What Should You Do Before Condemning Desperate Housewives?
Visited 2261 Times Published by Rico October 4th, 2007 in Rico's Ramblings, TV and What.Update: Read the apology
As Karlo rightfully says, another mob is forming, thanks to a recent remark on Desperate Housewives.
It’s not surprising that Filipinos are venting their anger. Wouldn’t you be angry if your race was portrayed negatively for the sake of humor? But for those who are calling for boycotts, the phrase “Let he who is without sin cast the first stone” should apply.
Let’s be honest here: how many times have we Filipinos laughed at jokes targeting other ethnicities? Who hasn’t rolled their eyes whenever they hear about Indian call center agents who can’t speak English properly? Don’t we find Oriental (read: Chinese, Japanese, and Korean) stereotypes hilarious?
The fact is that when the joke’s on someone else, it’s pretty funny. But when we find ourselves the target of humor, the laughter turns into anger. Before we shake our fist at ABC, Teri Hatcher, and all of those people who casually stereotype our country and culture, let’s first check if we’re following the standards we apply to others.
I’ll be the first to admit that I don’t all the time. What about you?
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12 Responses to “What Should You Do Before Condemning Desperate Housewives?”
- 1 Pingback on Oct 4th, 2007 at 11:39 am
- 2 Pingback on Oct 5th, 2007 at 4:33 am
- 3 Pingback on Oct 5th, 2007 at 8:02 pm
This incident has even affected Wikipedia: ongoing discussion on the deletion of the article about the slur. Filipinos are too sensitive. Remember the remark by Claire Danes before?
Again, our oversensitivity gets the better of us. The shame.
I agree that most people overreacted to this issue. Aren’t we getting tired of boycotts? Are boycotts the solution to every problem?
Also, I’ve already blogged everything I have to say about this issue. You can go check it here.
it’s not even a racial slur. It was a knock on the quality medical education in the Philippines, the same way that one would knock Chinese products or French cars.
Eugene: Yep, and which movie of the so-called persona non grata did you last watch?
Ade: Lynch mob unite!
Prudence: Karlo’s right when he says that a boycott wouldn’t faze the people behind the show anyways.
dboy: You may very well be right. It’s just too bad that the scriptwriter thinks that’s how med education over here is.
thank you. now i don’t feel so alone with the double standards going on. talk about irony, heh.
We’re all human, and it’s natural to be inconsistent.
Rico, I think the last movie of hers I watched was Romeo Juliet. But then again, I plan on watching Stardust. Hehehe.
we complained because we are Filipino Doctors in the U.S. who were offended. It questioned our credibility and pride. If the producers/writers of the show did think it was referring to the NURSING exam fiasco last year then they are mistaken. Not Doctors. Hence the need to Correct it, lest we further propagate it (not based on facts or even fiction). I am happy with the ABC apology. Thats it. No further. Other issues and racial slurs regarding the Philippines…might have some historical context…But MD is a noble profession, for it to be tainted by careless remarks..needs to be challenged and corrected. I am for free speech…but this was clearly a mistake on the writer. Now if you guys think that the petition was wrong. Then you do not understand us. If its regarding what was requested afterwards ex Donation…then i agree with you that it sounds too much. I praise all the Doctors who supported us. Also the non-doctors who helped. But let us keep it regarding Filipino MD and their schools. The rest(non-MD - who are opposed to the petition) cannot understand us anyway, so whats the use convincing them.