Filipinos Denigrated on ABC's Desperate Housewives

[a4Tech]

From: "Kevin Nadal"
Date: Mon, 1 Oct 2007 16:46:25 -0400
Subject: [FYP-NYC] Filipinos Denigrated on ABC's Desperate Housewives

Dear Kababayan and Allies:

I heard through the grapevine about a remark made on an episode of
"Desperate Housewives" last night. The scene entailed Teri Hatcher's
character (Susan) at a hospital, being told by her gynecologist that
she might be hitting menopause. Susan replied, "Can I just check
those diplomas because I just want to make sure that they are not from some med school in the Philippines. " If you go to abc.com, you watch the
full episode and witness the scene at about 18:50 minutes into the
episode.

This type of derogatory remark is not only unnecessary and hurtful,
but is also unfounded, considering the presence of Filipinos and
Filipino Americans in the health care industry. Filipinos are the
second largest immigrant population in the United States, with many
entering the U.S. and passing their U.S. licensing boards as doctors,
nurses, and medical technicians. In fact, the Philippines produces
more U.S. nurses than any other country in the world. So, to belittle
the education, experience, or value of Filipino Americans in health
care is disrespectful and plain and simply ignorant.

As Filipino Americans, we need to band together to ensure that this
type of hateful message is not allowed to continue on our television
and radio airwaves. Given the recent amounts of media attention that
has been given to Michael Richards (against African Americans),
Isaiah Washington (against gays), and Rosie O'Donnell (against Asian/
Chinese Americans), it is ridiculous that this type of hateful speech made it
through various screenwriters, the show's producers, the show's
actors, and ABC itself. Yet, this isn't the first time that negative
remarks have been made about the Philippines or Filipinos in the
past. In recent years, we've heard one too many "dogeater" comments by
"comedian" Joan Rivers on the red carpet or in her standup act, and I
believe that it is about time that we stand up for ourselves, so that
this type of hateful speech never happens again.

Please join me in expressing your concern, disappointment, and/or
disgust to the producers of ABC.com. You can sign the petition at
http://www.petition online.com/ FilABC/ or you can reach them directly
abc7*abc.com.

And please feel free to forward this widely to other Filipinos/
Filipino Americans/ Asian Americans/ and other allies.


Sincerely,

Kevin Nadal,
Filipino Performance Artist/ Activist
knadal*gmail. com

I guess this is an effect of the alleged cheating of the nursing board
exam last year....

[Stoner]

If that's the case, then I don't get it.

The cheating is just ONE case that damaged the reputation of Filipino nurses. Unless there have been countless other cases that marred medical professionals from the Philippines, the notion is unfounded.

Feeling ko that's what they wrote because there are a lot of graduates here going to the US to work as nurses, so naging sobrang common ang Filipino in their hospitals. The show's writers must be running out of ideas na. Trying hard to be witty with the lines... but failing to do so...

[oldblue]

may new season na pala.

[suv]

Wag na kasi kayo manuod nyan.

Bakit nyo kasi pinapanuod yung mga Matrona na malilibog. Kagaya din na *** and City yan. Isang panuod ko pa lang hindi na ako ulit nanuod

Mag House MD na lang kayo

[drey]

Wag na kasi kayo manuod nyan.

Bakit nyo kasi pinapanuod yung mga Matrona na malilibog. Kagaya din na *** and City yan. Isang panuod ko pa lang hindi na ako ulit nanuod

Mag House MD na lang kayo

+1 O kaya mag asian nobela nalang kau.

[dopamine101]

boycott that thing!

[VtEC]

just ignore the scene.there's nothing we can do about it.as along as you know what you are doing and what you are doing is right, we will be fine.

[empy]

i will bet money that 99% of Americans have no clue about any alleged nursing board cheating in the Philippines.

there's always comments of this type going around. some are funny, some are not. i won't get worked up about a one-liner in a sitcom no matter what it says...if you watch enough US TV you'll see that lahat ng cultures/nationalities tinitira nila. it's just the way it is.

i'll let Kevin Nadal sit at home with his Tivo and try to play back every TV show where some joke was made at Filipinos' expense. i have better things to do.

