Malu does a Mimi

Just read up on the article above written by this Malu Fernandez and tell me if I'm at fault in experiencing a peak in my high blood pressure. No amount of Jo Malone nor layers upon layers of makeup can cover her stench!

To summarize it up, this Ms. Fernandez who loves flaunting her wealth but can't seem to do something about her thick makeup made these in-your-face remarks about her encounter with Overseas Filipino Workers in economy class:

"... I wanted to slash my wrist at the thought at the thought of being trapped in a plane with all of them."

"I thought I had died and God sent me to my very own private hell."

"On my way back, I had to bravely take the economy flight once more. This time I already resigned myself to being trapped like a sardine in a sardine can with all these OFWs smelling of AXE and Charlie cologne while my Jo Malone evaporated into thin air."

Her backlash on those lambasting her article can be found in the Manila Standard Today, entitled: Am I being a diva? Or do you lack common sense? Here's some excerpt relating to the above article, with my interjections:

As I type this, I’d like you to know that it’s not about whining, complaining and bitching but just stating the facts. Just recently, I wrote a funny article in my magazine column and my friends thought it was hilarious. It was humorous and quite tongue-in-cheek, or at least I thought so, until the magazine got a few e-mails from people who didn’t get the meaning of my acerbic wit.

If you are indeed of the high social standing you claim to be, it will mean that you have attained a high standard of education and all that travel would have broadened your horizon. But noooo. Oh I get the meaning of your acerbic wit all right: that you're not human, you're a pig.

The bottom line was just that I had offended the reader’s socioeconomic background. If any of these people actually read anything thicker then a magazine they would find it very funny. Most people don’t get the fact that they need bitches like me to shake up their world, otherwise their lives would be boring and mediocre. I obviously write for the a certain target audience and if what I write offends you, just stop reading.

Wow. She undermines the intellect of the people. You have to be a wide reader to understand her acerbic wit! Excuse me, but how can downtrodding people be very funny?

I simply can't just imagine you shaking my world. Ugh. I think I'd settle for boring and mediocre, thank you.
And what target audience is this you're referring to? The Mimi Bobeck crowd?

Hi! I'm Mimi! Malu Fernandez idolizes my make-up!

You know what? Your don't-care-what-I-write-stop-reading-if-you're-offended attitude makes me wonder if you're even qualified to be a writer! You don't know the meaning of responsible journalism!

Although it may sound elitist to you the fact is this country is built on the foundation of haves, have-nots and wannabes. One group will never get the culture of the other.

Even if you project yourself to be one of the haves, you sound more like a wannabe, you wannabe!

Although I could mention that it is easier to understand someone who has a lower socioeconomic background that would entail a whole other page and frankly I don’t want to be someone to bridge the gap between socioeconomic classes. I leave that to the politicians in my family who believe they can actually help. Now I seriously ask you, am I being a diva or are people around me just lacking in common sense? Perhaps it’s a little of both!

Yes, that's right. Leave it to someone else to bridge the gap. So why don't you buy your own island and build your pig pen there!

You're not being diva, Ms. Fernandez. You're being a pig! I have friends working abroad and you will never be able to fathom their pride and dignity because you find yours in your material possessions!

So please please tell me that you weren't kidding when you said you were going to slash your wrist. Here's a butter knife so it will take a while longer for you to meet your private hell and you can document your suffering! Please!

Jump to Tingog.com's Fire Malu Fernandez, Boycott Manila Standard Today and People Asia Magazine

[Mimi Bobeck is the boss' secretary from the sitcom Drew Carrey Show who loved to make life a living hell out of Drew's life and always called him pig]

Update: Manila Standard columnist quits after getting OFWs' ire

Malu Fernandez, lifestyle columnist of Manila Standard, resigned from the paper and the travel magazine she used to write for after getting the ire of readers, particularly Filipino overseas workers in Dubai, a statement posted on blogsites and sent to the GMANews.TV email said.

“I take full responsibility for my actions and my friends and family have nothing to do with this. To date I have submitted my resignation letters to both the Manila Standard and People Asia, on that note may this matter be laid to rest," Fernandez said in the statement forwarded to GMANews.TV Thursday evening.

Fernandez's resignation came after readers reacted to an article she wrote for the newspaper and the magazine that apparently made fun of OFWs travel style.

Describing her flight from Dubai to Manila, Fernandez wrote that she would rather “slash" her wrists than be “trapped in a plane" with Filipino overseas workers.

Her article, “From Boracay to Greece," has been drawing a slew of heated words from all over the blogosphere, particularly from a group of overseas Filipino journalists in Dubai, who demanded a public apology from her and her resignation from the newspaper and the magazine.

The Filipino Press Club-Dubai has posted a statement at the website Tingog.com demanding Fernandez to apologize to the more than 200,000 Filipino migrant workers there who felt “insulted" by her story.

“The incident recounted in her flight via Dubai to Manila in which she berated fellow Filipinos (who had already endured the misfortune of working away from their families) on board Emirates for wearing “cheap" perfumes had no significant bearing to her story," the group said.

The Filipino Press Club-Dubai is composed of professional journalists from the print, broadcast and web-based media in the United Arab Emirates. It particularly reacted to a paragraph in Fernadez’s article where she narrated her horrid ordeal with the Filipino migrant workers during her flight home at the airline's economy section.

Fernandez in her statement said she was "humbled" by the "vehement and heated" response to her article. She said the article was not meant to malign, hurt or express prejudice against OFWs.

“I am deeply apologetic for my insensitivity and the offensive manner in which this article was written, I hear you all and I am properly rebuked. It was truly not my intention to malign hurt or express prejudice against OFWs," her satement said.

Fernandez claimed that because of the article she became a subject of hate blogs, a target of death threats and personal insults.

“Our society is bound together by human chains of kindness and decency. I have failed to observe this and I am now reaping the consequences of my actions." Fernandez said.

Fernandez said she now truly understands the “insidiousness of discrimination and prejudice disguised as humor."

“It is my fervent hope that the lessons that I’ve learned are not lost on all those who through anonymous blogs, engaged in bigotry, discrimination, and hatred," she said.

There was still no statement from Manila Standard and Peoples Asia whether Fernandez's resignation was accepted. - GMANews.TV

Source: GMANews.TV