A Reply

DATU_B left these comments on my last post. I felt they were worthy of reply.

Sorry about this. I thought that this was silly, not anything to get upset about, but my other friends thought this was in poor taste of me to send it along.

I had already heard about this sad situation, so the shock had already passed. But, I understand the feelings of "poor taste," shock, and revulsion to having this story appear in your email box. Being Filipino, I was naturally interested in this story. I can see why others would not be. Also being Filipino, it's always rather difficult to see cultural stereotypes perpetuated in the media and helped along by people willing to fan the flames, so to speak, for their own amusement... Naaaaaahhh.... I'm just kidding.

For pete's sake, we were the people that The Man had to invent the Colt .45 for because the G.I. Joes of the day couldn't put us down fast enough before we got to them and sliced their heads off with bolos. Seeing one of us dressed in white clothes with a white turban would've meant that we could be one of the last things you'd see. We're from a land that's like Thunderdome in the tropics with people running amok and juramentado . Take my dad -- 75 years old with no martial arts training whatsoever. But back in the day, when he was like 50 or so, he'd get pissed off at someone, swear in Tagalog and quickly scan his environment looking for something to wield or throw (before my mother would stop him). We've fought Chinese, Japanese, Spanish, Americans and even each other!

So, what it means is don't screw with us. Not only can the more martially skilled of us turn you into an after picture from a Ginsu ad, but apparently there are those among us who'll go Hannibal Lector on your @$$, too!