You’re right
March 31, 2009 by mlq3
Filed under Daily Dose
Reyna elena dot com is absolutely correct to take me to task for presuming to catalog people without their permission, something Victorina attributes to a cultural disconnect. Both are absolutely correct: my criticism of those criticizing Chip Tsao was arrogant: unthinking, unfeeling, and unpardonable on my part, because, while entitled to my own opinion, there was absolutely no justification for me to make a sweeping judgment about my countrymen. A negative judgment based on nothing more than my own writerly biases: in other words, a bigoted, prejudiced comment fully deserving of condemnation.
Every reader makes up his or her own mind about whatever it is they read; your opinion is as good as mine; and when enough are of the same opinion, well, if there’s smoke, there’s fire.
That Hong Kong columnist deeply offended many Filipinos and instead of castigating my countrymen, I should have recognized the outrage as a manifestation of our collective sensibility, grounded in deep grievances about what drives so many of us to work overseas, under degrading circumstances, and in the face of often insurmountable obstacles that get in the way of securing a decent, dignified, place in the world for so many of us.
I had no right to pass a dismissive, disparaging judgment on fellow Filipinos, merely because they hold an opinion contrary to mine. Not all of us write, but all of us read, and each one is capable of rendering judgment on matters of taste or the lack of it, concerning anything they read. The writer has a particular responsibility to trust the reader, and if a reader reacts in a particular way, one must accept criticism just as one would accept praise.
I thank these two bloggers in particular for putting me in my place, and I hope they will accept this apology, which I extend not only to them, but to anyone offended by my comment on FaceBook.
For what it’s worth, and purely in the spirit of fostering discussion, let me put forward some of my views concerning satire in general, and Chip Tsao’s piece in particular.
I personally believe that we are a nation born of satire, because it was one of the most effective weapons used by our Founding Fathers as they waged two campaigns: first, to convince their countrymen that they were precisely that, a people with a country they should call their own; and second, to assert before all peoples in all climes, that we are a people the equal of any in the world.
That satire was, at times, quite funny, at other times, quite cruel; that satire lampooned Filipinos and foreigners alike, and Filipinos who had a prejudice against their own countrymen that matched, or even exceeded, the prejudice held by foreigners. It didn’t matter if the satirical pen wielded by our Founding Fathers produced sophisticated or crude, tasteful or rude, pleasant or revolting prose. The point is, they used it, and in particular, the two novels that are in a sense, the founding documents of our country, were satirical works meant to hold up a mirror to reveal, as Rizal put it, the social cancer afflicting the Philippines of his time: and he knew full well the fate in store for those who dare to hold up mirrors for others to see themselves in, whether they want to or not. It got him shot; and before that, it got his books banned and garnered imprisonment and exile for those who dared, not even to take up arms against the authorities, but to laugh at them.
If we hold up as heroes those who wielded their pens -often cruelly- and as much against their own countrymen as the foreign officials and churchmen they opposed, I don’t see how we can deny others the right to take up their pens and do unto others as our heroes have done unto ourselves (for they continue to hold up that mirror to every generation that bothers to re-read what they’ve written). I also don’t see how we can call for the same intolerance -to the extent of demanding some sort of retribution, or even cruel and unusual punishment- when it comes to opinions that we find deeply offensive.
The Founding Fathers fought words with words, opinions with contrary opinions, and demanded of those whom they viewed as prejudiced and bigoted nothing more or less than a fair hearing, a chance to rebut their arguments, and an opportunity to disprove wrong facts with true ones. All the while being careful to point out what they most definitely could not and would never tolerate: silencing dissent with force of arms, and the kind of fanaticism that led to Inquisitions and book-burnings.
To my mind we have a kind of historical obligation to recognize that, perhaps more so than many other countries but at least as much as some countries familiar to us, we are a people and a country that owe our very existence to the commitment of writers to challenge, irritate, offend, and outrage others.
It is for this reason that I oppose our existing sedition and libel laws; and calls for declaring people persona non grata may be all right in places like Singapore, but I think such blacklists have no place in a country whose national hero was once blacklisted on the basis of his writings.
And it for related reasons that I opposed demands for Justice Cruz or Malou Fernandez to resign: it would have been a kind of censorship.
At the same time, every reader has a right, indeed, a duty to react to anything that a writer puts forward and with which the reader disagrees. And, if the writer and his publisher are dependent on the public for their livelihood, the public has a right to take its business elsewhere if its objections remain unheeded by writer and publisher.
Now, with regards to Chip Tsao’s piece, I approached his piece with these questions in mind.
Was he presenting his own opinions, or was he writing a satirical piece? There is a difference between writing, “I, Chip Tsao, think the Philippines is a nation of servants,” and putting those words in someone’s mouth for effect, which is what satire is. It seemed to me that what he was trying to do, is to put on paper what you or I might do when making fun of someone by assuming the character of an exaggerated blowhard. This assumes, of course, that the reader knows he does this on a regular basis; a flawed assumption as it turned out (would it have been different if every single statement that caused Filipinos offense, was attributed to a fictional character who employed a Filipina? Perhaps; it might also have given Tsao a way out).
Was the point of the piece to slander Filipinos or to take Tsao’s fellow Chinese to task? I thought that his main purpose was to paint a highly unflattering picture of his fellow Chinese as cowardly chauvinists who wouldn’t dare tangle with anyone except the Filipinos, and only because the Filipinos happened to be in a financially dependent situation. Chip Tsao in blowhard mode, doesn’t dare question the Russians but happily picks on Filipinos, as do all his household-help-employing Chinese chums. The picture he paints of these employers is a disgraceful one: they have no problems with underpaying and overworking Filipinos, and then they castigate them for daring to assert their country’s sovereignty; the treatment he describes is fully in keeping with the brainwashing and bullying the Chinese themselves endured during Mao’s Cultural Revolution. The whole thing is an indictment of the false sense of superiority of modern-day, wealthy Chinese, who forget, not so long ago, “No dogs and Chinese” signs were posted in Hong Kong (similar signs were posted in Manila), that once upon a time the Chinese provided coolie labor for the world, and that poverty was endemic in Hong Kong and all of China not so long ago, either.
I don’t know if I’d go as far as Indolent Indio, who says Tsao’s on our side; I would definitely go as far as to point out his primary target was his fellow Chinese; that he took them to task for acting like the kind of arrogant Western colonizers the Chinese used to hate; and what’s worse, they’re being prejudiced to fellow Asians while the Chinese remain meek in the face of say, the Russians. What I think happened was that he failed to consider that not everyone would consider his portrayal of a Filipina as either warranted or permissible. Connie Veneracion, pointing to this piece, doesn’t think Tsao holds Filipinos in affection; I think the most he did was simply to make a nod at the wretched working conditions of many Filipinos but that from first to last, the main focus of his attentions -because they are also his readers- are his fellow Chinese.
But this was the root of my folly: to step into his shoes, to the extent that what took over was a feeling of solidarity as a writer, forgetting my first duty to always uphold solidarity with my countrymen. In the end, much as I happen to feel positive about anyone who dares to challenge his fellow Chinese and their monolithic, increasingly aggressive state, that is Tsao’s fight and not mine.
Some blogs and their own take on the whole thing: Ricky Carandang; The Marocharim Experiment; baratillo @ cubao; The Tao of Pao; Manila Bay Watch.
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TheEQualizer on Tue, 31st Mar 2009 10:48 pm
Manolo:
I liked very much your Explainer show tonight on “Reform” candidates.
As usual,Joel Rocamora made a lot of sense.
Dean also raised a good point on the need of unity among opposition candidates.
One nitpicking comment:why is that guest lady panelist always embracing her throw pillow???It’s the second time I saw her in your show with THAT PILLOW.
EQ
Angel C. de Dios on Tue, 31st Mar 2009 10:59 pm
It is clearly a satire. The article maybe guilty of bad taste as it chose to take the case of Filipino overseas domestic helpers under the spotlight. And as we have seen, Filipino political leaders are more eager to crucify Tsao, instead of asking themselves why the Philippines is sending its mothers abroad to work as domestic help.
It starts with the sad news of deaths of Chinese sailors who were aboard a ship that was sunk by a Russian destroyer a month ago. The reason: apparently, Russia did not like the price of rice that the Chinese ship was trying to sell.
