Desperate Housewives insults Filipinos, indicts self
posted at 10:55 am on October 3, 2007 by Bryan
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First off, full disclosure: I’ve never watched DH and wouldn’t have seen this story if it wasn’t on the boss’ site. Her take on it is where I’d line up if I had an interest in the fight. Here’s the offending line, thanks to Pinoymoneytalk.
Har de har. Desperate Comedy Writers is more like it. By the way, the actor playing the doctor is Nathan Fillion. He formerly served as the Captain of the Serenity. That’s a role I’d like to see him reprise, as he was absolutely perfect in it. How ’bout a sequel, guys?
But back to DH. The only reason I’m opining on this is that it’s a little bit ironic that DH singled out the Philippines to slander its medical profession. Google “philippine nurse recruit” and you’ll see why it’s ironic. The fact is, the US is a net importer of medical professionals from the Philippines. There’s currently an oversupply of nurses there and an under supply here, Filipino nurses come well trained and proficient in English, and as one hospital recruiter puts it, she got tired of playing recruit shuffleboard with US nurses flitting between different hospitals based on ever increasing incentive packages luring them from one hospital to another.
Johnson explains that she suggested her hospital try recruiting foreign nurses because she got tired of the competitive “how-can-I-make-my-opportunity-more-attractive” strategy that hospitals were using to steal nurses from the next facility—a strategy Johnson candidly admits she has used herself. With executive management support, she identified a small recruitment agency and assembled a team of three directors and a Human Resources nurse recruiter to go to the Philippines in December 2000. The team consulted both clinical and administrative experts to craft a list of screening questions for interviews—for example, “If you had a patient that presented with xyz symptoms, how would you handle it?”
An abundant supply—and a lengthy process
The recruiting team found the Philippine nurses well prepared and the number wanting to come to the U.S. abundant—driven partly by a Philippine over-supply of nurses. The team contracted with just over 160 nurses, with a three-year term of commitment contingent on obtaining a visa and license, and subject to hospital employee rules and regulations.
That article is from 2003. Things evidently haven’t changed all that much, other than that in the intervening four years we have many more Filipino nurses working here than we did then because the recruiting drives have been successful. Now, I’m sure it’s easy to find some fault with what I’m about to say, but aren’t professionally trained people who supply skills that we’re currently short of, and who will respect our immigration laws and processes, exactly the sort of immigrants that all Americans (other than lame Hollywood comedy writers) would welcome with open arms? I would think so. So why insult them with a cheap shot? Because the DH writers were lazy and figured Jesse and Al would give it a pass.
Well, that’s network dramedy TV for you. I’ll stick to Mythbusters and Dirty Jobs, thankyouverymuch.
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Agreed.
And “Dirty Jobs” rules, Mike Rowe should be a superstar for his sense of humor doing all of those shows.
bbz123 on October 3, 2007 at 11:01 AM
I wonder how many of those screaming racism would actually go to a doctor who got their diploma is some third world nation.
highhopes on October 3, 2007 at 11:03 AM
From Family Guy:
Stewie tells the audience to go watch Desperate Housewives on ABC for five seconds to see how ugly the women are. He then makes a comment about actress Marcia Cross’s face looking like someone stretching silly-putty over their knee.
(cant find the clip)
lorien1973 on October 3, 2007 at 11:03 AM
oohhh what an outrage! yea right
ernesto on October 3, 2007 at 11:05 AM
Eh. I think the (rather weak) joke isn’t meant to single out the Philippines as a target, but basically American doctors who can’t get into any American medical school and have to get their medical degree from some other country where the standards aren’t as high as they are in the U.S.A. Guadalajara would have been a better place to use. Steve Gutenberg made a whole movie about that called “Bad Medicine.”
Point well taken about the “good immigration” coming from the Philippines, but I think we should save our outrage on this one.
Dudley Smith on October 3, 2007 at 11:07 AM
What? I see your point but aren’t we against political correctness? The show is lame, but good Lord, it’s a pretty harmless joke.
