toni buzzed our yahoogroups about this malu fernandez woman who wrote an article for people asia magazine talking about her trip to greece and being stuck in an economy seat with OFWs. while she brand-name-drops her way throughout the entire article about her cavorting in greece then to boracay, malu fernandez makes the mistake of bashing her countrymen at her self-declared private hell of the plane's economy class. it has created such a stir in the blogosphere that there are reactions from all over. they're all quite interesting reads, from what i would term as uupakan kita, jologs na may Louis Vuitton bag retorts to the poor woman who thinks her poop is gold doesn't know better entries. other entries about it here, here and here.
my reaction to toni's email was, "isasakay ko tong babaeng to sa magnolia fragrance papuntang tawi-tawi, tingnan ko lang kung di siya masuka sa louis vuitton bag niya!" (i'm gonna put this woman on magnolia fragrance to tawi-tawi and let me see if she doesn't puke in her LV bag!). and my reaction to her article, "you're mouth and mind needs some lysol itself. some of your gold are stuck up your arse, too."
she also makes a retort here. an excerpt:
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.puh-leeze. some people with lower socioeconomic background are better bred than you are. even if all they get to eat are noodles and rice to get by and you get to stuff yourselves with escargot and champignon (which is just the sosyal way of saying suso at kabute, noh). we may not be your target audience, we middle class people, but we can read and we know when we are being put down.
people asia publishers, why did that article made it in your pages in the first place? i know your mag is all about the finer things in life, one that majority of us can not afford... but to actually put down hardworking people who just want to give their families the comforts that you enjoy everyday... it's inexcusable. you're like a voldemort-controlled daily prophet who just employed rita skeeter.
i did stop in my tracks about my reaction and wondered... might have i done the same? might i have put down people of different calss? i had to review my entry about that magnolia fragrance ride to be sure whether i deserved to bury my head in shame as well. for most part of the entry, i thought... damn shit, letse rin pala ako! but thankfully, i saved myself from further shame by ending it with saying that it was a lesson of humility for me. whew. however, i realized that i should really be more conscious of how i deal with those who are different from me. because i definitely do not want to be like this woman.
i used to envy these people living the good life... to just be able to get things easily without needed to scrimp too much just to get it. but then, after all this... i'd rather learn to respect people without regard to their cash or class.
