Skip to main content

Schadenfreude

I've been reading a lot about the article by Malou Fernandez lately, and it's just too good of an issue to pass up. Besides, it's high time I live up to my degree and write about something relevant for a change.

If you're looking for the article, page 1 is here, and page 2 is here.
Her reaction, written in the Manila Standard Today, can be found here.

===============

It's bad journalism--that's what I think. I have my own beef with the overly-glorified status that society in general assigns to OFW's (largely owing to the fact that we've made people into commodities), but I sure as hell recognize their contribution to the economy, and I know that it isn't easy to leave familiar territory and be someone's errand boy or girl in a different country. Which is why I don't think the language used in Fernandez' article was in any way appropriate.

She claims that people "lack common sense" to understand her "acerbic wit". Jessica Zafra has acerbic wit. House (or rather, the writers for House: MD) has (have) acerbic wit. Fernandez, on the other hand, is simply acerbic. There is not an ounce of wit in what she wrote. And really, there is no sorrier excuse for being rude and elitist by saying that one is simply "being true to one's self". Come to think of it, doesn't saying that only confirm that one's "true self" is indeed rude, elitist and obnoxious?

She says in her reaction, published under her column in the Manila Standard Today, that her friends found it funny. It's always easy for folks who are better off to belittle others who they think are below them. I'm sure I'd also be annoyed by the noisy OFW's who were on the plane with her, but I can't blame them either. Separated from family and country, every kababayan is a comrade, a point which is completely lost on people who've grown up with a pa-sosyal, individualized and western-oriented mindset. If she minded the noise so much that she thought God put her in "her own personal hell" she should have plugged an IPod into her ears or something (as if sleeping pills weren't enough). With all the brand labels she name-dropped, I'm sure adding "Apple IPod" would be a welcome addition to her list of "haves". Or maybe it would be too "wannabe" or too "have-not" of her.

And just because her friends are just as crass as she is not an excuse to poke fun at others just because they wear AXE and Charlie cologne, and she wears some flabbergasting expensive brew (P2,500 for perfume is NOT moderately priced at all). It would be like one over-eager detractor justifying calling her Ms. Piggy (which is about the tamest description I've read so far) just because other over-eager detractors would find it funny.

One columnist for the Manila Standard Today said that we like to have fun at the expense of others, and proceeded to enumerate examples to illustrate her point. Personally, I do not find Michael V's "Nayari Ka" or "Wow Mali" to be anywhere near funny. It's annoying and meaningless comedy--if it can (or should) be even called such--to say the least, and rude besides. And it's a flimsy excuse to say that just because everybody does it, one is welcome to join in, regardless of whether it's good or bad. At the end of the day, we are only responsible for the words we say and the things we do, no matter what other people do or like--no more, no less. That the media (and a significant number of the general public) like to make "fun" and crack "jokes" at other people's expense is completely irrelevant. Ms. Fernandez was crass, and acted (or at least wrote) like a complete asshole, and that's that.

And finally, Ms. Fernandez, I do not need to have my world shaken up by a "bitch", as you put it. Life has a way of shaking itself up without any (unwanted) help from presumptuous people such as yourself. Actually, people like you are incapable of shaking up any sort of world, big or small--you simply exist to affirm that education and riches, or a good command of the English language (especially all those brands you keep bandying about) does not make a person a decent human being.

===============

Some other small points:
- one does not get "roughed-up" at the beach. Try climbing a mountain, dumbass.
- all-terrains on the beach. Oh, I forgot, all-terrains are used for places where one "roughs it up". Really, there's nothing quite like total ignorance, is there?
- "Much to my chagrin, I had never been to Boracay", and then "I have serious trepidations about going"? That doesn't even make sense. Why be all chagrined about not being able to go to a place where you have serious trepidations about going to?
- I buy expensive perfume, denounce Havaianas because they mess up my pedicure, and go to Greece on a whim, and I ride ECONOMY?! What the hell is up with that? And to top it off, I whine about it, a conscious decision made by myself, a person who belongs to the "have" group of society, someone who's so sophisticated, intelligent and over-flowing with common sense that other people cannot understand my "acerbic wit"? I really must be some kind of sophisticated and witty idiot as well.

Comments

Anonymous said…
Very well stated. She's no longer with both publications I heard.
1:58 PM
Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

No Rest for the Damned

I stare at the blinking cursor in front of me and wonder what’s next. I let myself get swallowed up by the monotony of office life: wake up, eat, travel, work, sleep; I try to revel in its off-white walls and the cacophony of voices that course through my head like nails scratching a blackboard. Funny, that word – blackboard – like my mood, black and bored, or better yet, like me – a black board. But the human tendency for self-preservation drives me to find things to fill the void; sometimes with fleeting trifles I try in vain to attach meanings to, or sometimes with things intangible and profound, like hope, or faith. But it seems that there is no rest for the dammed. Damned by the reminders of past mistakes, damned by the hollow tedium of today, and damned by the uncertainty of what lies ahead. Or it could be that I’m really just bitter, as someone pointed out not so long ago. Not a bad conclusion, really, with me allowing myself to be consumed by memories of failure, or by the bana...
7 comments
Read more

Scattered thoughts on relationships

We all know relationships are hard. It wouldn’t be too much of a stretch to say that we all have at least a vague idea that real relationships are more than just kisses and walks in the park, or candlelit dinners and holding hands while watching a movie. Nevertheless, it is not unheard off, that two people who previously thought that their promises would hold suddenly drift apart and discover that all that remains between them are broken pledges, old hurts, and that good old “sorry”. They ask themselves whether they could have done something to prevent it, they ask themselves where along the road did they lose it, they ask themselves what went wrong and who’s to blame. But at this point whether or not these questions are answered is of little consequence—the damage has been done, and the whole house of cards has long since fallen down. I guess it’s just as simple as saying that people who are always there are also the ones who are the easiest to take for granted. They’re low maintenanc...
4 comments
Read more

Vignette: Still Life

She had always looked good in pictures. He had come across a collection of them stowed away in a square tin box he had put on top of the closet, years ago. She was smiling in this one, a black and white he had taken and developed himself. He remembered putting in the film on the projector and counting from one thousand one to one thousand fifteen for the image to burn into the paper. He would then wash it in chemicals and watch the picture slowly materialize. The picture would go to a tray and taken outside, where he would wait for it to dry. She had kissed him when he presented it to her, thanking him for making her look cute. Another black and white. This time she was putting food down on a mat they had set for a picnic. She had looked so perfect then – lover, friend, and future wife. He remembered fingering the ring in his pocket, nervous and ill-at-ease. When she asked him what was wrong, he went to one knee then and there, and asked if she could be his wife. She had laughed and hu...
5 comments
Read more