Thank you very much Kate Natividad for another enlightening article.
I also recommend you read one of the first articles I’ve written here at GRP about homosexuality and homophobia as well as one of my more recent pieces.
Please take note that I’m not writing this article to judge or condemn anyone. If anything, I am writing this article because I think that something needs to be said and done about the current state of our media if we are to continue to have a safe and sane society. I am an avid supporter of gay rights (despite what some readers may think) and I am quite happy for my family and friends who can now live together happily in the United States. I pray that one day, the Philippines can also come to accept LGBT people as full citizens and respect their right to love who they want to love.
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However, I am most certainly not supportive of Vice Ganda and his alleged “humor” as it is neither appropriate for public consumption nor has really anything beneficial to offer the common Filipino. At the end of the day, most of the comedy he claims to make is just crass and offensive humor that degrades other people’s appearance or intelligence. While I can agree that this kind of humor might be acceptable in a comedy bar with a small audience, it is not something that is meant for a nationwide audience, especially when there are children who could be easily influenced by his antics.
I have LGBT friends both online and in the real-world who are quick to prevent me from saying inappropriate things when in the presence of children such as the gruesome details of the latest Human Centipede film. Should you meet my real-world gay friends, you will probably be impressed with their professionalism and sophisticated wit. They are even fiercely against Vice Ganda’s brand of comedy which they claim only degrades other people’s dignity, leading to even more hatred towards the LGBT community.
The thing is, the central theme of comedy in the Philippines has degraded to the point that disrespect and degradation of others has become “funny”. One can also note that the theme of “love” in Pinoy media has been confused with teen lust and forbidden desire. While the MTRCB continues to claim that it endeavors to promote wholesome and informative shows, the fact that Vice Ganda and his immoral sense of humor continues to gain popularity further cements the notion that the MTRCB has no real clue on how to go about its business.
I have always believed the media all too often reflects the nature of the society it informs and entertains. If all our shows are essentially about degradation, humiliation, disrespect, sordid affairs and general immorality, I can only worry about the future generation of Filipinos who are exposed to this kind of mind-numbing entertainment. How many children have I seen talking to their elders the way Vice Ganda talks to people in a way that is both degrading and humiliating.
Remember people, I’ll say it again in case you missed it or forgot about it:
Respect begets respect.
I HAVE RETURNED TO LAY WASTE TO OUR ENEMIES!
We are, what we see in the Media…this is the reality of our civilization. This is the reason the Jewish Holocaust happened in Nazi Germany. It is because the Media was used for Nazi political propaganda.
If idiots like , Vice Ganda, continues to contribute his/her “idiotic remarks” and idiotic entertainments.And, the Whore, Kris Aquino, is the “Role Model” of the young.
It is no wonder, our values are distorted. We cannot disatinguish, what is Right and what is wrong. And the Filipino youths are confused…
Garbage in; Garbage out…
Then we can solve the problem by using the media to educate n inform the people in all aspects…n not only stop there…once we somehow gain momentum…we shall evolve our tactics…and awaken all the Filipinos…so for those aspiring to be people w/ jobs involving media n wants to progress this nation…your ideas and initiatives are the key…so lets all do our duty my fellow youth…and awaken our potential…lets all organize ourselves and make “something” Like new Noli me tangere and El Fili…but w/ a 21st century twist…all about true situation of this philippines…or continue w/ Ibarra’s timeline…what happened after El Fili? lets make it!!! and many more
I strongly agree!
But
“While the MTRCB, whom is also run by presidential candidate Grace Poe,”
Ms Grace Poe once chaired the MTRCB but at the moment she is a senator and not in any way connected with MTRCB.
Naman… mag-verify konti
HA, Vice Ganda was in Ft. Lauderdale,Fl. recently and played a sold out show to ,IDK who, but it is funny that the poster boy for confused Gender Identity gets to be the most apt picture to go along with the title of this essay, HA !!!!
