conflictFirst Part of a Series

I wasn’t keen on reacting to satirical pieces made by journalists as long as it is made with class. A joke sometimes creates something more meaningful than just a dose of laughter. It is art imitating life and thus the creator had nothing to do but become the messenger of what he or she sees.

It is the collective burden of the readers and the society as a whole to distinctively see the social irony that was wrapped in silly soliloquy.

But as a realist, I always argue the nature of writers as carrier of his/her own biases. That however or no matter how hard we try to become objective, there will come an issue that we, capable of thought and reasoning and feelings, will become subjective without even knowing it.

And I see that we writers are humans capable of errors of judgment.

I also am fond of “in your face” bluntness, hard hitting but nevertheless honest articles that ticks you off but without any hint of hypocrisy typical of those trying to be famous self-indulged “nationalists” of sort.

It is therefore my reasons for loving satire: I found it naturally sensual yet funny, blunt yet intellectual, anti-establishment and revolutionary.

But Chip Tsao’s article that pissed off a lot of Filipinos, including me, was a satirical piece with no class. Not only was his piece ill-conceived, it was also culturally insensitive at best.

Instead of providing the readers the irony of highly educated Filipinos working as maids, he had angered the collective sensibilities of all Filipinos working abroad, thus clearly showing his lack of intellect on the subject.

While the piece was classless, and I obviously angered, I can see his message in the big picture.

The overlapping jurisdiction on the Spratlys group of islands, the Chinese military dominance in the South China Sea, and the grim prospect of war over oil.

The paranoid me sensed not just a distasteful satire, but more of a drum roll for something even more obnoxious than just a stupid article capable of offending a nation.

It seems like someone is testing the waters….

(To be continued…. The Crude Awakening)