Filipinos as Moral Beacons Part II and an inquiry into Stupidity

Part 1 is here :

Here We Go Again Filipinos Moral Beacons of the World

I decided to write the Inquirer since they also covered this story. Thankfully there has been nothing since in the news. I slightly altered my original post to you guys in hopes of getting posted in the Inquirer . Does not matter, Inquirer wants Strong Views well they got it from me. Like I said before Naive Nationalism. Looking at the video, I agree she looks stupid but hello, that is a comedy show. That is a every minute on the minute occurrence in Eat Bulaga. And nobody protests that. Like no Filipina on Philippine soil gyrates ? Yeah, it's like Elvis on Ed Sullivan here. Once again, when our low brow , low IQ shows cease to attract viewers and get cancelled then I will be in the head of line to protest others. Stupidity is usually a staple of comedy. Filipinas act worse in our shores and airwaves, stick them abroad in a different context and we are shocked???

One of the complaints is that the maid was made to look stupid. The guy in question appeared to be more stupid as well as sterile. I have to admit though the maid appeared to be willing yet docile. Here is what's infinitely more interesting. Keep watching (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FL9KrTGx28E ) and you will see them 3 seconds into the next skit making fun of the "dumb American". Like I mentioned in the letter to the Inquirer. If the maid was French, would we be laughing at the French for marching on the BBC?

Here are my thoughts on stupidity:

a) dictionary.com defines "stupid" as

1.	lacking ordinary quickness and keenness of mind; dull.

2.	characterized by or proceeding from mental dullness; foolish; senseless: a stupid question.

3.	tediously dull, esp. due to lack of meaning or sense; inane; pointless: a stupid party.

4.	annoying or irritating; troublesome: Turn off that stupid radio. 5. in a state of stupor; stupefied: stupid from fatigue.

definition #1 truly fit the tall guy in the skit more appropriately than the Flipina maid. Should all tall caucasian guys with puffed hair begin legal action?

b) Not sure about you guys but stupidity is a prerequisite of just about any comedy: Seinfeld, Fish Called Wanda, Newhart, Ferris Bueller's Day Off , Some Like It Hot, Young Frankenstein, This is Spinal Tap, Monty Python, Weird Al, Marx Brother's movies. All require a certain deficit of logic and reason and that resulting gap is what we laugh at.

There is this scene from Borat where he tries to learn American humor. You can see it here,

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ri11MJYJCec

His misuse of the concepts of comedy ironically provides more comedy.

c) Sometimes there is brilliance in stupidity. The whole appeal of Beavis and Butthead is that here are two guys who are uncompromisingly stupid yet somehow exist in the "normal" world. It's that contrast that provides the comedy.

d) Sometimes there is subtlety in stupidity. As overt as some of the comedy in Spinal Tap was, there were many subtle moments that only come out during repeated viewings. Requires a sharper ear to pick up on them. Jokes like Boston not being a college town or the band not really wanting a glove for the album cover.

e) Forrest Gump famously said "stupid is as stupid does. " The character did not have an ounce of deceit or malice and was misinterpreted by some as "stupid". Yet he always got to the truth of the matter.

f) Stupidity in and of itself is not a crime. People have made careers out of exploiting their stupidity. Don't make me generate a list. So the argument that "she looked stupid" does not hold water with me. You don't want to see people portrayed in an imbecilic fashion then don't watch comedies. As an ex Canadian resident, I can tell you that British Comedy can be as cutting as a buzz saw through Jello. In other words, not for the faint of heart. There are smart , well behaved Filipina maids in the world. I know some of them. Just don't expect them to pop up in the Harry and Paul show. If Benny Hill were alive and doing his show today I am almost sure he would do similar situations. He was not known for his political correctness, Come to think of it, neither is our country. Remind me of a phrase from the Bible "

"Or how can you say to your brother, 'Brother, let me take out the speck that is in your eye,' when you yourself do not see the log that is in your own eye? You hypocrite, first take the log out of your own eye, and then you will see clearly to take out the speck that is in your brother's eye."

I quote the above passage because unless I missed something, we have not achieved feminist utopia in the Philippines. Demanding an apology is sillier than the skit itself. Instead my three part look into this episode of "International Relations" should be required reading for the entire DFA of the Philippines in London. Instead of legal action and pelting the BBC with rocks and garbage, let's take this opportunity to look within. To ask questions. To not accept things at their face value. My one tip is remove the emotion and see analyze what's left. It will save our tax payer pesos and is ultimately cheaper than lobbying for "damages". A broader more realistic take on an issue in the end is not stupid.