Then it continues with an existing islands dispute with Japan, which China recently put aside as the two countries try to work together against the pirates near Somalia. At this point, the satire is already about to begin as Tsao starts to ridicule the Chinese people as being obsessed with toys from Japan, and citing this as the reason behind China’s reluctance to stand tall and defend itself. Unfortunately, the main satirical body of the article takes the case of the Philippines, which recently passed a new baselines bill that claims sovereignty over the disputed Spratly islands. Tsao’s objective is to ridicule the Chinese political leaders, but he also found the case of domestic helpers from the Philippines as a situation worth writing about.
The purpose of a satire is not to entertain, but to incite contempt. It is meant to upset people so that they may begin examining what is going on and hopefully, do something about it. Although Tsao’s initial target was the Chinese lack in defending its turf, the rest of the article becomes an
exposition of the sad plight of Filipino domestic helpers. Tsao took time to cite that his domestic assistant holds a degree in international politics from the University of Manila. This is her degree and she washes his toilet and
cleans his windows 16 hours a day. Imagine the specific details. The ridicule should not have escaped anyone. This is satire with sarcasm, and obviously, Louisa does not refer to a real person.
The piece is not a racist slur, but an ironic exposition of China and the Philippines, which are currently in territorial dispute, with a magnifying glass focused on an existing relationship between individuals of these two countries,
and how the leaders of these two countries seemed to have both betrayed their citizens.
The article is supposed to be disgusting that it makes us think and reflect, and hopefully, this forced retrospect would then encourage us to change. Obviously, watching the reaction from the Philippine Congress, it only succeeded in upsetting people, and not in opening their eyes.
TheEQualizer on Tue, 31st Mar 2009 11:02 pm
My Fellow Pinoys In Hongkong (especially Louisa):
Get your revenge quickly (“Lintik lang ang walang ganti!”*) IF you have a RUDE or NASTY chink boss like Chip Tsao (see his picture below):
1)One thing that everyone’s afraid of is someone spitting in their food.
2)Don’t wash your hands after coming from the toilet and prepare his special noodle of the day.
3)Teach his kids “Intsik Beho Tulo Laway” nursery rhyme.Tell the chink it means “Long Live Chairman Mao!”
* “Hell hath no fury like a Pinay OFW scorned!”
DJB on Tue, 31st Mar 2009 11:38 pm
You’re wrong Manolo. You were right to begin with about Chip Tsao’s piece! Haha. And now, contrary to Connie Veneracion’s claims, that other piece of Chip Tsao’s that she claims “takes a swipe at Filipinas” does nothing of the sort. Quite the opposite…You should read it with the same eye for the guy’s inherently satirical but really iconoclastic and light hearted style…
betol on Wed, 1st Apr 2009 12:37 am
i love satirical but incendiary articles like those of mr. tsao’s. writers love to provoke and see other people’s reaction, and i have no doubt that mr. tsao is giving himself a pat in the back while drinking a margarita, or whatever the hell it is that they drink in hong kong to unwind, satisfied that he got a whole nation of servants to declare a price on his head.
i do agree on with you on one point though; that he was subtly calling on his country men stop acting like a bunch of girly men who pick on little people who can’t defend themselves.
BrianB on Wed, 1st Apr 2009 12:38 am
Kitty Go, not Senator cayetano, is the proper spokesperson for this. She’s doing it absolutely brilliantly.
BrianB on Wed, 1st Apr 2009 12:42 am
Yahaha, you’re getting killed. You can forget about running for the Senate.
cvj on Wed, 1st Apr 2009 12:48 am
At first, i did feel offended by Chip Tsao’s article but after you made your controversial comment, i realized that it was directed more at his fellow Chinese that at us Filipinos.
cvj on Wed, 1st Apr 2009 12:49 am
‘that’ = ‘than’
BrianB on Wed, 1st Apr 2009 12:49 am
Manolo, the 4 or 5 people watching the Explainer, wala na, zero na. The power of blogs talaga oo.
betol on Wed, 1st Apr 2009 12:55 am
how did that silly picture of mine appear out of nowhere? that was not intended. i hope it doesn’t offend – or scare – anyone. my apologies. is there anyway i can get rid of it?
d0d0ng on Wed, 1st Apr 2009 12:57 am
“Why not recruit a wet nurse from China? I asked my friend who until recently had whole-heartedly loved his motherland. “No,” he explained, “How can you be sure that a Chinese wet nurse is not going to be fake, with something like a Bangkok ladyboy-style plastic bag filled with artificial milk made from poisoned powder?”
The poor Chip take a swipe at all women including Chinese women. But since the trajectory is directed at Filipina wet nurses, the article is really infuriating to the Filipinos in general.
Madonna on Wed, 1st Apr 2009 1:15 am
Chip Tsao’s main mistake was to take that his “only” audience was his countrymen whom he perhaps overestimated would be rather amused by his “patriotism” or a play on it (a patriot or worm? — I think he is more of the latter). LOL, dun pa lang, e, bird-brainic na sya. In this age of the Worlwide Web he dared to write such a piece, no matter what a brilliant satire it was against his own country (as a piece ridiculing China, I personally gave it a rating of 9.5 out of 10)
Another thing is that if he was really bent on including other nationalities in his satire, then, he should have done more research or get to know about the true-blue reality and history about poor Pinas, and not splashed his piece with such balderdash on Pinoys. Sweeping generalization is a sign of laziness while a nuanced presentation better resembles the truth.
This reyna elena is being true to form — such raw honesty and a good writer to boot! Haller sistah!
Kitty Go is also a good writer.
BrianB on Wed, 1st Apr 2009 1:16 am
It’s demoralizing how truly undemocratic Filipinos are. Just think about how e have to go through official channels and then mass up on the streets for one silly quip in a TV show or column. Just how weak is this country?
BrianB on Wed, 1st Apr 2009 1:20 am
We’re also a country who just love it when some patronizes them. I’d explode if I get patronized. Americans and Europeans too, and definitely Hong Kongers, I know they hate it. But pinoys, Jesus, we’re so happy when someone is making uto us.
Pedestrian Observer GB on Wed, 1st Apr 2009 1:29 am
It is natural for people to be offended and angry but the bigger challenge is how to respond to the raging controversy without letting ones’ emotion dictate how one respond to the “offending” remark. It becomes pathetic when Philippine political cheapies exploit the controversy acting like a pied paper leading the flock to the cliff of frustration and desolation while they weasel themselves out of accountability and responsibility on why we are branded as a servant nation in the first place.
cvj on Wed, 1st Apr 2009 1:32 am
I think it depends on which side of the oppressor-oppressed (or dominant-dominated) divide people are on. It’s ok to direct satire at whites or Westerners in general but not so against blacks, arabs, women and Filipinos. When we, as a people, come to see ourselves as equal to others, then we will be less sensitive to these things.
supremo on Wed, 1st Apr 2009 1:35 am
Much ado about ‘n othing.
d0d0ng on Wed, 1st Apr 2009 1:36 am
Manolo, there is substance in your opinion if one knows Chip and his background as satirical writer and familiar with his sarcasm. But Filipinos have no time to examine somebody’s sarcastic writings for ideas nor his background but rather return fire with fire. So the national outrage and indignation.
His mouth is rotten as he can belittle housemaids from the Philippines. The poor guy is not that far different from the subjects he ridiculed. He worked as doormat for BBC for eight years and took the cause of chinese illegal immigrants who died in the container van by taking as pen name “Golden Venture” (the vessel that carried the chinese illegals to the US in 1993) in the Ming Pao monthly publication.
Filipina domestic helpers fared better riding in an airconditioned airplane than those chinese illegals herded into the vessel for months on the way to the land of milk and honey. I suppose Chip has that in his memory when he was obliged to pay Eloisa’s salary increase, an irony he cannot live without, especially the services of a talented Filipina.
BrianB on Wed, 1st Apr 2009 1:43 am
Well, CVJ only states the obvious. It’s our feelings of inferiority.
cvj on Wed, 1st Apr 2009 2:08 am
Not exactly ‘inferiority’, more like lack of self-confidence and self-assurance. It’s also legitimate (but misdirected) feelings of outrage against the dominant party. That’s why we bounce between cockiness and despair. The Chinese are also like that btw since they only have recently emerged from poverty.
cvj on Wed, 1st Apr 2009 2:11 am
By ‘Chinese’, i’m referring to the newly rich Mainlanders (not the Hongkong people like Tsao who are more like the old rich and so have more self-confidence).
