social experiment...gone wrong?

Okay, so I'm watching the local version of Big Brother. You know the one with the teens... It's not like I want to but it's the only way to carry a decent conversation with my brother. I don't know why, but it's a huge deal to him. So yeah, I watch it. I even know what channel TFC is and I don't even know where HBO is!!! I actually surf channels looking for HBO while TFC is like automatic now. He even watches the local telenovelas...it's annoying!

So while watching Big Brother yesterday and today, the whole issue of circumcision came up. So basically this Italian teen is uncircumcised. Big freaking deal! I understand that his two older brothers actually came home to get it done. Is that reason enough to have yourself mutilated?! To make it worse, here comes guys telling him it's part of Filipino to have your foreskin chopped off. What the hell?! 

FYI, I was circumcised when Iw as young. I think I was in 2nd or 3rd grade. So yeah, I actually got to feel the pain and the whole wearing skirts during the healing process. My parents didn't ask me if I wanted it done. One summer day this big dude walks through our doorstep with this little black bag that doctors bring with them during house visits. Then my parents tell me I'm getting circumcised. Okay... So I had it done. 

Point is, he grew up in friggin Italy. Men there tend to keep their foreskin. So yeah, he gets taunted by other Filipinos there. So?! I have a cousin who was born and raised in Australia and he never got circumcised and it's a total non-issue with the family, even with the rest of us back home. When was circumcision a requirement for being Filipino? If it has something to do with religion, then I'd probably understand it a lot better. Is he Jewish? I don't think so.

It's just wrong. You could see it on the poor guy's face. Is he scared of it? Probably not. He DOES know it's gonna be hella painful but then again, dudes got to keep pain hush hush right? It has something to do with the whole macho schtick. Still, do I think he's gonna have it done because he wants to? Doubtful. It's painted on his whole damn face. Is it a hundred percent peer (or even cultural) pressure? I don't think so but it sure plays a huge part. What next? People who aren't dark enough and who don't speak Tagalog (or Filipino, to be politically correct) fluently aren't considered Filipino? If such is the case, the direction our society is gearing towards is disturbing. We ought to remember the lessons of the holocaust.