Credits to Martien Janssen for Fire Dance photo used in Featured Photo.