[jeffrocks]

i will bet money that 99% of Americans have no clue about any alleged nursing board cheating in the Philippines.

there's always comments of this type going around. some are funny, some are not. i won't get worked up about a one-liner in a sitcom no matter what it says...if you watch enough US TV you'll see that lahat ng cultures/nationalities tinitira nila. it's just the way it is.

i'll let Kevin Nadal sit at home with his Tivo and try to play back every TV show where some joke was made at Filipinos' expense. i have better things to do.

Precisely, and 99% of them don't even know where the philippines is...

[mommyblue]

napanood ko yung clip sa mga morning shows kanina.. degrading nga yung dialogue ni teri hatcher.. imo, it's a shallow joke that somewhat reflects what is happening right now in our educational system.. maybe, some filipinos got offended because there is a certain truth in it ..

[GasJunkie]

I'm insulted boycott starbucks, mcdees, kfc etc etc etc




:fly:


edit f*ck except coke :hysterical:

[Bogeyman]

Canada gets to be the butt of jokes much of the time, yet they just shrug it off.

Apart from the nursing scandal context, it's just one of those obligatory "let's-make-fun-of-some-country-just-for-the-heck-of-it" lines. You can easily take 'the Philippines' out of the dialogue and substitute 'Tijuana' instead. Or 'Bangkok'. Or 'Colombia'.

[cutedoc]

in a way its funny but, as a dentist i would be offended if someone made a remark in my face even if i am not the one that he is pointing at.

my best friend works as a nurse in chicago, and they look up on asian nurses especially filipinos, my friend (na dating kong tinatawanan sa pag e english) teaches at nursing school in chicago as well, americans trust pinoy nurses more than any other nationality.

so to all pinoy nurses, and medical allied professionals maintain the highest degree of workmanship in our services.

[Altis6453]

Boy, our politicians are quick to pounce on this issue.

From abs-cbnnews.com

Malacañang to 'Desperate Housewives': Apologize for slur


The furor over a slur uttered against Philippine medical schools on the premier episode of the fourth season of the American TV show "Desperate Housewives" has prompted a response from Malacañang Palace.

Executive Secretary Eduardo Ermita said the TV show belittled the abilities of Filipino doctors and sent a message that Philippine medical schools produced "substandard, inferior" medical practitioners.

The offending remark was made by one of the show's desperate housewives, Susan Mayer (played by American actress Teri Hatcher). In one scene Mayer asks for the credentials of the gynecologist who examined her and told her that she was approaching menopause.

Mayer said, "Can I check those diplomas 'coz I just want to make sure that they're not from some med school in the Philippines." The premiere episode, which has been posted on YouTube.com, drew criticisms from the Filipino community on the Internet.

Senator Rodolfo Biazon meanwhile has proposed a ban on the popular TV series. Biazon, who chairs the Senate Committee on National Defense and Security, said he doesn't watch the show himself but pointed out that a ban on the show or a boycott by Filipino viewers are possible responses.

Earlier, Philippine Health Secretary Francisco Duque said the slur will tarnish the good image of Filipino doctors in the international community. He added that the slur was both irresponsible and without basis.

The Philippine Consulate in New York has said it will send a letter of protest to ABC Network and ask for an apology for the slur. The move came after the consulate office received complaints from the Filipino community, particularly health workers, in the US about the show.

Angry doctors

"It's not good for us. They shouldn't have said those [insulting] words, because we all know that there are good doctors who graduated in the Philippines. That's uncalled for," PMA president Dr. Jose Sabili told ABS-CBN's morning show "Umagang Kay Ganda" on Monday.

Earlier, the president of the Philippine Medical Association (PMA) said he will urge his counterpart in the US to demand an apology from the people behind the TV series.

Sabili, who was attending the World Medical Associations General Assembly in Copenhagen, Denmark, said he will seek an audience with the president of the American Medical Association to compel the TV producers to issue an apology for the insulting remark.

The doctor said the slur might even create a rift in the relationship of the two medical associations.

"I will meet with the president of the American Medical Association to air our feelings and ask them to tell [the producers of the TV show] that they should not insult doctors in the country," Sabili said.

