Oh no, not another racial slur, this time from the Desperate Housewives series. It seems again that the best way for any film or movie to be noticed, other than on its merits, is to offend sensibilities or to incite deep-seated passions. Controversy is still the fastest way to gain attention, rightly or wrongly. I say, our reaction is a measure of our insecurity.

The slur was at most indirectly racial. Indirect because the actress did not call Filipinos racist terms, her spiel targeted the state of our medical schools. So the first thing to do is to ask: is there truth to her statement? We have many Filipino schools that are fly-by-night—some with no board passers possibly since inception. Filipino diplomas we proudly make in bustling Recto Avenue to rival the best universities in the world.

Excellent doctors and nurses we have plenty, we say. However, the fact that we produce the best doctors and export them to the world does not disprove the existence of mediocre schools. The converse is not true and this is the glaring error of the slur. No ordinary doctor from a “B” school makes it to America given the strict residency requirements and the multistage licensing exams.

Then we will argue that even if true, no foreigner has the right to criticize us or that they should clean up their own house first. But should not we be the first one to keep house before setting off petitions demanding for an apology that competes with the muffled cries of the Burmese? By all means let us close the nonperforming schools and deal with the forgeries. Our diplomas are not even printed on security paper or bar-coded.

Remember Claire Danes a few years back and her comment about the country’s dirtiness? She is back with a vengeance in the magical and heart-touching Stardust the movie, but I digress. We cursed her to high heavens that time. And then there were others, the latest of which was Malu Fernandez’s own complaint against the smell of Filipino OFWs. Regardless of the veracity (or bigotry), there is just no room for any affront to what is wrong with us or to voice out perceptions against us.

We cannot take criticism on our onionskins with the exception of politicians whose hides take any charge. This leads me to speculate—is it not a sign of insecurity? We’d rather sweep things under the banig (floor mat) rather than deal with the issues. We hate to be confronted with our faults and would rather be treaded softly upon, if at all. How can we improve if we react this way? Should slurs not lead us to take positive action and inspire us to better ourselves? Emotions continue to rule the day and that is the state of the nation’s affairs.

Not only that, we seem to have forgotten the nursing board exams cheating. Imagine the single most important profession in the country and we dared to cheat on it and in conspiracy, too. Did we ever issue an apology to the rest of the world especially to the sick and elderly for betraying their trust in the nobility and professionalism of our nurses? Never mind the cheating in the bar examinations for we hold lawyers to a different standard. And then there are the other types of cheating. Imagine again if Tom Cruise were to call us a cheating people. Am pretty sure we will curse him till tomorrow never comes.

All said and done after ABC’s apology and our escalating petition, the Desperate Housewives episode is a blimp in our collective insecurity and inaction. Until the next slur, we might well as well humor ourselves in the land of desperate Filipinos.