Tuesday, March 31, 2009

HK Magazine Apologizes for Calling RP a Nation of Slaves



photo from coloria

After the Hong Kong columnist Chip Tsao's anti-racial remarks published on HK Magazine Online last March 27, publishers and editors asked for an apology from the Philippine government while the said article could not anymore be viewed.

Tsao's strong assertion that the disputed Spratly Islands belong to China and that the Red Republic has total sovereignty on it boiled down to his stupid line of argumentation which is totally moronic and unbecoming for a respected columnist.

He went to say that he summoned his Filipina maid Louisa who has a degree in international politics from the University of Manila and told her that if she wants a salary increase, she needs to tell her follow maids that Spratlys belongs to none but China.

He continued that "As a nation of servants, you don’t flex your muscles at your master, from whom you earn most of your bread and butter". And there sparked the uproar from Filipinos who fight for the welfare and good of domestic helpers, NGOs, politicians who want to look good in front of the camera and politicians who aspire for re-electtions and the presidency.

There is no doubt that the remarks of this unrepentant columnist from Hong Kong hits the Filipino ego and identity. His flawed argumentation and justification that Spratlys is China's domain is nothing but a show of sheer arrogance and bullying to a small and silent nation south of their vast country.

However, his remarks also send a clear message of indeed, what identity the Filipino nation has built in the past decades.

The exodus of millions of Filipinos since the American occupation to look for greener pastures is nothing but a stark indication of our domestic affairs and directions. Governments since then, especially of the present administration has done nothing to stop our fellow Pinoys from creating more broken homes but has since then even pushed many of us to leave by thousands and maybe even millions and be given a big joke as New-day Heroes.

I cannot blame Filipinos who are leaving to give their families better lives, however, if you ask them if they only have a chance not to leave and only be given good job opportunities in the country, their answer is a clear yes. Leaving our families for some bigger pay on foreign lands is totally outside the spectre of our identity as Filipinos who value family life more than anything else. Being an OFW almost always simply means disenchantment and desperation in our own country plagued by corruption and poverty; the thriving few rich men and millions of poor men, women and children.

This incident mirrors the chronic illness that our country is presently suffering. It mirrors the failure of our governments to provide us the very basic things that we need and their failure to perform their jobs as elected leaders, that we are looking for it on some lands and governments.

It may be a knee-jerk reaction but at the end of the day, politicians will just point on who is to blame and maybe even use jargons to hide the ugly reality of poverty and corruption in our nation. At the end of the day, they will only blame everyone else except themselves who have ransacked the wealth of our country and preserved the long been enslavement of the average Pinoy.

Looking a the issue at face value, Tsao has no right to call us a nation of slaves but on a deeper examination, the truth is a saddening affirmation that we are indeed a nation living under a constant enslavement of our own making. We have left our nation, through the apathy of many of us the direction and future of our nation solely on the hands of our incompetent and corrupt leaders. We conspired with our perpetrators to enslaved us and maybe even the generations that would come after us, by our silence.

We are enslaved by poverty, illiteracy and corruption. And now, we are very angry at someone calling us a nation of slaves. Sad to say, this is typical of us; we are angry at our neighbor saying some nasty things about our families but we have condoned our own family members to do the very things our neighbors are telling us.

Sad to say, at the end of the day, maybe the unrepentant Tsao is just but right.


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19 comments:

johnlazy said...

I dont think RP is a nation of slaves kasi mayabang ang pilipino eh. I think ang hongkong ang country na slave because they are under british for a long time bago sila lumaya. Take care brother!

brixxx said...

@johnlazy: Your comment made me smile. Maybe that is one character that we have as Pinoys, we seem to display some inflated egos at times. LOL


That is why we react this way towards that slur?

ek manalaysay said...

i must admit that i was truly hurt with what chip tsao's have written.. but then again, i was only reading only the context but not the whole article itself or what tsao really meant when he wrote that... maybe there was a hidden message... it's like reading between the lines... and oh... so i just let my grudge towards him to be faded by work...

maybe i'm just having an onion skin like most filipinos who were hurt by this article... just like what they said, people are created differently with different manners, characteristics and beliefs... what he really maybe true or just a form of a joke... and oh, i heard tsao is an award winning author... who knows... he must have been probably joking... but then again, jokes are half meant! nobody can really tell what's inside tsao's mind...

ek manalaysay said...

and oh, i forgot... i already linked you! =P

Jan said...

"...Tsao has no right to call us a nation of slaves but on a deeper examination, the truth is a saddening affirmation that we are indeed a nation living under a constant enslavement of our own making."

Amen. I couldn't agree more, Elmot. Well said.

Pero wag lang magpakita yan Tsao nayan sa akin at baka mahampas ko yan ng palapa ng niyog no. Aba, aba... lol

fifi said...

i read about this at pep. if i were an outsider (not a pinoy), i would have enjoyed his sharp and biting article. maybe we are too angry because we know that it is laced with truth. i hate that our government officials, instead of addressing the real issue of massive unemployment and the diaspora of filipino migrant workers, resorted to attacking tsao's personality in writing the article instead. we really do have penchant of shooting the messenger when the message seethes through the marrow of our identity as filipinos. i hate tsao and the facet of truth he would like us to face.

brixxx said...