Phil Manila on Wed, 1st Apr 2009 2:13 am
It’s satire with a twist. Based on his piece, I think the guy is gay.
Chip Tsao’s essay comes out pa-cute and pa-’maldita’. You know, like the ones you find in society/lifestyle pages.
BTW, lest you get the wrong ideas it doesn’t take one to spot one.
Madonna on Wed, 1st Apr 2009 2:15 am
But cvj, don’t you think you’ve got it backwards? Sensitivity to others engenders equality — not the other way around. This idea of equality is hollow if it merely becomes an intellectual pursuit. The sense of equality has to come from your innards and common folks instinctively know this, and that’s what’s great about the Internet because voices are heard all at once, speaking in unison. There were many who were not Pinoys themselves who reacted viscerally against Chip Tsai’s column. It doesn’t matter who they are, or what nationalities they have. Democracy, that is, equality among the human race, is in the heart ika nga.
cvj on Wed, 1st Apr 2009 2:20 am
‘Sensitivity to others’ may also mean an awareness that the other has a fragile psyche as in, ‘huwag mong tuksuhin iyan, baka mapikon’. Equality can only come when we attain an attitude of [quiet] self-confidence, not when others treat us with kid gloves.
Madonna on Wed, 1st Apr 2009 2:34 am
Well, cvj, some people do have fragile psyches, and it’s not their fault either, because they were partly born that way. And it’s not wise na tuksuhin sila.
“Equality can only come when we attain an attitude of [quiet] self-confidence, not when others treat us with kid gloves.” –
A korek ka dyan.
cvj on Wed, 1st Apr 2009 2:38 am
Yeah, i agree it’s not our fault. With each episode of collective outrage like this one, i think the world (not to mention Manolo) is becoming more and more aware of our fragile psyches.
d0d0ng on Wed, 1st Apr 2009 2:49 am
It is not about sensitivity, it is poor choice of subjects. Chip’s central point is to pick on the wisdom of Philippine government of claiming Spratly sovereignity while it is economically dependent on remittances of OFWs working in China. The poor judgment is picking on the helper Eloisa which has no influence on Philippine government policy on territory. Eloisa is not entirely fictional. The true Luisa is employed with Chip’s father for 14 years. Chip employed 2 Indonesian maids.
As a writer, any subject is a fair subject. Chip will just have to suffer the consequences. Apart from being banned from entering Philippines, he will have to think twice eating in restaurants with Filipinos, there is no guarantee what is in his food or drink. Serve him right.
Abe N. Margallo on Wed, 1st Apr 2009 4:23 am
dOdOng, you mean to say it was Luisa who used to do the dirty job of changing Chip’s diapers? So it’s possible Luisa was Chip’s first ESL teacher? and . . . from whom he also learned the art of sarcasm and . . .
Wow! Chip’s Oedipal relations was with . . . Luisa? . . . his wet nurse????? haha
d0d0ng on Wed, 1st Apr 2009 4:48 am
I am with you, Abe. The point of satire is to shock the intended audience. However, POV is not one way street. It works both ways. Meaning it offers the audience a rare glimpse of the writer’s twisted tiltillating experience.
Too bad for Chip since Luisa has no plans of leaving Chip’s father. Haha.
Cris Bagsic on Wed, 1st Apr 2009 5:15 am
So much has been said (hurled about, mostly) in re this article… I’m in agreement (well, at least on the points that matter most to me) with Angel de Dios (Tue, 31st Mar 2009 10:59 pm), and cvj. I also like the warm-hearted-cum-cool-headed arguments/comments posted by the peeps who hold views different from those I don’t hold.
They say practice makes perfect: the next time something of this nature crops up again, I’m sure we all will feel as passionately outspoken about our convictions but I hope the day comes that comments based on ad hominem arguments/appeals to emotions type of arguments diminish to an insignificant minority.
PS. To MLQ3, this entry brought smiles to an otherwise bleating icy/windy day. haha PLUS, tip of the hat to you for not making this piece an “I’d-just-like-to-defend-myself-from-unfair-attacks-on-my-person/education/etc-boohoo”. THAT would have been disappointing.
Cris Bagsic on Wed, 1st Apr 2009 5:19 am
“[...]different from those I don’t hold.” => different from those I do / different from mine… take your pick.
Leytenian on Wed, 1st Apr 2009 5:39 am
The reaction of many filipinos to Cheap Tsao may be emotional and somewhat insecure?
You all can call me anything. It won’t diminish me a bit and I am a filipina too.
Manolo’s respond to reyna elena is humbling and very appropriate. Manolo is always nice-actually nicer and smarter than DJB.
Nation of slaves? How does one understand it anyway? why so sensitive about it?
In this modern world, it’s about employee/employer relationship. That relationship will not exist without the other. It’s up to the policymakers to balance and manage the risk. In our situation, there’s no such thing as employee/employer relationship because this country’s admin has not been able to manage and balance the oversupply of potential employees to the demand of employer within its home country. It can only manage the issue today but without the stability of our future. The issue of underemployment is not new. It’s a chronic issue.
Nation of Slaves? maybe we are because we sell our votes to the politicians. We tolerate corruption of public officials. We tolerate political dynasty. We allow everything outside the RULES.
Carl on Wed, 1st Apr 2009 9:27 am
Often enough, there’s a thin line separating satire from vulgarity and bad taste. Because satire attempts to shock or alarm people out of conventional thinking, there’s a real danger of pushing the line and descending into boorishness.
But as comedian Mel Brooks, no stranger to controversy, once said: “Bad taste is simply saying the truth before it should be said”.
Stereotyping a nation is not telling the truth. But, employing a portion of the truth, stereotyping uses a broad brush and applies it to everyone. To quote Alfred North Whitehead: “There are no whole truths: all truths are half-truths. It is trying to treat them as whole truths that plays the devil.”
As a people, we are capable of laughing at ourselves. It is painful, however, when it comes from others. More so when it comes from people we once thought inferior to ourselves, because it only accentuates the painful reality of how far we have fallen.
It isn’t only the Chinese who now feel superior to us. Malaysians and Singaporeans also look at us with a degree of contempt, when only a few decades ago they looked up to us. If we don’t do something, even the Vietnamese will one day look down on us.
We can blame many factors for our decline. We can blame our damaged culture, our religion, our leaders, our bad choice of policies. But we still have to face up to the reality that, over the years, we messed up, big time. That’s why it hurts so much.
By the way, nice stream-of-consciousness confession, Manolo! Say 1 “Our Father” and 2 “Hail Mary’s”.
reyna elena on Wed, 1st Apr 2009 9:50 am
Manolo, this is Reynz. Thank you for your apology. I really appreciate the effort, I do.
number cruncher on Wed, 1st Apr 2009 10:05 am
hmm, seems like chip tsao issued an apology: , but apparently, there’s still a protest rally? isn’t that a bit pointless just to prove a point? (pun unintended)
number cruncher on Wed, 1st Apr 2009 10:05 am
oops, here’s the link: http://www.gmanews.tv/story/155062/HK-columnist-Chip-Tsao-says-sorry-for-racist-piece
inodoro ni emilie on Wed, 1st Apr 2009 11:54 am
i initially felt insult reading the phrase
reading his piece, but came to realise the fact of the matter. reading the article in its entirety though does reveal the swipe is actually made on china, as cvj correctly points out. hey, the guy is writing in hong kong, he needs to wear the chinese attire to point out the satire.
Leo on Wed, 1st Apr 2009 12:46 pm
I like the first part of your commentary or opinion but i think you missed so many points that should have shown Chip Tsao’s writing negative whether he is just using satire or not. Using the Filipina OFWs as a tool to condemn his fellow Chinese is already not a good strategy.
Satire elicits dissferent meaning to various readers and it will depend on whoi they are, their status and the way they perceive the current situation, socially or politically. But one thing is clear, majority of the people did not get hios point and are not happy about his article. It elicited patriotism like Rizal’s novels, yes, and it is against him.
