Chip Tsao: literary rabblerouser
Much has been said about the mass dramatic outburst and overreaction to Chip Tsao’s satirical piece about “The War at Home.” See here for the full text–courtesy of Indolent Indio. The Philippines, as of the time of this writing, has even BLACKLISTED Mr. Tsao from the Pearl of the Orient Seas. His offense: failure to confess his sins and apologize.
But did he really slander and insult the Filipino people by, as his Pinoy critics claim, calling the Philippines a “nation of servants”?
The first step is to take a deep breath, exhale the drama and overreaction, and read Mr. Tsao’s article closely. The reader will immediately notice that he explains that when the Russians defecate on Chinese
sovereignty by killing 7 Chinese crewmembers of a Hong Kong freighter or when the Japanese blatantly plant a flag on Chinese contested territory, the Chinese turn a blind eye. He even jabs at Communist China’s affinities with Stalin and Lenin and belittles Chinese mass consumer identification with Japanese mass consumer drivel and pap epotimized by Hello Kitty.
This establishes that his audience and his target are the Chinese people. He is speaking to their docility. Their supine diplomacy in the face of the potent Russian military presence emanating from Vladivostok and Japan’s imposing economic dominance in the Eastern Asia.
Now, the next paragraph is where the collective Pinoy reading ability is tested. He starts by emphasizing–”even the Filipinos?” He is stating with this textual turn that YES–Pinoys have sovereignty too just like the Japanese and the Russians. The Chinese can accept those–very timidly in fact, as his earlier paragraph shows–but why can’t the Chinese except Pinoy sovereignty claims as well? He states the fact that the Philippines, flowing from its sovereign right to define its boundaries, passed that national Baselines boundary law. He emphasizes the Chinese double standard when he notes: This is beyond reproach. This is when he digs deep into Chinese stereotypes of Filipinos and it isn’t pretty. Not pretty for Pinoys but doubly not pretty for his target audience–the Chinese government and Chinese people who hold a warped vision of their place in the world.
Everything else that follows aims to highlight the ridiculous Chinese double standard against Philippine sovereignty–the fact that there are over 130,000 Pinay domestic helpers in Hong Kong which lead many Hong Kong chinese to consider Filipinos as servants coming from a nation of servants, the fact that many of these “servants” have college degrees, the fact that many Filipinos work long hours doing menial labor, etc. This long litany serves to cement the ridiculous incongruity in the Hong Kong Chinese mind of the “lowly” Philippines asserting its sovereign rights as opposed to China bending over to perceived ‘greater’ countries like Russia and Japan. How dare the Chinese treat Pinoy sovereign claims as irrelevant when they are a sovereign nation as well? Are they less entitled to sovereignty than Russia or Japan just because their stature is “lowered” by the fact that there are many Filipina domestic helpers in Hong Kong? These are the hard questions Tsao asks of his Chinese audience. He wants them to dig deep into their collective being. Of course, the answer to all these are obvious.
Chip Tsao is a very courageous man. His satiric mention of “Long Live Chairman Mao” would have earned him several years in a ‘reeducation camp’ back in the 60s to early 70s. He is dragging the Chinese by the ear in front of a mirror and demanding, through clever but direct satire, to examine its double standards, it’s warped view of sovereignty, and it’s view of its place in the world. The Philippines is merely a dramatic example in this soul searching.
A little bit off topic but still relevant: Maybe if the many Pinoys outraged by Mr. Tsao’s article focused on the question of WHY there are over 135,000 Filipino domestic helpers in Hong Kong, maybe the rage would not be wasted? Here’s a hint–bad economic policies at home. Pinoys can get outraged over racism but why can’t they get outraged over a threat they have control over–economic policies that lead to eroded purchasing power that leads to mass Pinoy emigration? Read more about this analysis: Why is the Philippines Poor?
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