SouthernDem on October 3, 2007 at 11:09 AM
My wife is from the Philippines. She will not find this amusing. My father just passed and was cared for by a Philippine nurse. Without a doubt the most kind and caring nurse I have met to date, and I am a doctor, go figure.
riccangolf on October 3, 2007 at 11:09 AM
Bryan is 100% correct! My wife is Filipino and her mother and sister are both nurses. They are just as qualified as American born nurses.
Unreal!….
Weasel Zipper on October 3, 2007 at 11:12 AM
This story doesn’t have a chinamen’s chance of making headlines.
tomas on October 3, 2007 at 11:17 AM
Not to split hairs here but isn’t there a big difference between nursing skills and those who get their M.D. degrees overseas?
You all are talking indignantly about nursing while the “joke” involved wondering where the doctor got his degree. I suspect you’d find that the U.S. is a net exporter of the most qualified physicians world-wide.
highhopes on October 3, 2007 at 11:19 AM
I notice that ABC has turned into a broadcast version of Lifetime this season. The only show anywhere on their schedule a male might chose to watch without coercion is “Lost,” and that doesn’t start airing until February (maybe “Bionic Woman,” but the premier was at best disappointing). “The Bachelor,” “Desperate Housewives,” “Grey’s Anatomy,” the latter dreck’s spin-off: It’s essentially all chick-flick, all the time.
Granted, this is all-around a gruesome season–everything new is bad, and even some of the would-be reliable returns (like “Heroes” and even “CSI,” whose premier was flat-out boring) are off their games so far. It’s so rough I actually caved in and ordered Showtime just so I could find a little refuge in “Dexter”. (Also, “Prison Break,” which I never really liked, is actually kind of good this year–or maybe it only seems that way in comparison to the past season of “24.)
Blacklake on October 3, 2007 at 11:20 AM
Except for Eva, this is a show about a bunch of washed-up has-beens. Kind of sad, really.
Lawrence on October 3, 2007 at 11:23 AM
Who cares about desparate housewives? I agree, bring back “Firefly”! Although I don’t know if I can ever get over the death of Wash…
Damn you Joss Whedon!
redshirt on October 3, 2007 at 11:23 AM
For now. Wait until Hillary gets done with the health profession. In a decade or so, when socialization finishes the job the trial lawyers have started and medicine has devolved into just another “job American’s won’t do,” we’ll be flying in doctors from Pakistan, the Phillipines, or anywhere else we can find them, just like our European friends.
Blacklake on October 3, 2007 at 11:26 AM
I watch the show, and I did think it was a weird thing to say. But I assumed it was ignorance, not malice.
The software package I design is used primarily in hospitals, so I meet a lot of nurses at our user conferences. I can’t speak for their medical skills (knock on wood) but the nurses who seem most competent and least technophobic with the system tend to be Filipinas.
But I wouldn’t expect anyone who doesn’t deal closely with hospitals to know that.
I also don’t get Michelle’s snark against Teri Hatcher’s face. Why do a closeup to show all of her many wrinkles and then accuse her of having plastic surgery? Duh.
Also, calling her stupid and then acting like she wrote the script is a little like calling Bush an idiot and then accusing him of masterminding the 9/11 attacks. Also very duh.
Tanya on October 3, 2007 at 11:34 AM
Absolutely! Nathan Fillion ought to be the Harrison Ford/Han Solo of this decade.
Bryan on October 3, 2007 at 11:35 AM
what do nurses and medical schools have to do with each other?
tommylotto on October 3, 2007 at 11:35 AM
My wife is a huge DH fan. I find it to be completely annoying and usually read or watch paint dry.
crazy_legs on October 3, 2007 at 11:38 AM
Since this thread will likely degenerate into a rant over lousy television, I might as well contribute my $0.02.
I can’t wait until 24 vaults over the shark next season and alienates even it’s most die hard viewers. Janeanne Garafaolo and Jack Bauer battling eco-terrorists? Does that really make you want to tune in?
Mike Honcho on October 3, 2007 at 11:40 AM
I read somewhere that Joss Whedon said — if the series were to get picked back up somehow, he’d go on with the original crew as if Wash wasn’t killed (and presumably Book too). It’s really a travesty that it got cancelled in the first place.