Ed

I will compose the third chapter the inquiry into Symbolism at a future time.

I will close off this chapter with what else? Frank Sinatra and his daughter Nancy with the Laughing Face singing "Something Stupid".

Ed

opinion@inquirer.com.ph

In response to your story "BBC apology demanded for ‘racist’ show " and
BBC producers defiant over racist slur

Don't our government officials have something better to do? Like work? It's bad enough the ones here don't get much done and always have to be investigated for charges, the ones abroad define this silly protest as productive. I have a lot to say on the topic but we should look at ourselves first and what we allow on our TV and on our tourists spots before cry foul about a TV comedy show.

What I feel are relevant questions:

If they had they had the exact same skit with a French woman with a French accent in a French maid outfit would we find the French silly for protesting? Would the Inquirer consider that a "racist slur"?

Do other races protest that show over their brand of comedy?

What exactly is the Philippines known internationally for when single men take tours here?

Are we saying by our protest that Filipinas have to be abroad to be degraded?

"legal action"

??? - foreigners leave our low brow comedy shows alone, we should do the same to theirs.

Are you implying that people who watch this show might be influenced to get involved in human trafficking ? That they are taking their moral cues from a British comedy?

Who the heck will base their perception on academic institutions on a throw away joke from a sitcom? Ethnic/ Multicultural jokes have been around since the beginning of time. It may not be right but this is not an isolated case

The more vehemently this is protested , the more attention this gets. If nobody made an issue out of it in the first place, then a tiny fraction of people would have even been aware something like that was said. Putting out fire with gasoline I say.

By protesting all this are we telling the BBC , "

please , we beg of you look at our noon time and prime time network shows to see how proper comedy and taste should be done!!"? We in the Philippines have the monopoly of virtue, culture, taste and class? In case there are similar situations like that in our airwaves an we dispatch the Department of Local Affairs on them?

Show me a perfect Filipino culture and society then maybe I can support going after a different culture that is not as perfect as us.

Eric Clapton (who will always be a British Blues Man to me) has a song which says "Before you accuse me, take a look at yourself" . He may as well have sang that to us in the Araneta Coliseum when he was here in 1979.

As long as Wowowwee and Eat Bulaga still attract sponsors and very willing studio audiences, I don't want to hear any Filipinos complain about how some country portrays us badly. We can manage by ourselves in our own soil in that department, thank you very much.

Ed Lopez

Originally posted here

http://edrlopez.blogspot.com/2008/10/here-we-go-again-filipinos-moral.html

http://edrlopez.blogspot.com/2007/10/desperate-hook-line-sinker.html

http://globalnation.inquirer.net/news/breakingnews/view/20081006-164875/BBC-apology-demanded-for-racist-show

MANILA, Philippines -- The British Broadcasting Company (BBC) should apologize for airing a segment of a comedy show last month that was a "racist, humiliating, and disgusting" portrayal of a Filipina domestic helper, a lawmaker at the House of Representatives demanded Monday.

Akbayan partylist Representative Risa Hontiveros also asked the Department of Foreign Affairs to file a complaint against the British government so that the latter would "look into the issue and correct the sickening joke."

Hontiveros was referring to a skit shown on "Harry and Paul" aired on BBC on September 26 that was also posted on
youtube at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FL9KrTGx28E.

In the skit, a postman approached comedian Harry Enfield, who was agitated and was shouting at someone, and asked him what was going on.
It turned out that the co-host Paul Whitehouse was seated on a chair on his lawn and beside him was a gyrating young girl in a grey uniform and an apron.

Harry then told the postman that he was shouting at his Filipino maid to do her job and get his friend Paul to mate with her.

He kept ordering the girl to gyrate and dance in front of Paul and even instructed her to "hump him." When an indifferent Paul stood up to go inside the house, Harry scolded the Filipina telling her to get out.

The scene ended with the postman sidling up to the Filipina and whispering to her as they walked off together.

"It was revolting. It was a disgusting and insensitive and racist attempt to satirize a scene of exploitation," Hontiveros said.

She added that the show "trivializes an act of abuse commonly experienced by Filipina workers abroad."

"This has to be corrected, otherwise, it would become easy for other media outfits to use Filipina workers abroad as an object of sexual ridicule. …The media should be a partner against human trafficking and not an unwitting promoter of abuse because of insensitive and racist portrayals of women in trafficking," she said.

http://globalnation.inquirer.net/news/breakingnews/view/20081006-164875/BBC-apology-demanded-for-racist-show