I have written before about the sensitivity of Filipinos to slurs, imagined or real, and the perception that Filipinos are “looked down on” by the rest of the world. So when I heard on Wednesday night that a character in the TV show “Desperate Housewives” had made a remark maligning Philippine medical schools I expected a fuss.
Here is the comment that caused the hullabaloo. During a medical consultation a character in the show says:
"Can I check those diplomas because I want to make sure that they're not from some med school in the Philippines?"
The Philippine government in the person of executive secretary Eduardo Ermita felt compelled to demand an apology for the remark, nicely illustrating the national persecution complex.
"On the face, we can look at it as a racial slur. We are looked down upon too much, considering the number of our medical professionals in the U.S."
ABC Studios and the producers of the show duly issued an apology, perhaps feeling that this would put an end to the controversy. However, the righteous anger was not quelled:
A broad alliance of Filipino-American groups said it wanted the TV network to take concrete steps to correct its mistake, such as holding cultural sensitivity and diversity awareness training for its management and staff.
Needless to say, there was also political capital to be mined from the comment:
Manila Rep. Bienvenido Abante, chair of the House committee on public information, said the popular TV series should be banned from the Philippines’ free and cable TV … “[The slur] affects not only Filipino doctors but all Filipinos as well,” he told reporters.
Foreigners should tread this minefield with extreme care. Nevertheless, three thoughts occurred to me after reading last week’s furious comments.
1. Desperate Housewives is a work of fiction. The offending line was not spoken by a government official, a columnist for People Asia, or indeed by a real person at all. It was uttered by “Susan Mayer” a character in a satirical TV show. In the book I’m reading at the moment, characters make comments that are grossly insulting to the French, to women, and to poor people, but these reflect on the characters who make them, not on the groups being maligned. If we are to restrict writers from portraying prejudices, if we are to force them instead to attend “cultural sensitivity and diversity awareness training”, TV studios may make politically correct shows but I doubt whether they will have too many viewers.
2. I wonder whether I am the only one to wonder about the sense of proportion in the reactions to the remark. Did it really require the time of the Philippine Ambassador and Consul General writing letters? There are times when you have to fight your corner, but there are also times when the best approach is to laugh something off.
3. This is not strictly on point, since the Desperate Housewives comment was about doctors rather than nurses, but the disastrous handling of last year’s nursing exams in the Philippines does have some relevance here, or so it seems to me. Given that answers to questions in last year’s nursing exam had been widely leaked, instead of taking the only possible route to correcting the fraud (re-taking the exam, with apologies to innocent students) the government allowed the tarnished results to stand. As a result, nurses are practicing simply because they purchased the answers to exam questions. Should we therefore be surprised at the international perception of Philippine educational qualifications portrayed in Desperate Housewives?
Reminds me of the story where the moviegoers in Mindanao would shoot at the movie screen just to help FPJ take out the bad guys.
Posted by: cvj | October 07, 2007 at 07:00 PM
Ha ha ha! CVJ, if that's true that's hilarious.
Have to admit though, at first I thought it was bad but then as Torn says, there are politically incorrect people and we shouldn't restrict writers and pretend they don't exist. It was a fictional character that said it.
Posted by: frayed | October 07, 2007 at 08:17 PM
waste of time, laway, blood, tears, and email space (I keep getting those stupid petitions against DH and the follow up Daily Show slur against Cory Aquino).
Why is it people can "unite" against the stupidest excuses (the Malu Fernandez fracas, these two things) but can't work together to fix bigger problems? Or does attacking these issues make certain people feel powerful?
Posted by: Mila | October 08, 2007 at 01:22 AM
Good point, Mila. People all of a sudden are really vigilant and passionate about stupid things like this -- all the other legit injustices (extrajudicial killings, etc.), silence. Depressing. Even more ridiculous, I read that some celebrity politician (not named) wants the ACTRESS Teri Hatcher to apologize. Pathetic.
Posted by: frayed | October 08, 2007 at 02:05 AM
The sad thing is, the issue got much more divisive than it needed to be. Filipino bloggers have been fighting over it way more than it's worth fighting over.
Posted by: Jon Limjap | October 08, 2007 at 03:02 AM
As Torn says, foreigners have to tip-toe carefully here, but I can't help making a connection between the preposterous reaction to Desperate Housewives (100,000 protest signatures and counting) and the equally ludicrous way Jasmine Trias was adopted as the pinnacle of Philippine achievement after finishing third in American Idol.
The Philippines is an exceptional country with so much to be genuinely proud of and so many problems to be addressed, so why does so much energy get wasted on trivial issues?
Why do so many people feel threatened by a 10-second throwaway line on an American TV show? And why, in the case of Trias, was so much national pride invested in a young American woman who probably couldn't find the Philippines on a map?
Another example of squandered time and energy is the icon status accorded Manny Pacquiao, who seems to make a handsome living by beating the same couple of Mexican fighters, and who, outside the ring, is . . . well, let's say he doesn't seem to represent all that is good about the Philippines.
It's all so absurd and, for a foreigner, completely baffling. It seems almost as if Philippine self-esteem is about as brittle as lechon skin.
Forget Desperate Housewives. Wish Jasmine Trias good luck in her home state of Hawaii. And treat Manny Pacquiao as someone who should be on the back page of the paper and not the front. And then concentrate on the stuff that really needs attention.
Posted by: Cogs | October 08, 2007 at 09:52 PM
I am of Irish descent and I take offence whenever the media portrays Irish as drunkards. I'm starting a petition too - as soon as I sober up enough to write it. Then I'm off to the pub to collect signatures!
Posted by: Sili | October 11, 2007 at 04:21 AM
Quite, I'd be happy to sign your petition, but being Scottish I've costed my time and I feel I would get higher returns elsewhere. Good luck with it anyway (you old soak).
Posted by: torn | October 11, 2007 at 05:13 AM
Sili -- Just realized it was you who mentioned Exile on Mainstreet in an earlier comment -- yes, it's not a record to return to too often, but it always sounds wonderful when you do. Sticky Fingers is my other favourite.
Posted by: torn | October 11, 2007 at 05:20 AM
Those 2 and Let It Bleed. I listen to more jazz these days - got a bunch of Monk, Dolphy, Brotzmann, Steve Lacy, etc with me this trip. However, some moods only Exile will do. It was under such a one that I accidently discovered your fine and finely named blog.
Posted by: Sili | October 11, 2007 at 05:51 AM
"
There was a time in Europe when a single insult could result into a serious duel as to "save" one's honor.
Europeans have wisened up since then. Filipinos will eventually get there ... in about 200 years?
Posted by: Acda | October 07, 2007 at 08:47 PM"
Yeah, they wisened up by dishing less insults. Americans could take heed.
Posted by: banjo | October 13, 2007 at 05:59 PM
Hello, Torn, I posted my response to this post in my blog.
Posted by: amateur misanthrope | October 14, 2007 at 01:04 PM