Tanya on October 3, 2007 at 11:40 AM
If she had instead mentioned a country with a left wingnut dictator (e.g., Chavez’s Venezuela) or one with a muslim majority, I’ll bet that the left would be complaining about it.
Bigfoot on October 3, 2007 at 11:40 AM
Didn’t MM’s own father graduate from medical school in the Philippines? I think that just goes to show how ridiculous DH actually is.
irater on October 3, 2007 at 11:42 AM
Are we looking too hard for offence here? Some shocked housewife is supposed to be thinking straight enough to pick a country like Tuvalu instead of some third world country she’s actually heard of? It wasn’t funny, like the Lord of the Rings or anything, but not outrageously outrageous, either.
jdpaz on October 3, 2007 at 11:42 AM
Wash dies?! Thanks alot for spoiling it, redshirt!!!
In all seriousness, this is a nothing to get offended about joke.
JohnW on October 3, 2007 at 11:43 AM
I love, love Firefly and Fillion, but that right there is hogwash. You, sir, are a heretic. :)
SouthernDem on October 3, 2007 at 11:45 AM
I’m on the Firefly adulation train as well.
As far as the clip…I don’t really care. I don’t want to turn into that group that expresses outrage at every bit of racial comedy…whether it’s funny or they miss the mark completely…I don’t want to limit the scope of what’s okay to poke fun at, because once you do that, then you’re protecting classes, and by my standards, then you shouldn’t make fun of anyone. For me, it’s the South Park argument…all or nothing.
Now I can understand some of the frustration with DH, because they are selective with what they make fun of…but we shouldn’t be upset at the act itself, but the fact they are selective with which groups they pick on…usually the ones that won’t behead them on video.
Anyone see that Washington Mutual commercial where all of the bankers are unethical money grubbing old white guys who are just out to screw the consumer? That’s probably the most racist one out there right now.
StoutRepublican on October 3, 2007 at 11:45 AM
Hmmm…this is complicated for me. Forget the post; irrelevant to everything.
1. DH — if either of the subject women were half as hot as imaged through the smoky lens of tv, it would be a miracle. They aren’t (clarif: dark haired women). In fact, they are kind of skanky.
2. Ladies of Philippine ancestry: fantasy top five.
3. Nurses: fantasy top 3.
4. Nurses of Philippine ancestry: dude…
Jaibones on October 3, 2007 at 11:46 AM
That show would be a huge hit with the right TLC from a Network or better yet someone like Showtime. I didn’t even know about it till after it was cancelled.
SouthernDem on October 3, 2007 at 11:47 AM
If the PC police did not made such a big deal out of everything that might, may, does, or they think should offend someone, this would be nothing more than a line in a lame TV show.
Wade on October 3, 2007 at 11:48 AM
I thought there was one black guy at the back of the group in those commercials. I could be wrong.
By the way, since I’m already off topic big time, new South Park tonight!
SouthernDem on October 3, 2007 at 11:50 AM
Heretic? Heh. Been playing Dawn of War there bud?
I did say “of this decade,” and the fact is that FireFly/Serenity roasts all of the Star Wars prequels and at least the last Indy flick. That’s not just Nathan Fillion’s doing, but it has something to do with his portayal of Capt Mal Reynolds. He’s great in the role and that’s a character that has tons of potential, surrounded by a crew in a story that offers even more potential.
But the network suits killed it. Idiots.
Bryan on October 3, 2007 at 11:51 AM
We already DO fly doctors and dentists in from around the world! India, Pakistan, the Philippines, China–we are a net importer of all medical professions, Blacklake and highhopes!
jgapinoy on October 3, 2007 at 11:52 AM
Say, isn’t the boss’ dad is a doctor. Wonder what he thinks?
Seriously though, false outrages like these trivialize real racism.
mram on October 3, 2007 at 11:53 AM
Oh crap, the first sentence is supposed to read: Say, isn’t the boss’ dad a doctor?
I need to use the preview button more often.
mram on October 3, 2007 at 11:54 AM
Good point, Bigfoot.
Ya know… the joke amongst the collegiate in this context generally involves an number of Degree Mills or scams associated with a Caribbean Island, not a Philipine Island.
