I don't know how the Filipino American community works because I am here in the Philippines... but I get why there is an "X".
America has this thing about political correctness.
Outside looking in, it's amazing how this political correctness thing has become this big. In some ways, it has breached the Philippines. We have canceled a couple of erstwhile-respected people and we have buried thoughts because they were made by the "other side".
However, just like as simple as banning guns, this "American" thing has taken a whole new life.
Filipino is already a universal term. Filipino is the word for the people in the Philippines as well as the language. According to my textbook back when I was still in college, Filipino is a smorgasbord of a lot of dialects. It is mostly Tagalog but there are terms that originated in the Philippines as well as from those who occupied us. Sure, for Filipino as identifiers of nationality, there are iterations like Filipina, Pinoy, Pinay, Noypi, and others but the right collective term is Filipino.
I am not a historian or sociologist but in all my years living in the Philippines, never have I heard a person say that they are Filipinx. Even the third sex will say that they are Filipinos. Their more influential personalities even invented a new kind of ever-evolving language wherein they turned Ces Drilon and Gardo Versoza into stress terms... and we are okay with this.
My all-time fave is Bitter Ocampo.
Yeah.
I guess if they are okay with this, then I am okay with this too. I don't know what's happening in the United States but if they have this term, that means all is not well with their living conditions. I have seen mass shootings as well as hate crime sprees.
Other than some incidents and mostly historical things (politically-driven fights), we mostly are peaceful.
So I don't want a Filipino American preaching this to me on our native soil. Yes, I understand it when they need to express their sentiments in America and probably I will tolerate the word if they say it as some sort of slang for Filipino... but to say that it is more appropriate to call Filipinx than Filipino here is like asking me to say Kapusx or Kapamilyx or Kapatidx.
We already know that Filipino is a gender-neutral term. Plus, being preachy on the verge of persuading is somewhat annoying. There are 1 billion Filipinos in the Philippines and in abroad with different stress levels and pressure points. People hate getting nagged and belittled. While some would give up just to stop the conversation, others might take revenge by switching to the other side.
I bet at least 30 percent of the Filipinos who voted in the 2022 Presidential Elections had enough and sought vengeance because their Facebook walls are peppered with a lot of stressful things.
Also, if they are going to "X" Filipino, then Americans also need to put an "X" on "American". Just because they invented the movement, does not mean they are exempted from the rule. The thing about trends is that if it catches on, then it's going to be part of a person's history.
Americans also need to consider that other parts of the world call their men "Americano" and their women "Americana".
Given their reasoning, it's better to call them Americanx than mistake them for a type of coffee or a suit.
Hahaha.
Ahem.
I know American is already a universal term but if the movement is going to become like this, then it's discriminatory to have the other races have "X" on their identifiers. I don't know if the Latin Americans did this first, but if they are just carrying over what they are doing, then this is just the case of the Philippines, and their never-ending love for colonial mentality isms. Just forget it if this is for a fad. Again, if this is really going to help the Filipinos, then by all means.
Just not be for the sake of having something like this.
And what's with the dash on Filipino-Americans? I think the right term is Filipino American. When you say Filipino-American, it's about the Philippines and America - like the Filipino-American Friendship Day or the Filipino-American War.
I wonder what Larry Itliong would say about this?