@yatot: actually tsao said it was a satire...and being one, his article could be interpreted in so many ways, but filipinos as we are, we are good at taunting other people and giving them some crazy monickers but we are also "pikon".

and one maybe also is that, satire esp political satire is not that known here in our country.

brixxx said...

@jan: ahaha! jan, you are now freaking out...LOL

parang yung lola ko nung araw, namamalo hindi naman ng palapa ng niyog, ng ting ting lang, LOL

keep your cool bro.

brixxx said...

@ fifi: thanks for visiting my site, you are always welcome here.

i agree with you, and they only good at that. shooting the messanger with his own bullets, i just hope that those bullets are like boomerangs.

but at the end of the day, i just hope that we all learn our lesson about all these political nutheads. they point their pointer finger to tsao but four fingers are actually pointing at the culprit.

thanks for post fifi :D

Jan said...

I'm not freaking out. I'm a proponent of non-violence. Kaya nga palapa ng niyog ipanghahampas ko eh. I'd have a hard time looking for one. Nag check in na sa airport si Tsao saka pa lang me darating. hahaha.

Re: How to make readers check back to see the replies to their comments, I have a suggestion. Takes a lot of work - but do Jaypee's style. When he replies on your comment, he emails you a copy of his reply to your comment. That reminds you of the comment you left on his site right? Di ba, most of the time you return to continue the conversation, especially if it's an interesting one? I don't know of other ways though. Except of course for the old fashioned bribery. lol

brixxx said...

@ jan: takot na nga yatang magpunta sa galera si tsao at binantaan mo..ehehe!

thanks for the input jan, but unlike that jaypee and all those who are working on a WP platform, they have automatic plugins that could be used to email commenters...unfortunately blogger does not have that platform, so it is all on the commenter if he/she wants to receive an email notification...

now you are once again tempting me by using bribery...ehehhe just a joke bro! (santino) LOL! :D

bingkee said...

Well said Elmot. It's sad but apparently there is truth in it. That we are known all over the world as "servants" . It is because we have no choice.

karot said...

para kay chip tsao binigyan nia ng ultimatum ung mga mahihirap ng nag wowork as DH sa hongkong eh..pero
pati buong pilipino sinagasaan nia.
which is wrong..pano nmn ung mga may pinag aralan?sus lalong kalokohan ung sinasabi niang DH nia na grad kamo sa UP!tpos ssbhn nia patungkol sa spratly ung tinutukoy nia!!

cheh said...

Masakit kasi minsan ang katotohanan pero dapat din turuan ng etiketa yan si tsao! Salamat sa pagdaan kapatid!

brixxx said...

@ bingkee: hi ate bingks! indeed, we have no choice, or most people..for the very system that should have been providing us with opportunities and choices for a better life has failed miserably.

brixxx said...

@ karot: high blood, hahah lol! yun nga yung sabi ko..if he wants to argue and establish his point that spratlys is under the total ownership of china, he should have just made his arguments within that...

and he should have included other claimants like taiwan, malaysia...

brixxx said...

@cheh: for sure he has learned his lesson now..

but i want also to ask, have we also learned our lesson as a nation? hmmm/....

Holly Jahangiri said...

Blogger usually notifies me when there are more comments on a post I've commented on...

It seems to me that "servant" isn't a bad thing, per say (though "slave" implies victimization and lack of choice). Christians talk of being "servants" to all. We should all "serve" one another, when we can. And jobs with "servant" as part of the title are usually necessary and valuable. But never mind this. It also seems to me that the wise man does not INSULT his servants, unless he wants to find spit in his eggs, dog feces used as shoe polish, or sudden problems with his car.

"We are enslaved by poverty, illiteracy and corruption. And now, we are very angry at someone calling us a nation of slaves. Sad to say, this is typical of us; we are angry at our neighbor saying some nasty things about our families but we have condoned our own family members to do the very things our neighbors are telling us."

There's the thing - having a "slave mentality" is not good. It implies helplessness and docility, and acceptance of an unacceptable status quo. Recognizing that we have a responsibility (perhaps to BETTER "serve" one another though improved education, literacy programs, and better ethics) is a good start. When we stop blaming "the man" or "the government" or whoever else is perceived to be holding us back, keeping us down, or preventing us from succeeding, we're truly free - whether we WORK as "servants" or not.

brixxx said...

@holly: what is quite difficult here in our country is that we as a people is quite sensitive. we are slow to get criticisms and are not yet ready with satires. that is why i just hate the fact that government officials are so easy to condemn tsao but have forgotten to their oath of office on uplifting the lives of the poor.

it would have been ok for me to rest success and the dream of a better life on the shoulders of each and individual filipino if not on the glaring truth that what we are toiling so hard are given back to us instead of being taken from us by our politicians through massive graft and corruption.

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