Netizens aghast at racist slur by BBC show -by filipinoscribe.com

filipinoscribe.com Mark Pere Madrona reports how netizens are aghast over racist remarks against Filipino children by a stand-up comic in a BBC show, at “British actress jokes about Filipino children on BBC show”  at filipinoscribe.com/2013/06/17/british-actress-jokes-about-filipino-children-on-bbc-show.

UP CMC student 2012-12727 echoes opinions and ideas by netizens as reported in said blogpost, and writes:   “This is not the first time that a foreigner has made an “accidental” quip about Filipinos on a public medium. One might recall Alec Baldwin’s “Filipina mail order bride” joke on David Letterman’s show, which caused an uproar for the insinuation that Filipinas allow their sexuality to be exploited and extorted for money. By doing this, Baldwin ridiculed, cast aspersions on, and degraded Filipinas for their sex and their race–that is to say, his comment was misogynistic through sexual objectification, as well as racist. It was unintended and probably said at the spur of the moment, but such things that are said usually lie in one’s subconscious before they get out. Baldwin’s situation was either that, or it was an attempt at randomness that came out badly. Furthermore, Baldwin has been in show business for a very long time, and he ought to have already known how to guard his words and be more discerning of what he said before a national audience.

“Canadian actress Katherine Ryan recently made a similar mistake on the BBC game show “Mock the Week”, an improvisational comedy show akin to the CBS’ “Whose Line is It Anyway?”. The prompt for a joke in one segment was “unlikely lines from a cosmetics commercial”, and she gave this line: “We don’t use any of our products on animals. We use Filipino children.” By saying the line, she ridiculed and degraded Filipino children by their race–and it is made even worse by the fact that her specific subjects are defenseless and have done nothing to earn such a comment. Those fortunate children struggle against obstacles to living their life fully, such as a lack of access to education, cases of abuse in some families, even child labor. That their hardships were belittled and mentioned in what was meant to be a humorous manner is tasteless and insensitive.

“The fact that the error was committed overseas by a foreign celebrity makes no difference. xxx (S)he had made light of the painful and very real struggles of an innocent group of people, some of whom might have no idea what her words mean. It is an ethical mistake anywhere. I hope Miss Ryan, like Alec Baldwin before her, would be more careful with what she says next time and recognize her responsibility as a public figure–even if it is on an improvisational comedy show.” Written by 2012-12727 using Mark Pere Madrona’s report and amplifying ideas and opinions of other netizens.