Gods forbid that there should be one.
A couple of days ago, Jo e-mailed me some scans of an article on People Asia magazine entitled "From Boracay to Greece." It was written by someone named Malu Fernandez. Perhaps the name is familiar to some people, but I sure as hell have no idea who she is or what gives her the right to be so damn snooty.
I tried reading the whole article by pretending it was all just a big joke, but I knew I was kidding myself. It forced me to conclude that the woman is a fool, that she does not deserve her own column (and if she does, then hey! so do i!!), and that the editors of People Asia are a big joke to have permitted something like this to squeak through the presses.
A lot of things have already been said about her insensitive comments about OFWs, to which she has already responded.
As I type this, I'd like you to know that it's not about whining, complaining and bitching but just stating the facts. Just recently, I wrote a funny article in my magazine column and my friends thought it was hilarious. It was humorous and quite tongue-in-cheek, or at least I thought so, until the magazine got a few e-mails from people who didn't get the meaning of my acerbic wit. The bottom line was just that I had offended the reader's socioeconomic background. If any of these people actually read anything thicker then a magazine they would find it very funny. Most people don't get the fact that they need bitches like me to shake up their world, otherwise their lives would be boring and mediocre. I obviously write for the a certain target audience and if what I write offends you, just stop reading.
Yes actually, your whole article reeked of whining, in the same way that the economy class cabin that witnessed your suffering reeked of AXE and Charlie. And just so you know, it's highly likely that the people who read your article have read books and publications thicker than a magazine, otherwise they wouldn't have recognized that you, lady, are a pompous brat. And let's not forget that we spotted that your writing was a far, far cry from being an example of "acerbic wit." It was nothing more than a long rambling piece on how you suffered during your trip. Looking down on flying coach? Do you realize how much the fare costs and how expensive it really is? Spraying Baygon at the beach, honestly. Never mind that the chemicals will seep into the sand as long as you're well shielded from them nasty bugs. And 17 kg of makeup?
Yes, you're correct in saying that what you've written offends me, and a lot of other people. So it's probably best for you to write articles meant only for your social circle's eyes since they were the ones who were highly entertained by your article, instead of inflicting your views upon the world at large, who will only be horrified at the things you write.
Okay, I haven't read any of her other articles, but if this is one example of her writing, I would gladly skip the rest.
Elsewhere:
4 Comments:
“Responses to an OFW-Basher”
By Jerick T Aguilar
After shamelessly writing about her summer trip to Boracay and Greece in the June 2007 issue of People Asia magazine, this columnist was found guilty of character assassination of our overseas Filipino domestic helpers regardless of the fact that they have never wronged her, except – in her opinion – for being on the same economy flight that everyone is entitled to. As a writer and traveler myself, please find below my notes on some of the things she wrote. I may also be guilty of character assassination but at least mine is not baseless and I think of this more as defending our fellow “kababayans” working abroad.
“But I was too ashamed to ditch my friends and forego the huge amount I already paid for my share of the villa.” – Outright pretentious! People rent and share villas in Boracay to save on expensive hotel charges per night so writing that she paid a “huge amount” is plainly preposterous!
“Meanwhile, when all of this was going on, I was on the cell phone …” – Proper English writing uses the conjunction “while” when it is followed by the progressive (this case in the past) and interrupted by the simple tense – so “while all of this was going on, I was …” – I thought a columnist for a magazine (and newspaper) would have a knowledge of English much better than a domestic helper’s!
“Ron is my travel buddy … so between his schedule and mine, the logistics are a nightmare.” – “Logistics” is a non-countable noun and, hence, is always followed by a singular verb – so “… logistics is a nightmare.” Ditto!
“Emirates had won best economy class and some award.” – “Award”, on the other hand, is a countable noun (i.e. it has singular and plural forms) and the modifier “some” means more than one – so “… some awards.” – My, oh my! Our housemaid even knows better English than her!
“I forgot that the hub was in Dubai and the majority of OFWs (overseas Filipino workers) were stationed there.” – Duh?!? Majority of OFWs are in Saudi Arabia, unless she doesn’t know what the word “majority” means. And another duh! To be “stationed” means to stay in one place – it’s obvious that our OFWs don’t just stay there, she was with them while traveling back to the Philippines.
“Meanwhile, I wanted to slash my wrist at the thought of being trapped in a plane with all of them.” – Okay, a plane is a form of public transportation so the preposition “on” instead of “in” is used (e.g. on a bus, on a train, etc.) so “… trapped on a plane …” Yeah, she should’ve slashed her wrist in order to prevent writing more grammatical mistakes! (I hope her readers do not know that she is Filipino! Nakakahiya kung ganoon! – Sorry but the English translation does not suffice!)
“… I would never risk losing if my luggage ended up in the middle of the Sahara desert.” – Her plane took off from Dubai then landed in Athens where the flight plan is northeast of the Sahara desert, unless there was a stopover in Abidjan, Côte d’Ivoire. Now is she really a traveler or was it just her first time to travel?…
“… the seats were so small I had bruises …” – Okay, didn’t she mention that Emirates had won best economy class? So I wonder if the seats were so small or she was simply so big?
“Domestic helper ka rin ba?” – She wrote this question as if she overheard it while dozing off. I bet she was actually asked this question. I mean, I would whether or not I were a domestic helper given her fashion sense in the pictures (not at all to demean the clothing style of our domestic helpers but one cannot really differentiate hers from theirs).