Christopher on Wed, 1st Apr 2009 1:11 pm
There is only one message here that the writer wants to convey…and that is for all of us to see the sad reality of life…and do something to change it.
istambay_sakalye on Wed, 1st Apr 2009 2:46 pm
the truth indeed hurts! and lest we forget it’s close to 2010 and politicians are trying to deflect the sad state of our nation by shifting the blame.
satirical or not it is the sad truth. no need to apologize and be nice about it. we should be outrage at ourselves and our leaders in the government for putting us in this situation where we are right now.
ricelander on Wed, 1st Apr 2009 2:46 pm
I was not offended and I do not know satire from non-satire. I just am hard to offend by nature. (And if ever I get offended, I do not get mad; I get even.)
But then maybe, if you had a wife there or perhaps a sister so dear, who graduated from college, with honors at that, working as domestic helper in HongKong, if it will not hit you in a different way, I don’t know. O kaya ikaw mismo yung nandun, as servant to a HongKong couple, you can reason out it’s an honorable job being servant, but honestly now, … We’re talking context here, I think.
Kung you’re a bank exec or a college professor maybe or an accountant of SGV, you can afford to shrug it off easy— but that is precisely because you are not the one, a domestic helper or a wet nurse with a college diploma.
BrianB on Wed, 1st Apr 2009 3:11 pm
Reynz, you are so cheap. If you wanted a hug just ask him.
SEO Philippines on Wed, 1st Apr 2009 3:15 pm
Hi Manolo I made a similar statement here: http://www.brownseo.com/2009/03/apology-accepted-true/
GabbyD on Wed, 1st Apr 2009 3:15 pm
@MLQ3
i’m not sure i understand your apology. i have two points of confusion…
I. you write:
“Every reader makes up his or her own mind about whatever it is they read; your opinion is as good as mine…”
is this true for satire? satire is a form of writing that has established rules, right? you can define what satire is. there is no opinion here.
so when someone is offended by satire, it must be either:
1) he knows its satire but is offended anyway (even tho its not meant to disparage, he ignores it and chooses to get offended.)
2) he doesnt know its satire…
if (2), then what are you apologizing for? you are merely saying that they don’t know what satire is… and it is then correct to explain to people what the heck satire is…
if (1), i can understand. is this what you mean?
II. Even if its (1), i have a problem with it…
you write further: “That Hong Kong columnist deeply offended many Filipinos and instead of castigating my countrymen, I should have recognized the outrage as a manifestation of our collective sensibility…”
in other words, we are sensitive about our collective sensibility… however, if its satire, then the author had no intention to malign our collective sensibility. yet we choose to be upset… why?
isnt it the responsibility of the opinion writer to ask ‘why’? Should we be upset that we are upset over something that OUGHT NOT to make us upset?
i think this is a fair point to make, no?
A FINAL NOTE:
if we want to criticize the piece as a piece of satire, we only need to say this: satire is ALWAYS directed against the powerful. is the piece against the powerful?
by going after easy targets to mock, such as the OFW, he shows he’s not after the powerful at all…
that is whats wrong with the essay…
In Praise of Chip Tsao | Filipino Voices on Wed, 1st Apr 2009 3:27 pm
[...] don’t see why my good friend Manolo Quezon should find himself apologizing to Reyna Elena for correctly appreciating the literary and [...]
Derek A. on Wed, 1st Apr 2009 3:33 pm
To BrianB on Wed, 1st Apr 2009 3:11 pm:
Let Reynz enjoy his moment for his acceptance is heartfelt. (Seriously!) It’s not everyday you can receive a magnanimous apology from an ampon, vaklush, undergrad (what else did they write in Victorina?), grandchild of the First Prez of the Commonwealth. Lalo na kung naka graduate ka at ang nagbigay ng sorry ay hindi man lamang nakatapos ng colegio, elista at pangit. (Ayan ha, satire yan!)
Hula ko, makikipagkaibigan nayan kasi may “connect” na sila, tapos, makiki Facebook na yan si Reynz, kasi di naman siya Facebook friend ni Manolo. Then wow, mabait pala si Manolo, at wow, ok pala maki rub elbows sa mga friends ni Manolo, coffee coffee, debate, debate. Ay di naman pala ganun kasama si Manolo, palpak lang minsan, slight lang! Ok rin naman pala kahit hindi siya graduate kasi nakapunta na ako sa house nya at marami siyang books at nalula ako ha! Cute din ng dogs nya ha!
Ok, am putting words in his mouth but this is all tongue-in-cheek! Then we will all live happily ever after…in an alternate universe!
Derek A.
Vin on Wed, 1st Apr 2009 3:37 pm
What dismisses Chip Tsao’s article from being satirical is the fact that it is simply witless.
mlq3 on Wed, 1st Apr 2009 4:27 pm
gabby, the point is precisely what you pointed out, and i overlooked: satire is only ever permissible when aimed at the high and mighty, and hardly ever permissible at the expense of the downtrodden (permissible, perhaps, only when one of their own criticizes their peers). this is something people instinctively latched on but i refused to see it, castigating others for “not getting it,” when they actually did. crime of arrogance.
there’s a passage I’ve been reflecting on, because of this lesson.
Rizal, in his essay, “the Indolence of the Filipino,” pointed out that, “Yet it is not to be inferred from the misuse of a thing that it does not exist.” But he went on to write that “We think that there must be something behind all this outcry, for it is incredible that so many should err, among whom we have said there are a lot of serious and disinterested persons. Some act in bad faith, through levity, through want of sound judgment, through limitation in reasoning power, ignorance of the past, or other cause. Some repeat what they have heard, without, examination or reflection; others speak through pessimism or are impelled by that human characteristic which paints as perfect everything that belongs to oneself and defective whatever belongs to another. But it cannot be denied that there are some who worship truth, or if not truth itself at least the semblance thereof, which is truth in the mind of the crowd.”
BrianB on Wed, 1st Apr 2009 4:52 pm
Manolo, in today’s world, power is lateral not hierarchical. It can be fired from below as well. Everyone has power, including the downtrodden. In our country, the masses outnumber the upper class by as much as 1:100. remember the May Day rally?
mlq3 on Wed, 1st Apr 2009 4:55 pm
Brian, yes, and the ‘net is a daily reminder of the new lateral world.
BrianB on Wed, 1st Apr 2009 5:27 pm
Chao’s brand of satire is permissible in my book.
Carl on Wed, 1st Apr 2009 5:42 pm
I’m not too sure that satire is always directed at the powerful.
Throughout history, writers, from Cervantes, to Shakespeare, to Washington Irving, to Al Capp (creator of the satirical comic strip “Li’l Abner”), to our own “Kenkoy”, to the writing staff of “Saturday Night Live” and our own “John and Marsha”, have poked fun at both the powerful and the ordinary man. While the follies and the pretensions of the powerful probably make more inviting targets, ordinary folk also make inviting targets for parody and caricature.
Under normal circumstances, the bottom line is that it should be funny and in good taste. But restraint is not always easy to sustain, and things can sometimes get out of bounds. Most especially when there is a culture gap, and when there are social tensions among those cultures or races.
The Chinese are presently on the rise, while Filipinos have been on a slow but constant decline. There are irritants from past experiences that cause both sides to be sensitive. Filipinos (and some Chinese like Chip Tsao) may see present-day Chinese as smug, snobbish, materialistic bootlickers (to the rich and powerful, that’s why Tsao accuses Chinese of kowtowing to the Russians and the Japanese). On the other hand, some Chinese may still resent Filipinos for once looking down at them and may take a certain schadenfreude at our deteriorating fortunes.
Meanwhile, our leaders want to point fingers at others for our misfortunes, instead of facing up to reality and soul-searching for solutions.
mlq3 on Wed, 1st Apr 2009 5:54 pm
Carl, granted -but they poked fun at their own.
BrianB on Wed, 1st Apr 2009 5:59 pm
I upward looking lang ang satire, Manolo, eh napaka Elitista naman yun. Only true elitists avoid insulting katulongs. Think about it.
Carl on Wed, 1st Apr 2009 6:52 pm
Yes, it’s much more tricky when you poke fun through cultural and racial lines. Especially when there could be some dynamics between cultures. It would be very difficult, for example, for a German to poke fun at a Jew.
I recall that, during the China Olympics, the Spanish basketball team had their picture taken making slant eyes. It was mostly the Western media which took offense. The Chinese were relatively quiet and let it pass without much of a fuss. Would the Chinese take the same crap from “lowly” Filipinos? Perhaps. I think that they can now rise above that.