The best option is for government sponsored networks that offer quality shows that are cultural, informative, reflective, relevant, educational, and significant to the Filipino people. Public Broadcasting in US is partly government & private subsidized. It is a good system to emulate. Targeting popular characters may not yield positive results. Giving choices will. What television shows can schools really refer their students to? Are there any documentary listings that are worth reviewing?? DepEd has a big role in this.
that’s what were about to do…but to attract the people we must target popular characters modify them to affect their hearts make them like true humans…has choices and have feelings too but the characters in Rizal’s Noli and El fili are already like that so lets modify or evolve it in the 21st century…and we must use them simply because..their popular…and are more familiar…if we succeed in inspiring them to make choices through those characters…then boom!!! 🙂
I didn’t ask anyone to make me a poster boy, because poster boys (Jose Marie Borja Viceral aka Vice Ganda included) always end up on dart boards.
the bone of contention here is wether we allow ourselves to be used by the media magnates and business men to be used for their own sake. the pinoys have been fed with all silly and unrealistic information through the media. the people have been bribed to believe that there’s nothing better than what this moguls have been feeding them. the artist and players have allowed themselves to be used to act like fools and puppets for their own good. unless people stop their fixations on the media hypocrosies watching idiotic pinoy programs in tvs and movies, pinas will forever be the country of stupid pinoys.
I say we fix the internet bandwidth / speed issue in the Phil so people can have a choice in watching content they really want. YouTube is more educational and intellectually satisfying to watch than many cheap tv shows that lead you nowhere.
You have a good point, but I don’t think you’re aware Youtube has a lot of erotic/pornographic-ish videos that are technically not suited for kids. Yes it might be educational but without guidance and by the help of their curiosity, you can’t control your child from watching it accidentally. So think about it for now or take the risk in the future.
I have been living in the philippines for about 10 months now. I have my wife translating for me most of the times. I have been amazed by this nations confused state of mind here. You apparently have a huge gay population and some parents really encourage their kids from a young age to pursuit their sexuality if they show signs of being gay in thinking that they might become famous like vice ganda. But they oppose gay rights based on their religious belief,what a bunch of confused hypocrites. You cannot serve two masters people. You people are living in a haze of unbelievable state of permanent confusion which is fueled by your TV programming. Wake the hell up!!!
That is the state of affairs here in the Philippines, Lord Confucious. Sad to say. Everything is essentially self-defeating just like what you mentioned.
it is a sight to behold isn’t it, WTF is goin on in this hell-hole, ‘Holy Shit…’, said the surprised visitor.
as a filipino am nonetheless was a bit offended by your statements. However it made me realized that we must wake the hell up on many of my country’s bunch of confused hypocrites
This is so true.,parents laugh pa when their own kids copy vice gandas edi wow.,even if its already a sign that the kids are disrespecting their elders.thats why i dont let my kid watch t.v.,when kids nowadays are trying to be sassy but end up being disrespectful it is quite sad.,then parents will realize it only when its to late
Ganyan tayong mga pinoy eh. Binibigyan natin ng pansin yung mga ganitong bagay, pero pag mga foreign things ayus lang? Narinig ko sa lyrics nung isang kanta: “pero pag english na rapper ang nag mura ay gusto nyo, talagang ipokreto ang ibang pilipino
na sarado ang isipan kaya walang asenso” – Don’t take things seriously, it’s just a joke. And one posted: “YouTube is more educational and intellectually satisfying to watch than many cheap tv shows that lead you nowhere.” Yeah, talk about this famous songs, that has words not suited for children. If mali talaga yung way ni Vice Ganda sa pag’joke, eh sana sinita na sya sa simula pa lang. Sana wala na syang show gabi2x, sana di sya sikat. I’m not a fan of him, but the way you react guys, you sounded like you are very insecure close-minded people. Ika nga sa mga kanta, pag tagalog tapos nagmura, masama. Pero pag english, ayus lang? Di kayo nagrereact. Palibhasa tinagalog lang ang wikang Ingles? Gising hoy. Yung ekonomiya ang unahin nyo. Wag to. Papansin din eh noh. Hehe. Love bruh. Sa America walang mga ganito, kasi lahat liberated. Open-minded. Tapos andito kayo. Hahahaa.
