There’s a Chip Tsao in all of us

The infamous racial slur of Hong Kong writer Chip Tsao spanned another “revolt” among Filipinos, decrying discrimination and degradation. The whole country was outraged; similar reaction to the video of a comedy show in UK portraying a Filipina househelp in a degrading manner.

I join all those who discriminate against any Filipino in the world. I am outraged of people of any nationality who try to demean us. But I am more incensed at Filipinos who joined such call and failed to look inside them…and realize that they are worse than any Chip Tsao.

There is a Chip Tsao in all of us. I see a lot of them on TV especially on noontime TV shows when celebrities laugh at the mistakes of the contestants. They are not just laughs but laugh that tells how stupid your answer is. There are hosts who make fun of people’s physical disabilities—missing front teeth, flat nose, among others. And we get angry at Chip Tsao? These contestants are no different from Filipinos working abroad. They are also trying their luck looking for ways to live and earn.

In my daily commute Chip Tsaos are everywhere. Passersby suddenly change directions at the sight of a taong grasa, educated Filipinos making fun of other Filipinos’ “bad” English, office workers criticizing other people’s choice of clothes, people trying to judge you at your quietness without looking beyond your appearance, and many more.

But why in the world didn’t we scoff at our president’s own gaffe in calling Filipino overseas workers “Supermaids”? Didn’t we think our own leader prompted a Chip Tsao to write such a thing?

And by calling Chip Tsao names doesn’t make us any different from him.