But I’ve seen Americans caricature Chinese, Japanese and Blacks, with a great degree of humor. They also caricature the staid Brits a lot. And the Brits don’t seem to mind. The Brits are notorious for their own deadly satire. At the end of the movie “Slumdog Millionaire”, there was even a lampoon of Bollywood. It was all taken in good humor.
For satires that have gone horribly wrong, refer to the recent case of the BBC, involving Russell Brand and Jonathan Ross. That takes the cake for vulgarity and crass humor.
Thank you, Manuel L. Quezon III : reyna elena dot com on Wed, 1st Apr 2009 7:06 pm
[...] is what sets Manuel L. Quezon III apart from all of us. It’s called class and I admire him for what he has done. So, I say, [...]
AdB on Wed, 1st Apr 2009 7:42 pm
Carl on Wed, 1st Apr 2009 9:27 am offered an excellent even if only brief analysis of the current resentment brouhaha.
What he says here is absolutely spot on:
“Often enough, there’s a thin line separating satire from vulgarity and bad taste. Because satire attempts to shock or alarm people out of conventional thinking, there’s a real danger of pushing the line and descending into boorishness.”
Chip Tsao’s attempt at satire failed because it was both vulgar and boorish.
I didn’t realise that Tsao was the author of the wet nurse piece that I had read somewhere sometime ago until I read DJB’s blog piece and revisited the article. I thought then, and still do, that despite it bordering on the vulgar, it was satirically funny; no issues there. But this piece, Tsao or no Tsao, was clearly cheap and vulgar – miserably presented as satire.
On second thought, could be that Tsao was thinking of starting off an Asian version of Canterbury Tales — well, he’s got a long bloody way to go.
Conventional Wisdom on Wed, 1st Apr 2009 7:45 pm
Such magnanimity and humility to recognize a mistake and apologize immediately. Kudos.
Nestor on Wed, 1st Apr 2009 9:06 pm
The apology from that writer in HK is not acceptable. I’ll never forgive him for that. A slur is a slur, no matter what. Can we call a nation with lots of prostitutes as a nation of whores? That would invite “revolt”. It’s good that he is still banned in entering RP.
BrianB on Wed, 1st Apr 2009 9:15 pm
AdB,
So it’s a simple faux pas, not racism?
AdB on Wed, 1st Apr 2009 9:21 pm
Brian,
“not racism?”
To be perfectly honest, I don’t know — don’t know the fella from Adam, he could be racist and would be hard put to condemn him if he were as I too could be diabolically racist. Let’s put it this way, it’s paradoxal but racists don’t usually like racists.
AdB on Wed, 1st Apr 2009 9:33 pm
Brian,
Allow me to cut and paste something I posted over at the commenters’ section in Dean’s FV blog:
°°°°°°°°°
“because everyone chose to hear the phrase “nation of servants”?”
If you asked me, I would be perfectly honest, I wasn’t offended by that silly phrase or “nation of servants” of his thinggy. Never thought the Philippines as a nation of servants. To me it was a cheap crass shot but that was all there was to it.
What I found offensive was his description of how the Chinese treated Filipino servants (or is it in HK?) — it depicted something that was actually real [and] I’ve seen Chinese acquaintances behave in this fashion towards their servants so I thought it was crass.
You see, I don’t exactly approve the idea of further stepping down on those that are already at the “bottom of the totem pole.” (Those Robin Hood tales surely got to me… wink, wink.)
I didn’t know Tsao from Adam (although I’d read the wet nurse thing but didn’t know then until I read Dean’s post that he had written it too) and took his piece for what it was, a vulgar and crass piece of whatever.
Now, the wet nurse thing, I thought, was satirically funny and had no issues there although I remember reading a blog containing incendiary comments about the piece.
The desperate housewife thinggy that provoked a widespread furour in the US didn’t actually affect me because I felt the Philippine doctors in the US were big enough, i.e., the Pinoy doctors were at the higher end of the totem pole to be able to take on a heavyweight battle.
°°°°°°
Now on the racism issue, frankly, it occurred to me that the writer was racist when I read the article, reason for my comment on the racist paradox, racists don’t usually like other racists.
(Now, I’m outta here before everyone chases me with their shoes!)
The Ca t on Wed, 1st Apr 2009 9:50 pm
Precisely, manolo.
it is rare for many opinion shapers to admit something that may have been overlooked not because of ignorance but of different perspectives and i salute you for the humility of apologizing withhout reservations and conditions.
The Ca t on Wed, 1st Apr 2009 9:54 pm
The Ca t on Wed, 1st Apr 2009 9:58 pm
whenever someone looks for justification for an insult hurled to filipinos or reasons why we deserve such insult, I see a person who has inferiority complex.
The Ca t on Wed, 1st Apr 2009 10:07 pm
What’s wrong with the words “nation of servants”? A lot especially when Chip Tsao equated it to slaves. in this modern world where politically incorrect terms could mean discrimination and or racial slur, his reference to masters and slaves is not acceptable for the employer-employee relationship where rights and dignity are to be respected by both parties.
Madonna on Thu, 2nd Apr 2009 12:48 am
“Only true elitists avoid insulting katulongs”.
The distinction is if you are insulting them as a group as a matter of occupation, or as a separate person. Sure a katulong who is a rotten egg is fair game. Otherwise, you are patronizing him or her and letting him off the hook dahil lamang sa katulong sya.
And besides, if you want to insult or disparage any group, and of course, we do all have our prejudices and we are all a bit of racists, one way or the other, do so in intimate company, not on the Worldwide Web, otherwise you are a bird-brain like Chip Tsai. LOL, he wanted to be popular, well, he got it.
For all Chip Tsao’s slur against his maid Luisa and her kind and the DHs, satire or no satire, his fellow Chinese were not fair game to me. E ano ba kinalaman ng mga ibang Instik sa kabalbalan ng isang miyembro ng tribu nila?
Still, it serves this Cheap character right that the outcome of racist comments against the Chinese were all his fault and for which his fellow Chinese should take him to task. I bet he felt pressured to apologize because the HK people were close to ripping his innards themselves, if he didn’t do it.
d0d0ng on Thu, 2nd Apr 2009 1:27 am
What’s wrong with the words “nation of servants”?
Nothing if you are only up to the title. That is funnier than Chip Tsao himself. Chip Tsao detailed his mockery of a Filipina maid.
I have a Mexican gardener and an Anglo-Saxon pool guy but I don’t mock them just to make a point to Mexican or US government.
If a Filipino agrees with Chip Tsao with his “nations of servants” degrading the services of Filipina maid, good luck since we cannot help you with your self-respect. On this account I agree with The Ca t on inferiority complex. We don’t have that and it is not curable.
GabbyD on Thu, 2nd Apr 2009 4:14 am
@Carl on Wed, 1st Apr 2009 5:42 pm
“I’m not too sure that satire is always directed at the powerful.
Throughout history, writers, from Cervantes, to Shakespeare, to Washington Irving, to Al Capp (creator of the satirical comic strip “Li’l Abner”), to our own “Kenkoy”, to the writing staff of “Saturday Night Live” and our own “John and Marsha”, have poked fun at both the powerful and the ordinary man”
indeed, but if they will do, they will be roundly criticized for it.
recently SNL wrote a sketch about the mortgage crisis and made fun of poor people (these were real people in fact) who took on loans they subsequently reneged on.
they took the online video down the next day coz of criticism that that they are mocking the weak and defenseless…
d0d0ng on Thu, 2nd Apr 2009 4:28 am
Gabby on, “and our own “John and Marsha”, have poked fun at both the powerful and the ordinary man”.
Yes you can poke on mistakes and stupidity which is found across all lines of divide. But mocking of Filipina maid is below the belt, so the rightful indignation. Chip Tsao was pointing to the stupidity of Philippine government on Spratly. But there is none on helpless maid earning a decent living.
Leytenian on Thu, 2nd Apr 2009 5:15 am
cheap tsao may have done it purposely, recklessly and knowingly. is there a libility? punitive damages are payable in cash
is there any organization of maids or servants in the Philippines? an organization with a common purpose to maintain dignity and respect among its members can be a group that can actually sue or file charges against the HK magazine for emotional distress, racial discrimination or organization’s discrimination, labor discrimination and many more. It is how an organization interprets the article. Your group may be able to have common reason ( REASONABLE among you ) to sue. Conditional threat such as discriminative statement can be treated differently in TORT law.
wanna discuss it?