Gege lang tanong lang what if someone insulted u and lhat ng tao tumawa and the person who insulted you said joke lang un ano kba … Comedy parin ba un …paki sagot nlang po
depende kung.. nasa comedy bar kayo? ..kung kaibigan mo siya? ..kung kainuman mo siya? ..kung wala kang galit sa kanya? kung galit naman siya sa u? at kung seryoso kang tao na lahat ay pinuprublema mo.. nasa sa atin na naman kung paanu mo mapapaliwanag sa kanya na nakakasakit na siya ng feelings ng iba. don’t add insult to injury kung alam mo na mali talaga better kausapin mo siya.
I like to focus on your particular line: “The thing is, the central theme of comedy in the Philippines has degraded to the point that disrespect and degradation of others has become “funny”.”
Even in the past, when I was growing up, being often bullied in school, for MANY Filipinos, they use insulting jokes, disrespectful jokes and bullying jokes as a free ticket to hurt someone they hate, someone they are jealous and someone they want to put down. Those who do this find satisfaction to see the reactions of the subject of their offensive tirades. Psychologically speaking, there is a sadistic attitude in their spirits.
I have experienced this not only as a child or a teenager but even after 25th anniversary after high school graduation.
You are not alone in that regard.
Here, read one of my first articles here and tell me what you think.
http://getrealphilippines.com/2015/01/bullying-and-offensive-stereotypes-in-our-society/
Hahaha… This is hypocrisy at its finest. It sounds like an anti-Vice Ganda campaign. You cannot just blame everything to the celebrities or media. Get real!
Says the failipino who knows nothing about vice ganda’s mediocrity. I bet cheap and offensive jokes are acceptable to you because you’re stupid.
Hahaha… you’re missing the point and you’re a TROLL.
So you should get real, son. Because you just went FULL RETARD with what you wrote!
People who are judgemental are hypocrites, maraming hang ups sa buhay, bitter, envious and insecure. Who are you to judge people? Are you a Christian? Do you have God? Do you ever pray? You are a typical ‘banal na aso santong kabayo’. Be humane. Treat people with utmost respect, without discrimination.
If there are some people you don’t like, just keep it to yourself, because for all you know you’re much much worse than the people you hate. You are not God, you are not perfect, you have dark secrets, that’s why you hate people who are honest and have the guts to express themselves without fear and insecurities.
Perhaps you should ask Vice Ganda the same question…
I am a Christian, but the Lord is utterly embarrassed and disappointed on what you are doing. In other words, your dwelling on your own ignorance.
Troll on somewhere else, hypocritical douche. -_-
What about you katoliban who behaves like a crusade from the middle ages killing those who don’t believe in their religion? Did you even give a damn about those sexy ladies dancing in noontime shows? Hell did you even give a damn about lots of minors as paid fuckers of old foreign perverts?
God Himself is facepalming at your self-righteous bigotry you retarded damaso! It’s very obvious that you never practice what you preach because you’re all pray but not spiritual.
do you know comedians like Jon Stewart, Jon Oliver, jimmy kimmel, amy poehler and etc? They use wit and sarcasm a lot in their craft, they can make their audience laugh without doing what vice ganda and others comedians here in ph, the lack of creativity is driving the likes of vice ganda to go for comedic insults of people because its fast and it cater to filipinos who wants cheap jokes.
This is exactly the mentality of a typical low IQ Pinoy. Their favorite tagine: “bakit, perpekto ka ba?”. So stupid.
It is not bitterness, tagalugin natin para maintindihan ng mga Pilipino.
