Do you ever feel like the villain in a world that distorts truths and thrives on hypocrisy simply because you refuse to play along with the illusions others desperately cling to? Do you see the manipulation, the quiet coercion masked as kindness, the carefully spun narratives that turn the guilty into victims and the innocent into culprits?
Those who dare to challenge the facade become the enemy in a world where compliance is rewarded and questioning is condemned. But what does it truly mean to be a villain in a place where deception is the norm? Is it villainy to reject the lies, to expose what others would rather keep hidden? Or is it merely the cost of clarity in a world that thrives on comfortable illusions?
I’m Maria, a native of the Philippines, and I provide insights from a female perspective. Being Asian and a woman is generally seen as the minority being overlooked, marginalized, and frequently confined to limited expectations. No one expects much from individuals in this category, as though our presence is supposed to be modest and unimportant. We are frequently objectified, sexualized, and ridiculed; stereotypes, not our actual selves, determine our value.
It becomes considerably tougher if you come from a “third-world” country. The name itself contains a judgmental tone, an image of inadequacy that impacts how others perceive us before we even speak. To many, We are struggling, and desperate. The world romanticizes our perseverance while ignoring the structures that keep us confined. Opportunities are scarce, and voices like mine are frequently discarded before they are even heard.
But we are more than what the world expects of us. Through my lens, I aim to break past these imposed identities and tell the stories that refuse to be silenced.
I have separated myself from the patriarchal system for years, “unlearning” its deeply rooted methods of information processing and comprehension. I used to navigate the world by following conventional frameworks, negatively, which determined how people should view themselves, how success should be evaluated, and how information should be gained. But as time went on, I started to wonder about these systems and their underlying intentions.
The world as we know it was not shaped by accident, it was carefully constructed by those who benefit from keeping others at a disadvantage. The system was designed to maintain control, enforce hierarchies, and ensure that power remains concentrated in the hands of a privileged few. It functions like a machine, with each part reinforcing cycles of oppression, economic dependence, and social division.
It became more and more difficult for me to rely on conventional mental models as I sought the truth. It felt restrictive to use the prevailing method of inquiry, which was based on strict logic, institutionalized education, and standardized thought processes. It frequently disregarded emotional intelligence, intuitive insight, and more substantial, comprehensive approaches to existence. These systems appeared to be designed to impose conformity rather than encourage independent thought, training individuals to accept preconceived perspectives rather than seek knowledge on their terms.
I forged my pathway after coming to this insight. I developed a stronger sense of self via introspection, critical thinking, and intuitive learning. I found my passions and started to look behind the “mirror” of conditioned perception, which are the delusions propagated by the media, the educational system, and social norms. I discovered that genuine information must be actively sought out, questioned, and refined via firsthand experience rather than being passively supplied by institutions, media, and leaders.
The cold, mechanical nature of this system is its most unsettling feature. It was ruthlessly created to maximize human potential, not for the benefit of individuals but rather to maintain the operation of the greater machine. Instead of being given the freedom to choose their path, people are conditioned to act as simple cogs in a complex, profit-driven machine. This cycle is only strengthened by the concentrated and skewed dissemination of knowledge, which keeps the masses ignorant, preoccupied, and submissive while maintaining power in the hands of a selected few.
It is difficult for me to internalize the system because it never feels like my own. I want to rely on my school of thought to make sense of the fragments of a collapsing civilization teetering on the edge of chaos. As a woman, how can I navigate this and carve out a space for my understanding?
People run the risk of living their entire lives as nothing more than fuel for these cruel institutions and become prisoners of ignorance themselves. Only by seeing past the illusions can we start to build a reality that respects our uniqueness, humanity, and the more profound truths that lie outside the system’s boundaries.
True liberation starts with consciousness. To resist manipulation is to reject fear-based systems, and reclaim sovereignty over one’s mind. It is to refuse to be a pawn in systems that profit from ignorance and compliance.
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