If the comment we debate had been about a Caribbean Island everyone would have gotten the joke. I this case, I think the script writer in quesiton is just too stupid to get the joke right.
Lawrence on October 3, 2007 at 11:54 AM
Yeah, I guess, but I have to admit to being a little resentful that hospitals prefer to import foreign-born nurses (from all over, not just the Phillippines), rather than improve the way they treat the nurses they already have. I’ve been in nursing for almost 20 years, and I love it. However, most of the nurses I know, myself included, are looking for new careers, and discouraging their own children from going into nursing. It’s not the pay rate, although that could be better. It’s the general lack of respect , and the constant new policies they dream up to make it harder to do our jobs. I’ll give you an example of the latest one. We work 12-hour shifts, mostly on our feet, and frequently without meal breaks, even though they’re deducted from our paychecks. Recently, they’ve decreed that we’re not allowed to have any food items, including covered bottles of WATER, at the desk. Now we have to choose between leaving our patients unmonitored, dumping it onto our already over-burdened co-workers, or just going without food & water for 12 hours. Great way to promote health for your employees. If hospitals would treat nurses like human beings, and professionals, there would be less turnover, & less of a nursing shortage. But I guess they don’t care as long as they can continue to replace us with foreign-born nurses.
Anyway, sorry for the somewhat off-topic rant.
BeachBaby on October 3, 2007 at 11:55 AM
Is Firefly/Serenity the new Star Trek?
Lawrence on October 3, 2007 at 11:55 AM
Nah. Star Trek (well, TNG and Voyager anyway) is sci-fi on training wheels. Firefly/Serenity is the real deal.
Bryan on October 3, 2007 at 11:57 AM
I’m disclosing that I’m Chinese not Filipina, if that matters in any way. I admit DH is one of my guilty pleasures. The show was really funny the first season and I’ve enjoyed that last two seasons as well. When I saw the scene in question, I didn’t think twice about it. I saw it as more of shot as faked medical diplomas and internet diploma mills than at the Philippines. But that’s just me. As someone pointed out on MM’s thread, Susan Mayer is an airhead and an idiot. That’s her character.
On another note, I heart Mal Reynolds. My only fear is that if Firefly were to continue as it had, would it ultimately jump the shark much the way Buffy and Angel did? Both great shows and then somehow both got very very lost after a couple seasons.
wherestherum on October 3, 2007 at 11:59 AM
the best painless dentist i ever had was Vietnamese
mfnorman on October 3, 2007 at 12:04 PM
So when are we going to see a debate about an unbinding resolution to say mean things about DH on the floor of the senate?
speed911 on October 3, 2007 at 12:07 PM
I have a Filipino friend. I don’t watch this Golden Girls show, but I’m sure the dialogue was riveting.
madmonkphotog on October 3, 2007 at 12:08 PM
Actually THIS is a stereotype: that individuals from Third World (i.e., Socialist) countries feel they are “adopted” by a company, rather than employed as free agents in a competitive market.
But just thinking some country has a worse medical system than America? The only way that’s bigotry is if you consider the concept of common sense to be inherently racist.
logis on October 3, 2007 at 12:10 PM
I’m white…grew up in a trailer…and still I think “My Name is Earl” is fantastic.
StoutRepublican on October 3, 2007 at 12:19 PM
Thanks! I would’ve missed it.
Blacklake on October 3, 2007 at 12:26 PM
Much ado about nothing. It was a stupid joke on a stupider show.
I know nothing about the quality of education offered by Filipino medical schools, but the general perception (true or not) quite likely is that some might be diploma mills or otherwise not up to the standards of American schools. Same for Central American medical schools.
Sure, they could’ve picked on another country… but then those of that country’s heritage would be raising hell about it.
Hollowpoint on October 3, 2007 at 12:35 PM
“Im a leaf on the wind.”
“What does that mean?!”
allie on October 3, 2007 at 12:45 PM
Off topic, but you did see the movie Serenity, right? Whedon did that knowing full well it probably wouldn’t be a commercial success (and would therefore damage his career) because he had this story inside him that he HAD to get out.