Ang pagpapatawa ni vice ganda, sa totoo lang ay maghahanap siya ng malalait sa mga contestants or audience, yun na yun. Bilang isang tao na madalas nalalait, maiintindihan mo na walang choice ung nilalait sa t.v. kundi tumawa, kasi malamng pag nag-react at nagsabi na na-ooffend siya, tatawagin siyang killjoy at pikon. Ngayon, maaaring o.k. lng sa t.v kasi maaring nagpauna na si vice ganda na ganun ang gagawin niya. Eh mapapanood ng mga tao, at maaring gayahin at saan sila kukuha ng bibiktimahin na lalaitin, eh di sa totoong mundo na, yung mga nanahimik lamang ang masasaktan sa panglalait, tapos kapag nag-react dahil nasasaktan na siya, biglang kambyo at sasabihin na “biro lang”, anong kabobohan yun. Maging responsable sa kung ano ang lumalabas sa bibig mo, yun lng. hindi bitterness yun, karapatan ng tao na magsabi ng nasasaloob niya lalo na at naagrabyado na siya. YUng iba nga dyan, estranghero naman at hind nila kilala, pero kung malait nila wagas.
Oa naman ito. Kung concerned ka sa anak mo na baka mamisinterpret ang mga ‘degrading’ jokes edi wag mo papanoorin ng palabas niya. Kayraming ibang channels diyan. These type of comedies and themes has been going on for a long time and not just here in Philippines so don’t blame them to what’s going on to this countries.
You see, that’s just the thing. Those pinoy parents are very irresponsible for letting their children watch those shows that are not for them. And puhleaze, your bandwagoning of other countries’ faults is a moron’s excuse.
@Meme. Mind if I correct the grammar? …
“These types of comedy have been going on for a long time and not just here in the Philippines; so don’t blame them on what’s going on in this country.
Lesson #1. Subject – verb agreement. If you have a plural subject (more than 1 thing/person), then a plural verb must be used. e.g.: Flowers HAVE (not Flowers HAS).
Lesson 2. Use of articles. “THE Philippines” needs the article THE before the country name.
Actually, I usually joke around that the greatest nations in the world have an article THE in front of the country name. And the three greatest are the following:
1. THE United Kingdom
2. THE United States
3. THE Philippines
So there you have it folks. Your country is a great nation – so STOP acting like a bunch of assholes and get your act together!!!
Thing is, the Philippines is called that “THE” because it kinda refers to multiple islands. I think it’s in the name. Something like “The Islands of Philip.” I suppose it’s similar to the UK and US because their plural as the UK is four kingdoms and the US is more than 50 states.
hmmm…What are Nations with “The” became great and not…And what were the Nations that became Great w/o “The” and not? Dibs on AMERICA AND RUSSIA XD well of course…its “The” people not the name that makes a nation great right?
rephrasingXD “What are the”
THE Philippines’ THE at the front? Well grammatically if your country name ends with “s” or begins with “United” then you’ll the THE is required…
The Solomon Islands
The United Arab Emirates
The United Kingdom
The United States of America
The Bahamas
The Netherlands
The Philippines
So it’s nothing about greatness. As I said, it’s just a joke – and just to give us some hope of becoming great someday.
errata: delete you’ll
Hm… Ano kayang gustong patunayan nito sa pagko-correct niya ng grammar, hm…
hehe, nakakahiya kasi pag iba nagcorrect sakin kaya ako nlngXD
wag ka mahiya kung may mali ka sa grammar. kahit ako may mali din. hindi tayo native english speakers.
pero eto lang i-share ko. turo samin ng british-filipino teacher. he calls it the transliteration of pinoys.
1. fall in line – wrong
stand in line – correct
2. eat-all-you-can – wrong (he said, “so if you can eat the chairs then you’ll eat it as well?”)
all-you-can-eat – correct
Ang lungkot siguro ng buhay nitong writer nito. Wawa naman. Get some life!!! 🙂
another failed point misser..go for the messenger and never mind the message..mahirap ba intindihin? if you can’t get the real context of the message wag na mag comment at nakakabanas…mas mabuti pa ang bobo kasi talagang walang alam…pero ang stupido, may alam pero di ginagamit ang utak..
we learn and gain wisdom thru COMMUNICATION. and its (communication) main objective is to relay important messages, information and ideas that needs to be conveyed may it be verbal or non verbal. Intelligent people listens, and stupid like you talks without even thinking. how dumb could you be dumb if you only idolize the messenger and overlook the message/idea. MORON.
right. here in GRP, we practice collaborative learning.
kung sa pagiging malungkot ay makakapag produce ka ng isang makabuluhang bagay at makakapansin ka ng mga di kanaisnais na mga pangyayari na sa mata ng madla ay tama dahil sa ito’y nakagisnan na, gugustuhin ko nalang maging malungkot. ikaw CODEGRAY masaya ba buhay mo? ano na nagawa mong makabuluhan?
