News that the Philipine embassy are making a complaint about a recent edition of Harry and Paul came as a major shock – especially given the context of the complaint.
Apparently:
A petition organised by the Philippine Foundation called for the “re-education” of the BBC.
It said: “This particular sketch is completely disgraceful, distasteful and a great example of gutter humour.”
It accused the BBC and the show of “inciting stereotyped racial
discrimination, vulgarity and violation of the maid’s human rights”.
The sketch was “tantamount to racism and [the] worst sexual
abuse and exploitation of the hapless young Filipina domestic worker
employee,” it added.
The petition had received 328 signatures by midday on Tuesday.
Yet the sketch concerns the abuse of a Northerner by southerners. The maid is purely incidental.
As a northerner (not a Geordie, of course, but the character is never described as such despite his attire, accent and hair) I find the sketch hilarious. The brunt of the comedy is the vapid, vacuous and frankly vile upper middle class ponce who “owns” the Northerner.
Like the “I Saw You Coming” man, he’s a nasty piece of work who looks down at the rest of society. They’re superb caricatures.
So, The Philipines – get a sense of humour, or at least understand what it is you are complaining about.
“The maid is purely incidental.” Therein lay the tragedy. What is incidental for you is a sensitive issue for the Filipino Diaspora and migrant workers – many of whom are domestic helpers who suffer physical abuse, sexual exploitation and every now and then come home in body bags.
On second thought, I think I should thank the BBC show Harry and Paul for inadvertently mirroring back to Philippine society its atrocious short-comings.
To remind us we are a nation with over 12 million migrants in 193 countries and territories. To remind us that our piss-poor governments of the past three decades have been whoring its people to work as migrants with little rights abroad. To remind us that the billion dollar remittances they send home, the third largest in the world, are earned in quite literally blood, sweat and tears. To remind us that migrant labour deserve rights and protection. To remind us that the few entrenched elites in this country is determined to keep the many poor hopeless and without opportunities that they would brave working in Iraq at the height of the war. To remind us that very young Filipinas are trafficked out of the country by the tens of thousands.
So, yes. Thank you Harry Enfield. Here’s to more laughs.
Hi Sparks, and thank you for your contributions. You evidently feel extremely strongly about a range of painful, criminal issues that should not have been allowed to begin, let alone carry on.
However I don’t feel that hijacking an innocent (but in bad taste) sketch will do any lasting good to your cause. There’s no reason why the profile of these crimes shouldn’t be heightened to enable you and your countrymen to work against them effectively.
Latching onto a popular sketch show however isn’t the way to do this. This will blow over whatever happens.
I’ve been stopped in the streets for all sorts of reasons by fundraisers from all sorts of causes, but never have I been asked to donate money to fight the crimes that you describe above. I can’t help but think a more concerted campaign of awareness would benefit you and your people – and ultimately all of us.
But please remember: the butt of the joke isn’t the maid. That is why I described her as incidental. Not out of any sort of callous disregard, but because she could quite as easily have been a different character if the sketch was centred around a different culture or section of society.
Regards
Christian