The movie probably reflected the culmination of about 5 years worth of TV episode story arcs - if the series had gone on longer than that and then meandered a bit because Whedon didn’t plan ten years ahead from day one, so what? That’s like complaining about a golfer whose drives tend to fade to the left a bit after 800 yards!
This is way off topic, but In my opinion the Firefly TV series appeared to “jump the shark” with its first couple of episodes, and so I was one of the billions who didn’t originally follow it. The American Civil War subtext was brilliant, but Whedon simply laid it on WAY too thick at first. Using laser guns that look like six-shooters, intergalactic cattle rustling, and a hover-train robbery? It’s like Whedon assumed his whole audience needed to be hit over the head to figure out “Hey, this is supposed to be a metaphor for post Civil War America! Get it???” I think science fiction fans need to be given a little credit. We can understand that history repeats itself, without having to believe that technology does so.
But after the movie came out I went back and watched the rest of the TV series; it improved with almost every episode. If it hadn’t been so overdone in the beginning, I think it would have really caught on.
logis on October 3, 2007 at 12:49 PM
Another heretic! Buffy never, ever jumped the shark!
OK, Angel did, though. And there was Buffy season 4 (with “The Initiative”) that was a little lame (major exception: the Hush episode).
Still, heretic!!
SouthernDem on October 3, 2007 at 12:49 PM
The insult police never rest.
coldshot on October 3, 2007 at 12:59 PM
Serenity ruled! And I got my 7yr old son hooked on MythBusters, he loves it!
mrfixit on October 3, 2007 at 1:08 PM
I LOVED Buffy the first 3 seasons. It was after they intro’d Dawn that I thought the show went down hill. The dumb kid sister tagging along killed it for me, just like when they brought in Connor on Angel. I just couldn’t watch it after that. Hush was an excellent episode, however. And I did tune in for the series finale for both. But still. Jumped. The. Shark.
wherestherum on October 3, 2007 at 1:15 PM
What Johnson doesn’t mention in her article is what makes nurses from other countries most attractive to these directors and Human Resources nurse recruiters is the fact that they will work for less money. U.S. nurses are over worked and under paid.
coldshot on October 3, 2007 at 1:25 PM
Serenity/Firefly was insulting enough. STNG was lame and it was still better then firefly.
jdkchem on October 3, 2007 at 1:32 PM
Heretic!
I just wanted to beat SouthernDem to the punch.
Bryan on October 3, 2007 at 1:33 PM
True. I was thinking in terms of network suits cancelling the show after 2 seasons, but the show eventually became a phenom with cult-like following. I mean, even now, cinema Star Wars doesn’t have the same following as made for TV Star Trek.
Lawrence on October 3, 2007 at 1:35 PM
True.
Sara Michelle Gellar stole the show, was the show for me. But I think the show tanked way before the Dawn character showed up. There is only so much story line you can build around a teenage killer-sexy heart-throb killing the same old vampires over and over again.
Lawrence on October 3, 2007 at 1:39 PM
I confess I only saw the last half of the movie. I’ve been meaning to go back and watch it after watching the series, but my Netflix queue is stacking up and I’m catching up on the last season of Boston Legal so I can watch this season. But I liked Firefly from the beginning after I got a taste of it from the movie. Now I just need to see the movie the whole way through. As for Firefly requiring a lot of suspended disbelief, the best way I’ve seen it described is a sci-fi/western. And really, it’s no different than the gaping technological holes in Star Wars.
wherestherum on October 3, 2007 at 1:47 PM
Meh
- The Cat
MirCat on October 3, 2007 at 1:51 PM
No lumpia for Terri Hatcher!
Edzackery on October 3, 2007 at 1:52 PM
I didn’t even notice the reference to the Phillipines, I just heard that they were talking about menopause. Ewwwww…
radjah shelduck on October 3, 2007 at 1:52 PM
Mike Rowe can clean out my grease traps any day of the week.
KelliD on October 3, 2007 at 2:18 PM
That’s right!
Seriously thought, STNG was better than Firefly, but you can’t really compare the two, considering the longevity factor.
SouthernDem on October 3, 2007 at 2:24 PM
So, a joke implying that Phillipine medical schools might not be up to U.S. standards “insults Filipinos”, or is a “racial slur” as I’ve seen it referred to elsewhere?