If someone should get some life, it’s YOU, son. And your lack of intelligence is showing it. 😛
At ang bobo naman ng isip mo dahil puro nakakabobong palabas lang ang laman ng utak mo. Mag-aral ka nga inutil dahil halatang wala kang alam!
MTRCB is headed by Atty. Toto Villareal, not Grace Poe.
But she WAS part of it. I can only worry what will happen if she ever becomes president.
Don’t worry not everybody like Vice Ganda. Lilipas din yan hindis siya forever.
The nonsense humorous expressions such as “edi wow”, “boom karakakak” and many others are way too mainstream and it may degrade our standard of choosing a right word to express in an appropriate manner. Sometimes, I can tell that Vice Ganda is a person with good spontaneity but a sort of critic with matching hostility that hurt our fellowmen’s integrity. Therefore I hate his enticing comedy performance about degrading others’ physical appearance and discriminating line of thinking.
“Ano ba ‘yan! Napaka-imoral ng mga shows sa Pilipinas! Ayoko na manood ng local TV, mag-i-stream na lang ako sa internet ng Braking Bad, Game of Thrones, The Simpsons at Family Guy!”
Wala e. Dati ‘di ko alam kung bakit napapadalas ang mga words na “hypocrisy” at “pretentious”, ngayon alam ko na.
Go, Filipino Progress!
We can’t do anything in our community per se but inside our home we can do a lot…
Can we stop blaming the government, it is non sense to burst out all your emotions to the government about this issue because lets admit it they will never give you even a second to address your concern, instead try to assess ourselves inside our home, are we doing our simple task yo guide the children while watching t.v.? Don’t get me wrong, i myself is guilty anout this stuff too, but what I am trying to point out is we shiuld not blame it all to the governmrnt, because we are also are partly accountable to what is happening to our society. Start with you, start with your family.
Too right, Vlad. The fact is, NONE of us can influence anybody … except ourselves. We have direct control only over our own thoughts and actions.
I’ve met so many people who have more control over their situation than they think, but they’re so focused on blaming others that they can’t (or won’t) see that they have the power to change things for themselves. Nobody else is going to do it for them.
I think the key word here is parental control. I’ve always believed the essence of culture has always been diversity and it constantly evolves whether we like it or not. All the evils in the world already existed long before, along with the rules of morals and ethics.
Seriously? Educated people are all gathered here talking about wit and bragging about their intelligence. Here is my piece of shit from my class c society. First of all, i may not be a fan of vice ganda but he/she is the only one trying to interact with the mass to and in some stupid way it makes people laugh and once in a while forget about their issues in life. Why cant this intellectual people, professionals as they claim stretch their hands to reach out on people and give them the solution instead of tapping their smartphones and blabbing about a person who didnt do any personally to them? Why dont they comdemn themselves for not watching over their kids and watch them and guide them while watching telly? Thats why we have rated pgs right? Isnt that use to remind us parents to look over our kids when watching telly to tell them that it isnt suit for them. All talkies. .
Unfortunately, typical Pinoy parents aren’t exactly “responsible” when you really think about it…
Vice has an upcoming show here in cebu. I have seen the posters on billboards. The poster shows vice lying on so many half naked men clad in a red sexy dress with waist high slits. In my opinion, its not really for graders and very young audiences. Thankfully it was ordered by cebu city hall to be removed as they declared it as obscene picture. When comedy bars were in a rage before, i have only visited one and never liked it. If ur seated in a front row, then ur the subject of being bullied and made fun. Now sad to say, it has gone national. Cheap laughs are plain mean at the expense of others.
