Philippines: ‘Desperate Housewives’ Uproar Continues · Global Voices
Tonyo Cruz

SFist reports on Saturday that the Desperate Housewives scandal involving purported racist remarks against Philippine medical school continues.
For several weeks now, the Filipino-American online petition has not stopped drawing support, with signatures now reaching 121,793 and counting.
Atheista.net is unconvinced of the arguments of those who claim that the continuing protests are “going overboard”. He lists the main arguments of those who oppose the protests and rebutts each of them:
1. Filipinos are too onion-skinned/ over-sensitive. I really don’t know how people can see this as an over reaction. Philippine-trained doctors were maligned for millions of people to see. This could have very real and palpable effects on the practice of Pinoy doctors who work in the US. People will fight when they are being aggrieved and that is what some doctors are doing. And assuming without conceding that we are OVERLY SENSITIVE, so what? I’d rather be in a group of people who would defend their pride as opposed to a group who would simply act like pushovers when they’re being ridiculed in a grand stage. It’s not about being good sports – the people being dissed didn’t sign up to be the targets of unsubstantiated comments regarding their competence.
2. Filipinos are racists too. Isn’t this a gross generalization as well? Assuming without conceding that we are racist, does this mean that we give up our right to fight back whenever we are subjected to what we consider as racial profiling? This issue has nothing to do with the entire discussion because it doesn’t prove or disprove anything. Calling the entire Filipino community is a stretch in itself, but even if it were true, it doesn’t remove our right to feel offended and ask for legal reparations .
3. There are more important issues. It is the issue NOW. Deal with it. Try pushing your other advocacies on other blogs that push for it. Profiling and discrimination are just as important as any issue. Also, not the state and society’s inability to police whatever problem you forward does not remove the right of people to be passionate in other things.
4. The Philippine Education System SUCKS. Assuming without conceding that it is true, the products of the Philippine Education System will still be subject to the regulations and requirements set by the regulatory boards in the US. They will take the same licensure examinations as the US-educated medical graduates. In short, they’ll be assessed using the same standards. Ergo, even if the school system is bad, there are existing checks in the system that could weed out those who are mediocre.
Taking a different tack from other bloggers,  filipinasoul.com asks:
Did Manny Pacquiao’s win over Marco Antonio Barrera give countless Filipinos the courage to speak up about the Desperate Housewives issue?
expressions calls for more accountability in media in light of this episode:
People behind TV shows should be more sensitive in conceptualizing each episodes that they produce. Television shows should be more responsible and discern social responsibility that is of great public interest.
According to EllenTordesillas.com:
Many middle-class Filipinos in the country and abroad find it convenient to tolerate Gloria Arroyo’s fake presidency believing that they are not affected by it. The Desperate Housewives incident proves the overwhelming extent of the disrepute that Arroyo has brought to the Filipino nation.
Fears of an anti-Filipino backlash from within Hollywood appear to be unfounded, according to a Philippine Star report. The Bayanihan Blog Network also confirms this.
LuisTeodoro.com analyzes the issue as a media critic:
Who’s going to be targeted usually depends on who’s the US’ perceived enemy of the hour, and while the latter may currently include North Koreans, the current disfavor of the month are Arabs, particularly Iranians.
US pop culture is not pro-actively sensitive. Most of the time it reflects the attitudes, biases, fears and beliefs of the majority. And why not? Its writers, directors, and producers are themselves children of the same majority culture.
Right now the majority is not so much concerned with Filipinos as with “the enemy within”—meaning the Muslims and Arabs living in the homeland. As for Filipinos, well, they’re certainly not the enemy, being from a country that’s been so supportive of US policies and so ingratiating in its mendicancy it’s way past embarrassing.
and points to what could be the real reason behind the continuing protests:
That’s what made the remark about Philippine med schools particularly painful. Like the government they thought they’ve left behind, Filipinos in the US work hard to be accepted. They keep their mouths shut when other minority groups are insulted and injured. They vote Republican in US elections to dispel any suggestion no matter how faint of “radical” views. They work at their long A’s and O’s and try to speak with a twang. They prohibit their children from speaking Filipino.
It’s a shock to discover that despite it all, despite the effort at deculturizing themselves, and despite the smiles and the patronizing, seeming acceptance of the white majority, they remain outsiders in a culture that, regarding itself as superior, disdains others.
Elsewhere, the Philippine Anti-Defamation Coalition explains why it is easy to miss the point about the outrage, and laments that other Holywood watchdogs didn't get the point either. It says the issue  gives Filipino American History Month this October in the US a fresh angle to combat racism and bigotry and to promote understanding amid diversity.