2009 April, 6th

Phil Butler

In journalism, there is a great opportunity for good, and in the case of Chip Tsao, a similar opportunity to act irresponsibly. We are all prone to moments of “goofiness”, wherein we act (or write in this case) without thinking things out. Taso has been hammered in the news lately over his maligning of Filipinos, and justly so. Reducing a whole people, a whole nation to servitude via opinion, is not what one would call exemplary attitude. The right to an opinion is one thing, but being blatantly elitist and insulting is another.

In an article for HK Magazine, Tsao essentially called the Philippines “a nation of servants”, while referring to China and that nation’s dispute over the Spratly Islands. Part of the article contains a discourse between the author and his maid Louisa:

” I summoned Louisa, my domestic assistant who holds a degree in international politics from the University of Manila, hung a map on the wall, and gave her a harsh lecture. I sternly warned her that if she wants her wages increased next year, she had better tell every one of her compatriots in Statue Square on Sunday that the entirety of the Spratly Islands belong to China.”

In fairness, I looked up a reprint of the original article ‘The War at Home’, to see the context from which these statements were drawn. In obvious defense of Chinese policy with regard to the issue, Tsao simply over does it, by a lot. The ethnocentric remarks about Tsao’s maid are the tip of the iceberg compared with his last paragraph, which essentially constitute a terroristic threat with far deeper implications. I quote the whole paragraph, so that there will be no ambiguity:

Oh yes. The Government of the Philippines would certainly be wrong if they think we Chinese are prepared to swallow their insult and sit back and lose a Falkland Islands War in the Far East. They may have Barack Obama and the hawkish American military behind them, but we have a hostage in each of our homes in the Mid-Levels or higher. Some of my friends told me they have already declared a state of emergency at home. Their maids have been made to shout ‘China, Madam/Sir’ loudly whenever they hear the word “Spratly”.

According to Tsao there are over 130,000 Filipino maids working in Hong Kong alone. I know the reader can sympathize with those underpaid, abused and sometimes overworked workers, and with how they must feel having to chant; “long live Mao“ with every other breath. Some, including on writer from the Philippines, have defended the article calling Tsao’s intent satirical, which seems like hogwash to this writer. How is the average Filipino supposed to differentiate satire? For his part Tsao, and HK Magazine have issued an apology however untimely or forced it may have been. Tsaon is entitled to only one thing, Everything PR’s Goofy Award. I only wish we had something more appropriate to award – perhaps we need a new category?

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About the Author

Phil Butler is editor-in-chief of Everything PR and senior partner at Pamil Visions PR. He’s a widely cited authority on beta startups, search engines and public relations issues, and he has covered tech news since 2004. Phil wrote in the past for ReadWriteWeb, Mashable, Profy, SitePoint, Search Engine Journal, AltSearchEngines. Follow Phil on Twitter or send him an email at phil [at] pamil-visions [dot] com.

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