I love this girl! :) hahaha. She totally reminds me of my ninang with her Louis Vuittons and all the other brands I gave up trying to pronounce.
Of course the part about the author abhoring OFWs is kind of mean, but also kind of true. My ninang who lives in Macau doesn't want to be associated with OFWs who are house help, guards, bartenders, or other jobs looked down upon. But of course what is new? We the middle class don't usually acknowledge or associate with the help. I don't think it would change even abroad. Within these different migrant communities from the same "mother" land, there is still a heirarchy and status.
Abroad it will be even more pronounced because the middle class or upper class professional Filipinos abraod do not want to be associated with the "lower" class because they also have to face the locals in the countries they are in. So why would they want to associate themselves with OFWs if it can be detrimental to their own face and status in other countries? Of course they don't want to be seen as house help or worse prostitutes... but of course it is really mean.
Vicky--I saw an article about the development of Second Life last year, I think in Popular Science mag. It's actually really cool, "real" to virtual money, etc. But it gets kinda creepy, this too real hypereality. Ha-ha. Cool but frea-ky. Very Big Brother-ish image comes to mind.
I know thats what i was thinking! People can actually make money off a life their living online! It said in the article someone actually sells land and another person designs clothes. And like how businesses are promoting online too...Its kind of like those people (in the article) created their own space there or something. I tried Second Life but it took so long to load in my computer it took forever for me to design my own avatar. My computer would hang after every click. :-(
Update: Malu Fernandez actually quit her job because of death threats and other negative comments she got due to this article! See this: http://globalnation.inquirer.net/news/breakingnews/view_article.php?article_id=84544.
I tend to agree with Raphael. Yes, one may feel embarrassed to be "associated" with OFWs, and that's a legitimate feeling. And fine, make fun of them it makes you feel better.
But what's so irritating is that she was so obviously trying to assert one's sosy-ness by using OFWs as her Other. Hello, fine, be sosy but don't be offensively sosy. Go namedrop whatever.
And if she's gonna use the it's-all-a-joke excuse, maybe she's just such a bad writer that her humor didn't come through. There's a way of writing tongue-in-cheek; this was more foot-in-mouth!
This People Asia magazine article has some interesting things to say about OFWs.
8 comments:
I love this girl! :) hahaha.
She totally reminds me of my ninang with her Louis Vuittons and all the other brands I gave up trying to pronounce.
Of course the part about the author abhoring OFWs is kind of mean, but also kind of true. My ninang who lives in Macau doesn't want to be associated with OFWs who are house help, guards, bartenders, or other jobs looked down upon. But of course what is new? We the middle class don't usually acknowledge or associate with the help. I don't think it would change even abroad. Within these different migrant communities from the same "mother" land, there is still a heirarchy and status.
Abroad it will be even more pronounced because the middle class or upper class professional Filipinos abraod do not want to be associated with the "lower" class because they also have to face the locals in the countries they are in. So why would they want to associate themselves with OFWs if it can be detrimental to their own face and status in other countries? Of course they don't want to be seen as house help or worse prostitutes... but of course it is really mean.
Sir I found something really interesting online about Identity and the Internet. Its about the site Second Life.... Heres a link! :-)
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/19876812/site/newsweek/
Vicky--I saw an article about the development of Second Life last year, I think in Popular Science mag. It's actually really cool, "real" to virtual money, etc. But it gets kinda creepy, this too real hypereality. Ha-ha. Cool but frea-ky. Very Big Brother-ish image comes to mind.
I actually tried Second Life... It's actually cool. I kind of got scared by some of the other people's avatars.
Weird thing is their currency Linden Dollars is convertible to real dollars. It is kind of like an alternate reality where people can make money.
I made an avatar with black wings. It was hilarious, I could fly(with or without wings), I was dancing with a stranger in one of the places.
Second Life is quite interesting. I see people with really outrageous avatars.
I know thats what i was thinking! People can actually make money off a life their living online! It said in the article someone actually sells land and another person designs clothes. And like how businesses are promoting online too...Its kind of like those people (in the article) created their own space there or something. I tried Second Life but it took so long to load in my computer it took forever for me to design my own avatar. My computer would hang after every click. :-(
Update: Malu Fernandez actually quit her job because of death threats and other negative comments she got due to this article! See this: http://globalnation.inquirer.net/news/breakingnews/view_article.php?article_id=84544.
Oops, here's the complete link to the Inquirer article:
http://globalnation.inquirer.net/news/breakingnews/view_article.php?article_id=84544
Good find, Ayee!
I tend to agree with Raphael. Yes, one may feel embarrassed to be "associated" with OFWs, and that's a legitimate feeling. And fine, make fun of them it makes you feel better.
But what's so irritating is that she was so obviously trying to assert one's sosy-ness by using OFWs as her Other. Hello, fine, be sosy but don't be offensively sosy. Go namedrop whatever.
And if she's gonna use the it's-all-a-joke excuse, maybe she's just such a bad writer that her humor didn't come through. There's a way of writing tongue-in-cheek; this was more foot-in-mouth!
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