Leytenian on Thu, 2nd Apr 2009 5:18 am
hey baycas,
you wanna discuss TORT Law about SLUR? we are done with P of I, right?
Pedestrian Observer GB on Thu, 2nd Apr 2009 5:20 am
I don’t think you should have apologized Manolo…… look at what happened naunahan mo pa si Chip Tsao, lol.
junasun on Thu, 2nd Apr 2009 5:58 am
You intellectualized Tsao’s racism slur too much just because he is a known writer. If written by an unknown blogger you may have reacted differently.The main point in his article was to insult the Filipinos- maids or not, you and me.
That’s the problem sometimes with intellectual approach to things- one fails to define one’s position clearly, one loses shape and substance.
d0d0ng on Thu, 2nd Apr 2009 6:23 am
Baycas on, “Ethnic or racial slur already in a textbook”.
“A nation of servants” by itself is not a slur. It is how the user use it to the detail like Chip Tsao did.
Being a satirical writer, Chip Tsao knew how he can manipulate words to his design and blame it on English language. Only if we were born yesterday. Funny.
baycas on Thu, 2nd Apr 2009 7:43 am
dodong,
i italicized “ethnic or racial slur.” it depends, of course, on one’s POV.
Carl on Thu, 2nd Apr 2009 8:22 am
Chip Tsao is a nobody. A trying-hard writer who really doesn’t make the grade. Besides, I am not very fond of the caustic Chinese sense of humor. All this outrage about Chip Tsao will soon pass. And Chip Tsao will continue to be a Z-list writer.
The most important question for me is, after this furor dies down, will we become less of a nation of servants? When one sees those Filipino domestics congregating in public in Hong Kong, it does seem to project that image of our country. For many Chinese, who don’t know better, that is the image they have of the Philippines. I have also noticed how it makes many upper-class Filipinos uncomfortable, preferring to turn another way. They would much rather not be lumped along with those domestics.
I would rather focus my indignation on those who were responsible for making our country a nation of servants. Why are our people fleeing in droves, happy to just be domestics in another country?
The “empowerment” of dimwits | Filipino Voices on Thu, 2nd Apr 2009 8:47 am
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Chip Tsao Slur Reflects Geopolitical Realities » The Warrior Lawyer | Philippine Lawyer on Thu, 2nd Apr 2009 2:33 pm
[...] are we missing the bigger picture ? Carl, commenting on Manolo’s blog post, correctly points out: Chip Tsao is a nobody. A trying-hard writer who really doesn’t make the [...]
d0d0ng on Thu, 2nd Apr 2009 10:43 pm
baycas on, “i italicized “ethnic or racial slur.” it depends, of course, on one’s POV.”
True as it speaks loudly whose POV you are advocating even if it is your own. Did you consider it is closer cleaning Chip’s toilet? Just a humor.
d0d0ng on Thu, 2nd Apr 2009 11:24 pm
Carl on “The most important question for me is, after this furor dies down, will we become less of a nation of servants? When one sees those Filipino domestics congregating in public in Hong Kong, it does seem to project that image of our country. For many Chinese, who don’t know better, that is the image they have of the Philippines. I have also noticed how it makes many upper-class Filipinos uncomfortable, preferring to turn another way. They would much rather not be lumped along with those domestics.”
Carl, it is about human dignity. You, I, them, the maids. Image is inconsequential unless you are beemer person. Taking care of households and children is an important valued job in Hongkong which Filipina maid earn higher than maids from other countries. The Chinese don’t care if we are nation of servants and I don’t care either. It doesn’t change the fact that they still need Filipina maids. In the end, Chip Tsao admit his mistakes of crossing the line. In his apology, Chip Tsao swallowed his nations of servants satire demonizing Filipina maids and took refuge in the same word servants as sacred emphasizing we are all servants to God.
d0d0ng on Fri, 3rd Apr 2009 12:07 am
Pedestrian Observer on, “What now?”
Carl on, “would rather focus my indignation on those who were responsible for making our country a nation of servants. Why are our people fleeing in droves, happy to just be domestics in another country?”
Something like these are jumping too far than the original issue of trashing the decent services of Filipina maid. Granted it is fair issue, but why kill the service industry that lays the golden egg and provide basic necessities back home. Neither the officials are responsible for having more kids nor Filipino couples question their Catholic faith on over population. It is like shooting yourself.
AdB on Fri, 3rd Apr 2009 8:40 am
Well, as if this “nations of servants” tag ain’t enough, the Philippines is now officially in the G20 blacklist of nations with corrupt banking practices and taxation malpractices:
“The agreement: the final G-20 document would state that the G-20 nations “stand ready to deploy sanctions to protect our public finances and financial systems. The era of banking secrecy is over. We note that the OECD has today published a list of countries assessed by the Global Forum against the international standard for exchange of tax information.”
And minutes after that speech…
“Last night, the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development issued a “blacklist” of four offending countries: Costa Rica, Malaysia, the Philippines and Uruguay.”
Stoned Immaculate » Blog Archive » Nation of Servants on Fri, 3rd Apr 2009 12:57 pm
[...] This is what random blog hopping does to you. I just read MLQ3’s take on the entire thing. He linked to a blogger who advocated that all Filipino-Chinese who [...]
Angel de Dios on Fri, 3rd Apr 2009 6:51 pm
There is nothing wrong with being a “servant”. The work is honest and most of our overseas workers perform their jobs diligently, without taking advantage of other people. The fact that we, Filipinos, try to earn a daily wage as hard as we could, without resorting to theft or fraud, is something to be proud of.
The fact that our country does not provide opportunities for our people to thrive in their own land is not something to be proud of. Our leaders and those who try to represent us missed the points made by Tsao’s article completely. By arguing
that the article is not a satire, but merely a slur against Filipinos indicates that we do look down on “servants”. By insisting that Tsao was indicating that Filipino maids should be mistreated if they do not bow to their masters’ wishes
misses the actual message that Tsao was trying to convey that it is wrong to stand up only to those whom you think are weak. Tsao was ridiculing China for not standing up to Russia and Japan. Tsao was ridiculing China for choosing to pick the fight for the Spratly islands simply because the opponent here is the Philippines, a nation of servants. That is the satire and it is sad that even the Philippine media would even go as far as imagining that Tsao is actually abusive to his maids. Tsao was merely ridiculing the act or notion that some people might actually resort to mistreating their servants just to feel superior or more powerful.
Our misunderstanding of Tsao’s satire not only sends the message that we do not understand what a satire is, but also sends the message that we ourselves actually look down on “servants”.
d0d0ng on Fri, 3rd Apr 2009 11:35 pm
Angel de Dios on, “Our misunderstanding of Tsao’s satire not only sends the message that we do not understand what a satire is, but also sends the message that we ourselves actually look down on “servants”.”
Excuse me sir, please don’t include us to your own misunderstanding. You need to undertand both the publication and the writer already made an apology.
Angel C. de Dios on Fri, 3rd Apr 2009 11:54 pm
Try to read carefully the statements of apology that were made….
d0d0ng on Sat, 4th Apr 2009 12:28 am
AdB on, “Last night, the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development issued a “blacklist” of four offending countries: Costa Rica, Malaysia, the Philippines and Uruguay.”
Blacklisting has no effect on corruption except the regime change solution which is becoming unpopular. Actually, World Bank and United Nations have difficult time achieving their goals on poverty alleviations through economic development by infrastructure because of the reaching hands of government. They already blacklisted corrupt contractors but the government refused to investigate them and even turned WB into circus.
G-8 needs to do more but the problem is who will subsidize the cost. They are also facing serious threat from failed states in Africa, from failing ones elsewhere than from merely the corrupt ones like Philippines.
sugod mga kafatid! on Sat, 4th Apr 2009 12:33 am
[...] didn’t need to apologize. He could have merely explained himself. Because that whole story about being a writer versus a [...]
d0d0ng on Sat, 4th Apr 2009 12:47 am
Angel, even if Chip Tsao did not believe in his own apology it is not that important but public opinion does. He made mistakes, the public reacted and he relented to public indignation. It makes safer environment for the Filipina maids when the publication affirmed to carry the cause of such service industry.
Angel C. de Dios on Sat, 4th Apr 2009 12:59 am
The apology was sincere and they said what they meant.
