Desperate Housewives and the racial sLur

"Desperate housewives and their racial slur..."

A headline that is now spreading like wild-fire..
Last night I was about to sleep when I heard a news about Desperate Housewives star Teri Hatcher and her popular show being pelted with comments of anger and disappointment. this is due to a scene in the premier episode in the fourth season of the show which was recently aired. In the said episode, Susan, Teri Hatcher's character said the line, “Okay, before going further, can I check these diplomas cause I would just like to make sure that they’re not from some med school in the Philippines.”

The scene was that Teri was teasing her doctor because her doctor told her that she was experiencing signs of menopausal , and she refuses to believe it. As a last resort to explain why maybe the doctor was just mistaken she said the lines that are now causing so much raucous.

A lot of emails,forums and message boards have been posted in the internet, all of which expressing anger, discrimination and disappointment. US based doctors and nurses who graduated from the Philippines, most of which are home grown who chose to work in America were outraged. They were being degraded and so is the country's state of medical and educational level.

One of the email I saw on the web is quoted below:

Hello Kababayan,
I’m a Filipina living in Michigan and a proud Phil.Nursing Sch.graduate. I was outraged by last night’s episode and I’m glad many of us feel the same way. I have many friends who are doctors, nurses & physical therapists who work very very hard to make a living here, ABC owes us all an apology for that very insensitive remark.
I posted a bulletin in my Friendster Account this morning, here it is:

Date: Monday, October 1, 2007 5:07 AM
Subject: OFFENSIVE Remark Abt.FILIPINO DOCs on Des.Housewives
Message: Monday, Oct.01.07

I watched the Premiere of Desperate Housewives last night on ABC and was very offended by the remark of Teri Hatcher’s character about Filipino doctors. She said to her OB that she hopes “he’s not a graduate of some Philippine Med School”. I’m married to a Caucasian and you can just imagine how sensitive I am about racial matters. It was ONE line but I heard it loud and clear and I hated it. Why? because the writers were insensitive and that line was downright offensive to Filipino Doctors /healthcare workers and the whole Filipino Community as a whole. To think that SOOOO many Philippine grad.doc /nurses work here, how dare they include such line? I’m glad I’m NOT the only one who caught it, when I checked the show’s website message board, it is overflowing with sentiments as mine.

..For me, Teri Hatcher shouldn't be blamed for it whole scenario happening now.. She is just a actress who was given lines or script to internalize for her role. It was her job. The ones to be held responsible are the writers and the director of the controversial show. It was their job to produce funny yet witty lines to entertain their audience yet I don't think that what they wrote or what they showed was even an inch funny or witty.

..Being writers, being in the media, being in the entertainment business , they should be responsible in what they say and do, because if they don't they will pay a high price. The damage is already done. A lot have expressed their grief and angst on the on-going signature campaign to ban the show or even just have the ABC management send an apology to the Philippines and to those who were hurt by the show. Some people said that the only way for them to be totally forgiven is to make an apology or disclaimer directly on the show by the same character.

..The lesson to be learned here is that we must always be responsible to anything we say or do. We must make sure that it will not hurt any person and if does we must be ready to face the consequences.

..the scene of the Desperate Housewives episode can be seen below.