An example of a colonized mind

In my opinion, the writing quoted below is an example of the difficulty that Filipinos have when encountering the grandeur of the Western world. It is only through education and a reassessment of the written history that one understands how colonialism affects the way that one thinks. This is from the flips list.

We are talking here about accredited world wonders. It's not I'm belittling the Banaue, but as far as I my knowledge, it didn't measure up to the quality to make it one of the eight wonders of the world. I have been watching the series of documentaries depicting the construction and precise science and mathematics employed by the pyramid builders, and it is incredulous. And for a construction massive as the pyramids requiring precision, and huge materials, unfortunately, great numbers of people were indeed required. It is insignificant in this argumentation whether slaves, volunteers, paid workers whatever were used. We are limiting the discussion to achievements only. I am seeing a deviation of the arguments to an attempt to picture me as unFilipino. This is wrong, erroneous interpretation. In fact, what I am trying to find is the scientific explanation as why Filipinos and other second class cultures remained underdeveloped, and that America and some western cultures flourished? This is the heart of the discussion. There is no colonial mentality involved here but simple common sense and inquisitiveness. Now if you are calling me as one with a colonial mentality, the closest that I can associate myself with them is my being creative, inventive like them. Like it or not, this is the backbone of progress. Isabel Ball

A response to a colonized mind

Oscar Pen~aranda responds to the above:

Hi Isabel, et al.,
The people who "accredit" the world wonders are people of the west,
white people. Even though some of the "chosen wonders" were in non western
locations like the pyramids and babylon, the owners of those lands were western. Egypt belonged to the british, so did what is now iraq (where the hanging gardens of babylon were).if we filipinos were the ones who did the accrediting, then you can bet your house that the banaue rice terraces would be there. it's not like these 8 wonders of the world came out of a vacuum or a democratic vote from all the peoples and scholars of the world. reminds me of that anecdote of two people speaking on a classic painting of a hunter, one foot on a dead, gigantic beast of a lion. One said "magnificent painting, isn't it?" the other replies, "Yes, but it would be a different picture if the lion had painted it."