The Thirteenth Law Of Power: When asking for help, appeal to people’s self-interest, never to their mercy or gratitude. So writes Robert Greene in his book.

One very interesting e-mail that I got over the weekend was a flimsy “defense” of Filipinos in general apropos of their President’s capitulation to terrorists. Written by Michael Tan and published in the Philippine Daily Inquirer, it goes into great detail on how the world would be if Filipinos just up and disappeared (apparently the big JC came down from heaven in the dead of night and did the rapture on Filipinos only). A short passage:

Just imagine a world without Filipinos.

Think of the homes that are dependent on Filipino housekeepers, nannies, caregivers. The homes would be chaotic as kids cry out for their nannies. Hong Kong and Singaporean and Taiwanese yuppie couples are now forced to stay home and realizing, goodness, there’s so much of housework that has to be handled and how demanding their kids can be and hey, what’s this strange language they’re babbling in?

[...] Annan also explains that he can’t convene UN meetings because the airports in New York, Washington and other major US cities have been shut down. The reason? The disappeared Filipinos included quite a few airport security personnel who used to check passengers and their baggage.

Utter bullshit, I whispered under my breath. The whole thing is full of it, and I do enjoin you to read it all. On the surface, it appears as a treatise on the economic role that Filipinos have in the world, and how it is in the world’s interest to appreciate Filipinos. That is, until one realizes that those very, very important roles that the Filipinos (and stereotypical at that) he mentions can all be filled in by people of other nationalities. There is nothing distinctly Filipino about domestic aid employment, or nursing jobs, or maritime shipping. Indeed, there will be a huge dent, but the market abhors a vacuum more than Nature does, and such a loss would be inconsequential.

Not to mention that he brings under his “Filipino” umbrella all those of Filipino descent regardless of nationality. That’s a classic Filipino intellectual tactic. If a Filipino achieves something, it reflects well on all Filipinos and they bask in the credit. If a Filipino says something they don’t like, they attack him as a self-loating race-traitor.

But I digress. What this article really speaks of is not the self-interest of worldwide economics. It is an exercise in sentimentality. It is a painful reminder of why Filipinos “should” be “accepted” and placed beyond reproach for their capitulation to terrorists. “We may have spread our legs for the Jihadists but hey, we can make the world laugh.” A battalion of straw men, if I have seen one.

Until September 11 changed the focus from China to Jihadism as the major foreign policy concern of the United States, the Philippines has always had a tactical value in the region. It used to be that the Philippines holds a major tactical position in Southeast Asia. It was such, so much that nations have fought over who would conquer and take control of its islands. Its position in the dead center of its own region makes it an asset in military tactics. It is close to almost everything, and yet is far enough from everything to make it defensible easily enough. However, this tactical advantage no longer exists in the current mileu. Now, as the balance of power shifts from wars between nations to a war against extra-national organizations, the Philippines is no longer an asset to keep around.

The areas of conflict have shifted from the center of that ring of nations surrounding the Philippines, to that of mainland Asia, between China, North Korea, Pakistan and India. I lump the Philippines now in the “Islamic” region of Southeast Asia, which includes Malaysia and Indonesia, in that it is now a separate front in potential wars, instead of a nexus around which our continued presence could maintain balances of power in the region. It has become a liability, and the first lesson the United States should teach fair-weathered friends is a lesson in the value of our presence.

While the author of the infuriating article indulges in the joy of making us all realize how the world would be without the Philippines, I would like to smugly sit back and think how the Philippines would be without our help. It was in the self-interest of the Philippines to be responsible for its self-defense. It was in the self-interest of the Philippines fight against that which wishes to destroy it. And it was in the self-interest of the Philippines to remain our ally in the war on Jihadism.

Now that it is no longer in our self-interest to coddle this sick man of Asia, it is incumbent upon us to switch our focus, not out of gratitude but for mutual survival and progress, towards those nations that will help themselves by helping us. Though the world may be a much more inconvenient place without Filipinos in general and the Philippines particularly, I shudder to imagine how the world may be without the United States. And I’m sure that has been discussed elsewhere.