This way to the stars

It's not the Filipinos who are trashy - it's that letter!

You probably know about this already. It's the hate letter said to be written by American radio talk show host Art Bell (though it was established long ago that he did NOT write the letter) circulating like wildfire around the web since the early nineties. Whoever wrote that stupid hate letter should be shot, tortured, killed, strangled, frozen, incapacitated, incarcerated, castrated, and basically just never allowed to see the blessed light of day ever again, not only for his apparent lack of logic, but for his outrageous lack of grammatical skills and basic knowledge of geography.

Of course, it is to be expected that I would feel offended by any hate letter directed to our race and our country. It is natural; any person with a sense of nationality and identity would feel that way. But this letter not only offends my sense of nationality but my common sense as well (increasingly we get the sense that common sense becomes less and less common).

To clarify this, why don't I post an excerpt of the hate letter? This is taken from the excerpt in my English module (see, the hate letter's so damn infamous that it even snaked its way into my usually boring English class!).

Filipinos....*make me puke* ("Hate letter against Filipinos")

As we've all come to notice, in the past few decades, Filipinos have begun to infest the United States like some sort of disease. Their extensive involvement in the US Armed Forces is proof of the trashy kind of qualities all Filipinos tend to exhibit on a regular basis. You can see this clearly by studying the attitudes and cultural icons of most Filipino Americans.

Origins of Pinoys/Pinays: Are they really Asians? Well we've come to accept the fact the Filipinos come from a part of the world known as South East Asia. But the term "Asia" is used in the wrong way. You may notice that contemporary Filipino Americans try very hard to associate themselves with groups that we know as Asian. There is no connection and here's why. The Philippines is a Third World country.

Nothing respectable has EVER been created by Filipino people during our entire human history. Young Filipino men in America have become obsessed with "import racing". They have an enormously perverted affection for Japanese cars. It's a common phenomenon. In their minds, these Filipinos somehow believe that they are Asian and that it somehow connects them to Japanese people and Japanese cars. It's even funnier that, in Japan, Filipinos are heavily discriminated against. The only Filipinos that can live successfully in Japan are the Filipino prostitutes. But that's the case for most Filipino people no matter where they live in the world.

Now we've come down to this fact...and it is a fact.

Nothing in Filipino culture can be seen as Asian. They have no architectural, artistic, or cultural influence which is in ANY way Asian. Thinking of the great countries in Asia such as Japan, Korea, and China there is no way you can possibly connect the Philippine Islands. This assault by Filipino Americans to connect themselves with the great peoples of North East Asia is foul and disgusting. Try visiting a young Filipino's web site too. You'll see something called the "Asian IRC Ring". It has to do with the chatrooms. The most horrible thing about this is that these TRASHY people are trying to associate themselves with Asia again!! People in Asia don't act, like this at all. What we are seeing here is the natural Filipino in it's element with full access to technology and this is how they act! You will consistently see this behavior over and over again. They must believe that they are some how related racially or culturally to North Asians. But it's completely WRONG! There might have been some distant contact with China and even less with Japan during World War II, but these people are actually more closely related to African Americans and Mexican Americans. This is the natural "Trash" element in Filipinos manifesting itself. Nothing good has ever come from the Philippines and nothing good ever will.

My initial thoughts after reading this is that the writer must be absolutely stupid. He is closeminded and biased and his arguments have no basis at all. He does not even seem to possess knowledge on the most basic geography. His arguments are so prejudiced to the point of ridiculousness. For these reasons, I disagree with him (of course!).

For one thing, the author seems to be working under the notion that the only Asian countries are Japan, Korea, and China, while other countries that geographically belong to the continent Asia but whose cultures seem to be different from East Asian culture should not be considered Asian. If such were the case, then India is not an Asian country. Neither are Malaysia, Thailand, Saudi, Indonesia, Iran, and Pakistan. But obviously, this is not true (check the world map if you're doubting). Such is the character of Asia - diverse cultures not limited to Shinto shrines, belief in dragons and Chinese calligraphy. So how did the author know that "people in Asia don't act like this at all" given Asia's cultural diversity?! Thus we can see the narrowmindedness of the author.

It is stupid to conclude that the Philippines is not Asian because it is a Third World country. A country's racial and cultural identity should not be compromised by its economic performance. It is true that there are a lot of Filipino prostitutes in Japan, but they are not the only Filipinos who can live successfully there and in other countries in the world. Who does the author think supplies the world with qualified doctors, nurses, scientists, engineers, and a third of the world's seafarers?! Who does he think teaches English to young Chinese and Japanese children, and cares for their senior citizens? Who does he think provides cheap labor to manufacturers so that the profits of global companies would be maximized?! His argument is based solely on observation. It has no basis on objective fact, and is tantamount to racial discrimination.

There are also several points which I find funny. Since when has the Filipinos' involvement in the US Armed Forces a proof of their "trashiness"? Does this mean that all soldiers are trashy just because they are in the Armed Forces? And for that matter, is it really a fact based from objective data that Filipinos are "extensively involved" in the US Armed Forces, or is that based on mere observation? Also, why is it that the author concluded that "nothing respectable has ever been created by FIlipinos" just because they like Japanese cars (which a lot of people, not just Filipinos, do) and because some like to join Asian chatrooms? I am a "young Filipino", and I have a web site (this blog), but I do not join Asian IRC Rings. Again we see that the author's arguments are not logical because they form prejudiced conclusions based on little observations.

Needless to say, the author's intentions backfired on me. Instead of being convinced that Filipinos are trashy, I remain resolute that it's the author - and his letter - who should be chucked in the bin.

posted by steph @ 12:00 AM