this is about a month old, but i couldn't find this addressed in any other HT thread. from abcnews.com:
the offending clip's on youtube here.
this was just sloppy scriptwriting. instead of saying "some med school in the philippines," teri hatcher's character could have said something like, "just to make sure they're for real," or "just to make sure they aren't forged" or "just to make sure it's not an internet degree." they could have avoided the whole ugly thing, which now includes a planned $500 million class action lawsuit. sheesh. even michelle malkin, miss-i'm-filipina-when-convenient, weighed in (and no, i'm NOT gonna link to that).
numbers of fili MDs from usasianwire.com:
i wonder how many nurses in the US are filipino/filipino-american.
on a side note: not that DH (which i don't watch) is supposed to be based completely in reality, but when the doctor (played, to my delight, by nathan filiom -- captain mal of firefly) tells teri hatcher that she's pregnant loud enough that someone else about ten feet away can hear, he's violating federal health information privacy laws. what he did there was a $20,000 violation. any HIPAA/hospital corporate compliance officers watching the show must have groaned at that one.
anyway, the comment has been made that teri hatcher's character is supposed to be an airhead. i'm not sure how palatable that argument makes the slur. archie bunker's very racist character was very effective in showing how wrong racism is via reverse psychology; i doubt that DH was ever meant to be that socially enlightening. as i said before--the slur is evidence of sloppy writing. it just happened to be quite offensive and derogatory towards an ethnic group that is largely invisible in the US bcs we "look like" other ethnic groups or we purposely "pass for" being of another ethnic group, even tho we've been in the US since the 1500s and even tho we're the second largest asian american group (chinese being the largest). being flip wasn't really cool until recently. i've heard that many filis in the mainland claimed to be hawaiian (go figure) or more broadly, "pacific islander" (i see this in myspace all the time and can't believe it's always a misunderstanding of the geographic placement of the PI). so while i think the $500 mil lawsuit is a bit much, my people do have a flair for the dramatic, and it's nice to see that we won't take it just laying down.
A scene in TV's "Desperate Housewives" that used Philippine medical education for a punchline prompted angry calls from viewers, an online petition demanding an apology and criticism from Philippine officials.
In the season premiere that aired Sunday on ABC, Teri Hatcher's character, Susan, goes in for a medical checkup and is shocked when the doctor suggests she may be going through menopause.
"Listen, Susan, I know for a lot of women the word `menopause'" has negative connotations. You hear `aging,' `brittle bones,' `loss of sexual desire,'" the gynecologist tells her.
"OK, before we go any further, can I check these diplomas? Just to make sure they aren't, like, from some med school in the Philippines?" Susan fires back.
In the season premiere that aired Sunday on ABC, Teri Hatcher's character, Susan, goes in for a medical checkup and is shocked when the doctor suggests she may be going through menopause.
"Listen, Susan, I know for a lot of women the word `menopause'" has negative connotations. You hear `aging,' `brittle bones,' `loss of sexual desire,'" the gynecologist tells her.
"OK, before we go any further, can I check these diplomas? Just to make sure they aren't, like, from some med school in the Philippines?" Susan fires back.
this was just sloppy scriptwriting. instead of saying "some med school in the philippines," teri hatcher's character could have said something like, "just to make sure they're for real," or "just to make sure they aren't forged" or "just to make sure it's not an internet degree." they could have avoided the whole ugly thing, which now includes a planned $500 million class action lawsuit. sheesh. even michelle malkin, miss-i'm-filipina-when-convenient, weighed in (and no, i'm NOT gonna link to that).
numbers of fili MDs from usasianwire.com:
According to the American Physicians Association, based on the Census in 2005, there were 19,000 Philippine-trained practicing physicians in the US. A study made by AMA also shows that the Philippines ranks second to India as the top suppliers of doctors fulfilling the demand in the US , and outranks all other countries in supply of dentists and nurses.
on a side note: not that DH (which i don't watch) is supposed to be based completely in reality, but when the doctor (played, to my delight, by nathan filiom -- captain mal of firefly) tells teri hatcher that she's pregnant loud enough that someone else about ten feet away can hear, he's violating federal health information privacy laws. what he did there was a $20,000 violation. any HIPAA/hospital corporate compliance officers watching the show must have groaned at that one.
anyway, the comment has been made that teri hatcher's character is supposed to be an airhead. i'm not sure how palatable that argument makes the slur. archie bunker's very racist character was very effective in showing how wrong racism is via reverse psychology; i doubt that DH was ever meant to be that socially enlightening. as i said before--the slur is evidence of sloppy writing. it just happened to be quite offensive and derogatory towards an ethnic group that is largely invisible in the US bcs we "look like" other ethnic groups or we purposely "pass for" being of another ethnic group, even tho we've been in the US since the 1500s and even tho we're the second largest asian american group (chinese being the largest). being flip wasn't really cool until recently. i've heard that many filis in the mainland claimed to be hawaiian (go figure) or more broadly, "pacific islander" (i see this in myspace all the time and can't believe it's always a misunderstanding of the geographic placement of the PI). so while i think the $500 mil lawsuit is a bit much, my people do have a flair for the dramatic, and it's nice to see that we won't take it just laying down.
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