If a piece of writing could be taken straight to the point then the actions described reflect the thinking or opinion of the author. In a satire, the actions or situations being described are being ridiculed – and therefore, opposite to what the author is actually recommending.
d0d0ng on Sat, 4th Apr 2009 1:17 am
Katrina on, “didn’t need to apologize. He could have merely explained himself.”
This is the reason Manolo stands out of the rest who are still speculating.
More power to you, Manolo!
Anthony Cruz on Sat, 4th Apr 2009 1:40 am
MLQIII, thanks a lot for this post. I recently started blogging again (it’s my website) and I agree with many of the things that you’ve said about Chip Tsao. We Filipinos have to rise beyond being inflamed at such petty provocation (if it is even that)
d0d0ng on Sat, 4th Apr 2009 1:47 am
Angel C. De Dios on, “In a satire, the actions or situations being described are being ridiculed – and therefore, opposite to what the author is actually recommending.”
I am sure you can very well pick up the inseparable corrective purpose of “that you are cleaning up Chip Tsao’s toilet for good measure”.
Good luck.
Angel C. de Dios on Sat, 4th Apr 2009 3:11 am
Anthony,
I read your blog and I think you got the point.
-Angel
And Chip Tsao’s “Luisa” spake and broke her silence… on Sat, 4th Apr 2009 10:21 am
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Keyser Soze on Sat, 4th Apr 2009 1:58 pm
Angel and Anthony,
I believe this is right up your alley… another “secure” Filipino who “gets it”.
Regards,
Keyser “I’m offended so I guess I need jokes explained to me” Soze
Angel C. de Dios on Mon, 6th Apr 2009 7:59 pm
“We haven’t just become a nation of servants, we’ve become a nation of illiterates.”
Conrado de Quiros “Chip on the Shoulder
ramrod on Tue, 7th Apr 2009 12:00 am
Manolo didn’t have to apologize for other bloggers and persons’ apparent insecurity and inability to understand.
Its true, we are a nation of servants, whats wrong with that? If we start out as janitors, then we better work our tails off to be the world’s best janitors. Respect is earned not demanded in a childish tantrum…if someone is bastos to us its his problem, siya naman ang bastos di ba, just ignore him…its as simple as that.
istambay_sakalye on Tue, 7th Apr 2009 4:48 am
“We haven’t just become a nation of servants, we’ve become a nation of illiterates.”–c. de quiros, pdi,4/6/2009
d0d0ng on Tue, 7th Apr 2009 4:49 am
Conrado de Quiros on, “We haven’t just become a nation of servants, we’ve become a nation of illiterates.”
Res ipsa loquitur. Nobody can argue with that having Conrado De Quiros admit himself as illiterate, another self-inflicted wound.
In essence, nobody needs a Filipino apologist like Conrado De Quiros and the rest of satire believers, because they cannot be counted upon to make a difference and made it possible for an opinionated Hongkong writer to apologize.
That I can LOL!
ramrod on Tue, 7th Apr 2009 12:40 pm
Like most bloggers who apparently have never worked for foreigners or dealt with bullies in their lifetime, these noisy pretenders still believe they can make a difference by pouncing on someone who does not agree with their insecurities, even to the point of getting personal with the comments, hair? sexual orientation? education?
After working for colleagues that have at least 2 Filipinas as domestics, you learn to earn respect by merit and not by demanding for it. You earn respect by advancing to the level or even beyond their level, let them realize they were mistaken in their earlier perception and feel silently silly with their biases.
Dealing with bullies in real life is not like what it is in the movies, where you stand up and duke it our ala Fernando Po, because it doesn’t end there. You just make sure you’re focused on your purpose, finishing school, with honors…bullies seldom have that type of focus and will move on to the next victim, until he tires himself silly or drops out of school.
Its ridiculous celebrating this apology, when we don’t know what is not being said in the homes where these domestics work in, or how they will be treated in the days to come. I wonder if these noisy group have ever won any cases against HK homeowners who maltreated their domestics? Or will they be interested then?
These bloggers acted like bullies in their reaction to a different opinion but I guess they didn’t notice that because it wasn’t written in plain and simple English? I give a lot of credit to Manolo for handling it well, let them find someone else to pick on and life goes on…
d0d0ng on Wed, 8th Apr 2009 8:47 am
Ramrod, you got your bully backward. Bully by nature, initiate a condemnable act with arrogance that he can get away with it and from position of power or strength. Only when sensible people stood up to him and made him accountable for his disparaging write-up, then the bully relented and apologized.
There is only one bully so far by that descriptions, Chip Tsao. Second, there is no celebration. Third, there is no sense of asking respect from a bigoted writer as you had imagined demand of respect. Dismissing the noisy pretenders as not having your experience working for foreigners, reveals your own insecurities.
Matthew P on Wed, 8th Apr 2009 6:53 pm
Manolo – sorry, I didn’t realise you’d already written about this.
But you’ve got it right. Angel C de Dios has it right, and Conrado de Quiros has it right. And Indolent Indio and onetamad also have it right.
The indignation rests on a cultural and linguistic misunderstanding.
Frank Tsao was not trying to attack Filipinos, he was attacking great-China nationalist attitudes. Now Tsao is not a great writer, and I do not defend him from the charge of clumsiness. What I do protest against is the idea that his intention was to attack Filipinos, because quite to the contrary, his intention was to defend Filipinos.
He was defending Filipinos by using satire.
It’s worth reading the Wikipedia entry on satire (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Satire).
Second paragraph:
“A very common, almost defining feature of satire is its strong vein of irony or sarcasm, but parody, burlesque, exaggeration, juxtaposition, comparison, analogy, and double entendre are all frequently used in satirical speech and writing. The essential point, however, is that “in satire, irony is militant”. This “militant irony” (or sarcasm) often professes to approve the very things the satirist actually wishes to attack.”
An example (given by Wikipedia) is Swift, who in his ‘A Modest Proposal’ suggests that poor Irish parents be encouraged to sell their own children as food.
Of course, Swift did not mean this. He was not demeaning the Irish. He was not actually encouraging them to sell their children as food. So why did he say it? Because he was satirizing the heartlessness of the governing English – and defending the Irish against English callousness.
Tsao, similarly, is satirizing Chinese attitudes, and defending the Philippines.
To any English person who lives in Hong Kong, this is completely obvious. The fact that Tsao carefully points out that his maid is enormously well-educated, is, for instance, an indicator. What blinkered racist would have noticed that his maid was intelligent and well-educated? Yet Tsao, through satire, contrasts the (high) intellectual quality of his Filipina maid, with the (low) intellectual quality of the nationalist persona which he satirically assumes.
Read the text: “Some of my friends told me they have already declared a state of emergency at home. Their maids have been made to shout “China, Madam/Sir” loudly whenever they hear the word ‘Spratly’.
In the popular mis-interpretation Tsao would be reporting fact, he would actually have friends doing these absurd things.
But of course, that is not the case. Hong Kong people do not teach their maids to shout ‘China, Sir!’ whenever they hear the word Spratly. Tsao is satirising nationalist attitudes, by putting in an anecdote which he must have assumed would be immediately recognizable as a piece of mad whimsy, totally incredible and over the top – a satire on unacceptable Chinese attitudes.
Sadly, he didn’t count on his words falling into a context with little live tradition of political satire (whatever may have been the case with the Founding Fathers). A context in which, instead, his words have been interpreted entirely literally. Tsao has said these words! Oh awful, wicked, racially bigoted Tsao! Let us demonstrate against Tsao! The level of anger is high. Commentators on blogs talk of waiting outside Tsao’s apartment to punish him physically.
Yet it is all a misunderstanding. Tsao’s target is Chinese nationalism.
d0d0ng on Thu, 9th Apr 2009 12:28 am
Matthew P on, “The indignation rests on a cultural and linguistic misunderstanding.” “What I do protest against is the idea that his intention was to attack Filipinos, because quite to the contrary, his intention was to defend Filipinos.”
Another sweeping accusations of Filipino misunderstanding -this time blamed on language and culture. It would help Matthew’s POV if he can pinpoint and support in substance that Chip’s Tsao interest is in the Filipinos as opposed to Chinese.
The only misunderstanding here is Matthew’s wild assumption of a patriotic Chinese defending Filipinos.
TonGuE-tWisTeD on Thu, 9th Apr 2009 12:55 am
Satire, written competently, need no explanations.