Sabili said the PMA will study the possible cause of negative perceptions of medical schools in the Philippines. He said "diploma mills" and negative writeups of medical schools in local newspapers could have contributed to the negative perception.

"I have to verify this. We will definitely act on this because this will destroy the reputation of Filipino doctors," he said.

Online petition

Filipino Americans have expressed their outrage over the remark and have launched an online petition (http://www.petitiononline.com/FilABC/petition.html) demanding an apology from ABC Network.

The petition also demands that the episode be edited to remove the "ignorant and racist" remark. As of 4:16 pm (Manila time) some 15,533 people have signed the petition.

The petition also points out the major contribution that Filipinos and Filipino Americans make in healthcare in the United States:

"[A] statement that devalues Filipinos in healthcare is extremely unfounded, considering the overwhelming presence of Filipinos and Filipino Americans in the medical field. Filipinos are the second largest immigrant population in the United States, with many entering the U.S. (and successfully passing their U.S. licensing boards!) as doctors, nurses, and medical technicians.

"In fact, the Philippines produces more U.S. nurses than any other country in the world. So, to belittle the education, experience, or value of Filipino Americans in health care is extremely disrespectful and plain and simply ignorant. Many of the hospitals in major metropolitan areas of the U.S. (and the world) would not be able to operate without its Filipino and Filipino American staff members."

Jay Ngo, a Filipino health professional from Riverside, California in the United States ABS-CBN News that the episode was an outrage, saying, "the healthcare industry, including the best hospitals, is full of Filipino medical professionals."

Forum reactions

The message board of the "Desperate Housewives" website is being peppered with threads regarding the issue.

One poster, using the alias "hunnybee07" wrote:

"America has been very fortunate to have been served by many [Filipino] nurses and physicians. It is quite ungrateful of Americans to make such remarks. Even if it were meant to be a joke, it apparently hurt an entire nation. The Filipinos deserve an apology. One day, when you are old, it could just be a Flipino nurse by your bedside and then you would know why you should have taken back any insults against Filipinos, especially Filipino medical practicioners."

Another poster, "MommyDO12", who claims to be a doctor in the US said:

"As a Filipino-American who is both a doctor and trained here, I get that your comment is quite ignorant. True, many Americans go overseas for medical school because they could not get in to schools here. However, there are a GREAT number of Americans and Europeans who go to so called "third world" countries because the education there is cutting edge AND affordable. I'm up to my eyeballs in student loans.

"Why do you think Americans are now rushing to the Philippines and India for surgeries unavailabe here in America? There are hip surgery techniques that have been developed there that result in less recovery time and have less mortality.

"Please, get educated before jumping onto the obvious bandwagon of "get over it" because you can't possibly understand being berated. Even my husband, who is caucasian, took great offense to the comment and is the one urging me to stop watching the show in protest."

One poster, who used the alias "berikyut", was long on passion but fell short on English skills.

"What the hell...Talking but about the philippines in your premier... "Let me see your degree making sure is now from somewhere in the philippines"? For you information if you go to hospitals most nurses/doctors there is from philippines & is hard worker & very good...So I suggest you think about your comment before you say it or if it's a joke It should be funny ( that is why it's a joke) DUH!!! I usually like you in the show specially watching you in superman before...NOW forget it....that's why you never win an emmy!!"

This prompted a reply from "Dr.Java02" asking, "Do the nurses/doctors learn grammar and spelling over there?"

With that development, do Filipinos now need to prove that they can master English grammar as well as Western medicine?

I don't watch this soap but a proposal to ban the TV show? Really?!? Sheesh! Might as well ban the freedom of expression clause of the Constitution. Better yet, I guess this is the best reason to ban the Senate or interminably incompetent senators.

[BlueBimmer]

napanood ko nga to kagabi...hehe

[trackers888]

What can You say about this guys?

http://globalnation.inquirer.net/new...ticle_id=92435

http://www.petitiononline.com/mod_pe...d.cgi?FilABC&1

[trackers888]

I'm sorry Mod
Sablay ang post ko hehehe, na carried away lang sa news

[GasJunkie]

^^^^^^^^^

THIS




:drool:


PS *bogeyman not that magically appearing post