Some apologies are more equal than others

http://www.abs-cbnnews.com/storypage.aspx?StoryId=95526

A group of Filipinos and Filipino-Americans is preparing a 500 million-dollar class suit against ABC Network in the United States in response to a slur against Philippine medical schools and Filipino medical professionals, aired in the premiere episode of the fourth season of "Desperate Housewives".

One Filipino lawyer said the class suit is needed to protect the reputation and credibility of Filipino doctors.

“The reputations of doctors are affected, their income is affected and this is a major damage inflicted not only on them but also the universities in the Philippines," said lawyer Ted Laguatan.

According to opthalmologist Tony Villanueva, the slur affects not just Filipinos but all ethnic groups.

NO, god fucking dammit, NO. Let me tell you who this slur affects: just fucking you. I had hoped that we'd already exhausted every possible embarrassing reaction, but it seems Filipinos love beating a dead horse. How can this be anything but a cheap attempt to cash in on a ridiculously trivial misunderstanding? I'm not entirely sure what point they're trying to make.

There's a joke about Filipinos that goes like this: Somewhere in America, a barber started feeling generous one day. He gave a policeman a free haircut, and the next day, he found a dozen doughnuts on his doorstep. He gave a florist the same, and found a dozen roses. Finally, he cut a Filipino's hair for free, and what did he find on his doorstep the next day? A dozen Filipinos.

That joke isn't riffing on Filipino anger so much as it is on Filipino... share-the-weath-mentality, but fuck, that's what it's beginning to seem like now. "Let's all violently overreact to a TV show! Maybe we can get something out of it! Everyone who acts offended is a winner!" Seriously, just because EDSA worked for us twice doesn't mean we have to get all OFF WITH THEIR HEADS whenever someone says something we don't like.

The people who keep pushing this issue say that the apology is not proportionate to the damage done. Tell me: how "proportionate" do these amends have to be, exactly? Let's see:

• "Can I check those diplomas 'coz I just want to make sure that they're not from some med school in the Philippines." -- 22 words
• "The producers of the show and ABC studios offer our sincere apology for any offence caused by the brief reference in the season premier," ANC quoted the statement as saying."There was no intent to disparage the integrity of any aspect of the medical community in the Philippines" -- 47 words

That's more than twice the number of words already. Oh, what's that? It doesn't take into account all the impressionable minds that the episode influenced? I'm sorry to break this to you, but if it wasn't for you, nobody alive today would even remember that line was ever uttered. I realize that Americans like to watch Fox, but they aren't so malleable that they take every little one-liner seriously. Anyone who does probably already had problems with racism prior to the episode.

Let's see what we've done so far in response:

• Proposed a resolution banning the show
• Reprimanded the actress for doing her job
• Filed a multimillion dollar lawsuit
• Written fanfiction that we are asking the crew to film

An absolutely sensible reaction, right? Not at all exaggerated, bloated, or otherwise blown out of proportion.

Anyway, this is the last I'll be writing about Desperate Housewives, unless someone comes up with a way to milk the fuck out of this publicity machine that's so unbelievably new and exciting that it needs to be preserved for posterity.

Edit: Here's a perfectly horrible column written by the guy who made that fanfic. http://globalnation.inquirer.net/mindfeeds/mindfeeds/view_article.php?article_id=93625 SHUTUP SHUTUP SHUTUP