Wandergirl Speaks

I first read about it on Yahoo! Philippines news. I did not even bother to search Youtube right away for the video where Alec Baldwin allegedly made a joke on getting a Filipino mail-order-bride (during his guesting in The David Letterman Show) until one of the local prime time news broadcasted how much uproar it had caused and that a senator was demanding for a public apology from the actor.

Obviously, this is not the first time a foreign media personality made mention of the Philippines or it’s people in a bad light. Teri Hatcher has once been criticized for saying “Okay, before we go any further, can I check those diplomas? Coz I would just like to make sure they are not from some med school in the Philippines.” in one of the previous episodes of Desperate Housewives.

There’s also the recently infamous article of Chip Tsao, The War at Home, where he called the Philippines a “nation of servants.” Though he later aired a public apology for the incident he was still apparently blacklisted by the Bureau of Immigration.

Now we have another Hollywood celebrity rounding up the headlines for his uncalled for remark.

Now here’s my take on the issue. First, I watched the video not because I want to pass judgement on what Alec Baldwin said, neither because I want to know how I’d feel once I heard about his Filipino mail-order-bride joke. I watched the video out of sheer interest, period!

Second, the context goes something like this: Letterman asked Baldwin if he ever thought about having a big family himself since the latter belongs to a big family. The actor surely answered the question with a Yes. Not bad at all.

Unfortunately, he made the mistake of associating a Filipino mail-order-bride to fulfill such desire. And this is what caused a stir among our folks.

To be honest, I am not sure what exactly Baldwin had in mind when he made that joke. It’ll be much easier to say he’s discriminating against Filipinos rather than say that he might be struggling for a comedic way to answer back Letterman’s question.

But whatever his reason may be, there are only two things: we have our people who got offended and we also have some who just shrug it off.

Personally, I don’t think his remark is acceptable (whether or not it’s a joke) and should just be taken lightly. Whatever our public officials are doing in response to the actor’s statement is just right. But we cannot also deny the fact that some foreign nationals clearly picture Filipinos as domestic helpers, inadequate professionals, or mail-order-brides.

Now, what can we do as individuals to alleviate this notion?