So, when I call Harry Reid a corrupt, lying scumbag I’m insulting Americans?
Did I accidentally go to a phishing site that claims to be Hot Air but is actually some left-wing victimhood site?
Master Shake on October 3, 2007 at 2:33 PM
Bryan,
I dated a NICU nurse in 2000 who was having trouble finding a full time position. The hospitals did not want to hire them and have to give them benefits so the only way she could find work was through an agency so they could cut her hours without notice.
I would take with a grain of salt any businesses claim that they need to import foreign workers because of labor shortages. First, they should have to advertise the jobs and not the phony advertising that was suggested in the video you had from that law firm. The only way that wages will rise in this country is if companies can’t undercut native workers.
P.S. I am all for NAFTA and GATT.
Bill C on October 3, 2007 at 2:40 PM
If she had said Cuba, that would have been funny.
Everyone knows that Filipino doctors are would class.
You know, like British dentists.
I have been to a doctor in PI but I aint sayin’ what for.
TheSitRep on October 3, 2007 at 2:41 PM
The show is insipid.
For the record: I have a Filipino mother-in-law who is a wonderful nurse, her brother a successful doctor…right here in the good ole USA!
Malpaso on October 3, 2007 at 3:20 PM
thats crazy talk….
liquidflorian on October 3, 2007 at 3:28 PM
If you tell us “where”, we’ll know “why”…. ;)
ScottG on October 3, 2007 at 3:39 PM
I’m not outraged at all at this clip.
Vincenzo on October 3, 2007 at 4:04 PM
Not even a blip on the radar. She could have thrown out any of a hundred places that are exotic to most Americans to make the joke work. For all we know the script was written that she was to say New Guinea or Bora Bora and she couldn’t remember that and Phillipines popped out of her mouth and the director just left it as it didn’t matter.
To get outraged about this is just as silly as the stuff the left and muslims get outraged about all the time.
deepdiver on October 3, 2007 at 5:22 PM
I worked with Filipina nurses back in the late 1980s and early 1990s and I found them to be dedicated and hardworking. One had been a nurse in the U.S. Army during Vietnam and was one of the most competent nurses I met.
My fiancee is Filipina American and I’m positive she would get very upset over what was said on this show. I know she doesn’t watch drivel like Desperate Housewives.
Mooseman on October 3, 2007 at 6:06 PM
logis on October 3, 2007 at 12:49 PM
I all fairness, Whedon was screwed from the word go. The network chose to show the episodes out of order, so there was quite a bit of confusion with character development and introduction.
BTW Jewel Staite, “Kaylee” From the show, is a regular now on “Stargate:Atlantis” She has grown into a beautiful young woman.
redshirt on October 3, 2007 at 6:33 PM
My girlfriend is a Filipino nurse and also would not be amused by this.
EnochCain on October 3, 2007 at 7:18 PM
Ahhh. As much as I adore Michelle, and liked and respected pretty much every person from the Philippines I ever got to know at all… I don’t see anything to get outraged over here.
I don’t much care what the ethnicity of anyone is; what counts, (especially in things like medical care) is the person’s knowledge and skill.
With that in mind, I’d prefer someone who graduated from an American medical / nursing school to one from just about any other country. Only because without studying the issue, you are less likely to be able to guess what quality of education and post school continuing education they got.
I’m less likely to hire a nuclear physicist from the College of Mahajanga in Madigascar than one from MIT or Stanford too.
LegendHasIt on October 3, 2007 at 7:46 PM
Lets not forget that General MacArthur freed the Philippines
so that Hollywood,Desperate Housewifes could besmirch Filipino’s.
canopfor on October 3, 2007 at 8:29 PM
IF MM were not Filipino would this non-story be on Hotair? The fact remains that if you want to have psychic surgery done, where the doctor puts his hands inside you to remove the tumor, and then magically leaves no marks because no knife was used, you don’t go to Denmark for that service, you go to the Philippines.
jihadwatcher on October 3, 2007 at 9:11 PM
Oh hell, now you hurt the feelings of Denmark! When will the madness end?
coldshot on October 4, 2007 at 7:59 AM