A slur is sometimes invited

Except for Risa Baraquel and a few others like Foreign Secretary Alberto Romulo who is "outraged" over something he has not personally seen, not many people are in uproar over how a BBC show depicted a Filipino maid and slurred us all. And I think I know the exact reason why.

But first let me qualify that I myself am aghast at how low and condescending the show producers at BBC look at Filipinos. Before I saw video clips of the offending show segment, I was of the feeble impression that we still command a little respect from the rest of the world.

However, feeling offended is one thing. Having the moral resolve to complain is another. And while I suffer a great deal of the former, I simply don't have the strength for the latter. Somehow, I have a sick feeling in my stomach that I richly deserve my patriotic pain.

And here is the reason why I feel so helpless in face of such a direct insult, the same reason why I feel most Filipinos are not in uproar over the glaring slur. We have all resigned to the fact that if we cannot have self-respect, we cannot expect others to respect us.

Now, self-respect may be a little too broad to pin on something so specific as a racial slur, so let me just point to two very recent examples of how we lost self-respect without even knowing it, and having so unknowingly lost, also lost the respect of others.

Even before Baraquel and Romulo worked themselves to a heat about how the BBC humiliated all of us, pictures appeared in the newspapers about the way two prominent convicts have been living inside prison, effectively dousing cold water on any claims we have about self-respect.

For how can we expect the BBC or the rest of the world to have any qualms about "poking fun" at an anonymous Filipino maid (who, except for her role in the show, may not even be a Filipino) when we do not have any qualms making a joke out of our very own laws and ourselves.

Look, a person who commits a crime needs to be punished, not just as a direct penalty for his sin, but also as a reformative measure that he may not sin again. More importantly, his punishment is intended to set an example for others that crime truly does not pay.

The pictures I am talking about show how two prominent murder convicts, Claudio Teehankee Jr. and Rolito Go, appear to be living in a modest hotel instead of a prison cell at the New Bilibid Prison in Muntinlupa.

As shown in the pictures, one can go nuts and never succeed in associating their rooms with that of a prison cell. Had it not been for the photo captions that said so, one would have thought he was looking at real living rooms.

Teehankee and Go had furniture, appliances, reading materials, pantries full of food, etc. In other words, they lived the kind of life that is nowhere near the remotest description of punishment. Under the circumstances, they may as well have been enjoying it.

Teehankee and Go are nowhere near the wealth and prominence of Paris Hilton and Martha Stewart. But when the two ladies served time, they did not enjoy the same perks that the two murderers had. You can say a lot of things about America without losing any respect for it.

Another example of why is it very difficult for the rest of the world to respect us is the fact that a terrorist suspect being held at the national headquarters of the police managed to walk out just like that. And it was not even the first time a thing like that happened.

Look, we ourselves commit slurs on other people. Just watch our comedy shows and see how we, for instance, make fun of the way the Chinese speak English. But we do not get a torrent of complaints because other people are mature enough to make distinctions between slur and fun.

I think another reason why we are so quick to take offense at things that, otherwise were made in the spirit of fun, is because we are choking in a surfeit of false pride. We prick easily over name-calling but make no effort to develop that which truly matters -- character.