Crooked: society

check out this article

The War At Home
March 27th, 2009

The Russians sank a Hong Kong freighter last month, killing the seven Chinese seamen on board. We can live with that—Lenin and Stalin were once the ideological mentors of all Chinese people. The Japanese planted a flag on Diàoyú Island. That’s no big problem—we Hong Kong Chinese love Japanese cartoons, Hello Kitty, and shopping in Shinjuku, let alone our round-the-clock obsession with karaoke.

But hold on—even the Filipinos? Manila has just claimed sovereignty over the scattered rocks in the South China Sea called the Spratly Islands, complete with a blatant threat from its congress to send gunboats to the South China Sea to defend the islands from China if necessary. This is beyond reproach. The reason: there are more than 130,000 Filipina maids working as $3,580-a-month cheap labor in Hong Kong. As a nation of servants, you don’t flex your muscles at your master, from whom you earn most of your bread and butter.

As a patriotic Chinese man, the news has made my blood boil. I summoned Louisa, my domestic assistant who holds a degree in international politics from the University of Manila, hung a map on the wall, and gave her a harsh lecture. I sternly warned her that if she wants her wages increased next year, she had better tell every one of her compatriots in Statue Square on Sunday that the entirety of the Spratly Islands belongs to China.

Grimly, I told her that if war breaks out between the Philippines and China, I would have to end her employment and send her straight home, because I would not risk the crime of treason for sponsoring an enemy of the state by paying her to wash my toilet and clean my windows 16 hours a day. With that money, she would pay taxes to her government, and they would fund a navy to invade our motherland and deeply hurt my feelings.

Oh yes. The government of the Philippines would certainly be wrong if they think we Chinese are prepared to swallow their insult and sit back and lose a Falkland Islands War in the Far East. They may have Barack Obama and the hawkish American military behind them, but we have a hostage in each of our homes in the Mid-Levels or higher. Some of my friends told me they have already declared a state of emergency at home. Their maids have been made to shout “China, Madam/Sir” loudly whenever they hear the word “Spratly.” They say the indoctrination is working as wonderfully as when we used to shout, “Long live Chairman Mao!” at the sight of a portrait of our Great Leader during the Cultural Revolution. I’m not sure if that’s going a bit too far, at least for the time being.

by: chip tsao

as a patriotic Filipino citizen this has made my blood boil

this is said to be a satire article but i don't think so. A satire is
something that should be humorous not offending!!

and i believe one of the best example of a satire are the works
of our own Bob Ong and this article is million miles away from
that kind

as a 16 yrs. old living in the country he calls "nation of servants"
yes we really are and I'm proud of it, it is a fulfillment to serve others.
What i cannot accept is the racism that was clearly expressed in
the article why because the servant he calls not just the maids are
people who sacrifices their lives to give my friends, cousins,neighbors,
classmates a better life. They are one of the reasons that keep our
country going and this people also make your daily lives easier

mind you it's hard to serve others specially people
you don't know....even i when my parents ask me to do something..
sometimes i don't do it and they pay for my education,food, allowances
and yet i disobey them..

service is one of the hardest virtue and I'm proud that my fellow
country men is doing it properly and you don't have the right to
disgrace them....

they serve you but you can't control their minds they will always
be in the Philippines side just like you who's very patriotic up to
the point that you step on others race!!

you don't deserve to be served by my countrymen.

this article i cannot accept!!

just recently i just finished a book by Bob Ong
I know him cause his a famous author but i never
actually read his work until now.....made me
realize something

i like reading books it really one of my hobbies
but i don't really care if others read i only care
about myself i just realize when i read Stainless Longganisa
there was a line their when Bob Ong stated that

"its such a shame when all your life you dont even have at
least one favorite book"
(it's in tagalog i just translated it in English)

and that's true after that i realize that should get involve
in promoting books.

for me a book is a concrete source of knowledge you can go to
many places even if your just sitting in a corner quietly....

it's more concrete than Internet sources cause it been approved
by a lot of people before being published.

here's a scary stats about the deteriorating reading skills of people
in the USA

Who is Reading Books (and who is not)
One-third of high school graduates never read another book for the rest of their lives. Many do not even graduate from high school.

58% of the US adult population never reads another book after high school.
42% of college graduates never read another book.
80% of US families did not buy or read a book last year.
70% of US adults have not been in a bookstore in the last five years.
57% of new books are not read to completion.

i wonder what the stats are here in the Philippines is it higher or lower?