The Filipinos Should NOT feel insulted by Chip Tsao

It is really ironic that a number of Filipinos were offended by Chip Tsao’s article, particularly by the phrase “nation of servants” referring to the Philippines.

If Chip Tsao is racist and so are the majority of the Filipinos! Worse even.

They make fun of the househelps, labeling them “Dong” and “Inday?” Some of these cry babies even created parody website for “Inday.”

They even joked that the plaza is a place only for the “Dongs” and “Indays” and  even cringe when they go to such place.

These double standard Pinoys were already insulting the servants before Chip Tsao did.

Racism and ethnical insult in Manila television and movie, even in born-again Christian churches has been going on unchecked.

Wake up.

9 comments

  1. Depends. if the premise is “we are proud of being servants” then it is ok…. Are you? no matter how you look at it, with how the world works, social strata etc., it is incriminating. you cannot deny that there is a grain of insult in the phrase.

    …Also It is not ironic. Because no matter how you interpret it… whether satirical or not… You have to be stupid not to read between the lines.

    “If Chip Tsao is racist and so are the majority of the Filipinos! Worse even.They make fun of the househelps, labeling them “Dong” and “Inday?” Some of these cry babies even created parody website for “Inday.”They even joked that the plaza is a place only for the “Dongs” and “Indays” and even cringe when they go to such place.These double standard Pinoys were already insulting the servants before Chip Tsao did.”

    …Oh please…. are you serious? (for this comparison) .. it is not double standard dude… it is like mocking yourself to be funny because it is you. so its ok. If you have a close friend who jokes around you..and says that you are fugly..you wont take it against that friend. because you know each other well. But if it comes from a stranger…its totally different…same thing with that ill mannered journalist… who doest know how much we value our OFWs irregardless if they are servants or not. We joke about it …but it doesnt fall under the category “insult”

    And please… dont generalize that Filipinos make fun of househelps…

  2. First question…Are you sure its the majority?…

    Second point… if you don’t get insulted then…that is you. dont expect people will feel the same way. we have different orientations. And just because you feel strong about it, it does not mean it is right. This also applies to how many Filipinos reacted to that Cheap Tsao … there might be a problem…yes…because our history and culture made us inferior. The point is… irregardless if you are inferior or not…his comments… DUH!? insulting

    Football… irrelevant

  3. Football is relevant as far as my opinion is concern.

    Filipinos should not easily get insulted. It’s a negative emotion. If only Filipinos know they’re not inferior, then there’s nothing to get insulted about.

  4. negative comment = negative emotion. it is normal. negative comment = positive emotion … very ideal (hard to be numb) … more like negative comment = graceful reaction… but no matter how numb you are… his comment was never positive and merited a not so positive reaction.

  5. Sunday, March 29, 2009
    Oh No Manolo… The Cat’s Got Your tongue!

    Manuel L. Quezon III recently posted in his Facebook account: “All the crap bout that [HK] columnist comes from pinoys who wouldn’t know satire sarcasm or irony if it slapped them on the face.”

    This post was in reaction to a controversial article which was published in the HK Online website by a certain columnist, Chip Tsao (http://hk-magazine.com/feature/war-home). While Tsao tried to pass the work as “political satire,” it is obviously a discriminatory work done in poor taste. While some people (Manuel L. Quezon III, included) find no offense in Tsao’s article (probably due to a cultural disconnect which is so prevalent in mainstream pinoy culture – I do not have to explain the dichotomy of the oppressed masa vs. the apathetic konyo)… there are those who have enough intelligence and gall to see that Tsao has indeed gone too far.

    Victorina’s very own Kitty Go knows more than a thing or two of how sarcasm really works… Manolo and your apathetic ilk, read on and take notes… perhaps you’ll learn the real difference between sarcasm and plain old prejudice masked by seemingly eloquent English.

    by Kitty Go

    I generally do not respond to other journalists’ work, particularly if they are opinion columns because I would like to think that everyone is entitled to his opinion and I am usually open-minded enough to laugh things off. I love American shock-jock Howard Stern and conservative mouth piece Rush Limbaugh but I find “The War at Home,” a piece in HK Magazine by controversial columnist and media personality Chip Tsao, a lame attempt at humour which some may classify as irony, hyperbole, parody or satire.

    To most people, it is plain bigotry. Badly cloaked in cheap Mong Kok velvet, I have to say.

    As a fashion reporter, I don’t see the need to attack Mr. Tsao for his bad haircut, poor choice of spectacles and a complete look of ‘fashion don’ts.’ I don’t think it’s fair because hard news journalists are generally bad dressers, probably wanting to express through their clothing that ‘there are more pressing issues…” (Like the pressing of their trousers)

    I can see that Mr. Tsao makes an attempt at ridiculing Filipinos the way the British do the French, Americans and practically everyone else. However, it is one thing to make fun of another culture or politics where both parties are AT THE SAME LEVEL and it is another to make fun of someone else’s culture or country BECAUSE YOU CAN and because you know SHE CANNOT DEFEND HERSELF. That is not humour. It is bullying in the playground tradition. But who started this childishness?