“… the weather report on CNN … was wrong because it was still winter.” – Hold on, summer in the Philippines from April to June is already spring in Europe. And even if the European winter in March extended till April, Greece is in the Mediterranean so it would’ve already been warm by then. So was it really a cold winter while she was there or she just wanted to impress her readers by mentioning the word “throw” as a noun and not as the usual verb (and by wearing it to look less fat in the picture)?
“I adamantly wanted to go to Santorini … but due to time constraints, we were unable to go.” – Talk about being pretentious again! She intentionally forgot to mention “money” as another constraint! Didn’t she just write that she had to fly economy?
“I guess God was watching out for us.” – And now she thinks God was after writing that God had sent her to her own private hell being on a plane with “those domestics”. One of the rules of journalism is to be consistent (aside from having perfect English, of course!) so I guess she is the exception.
“This time I had already resigned myself to being trapped like a sardine in a sardine can …” – Another cardinal rule of journalism is to avoid redundancy so a “fish” in a sardine can sounds much better. I don’t think she’s a traveler, I don’t think she’s a journalist either… What is she then? An abomination?
“… with all these OFWs smelling of AXE and Charlie cologne while my Jo Malone evaporated into thin air.” – Interesting how she made reference to Jo Malone in which a perfume wardrobe costs more than $1,000 yet she had to take the economy flight to Athens and back…
“But for a couple of weeks, I had the great escape …” – What was that again? A “couple of weeks” when she wrote beforehand of her “time constraints”? Greece is not China so a visit to Santorini from Athens can be squeezed even within a week of staying there. And before that, she wrote “Pick a country!” as if she can go anywhere she wants to. But she ended up saving on her plane ticket only to be “trapped” with OFWs and “smelling like air freshener”. She is the height of pretension indeed!
Three things to my “supposed” fellow writer and traveler – first off, if you have to write something in English, do not forget the simple rules of grammar so you do not cause intellectual harm to the people reading your article. Secondly, if you do not have money to pay for a business class fare, then don’t complain if you are surrounded by OFWs who can only afford an economy flight. As a final note, I suggest you thank these OFWs instead of demeaning them! If it weren’t for the billions of foreign currency remittances that our country regularly receives from them, the instability and depreciation of the peso-dollar exchange rate would’ve prohibited you from traveling to Greece in the first place (and buying that Jo Malone, assuming you already did)!
31/8/07 01:00
Mr. Aguilar, all I can say about your comment entitled "Responses to an OFW-Basher" is encapsulated in one word. Wow!
I will welcome your comments if I have grammatical errors in my comment. So here goes.
Well people, after all that has been said and done about Ms. Malu Fernandez and about her supposed submission of her resignation paper both from People Asia Magazine and The Manila Standard Today, surprise, surprise. Today, her column in The Manila Standard - Divalicious came out to talk about, well, “make-up.” Seems like her resignation was not accepted.
I will admit this is only the fourth article that she has written that I’ve read since the netizens shook her to her senses. The first being the People Asia Article - From Boracay to Greece, second, her Am I a Diva! Or do you lack common sense?, third, her apology and “resignation”, and today’s article in Divalicious entitled, Unseen evil on your dressing table.
Interestingly, her column which came out today, September 3, 2007, Monday did not include names of high society personalities and brand names. And it was toned down. Way, way, down. Her article tackled on how to keep the ladies’ make-up space and equipment clean to prevent rashes, eye infections and other allergic reactions and the expiration of make-up. Also a big surprise, is that she even talked about how TO SAVE on lipstick and to not be a “label whore” since the more EXPENSIVE brands and the CHEAPER ones contain the same ingredients and costs about $0.50 to $1.00 to make. The difference in pricing in the end product, lies mainly in its packaging and marketing.
For me, judging from this latest column of hers, I think she has learned her lesson and learned it well.
For other netizens out there, what do you think?
I for one have friends and family who work abroad for a living. And it is disheartening at times that it tugs on my heartstrings when I talk to them on the telephone or even over the internet and when they hear the television or the radio in the background,they would ask me to put the receiver closer to the source of the sound so just they can “hear” a little bit of home. More so if they are having problems or sick and they have no one there to care for them except other OFW’s who are free from their work schedules.
I am not totally excluding the Manila Standard Today (MST) from my reading list. I believe there are more intelligible, sensible and credible writers in MST.
As of today, I promise myself that “Unseen evil on your dressing table” will be the fourth and last article I will read of Malu Fernandez, even if she comes out with another article displaying her “acerbic wit” and her brand of humor.
I leave it saying: There will be no complete absolution nor total restitution, in the absence of an equal and just amount of retribution. So there.
3/9/07 16:18
I hope we can learn to forgive Malu Fernandez. I wrote an entry about her article and I hope you can find time to read it. It's entitled "One Voice (An OFW’s reaction to Malu Fernandez’s “From Greece to Boracay”)" and I posted it here: http://lestercavestany.com/?p=10
6/9/07 03:36
Thanks for the link, Lester, that was very nice. I'm sure a lot of people remain offended (I hated how she made herself seem like some princess who's too delicate to mingle with the masses, for one), but yeah, there are loads more important issues to get worked up about. As long as she learned her lesson, then I suppose that's all good.
6/9/07 12:57
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