Thank you for this article. I just want to emphasize here the so called refinement since it is becoming more clouded. The tone of a society is absolutely reflected on its citizens and it is sadly to note that our decency is diminishing. It is a fact that TV is a powerful medium to influence the personality and character of a person, so if the person that they are seeing or admiring are imbuing an unpleasant character, it falls down to indecent or immodest community. I am out of the country right now and I am not recommending to my family to watch his shows or even to watch TV that much since it can corrupt ones’s intimacy- in Tagalog kalooban or pagkatao.
I think it is important for him to change his style, but it will not happen overnight. Yet, this is only an opening eye for Vice Ganda, but to all the artists actually. They must realized that the reason why they are given such a wonderful talents are to influence people positively. I am hoping and humbly asking them to act with refinement.
Pardon me on my second sentence, it should be this ” I just to emphasize the so called refinement because it is becoming clouded”.
I thought ako lang ang may offended feelings revice ganda…..
The other harm that this trend may bring is that people might think that those acts are appealing and correct which can lead to distorted tone of society. This in terms of values, culture and behaviour.
I thought iam the only one offended by Vice Ganda….
Dami nyu alam! Tandaan. You always have the right not to patronize what u think is offensive. Wag nyu pilitin ang gustong manuod sa brand of humor ni Vice or sa candid banters ni Kris Aquino. Crab mentality na naman tau dito? If want nyu masunod opinions nyu magtayo kau ng Entertainment Company at ipalabas ang gusto nyu. I will reiterate again, You have the right to choose what u want to watch.
Indeed, we are educated that is why we are acting on the way we are formed. Actually, comments on this issue is and will be always different because people have different values, experiences, environment, personality and beliefs. If the standards of people are stagnant to what is good and not aware to refined ways that is where the conflict/problem arises. For this reason we are giving comments to share what we know to achieve a sound and finesse society. We are not thinking of ourselves. Share your talents, knowledge and skills for the betterment if society.
You are correct, you/we have the right to choose, but your choice or decision must be a good influence to yourself and most especially to others. Yes and yes, you have the right to choose and your taste or criteria on choosing is based on your standards, values, and environment. That is why we are giving our comments to uplift the values, standard and quality of entertainment. If no one will speak out, people will think that is the ideal and standard of beauty and refinement.
You are correct, you/we have the right to choose, but your choice or decision must be a good influence to yourself and most especially to others. Yes and yes, you have the right to choose and your taste or criteria on choosing is based on who you are. That is why we are giving our comments to uplift the values, standard and quality of entertainment. If no one will speak out, people will think that is the ideal and standard of beauty and refinement.
Then why do you think people are still patronizing them? Have u ever asked urself what u can do to make ur opinions be heard? Do u think airing it out here will be enough? Point of the matter is, Vice and Kris entertain people in their own ways. We live in an imperfect world and these people share themselves to everyone. We just judge them on what we see on tv but at the end of the day, their jobs and the fact that they made people happy will be more important that people’s idea of what is right without even putting those ideas into action.
The idea that people need to be “happy” all the time is wrong. In fact, part of the reason why the Philippines cannot progress is because most Filipinos think they should forget about their problems and just have a good time. They should face realities and address the problems before they consider celebrating and having fun.
Escapism is what they are doing, they just want to laugh and be happy all the time, but with this mindset they are just settling themselves for worst when the “real” problems comes, such as money problems. I do escapism whenever i watched wally and jose, i think it last for an hour just me and my family laughing, but after that, back to being serious about planning for our different needs in life. That’s why i’m always labeled as serious as if it’s a negative attitude because i choose wisely when to have fun and when to be serious. The problem is most filipinos are overdoing escaping life.
Look how the host treated a guest they invited to judge for the show:
you can learn many bad things from watching local telenovelas from intrigues, seduction, bribing cops, hiring killers, raping, etc and all the while evading the law. are the scriptwriters so unimaginative(dumb) that they cannot do better.
Kutsero ang kailangan ni vice Kabayo para ma desiplina. Siya lang ang plastic na hindi pwedeng e recycle bwahahaha.