Let Them Take Offense!

Seriously, I’m tired of reading posts by know-it-alls who claim that people don’t have the right to feel insulted, hurt and slighted. There’s a reason why the concept of feelings came into existence. It’s all relative and it varies from person to person. One person has no right to tell another that what he or she is genuinely feeling is WRONG. Each individual has a distinct set of values and standards that one uses to assess the value of each experience that he or she undergoes.

The members University of the Philippines Medical Alumni Society in America were among those in the firing line when the Desperate Housewives comments were aired. Along with other graduates of other Philippine medical schools, they were the ones who absorbed the brunt of the comment. Yes, the joke was on them and they didn’t quite appreciate the joke. These people worked hard to get into the United States. They met the high standards that the government and other regulatory set. Most of them probably have set up a very lucrative and productive practice in their locale.

Can you tell these people that they don’t have the right to feel offended and insulted? Seriously now. These are professionals who have worked all their adult lives to build their practice. No matter how you look at it, there is no way to justify the whole-sale defamation of an entire group of health professionals. There is no way to defend the idea of singling out the Philippines.

Yes, you could have said that it wasn’t a big issue. But telling people that they don’t have the right to feel insulted and offended? That’s just out of line.

People in the line of fire are very adamant about it. And you know what, THEY HAVE EVERY RIGHT TO BE.

Here’s one of the letters sent by one of the past Presidents of the UP MASA.

Dear everyone:  

The recent racial slur on Physicians from the Philippines is the most recent in the long line of comedic jokes and slurs on members of the Filipino community that will require the cooperation and help of every Filipino living in the United States if our progeny are to enjoy the full benefits of a democratic society.   

These slurs are meant to lower our self esteem, inflict emotional harm, lower our financial ability to earn a living, and separate Filipinos of all professional groups from the mainstream.  A pointed remark to lower the professional standing of our professionals can not be allowed to pass without some commensurate punishment for devaluing our standing.

In essence, what has been poured over us like some material from the septic tank is an insult that has lowered our professional standing in the medical community and demeaned us in the eyes of our patients. This is a hate crime that has been perpetrated on us by the script writers and the Mr. Cherry who is the chief scriptwriter of the show. While we can be kind and attribute the joke as being made without meaning to offend, scripts are carefully made and tailored to meet the needs of the show either to increase the interest or to generate publicity to strengthen the show’s ability to draw more watchers and increase their Television ratings and increase advertising revenue. It cannot be said that this joke was an “off the cuff” joke, without its implications having been carefully manipulated to meet their needs.  This indubitably meets the definition of a HATE CRIME inflicted upon a minority to cause emotional hurt and financial harm on physicians from the Philippines and other Filipino professionals in general. 

We must examine our options and they may be the following:
1. Ask our lawyers to study the possibility of instituting a possible theory of law that racial slurs such as this may be called a Hate Crime and may be subject to criminal liabilities on their perpetrators, since they cause harm on groups of a racial minority. Such is the rational essence of the hate laws that have been passed by Federal and State legislatures.  Such acts that are meant to harm (although non-violent) cause community cohesiveness.
2. Make a complaint with the Department of Justice, Civil Rights Department, of the racial slur and the harm it has inflicted on the medical professionals of the Philippines in particular and other professionals whose professional standing has been denigrated also,  in general.  We should ask the assistance of the Civil Liberties Union in this endeavor. All medical professionals from the Philippines should have a joint declaration of professional harm that has been done on their standing in the medical community and in the evaluation of their patients.
3.  Networking with the NAFFA, JEWISH anti defamation LEAGUE AND OTHER ethic groups to establish legislative initiatives that such racial slurs can be classified as HATE crimes that can be subject to criminal and civil penalties on those inflicting them.
4. We should institute efforts to have a continuing body that works cooperatively with other ethnic groups to that the blessings of the United States fall equally on all inhabitants of the democratic society.

Antonio Donesa ‘59
Past President, UPMASA National 1985-1987

Bookmark at:
StumbleUpon | Digg | Del.icio.us | Dzone | Newsvine | Spurl | Simpy | Furl | Reddit | Yahoo! MyWeb

Views Counter v.0.10 Viewed 3575 times by 1497 viewers

October 5th, 2007 in blogging, medicine

22 Comments

(Required)
(Required, will not be published)