Angel C. de Dios on Thu, 9th Apr 2009 3:16 am
TonGuE-tWisTeD wrote, “Satire, written competently, need no explanations.”
Please read the book “Satire: Spirit and Art” by George Austin Test (you could preview this on Google Scholar) – The following is a sentence from this book:
“….Perhaps that is because satire in the minds of many people is misunderstood….”
TonGuE-tWisTeD on Thu, 9th Apr 2009 5:13 am
No need to educate me. You may need it more than I do.
Angel C. de Dios on Thu, 9th Apr 2009 9:54 pm
Ken Kamoche of Daily Nation (Kenya) has joined the discussion.
And NY Times Ben Schott has now added “Nation of Servants” to his Vocab.
Alraz on Fri, 10th Apr 2009 9:45 am
Another blogger, unnamed, wrote this different aspect of Chip Tsaos column
http://streetstrategist.blogspot.com/
Besides, language, this piece has some interesting statistics.
Angel C. de Dios on Fri, 10th Apr 2009 8:11 pm
Thank you for sharing the link below:
http://streetstrategist.blogspot.com/
These are much more thoughtful (as opposed to a knee-jerk type) responses, in my opinion.
Was Manuel L. Quezon III insincere with his apology? : reyna elena dot com on Sat, 11th Apr 2009 11:14 pm
[...] telling me a morbidly different thing which Bert is now claiming that I was totally in the dark. Was Manuel L. Quezon III insincere with his apology to me and Donya Victorina? Do they (DJB and Bert) have inside information gotten somewhere, like [...]
ramrod on Sun, 12th Apr 2009 11:28 pm
dodong must not be living in the Philippines, if he is, maybe in Mandaluyong (loob).
How would any decent domestic here and abroad take this uproar in their defence seriously? Lets look at reality here? How much are we paying our domestics locally? slave wages right? how much are the HK domestics being paid? In my opinion, these so called defenders are hypocrites. Can we honsetly say we are treating our domestics better here than abroad? Can we clean up our backyards first before commenting on others’?
On being insensitive to other races? Have you ever been in an elevator with Filipinos and Indians? Almost always you’ll hear snickers from our Pinoys, as if its not obvious that they are poking fun at the unique aroma coming from some armpits, even daring to talk about it in tagalog for all to hear.
Observe a person with polio walking, almost always you’ll see/hear a fellow Filipino make fun of him.
Insecurities are for people with egos small enough for others to step on, thats where the childish tantrums or outcries come in handy. We can take the high road, shake it off, and work harder, work better, smarter, and quietly succeed…do a better job than anyone else to make way for fellow Filipinos…
If we listen to these pretenders/hypocrites, we’ll never mature, as someone pointed out we will always be “a nation of hecklers.”
Deeds count more than words…
ramrod on Sun, 12th Apr 2009 11:32 pm
I believe Manolo was sincere in his apology and this picking on him by another blog should stop. Regardless of what others say about him, I believe he has BALLS, and he stands for what is right.
…unfortunately he is much smarter than some people, is that a fault?
d0d0ng on Tue, 14th Apr 2009 12:00 am
Ramrod on, “Lets look at reality here? How much are we paying our domestics locally? slave wages right? how much are the HK domestics being paid? Can we honsetly say we are treating our domestics better here than abroad? Can we clean up our backyards first before commenting on others?”
Ramrod, you wanted us to look at reality and yet you and others (like http://streetstrategist.blogspot.com/) failed miserably to grasp the economic reality of between Hongkong and Philippines in terms of earnings and so the wide disparity in countries’ ability to pay corresponding wages. In addition, you are imputing that such low scale ability to pay in the Philippines is maltreatment. Perhaps, the treatment is better left at Mandaluyong mental to which you were very familiar with.
The bottomline, economic difficulties in the Philippines is not a reason to fall silent and accept human indignities from a foreign writer. In essence, you believe that a poor person has no human dignity to begin with until he can succeed. It is clearly wrong and lacking maturity either.
d0d0ng on Tue, 14th Apr 2009 12:14 am
below is the excerpt lifted from posting at
http://schott.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/04/09/nation-of-servants/
Starting with James Fallows’ 1987 Atlantic article, “A Damaged Culture,” Filipinos have been thrust (often by their own intellectuals) into a sort of national inferiority complex by the foreign press. These protests were step in the right direction.
As a long-time foreign resident, I am actually quite proud of my adopted countrymen’s refusal to sit back and take it. God bless Pinoy pride.
Weldon McCarty
Manila, Philippines
d0d0ng on Tue, 14th Apr 2009 3:10 am
http://streetstrategist.blogspot.com/
From a Filipino who lived in Hongkong for more than a decade and yet do not understand the disincentive Hongkong policy to set a higher wage minimum for foreign workers. The local protectionist policy is taken literally as protection of foreign workers as opposed to employing its own citizen from mainland China without any minimum requirement.
His “love of satires and hate of hypocrisy” is a better cover to his misguided subservience to a foreign country for its mistaken policy. He described in detail everything wrong with Philippines, subtly speaks his own inferiority complex ready to laugh at his and his own country’s expense.
If that is not enough already, he offered his low self-esteem and self-inflicted injury that “the reason there are no Filipina domestic servants in the US, Canada, Germany, Japan, Switzerland and similar First World countries, is not because the Philippines does not want to export its servants there but because they do not accept Filipinas as servants.” The true reason for not having a Filipina as servants has nothing to do with particular race but there is just no employment petition category for foreign domestic helper.
People start at misconceptions and assumes them as gospel truth.
Diego Jurado on Mon, 7th Sep 2009 6:11 am
I have this Cantonese friend who went to Boracay. Coming back home to HK she posted on facebook: “Back from the Philippines, I’m so dark I look like a maid”.
A couple months after the Philippine trip she went to Thailand. I just had to ask her what she looked like as a result of her Bangkok weekend. “What else but a prostitute”, was her answer. Hilarious. So…what’s worse? None of our Thai friends freaked out about her very public comment, just like I didn’t freak out about her “maid’s tan”.
I’m not in any way defending Tsao but I think it must be pointed out that Pinoys have been reacting so strongly to what he said in one article when the snobbery at home, here in the country, is just as, if not more intense. It’s certainly ubiquitous. I’m sure some of you were discouraged by your parents to be behavioral equals of your household help. Who here wasn’t raised to be more educated, have better table manners, speak better, in general not act like maids? Who here isn’t guilty of ever thinking, “she looks like a maid/he looks like a driver”? Seriously. Does it hurt more when a non-Filipino speaks of our realities?
How about the uproar over that actress who, after filming in the country, commented that Manila was “filthy, polluted, a slum city”. Some of the indignant people were a bunch of my Mom’s friends, upper-class, educated, ersatz aristocrats. Mom and I couldn’t figure out what their problem was. Were they contesting the fact that Manila IS filthy, polluted, and slummy? Can ANYONE deny it? Or were they pissed off because some foreign cunt vocalized these truths? It’s as if this actress (who she is is completely incidental) was violating a gag order by describing the city.
What I think is that we as a people are pathologically melodramatic; it cripples us. So much time and energy are wasted wallowing on shit that at best gives our realities a cheap, trivial, and temporary varnish and at worst keeps us just the way we are. Sinking.
Diego Jurado on Mon, 7th Sep 2009 6:27 am
……as he calls this a country of maids I realize that I and many of my kind grew up in environments that believed and declared “Chino, cochino”. I would really be a hypocrite for thinking he shouldn’t be calling us a country of criadas when I unapologetically and stubbornly believe they’re all cochinos, whether from China, HK, Taiwan, Singapore, Chinatown [insert country here].
If you were brought up in a similar environment you know what I mean. If you weren’t, then you won’t ever understand.
The point is, he’s no worse than me and my people.
Diego Jurado on Mon, 7th Sep 2009 6:40 am
MLQ3 I cringe when I imagine the pressure you must have felt to apologize for that comment you made about Pinoys and their obvious mastery of satire. Too bad you can’t stick to your guns protected by the shield of anonymity.
taxj on Sun, 25th Oct 2009 12:17 pm
If it hurts, it should. If it doesn’t, good for you. If it’s true, be thankful. Love your enemies, they tell you your faults.
If it’s untrue, so what? Does an unjust accusation diminish our stature in anyway? If it does, it should. It shows how fragile we are. I WAS for the ban. Thanks Manolo, and all the other commenters.