Less talk this time.
See and listen for yourselves. I promise you, you won't ever regret having spared a few minutes listening to Susan.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RxPZh4AnWyk
Thursday, April 16, 2009
Wednesday, April 01, 2009
On Chip Tsao, Filipinos, and the Supposedly Intelligent
For a few days already, Chip Tsao, author of the article "The War at Home," on the online edition of HK Magazine, has been a regular of local TV and broadsheets. Even on the net, he is famous. Filipinos here and abroad have lambasted him because of what he has written on the said article.
The first time I read the article was after he was on TV. Curious about the whole bruhaha, I decided to see for myself.
What I found was nothing but an article that basically hits on what may already be obvious, and adding a little exageration here and there.
I can actually understand the feelings of Filipinos who may have been hurt by what Chip has written. But to be bombarded by news about those who I was hoping to be intelligent enough to understand the difference between what was purely done just to insult and what was supposed to be plain satire makes me think that maybe this country's education system has actually going down the drain.
For sure, one may have heard already of a senator or a congressman with threats against Chip. Them who are in power are supposed to be intelligent. But the issue against Chip made me realize that while some or many of those who are in public office may have been to prestigious universities and colleges and even passed with flying colors, there is no guarantee that they could actually be intelligent enough to differentiate what is satirical and malice-intended.
For one, even if any whole nation agrees on something, that does not make it a fact.
Second, maybe Pinoys are too fond of jokes that we all hear and see on TV sitcoms and the like that we fail to realize that there are other ways in the telling of jokes.
Look, Chip is a whole lot different than Malou Fernandez. Malou was downright insulting.
But in fairness to us Filipinos, maybe Chip has forgotten that humor, too, aside from other things, is culture based, meaning, what others in another country may find to be funny can be received otherwise in another location.
This whole anti-Chip, anti-Filipino bruhaha made me remember what Qui Gon Jin once told the young Anakin Skywalker: it doesn't matter what others say about you, and whatever they say should not affect you, for what matters the most is the truth in your heart.
The first time I read the article was after he was on TV. Curious about the whole bruhaha, I decided to see for myself.
What I found was nothing but an article that basically hits on what may already be obvious, and adding a little exageration here and there.
I can actually understand the feelings of Filipinos who may have been hurt by what Chip has written. But to be bombarded by news about those who I was hoping to be intelligent enough to understand the difference between what was purely done just to insult and what was supposed to be plain satire makes me think that maybe this country's education system has actually going down the drain.
For sure, one may have heard already of a senator or a congressman with threats against Chip. Them who are in power are supposed to be intelligent. But the issue against Chip made me realize that while some or many of those who are in public office may have been to prestigious universities and colleges and even passed with flying colors, there is no guarantee that they could actually be intelligent enough to differentiate what is satirical and malice-intended.
For one, even if any whole nation agrees on something, that does not make it a fact.
Second, maybe Pinoys are too fond of jokes that we all hear and see on TV sitcoms and the like that we fail to realize that there are other ways in the telling of jokes.
Look, Chip is a whole lot different than Malou Fernandez. Malou was downright insulting.
But in fairness to us Filipinos, maybe Chip has forgotten that humor, too, aside from other things, is culture based, meaning, what others in another country may find to be funny can be received otherwise in another location.
This whole anti-Chip, anti-Filipino bruhaha made me remember what Qui Gon Jin once told the young Anakin Skywalker: it doesn't matter what others say about you, and whatever they say should not affect you, for what matters the most is the truth in your heart.
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