Thursday, October 04, 2007

disparate home fries

okay.

so i'm not jumping into the racist slur brouhaha of Desperate Housewives, though I'd just like to point out the flurry of mixed reactions that came from Filipinos both in the native land and overseas.

first of all, i don't watch the show. for no particular reason, i just don't. well, i did adore teri hatcher when she was doing those string-strapped calisthenics backriding with dean cain. but aside from that, nothing can pull me to primetime boobtube except for Heroes and, maybe, According to Jim.

secondly, i'm not a modern day patriot who would dive headfirst into a cesspool of something worse than a hurled excrement. but I did march into Roxas Boulevard during the Independence Centennial, and somehow believed that we, Filipinos, are feigned nationalists--probably because our unity comes when needed, not because we are united to begin with.

anyway, the issue with the dialogue uttered at Desperate Houseives was, in my belief, a discriminating remark/comment against the Philippines, or collectively, the Filipino people. there was no question of its racist implications, though a lot of people, some Filipinos thought that it was a common blunder that should be taken lightly. it is not. it is tantamount to labelling Blacks as niggers as well as a modern day Kristallnacht for the Jews.

it is not a question of the capacity of Filipino medical professionals, but a question of the Filipinos in general: who are we as people that we are relegated as a supposed punchline to a tv show? we do commit mistakes, grave or not, but we don't deny that. i think that particular line maligned the country more than anything else. the petition that came with it was necessary, but the call to boycott was excessive. overkill, ika nga.

sometimes, i don't know how people react. the issue with Malu Fernandez was total condemnation. probably because Fernandez turned out to be a Filipino herself and the article crossed our boundaries of tolerance. now i ask why should we take this new incident as merely a fleeting instance? why shouldn't this snap our patriotic sanities and react the other way around? maybe some of us think that knowing the facts makes it okay for a person to throw derogatory statements against somebody.

now, so what do we do? nothing, i guess. ABC Network apologized anyway. but that's a good start. i believe that it is imperative for writers (not just tv shows, but every writer) should not create discriminating remarks or comments or dialogues even on the pretext of humor. there is still the moral and an ethical factor that exist on creative liberties.

we learned lessons in the end, but we will not see the finality of this. the complaints will be continuous. the only thing that we managed to reap out of this was the pitiful reality that we are not as united as we initially thought we are.

but then...

maybe, i would still be proud to wave my country's flag at them...

Labels: buhay-kultura, c'est la vie, pulitikol