Have you heard of the Philippine-American War of 1899-1902?

[cowcommander]

I got into an interesting discussion with my dad about it tonight. My parents are Filipino immigrants who moved to the U.S, so my dad often talks about what life was like back there. He told me about how strange it was for both Filipinos and Americans to have completely forgotten about this war. Even his grandparents never had anything bad to say about the American occupation, although they told him stories of the brutal Spanish and Japanese occupation where some of my relatives were killed. Now both our peoples are best friends, Filipinos love Americans more than any other country in the world, and here I am now assimilated into an American too.

So how many of you have heard about this too? Did you have any great-grandparents who fought in this war? The few people I've talked to know anything about it only know about the war because the .45 ACP was developed to kill Moro rebels in the Philippines. If you want to learn more about it, here's the wiki article.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Philippine%E2%80%93American_War

[ORDagnabbit]

1. the us raped, killed and tortured tens of thousands of Filipino's horrible war..n/t

[REP]

2. Yes

[hfojvt]

3. I have

it is one of the reasons I adopted a Filipino kid.

[Lydia Leftcoast]

4. Yes, I heard of it during the Vietnam War

It foreshadowed the Vietnam War in a lot of ways, and Mark Twain was one of the prominent Americans who opposed it.

Briefly, the U.S. promised to help liberate the Filipinos from Spain, but instead, it took the Philippines over as a colony and didn't give them their independence till after World War II.

[Sherman A1]

5. Yes I have

and it was not something of which the US should be proud. We should however, study it along with every other part of our history.

You are right about the .45 as it was chosen to take an opponent off their feet when it hit them.

[Art_from_Ark]

6. I've heard of it

It was basically fought to keep the Philippines in the hands of the US to prevent Japanese expansion southward toward the Dutch East Indies (Indonesia).

1893-- Coup in Hawaii, queen overthrown by American businessmen.
1894-95-- Sino-Japanese War, China cedes Taiwan to Japan.
1898-- Spanish-American War-- US easily defeats a weak Spain, takes 4 Spanish possessions-- Puerto Rico, Cuba, Guam, and the Philippines.
1899-1902-- Philippine-American War US fights locals to maintain control of the Philippines
1902-- Cuba granted its independence
1910-- Japan invades and annexes Korea

[zeos3]

7. Yes, I've heard of it

and I don't know any Filipinos who had mentioned anything about it (I guess it would be kind of awkward to just bring up in conversation). They all do love this country though, at least all the ones I've met do.

[stranger81]

8. Yup. A kid from my hometown did a tour in that war, came back and opened fire on a crowd

of 5000 attending a city band concert in the middle of town a few years later. Killed a lot of people, then himself.

http://www.ausbcomp.com/~bbott/wortman/twigg.htm

I often wonder what he saw (and did) during that war to make him come back that way.

[Brother Buzz]

9. America's first true colonial war as a world power

[The Second Stone]

10. Yep, and it went on for many years

with many local groups trying to take control. We did all sorts of really nasty things in that war. But we did treat the people much better than the Spanish before us and the Japanese after us. And then we voluntarily left. And they love us now. So if we treat other peoples really well, and then go home, it will be really easy for us to do both economic and political business that way in the future.

[Phlem]

11. Yes

My grandfather hid my mother and his relatives from the Japanese on a cave.

I'll find out what island they lived on and let you know.

All's I can say from what my mom tells me is
'Gruesome".

Mom married a tech Sargent and here I am 50 years later. I do remember living on my Grandfathers Island for a year or so, I must have been 3 or 4, no running water no electricity but when your 4, you don't care.

It was a sacred time to be alive where I was, I felt at one with the earth and nature.

The roast pig island celebration, fresh abalone, coconut, etc.. all you can eat.

But the best part. Real cocoa fresh ground.

What I would give to go back in time.

-p

[Phlem]

12. I was always curious

why my relatives despised Americans as much as they loved them?

-p

[Phlem]

13. yes

my power plant engineer, contractor, biological father was a piece of shit with how he treated my mom, and my stepfather with whom I grew up with was a domestic violence abuser, which is why I have PTSD to this day.

Now i know that sounds horrible but, all's good with me, I love my 3D work, I love my sweet little girl and wife, you don't have to succumb to the shitty hand you've been dealt.

I wish Mr "O" could learns some "O" dat!

Nice to talk about this period in time.

The air force base used to have these tree's that dropped nuts on the ground that were way yummy, I wish I could remember what they were.

-p

[Solly Mack]

14. Yes

[eridani]

15. Mark Twain's most famous anti-war rants were against this war

Also, the first Amereican anti-imperialist movements originated then. The left was against empire on the grounds of human solidarity. The right was against it because an imperial government is by definition a big government. Andrew Carnegie offered to buy the Phillipines and set the country free in order to forstall this.

[MrScorpio]

16. Yes, I have

I know about that shameful war

[ellisonz]

17. Yes.

I've read extensively and written on it.

I recommend Mark Twain's "To the Person Sitting in Darkness."

[hayu_lol]

18. Mark Twain really turned out piles of writings on our...

assuming colonial power in the Philippines. One of his more interesting and colorful pieces was taking the Battle Hymn Of The Republic and changing the words to suit the situation.

Battle Hymn Of The Republic
(brought down to date)
circa 1900

The last stanza can actually be brought into our present time:


"In a sordid slime harmonious, Greed was born in yonder ditch,

With a longing in his bosom--and for others' goods an itch----

As Christ died to make men holy, let men die to make us rich----

Our god is marching on."


Could be the theme song of today for the Repugnants out there.

[Zen Democrat]

19. Yes. Because I read Howard Zinn's People's History of the United States.

It should be required reading in school.

[Douglas Carpenter]

20. well I live in the Philippines part of the year and plan to retire there so yes I know about it

But I did not learn about it from Filipinos. I knew about it from my own independent studies. What I did learn from Filipinos is how much most Filipinos tend to idolize anything and everything American. The dream of immigrating to America and the social status accorded to those who have done so is very, very high. I found that most Filipinos outside of even more Americanized upper class are only vaguely aware of the almost genocidal war against the Filipino war of independence. Also, to be fair, the colonial period following this almost genocidal war was relatively enlightened in many respects when contrasted with the benign neglect of the Spanish period and the utter brutality of the Japanese occupation.

There simply are not many ways to get ahead economically in the Philippines. The gap between the rich and the vast majority of people is just too great. I would dare say that economic development of the country in a way that would significantly benefit the vast majority of Filipinos is almost a hopeless cause - for a number of complicated reasons, some of which are reasons deeply ingrained in Filipino culture. For example Filipinos in the Philippines, almost to a person assume that imported goods are vastly superior to locally produced goods - whether there is any truth to it or not. Immigration to America offers one of the very few opportunities that exist for most Filipinos. Globalization has certainly created a new commercial class and dramatically increased the availability of imported goods. But it is has made life even more stressful for the majority with economic advancement even more out of reach for most people.

I suppose it is psychologically inconvenient to think too much about this period of history if people dream of immigrating to the land that people think is flowing with milk an honey and the streets are paved with gold and one's social status is greatly elevated by owning, wearing and possessing expensive imported American or American styled goods.

[Bigmack]

21. "I want no prisoners. I wish you to kill and burn..."

the more you kill and burn, the better you will please me. I want all prisoners over 10 years of age killed."

Gen. Jacob Smith.... US Army during the Insurrection