    I don’t need to discuss the article’s racist and derogatory tone. As a PURE CHINESE (Hokkien) born and raised in the Philippines, I can understand the Chinese superiority complex but I have also been lucky enough to learn and experience the loyalty, graciousness, friendliness and selflessness of Filipinos AT ALL LEVELS!

    (My issue with most local Hong Kong Chinese is they think that the maids they hire are on auto-pilot and expect them to know what to do on their own. They don’t. Employers have to train maids how to lay a table, how to serve, how to make beds, etc. Clearly, the general local population is not well-bred enough to know this. Anyone who has lived with servants all their lives knows this. If you started at a new office job, wouldn’t you have to be trained, too?)

    Forget about whether the Philippines can or can’t defend the Spratlys against China. They will surely lose. What is uncalled for is when Mr. Tsao writes, “The reason: there are more than 130,000 Filipina maids working as $3,580-a-month cheap labor in Hong Kong. As a nation of servants, you don’t flex your muscles at your master, from whom you earn most of your bread and butter.”

    In case Mr. Tsao has failed to read his domestic helper’s contract (or perhaps is NOT following it), the minimum wage is HKD 3,750. I have two helpers who take care of two dogs (from the Philippines, of course!) who make so much more than the minimum. It’s the least we can do for people who leave their families behind to work for us in a foreign country. They each get two vacations a year, no interest loans, a birthday bonus, Christmas bonus plus party and Chinese New Year bonus. Does Louisa get that?

    Who said anything about your helper ‘flexing your muscle at your master?’ (Master?? Like me and my dog?? Or like me and a genie who will grant me three wishes??) Why include your domestic helper in an issue that doesn’t concern her and which she can’t do anything about? The Spratly issue in no way affects her life. If the Spratly’s sank like Atlantis she wouldn’t care because she’s still be working for Mr. Tsao or better yet, for another employer.

    Mr. Tsao writes, “I….hung a map on the wall, and gave her a harsh lecture. I sternly warned her that if she wants her wages increased next year, she had better tell every one of her compatriots in Statue Square on Sunday that the entirety of the Spratly Islands belongs to China….I told her that if war breaks out between the Philippines and China, I would have to end her employment and send her straight home, because I would not risk the crime of treason for sponsoring an enemy of the state by paying her to wash my toilet and clean my windows 16 hours a day. With that money, she would pay taxes to her government, and they would fund a navy to invade our motherland and deeply hurt my feelings.”

    Since you and Louisa studied the map (was it one made in the last 50 years?), you would have noticed that the Spratlys is closer to the Philippines than to China. One of my Filipino friends told her household staff that if they voted Joseph Estrada for President, they will not get a raise. At least, the choice of president does affect the state of a nation. (Look what happened there) But like I mentioned earlier, the Spratlys have nothing to do with our helpers. If Mr. Tsao told her he would not increase her wages if she voted for employers having to pay for medical insurance that would be more up her street.

    …And another thing which you (again!) may not have noticed in the contract. Louisa is supposed to only work 12 hours a day. Why is she working 16?? Hello, department of labor! Aside from ending her employment at the risk of treason, Mr. Tsao also mentions ‘holding the helpers hostage.’ Remember what happened when the Mexicans stopped working for a day in California? Hong Kong became what it is because we are allowed to employ domestic staff for very little money compared to other first world cities. This inexpensive luxury that we live with everyday has helped make Hong Kong into the financial powerhouse that it is. The least we can do is treat our staff humanely and not include them (or worse, insult them) on issues that do not affect their lives.

    They have enough problems such as working for people like Chip Tsao.

    At kay Louisa—-I-lason mo na yung amo mo! Saan ang Dora rat killer???

  6. After seriously reading Kitty Go’s opinion , I like the Dora rat killer part, nasty LOL.

    I think Chip Tsao’s residence in the mid-levels of Hong Kong is a few MTR stations away from my flat, I wonder what he looks like in personal.

    Word of Chip’s article has reached the DH community with a buzz.

    Sen. Golez challenged Chippy in a boxing contest for 1 round. What if Chip told Golez to fight in an essay writing contest instead?

  7. Filipinos complain about being labeled as househelpers, maid, seamen etc y other nationalities… but when co-Filipinos label IPs as some form lessr than that of humans and these people react(even diplomatically), they say they’re OA.

    What’s wrong with being a maid? Who was that Miss Philippines representative who said she took no offense associating maid to being Filipina but took offense if ever a maid would be thought as a lower form of human being?

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