Chip’s Publisher Apologizes, Sort Of (Updated With Tsao Himself Apologizing)

So it’s an apology of sorts.

Note, however, that HK Magazine stands by its offending columnist’s supposed ‘satire’.

One aspect of a satire is that it can at times be read in different ways. In this particular case, many people have read meanings into this column that were never actually intended.

Yes and no.

Tsao is unheard from as of this writing and don’t expect him to say sorry.

The offending story has since vanished from HK Magazine’s site, so for those who missed the March 27 story:

The Russians sank a Hong Kong freighter last month, killing the seven Chinese seamen on board. We can live with that—Lenin and Stalin were once the ideological mentors of all Chinese people. The Japanese planted a flag on Diàoyú Island. That’s no big problem—we Hong Kong Chinese love Japanese cartoons, Hello Kitty, and shopping in Shinjuku, let alone our round-the-clock obsession with karaoke.
But hold on—even the Filipinos? Manila has just claimed sovereignty over the scattered rocks in the South China Sea called the Spratly Islands, complete with a blatant threat from its congress to send gunboats to the South China Sea to defend the islands from China if necessary. This is beyond reproach. The reason: there are more than 130,000 Filipina maids working as $3,580-a-month cheap labor in Hong Kong. As a nation of servants, you don’t flex your muscles at your master, from whom you earn most of your bread and butter.
As a patriotic Chinese man, the news has made my blood boil. 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 belongs to China.
Grimly, I told her that if war  breaks out between the Philippines and China, I would have to end her employment and send her straight home, because I would not risk the crime of treason for sponsoring an enemy of the state by paying her to wash my toilet and clean my windows 16 hours a day. With that money, she would pay taxes to her government, and they would fund a navy to invade our motherland and deeply hurt my feelings.
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 IslandsWar 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.” They say the indoctrination is working as wonderfully as when we used to shout, “Long live Chairman Mao!” at the sight of a portrait of our Great Leader during the Cultural Revolution. I’m not sure if that’s going a bit too far, at least for the time being.

A basic, very basic, thing about communication is the relation between the sender, and receiver, of the message.

So Chip Tsao (real name Ko Tik) can very well hide behind the tag ‘satirical writing’.

We are well within our rights to tag him as he reallY is: A Moron.

There are now moves led by the Blas F. Ople Policy Center to trace Tsao’s Filipina “house assistant” to either repatriate her to
Manila or find an employer who will treat her humanely.

Ople Center Executive Director Susan Ople says that based of Hong Kong’s labor regulations there is basis to prohibit Tsao from employing Filipinos.

He can very well wash his own dishes and do his laundry.

There are other points of view about this incident being a non-story.

Those holding such POV are surely entitled to their belief.

But when the day comes that we no longer value national honor is the day characters like Chip Tsao will move on to become more dangerous oppressors.

Postscript:

The Philippines now considers Tsao a persona non grata with his entry into the country forbidden.

The Commission on Immigration counters now have this posted at the airports:

UPDATE:

Chip Tsao is now reported to have apologized through a statement broadcast twice last night over Hong Kong TV Network ATV.

GMA TV News online has this story:

http://www.gmanews.tv/story/155062/Chip-Tsao-apologizes-for-maid-country-remark

I crossed the line.

This was the admission of the HK Magazine columnist who branded the Philippines as a “nation of servants,” a report over dzBB radio said Wednesday morning.

DzBB’s Hong Kong correspondent Corazon Cañete said that Chip Tsao issued a public apology Tuesday night, which was aired over ATV’s 7:30 p.m. and 11 p.m. newscasts. ATV is a private television network.

“The ’servant’ is a sacred term. A Hong Kong government official is a civil servant. We are all servants to God, right? I’m now aware that I’ve crossed the line and I offer my public apology,” Tsao was quoted as saying.

Cañete reported that only Tsao’s voice was heard while a file photo and a file video of him were shown.