By Marty Q. Salcedo
Some Filipinos have an unhealthy obsession when one of our own gets into the spotlight in entertainment. Many times they will obsess over Filipino celebrities that are popular and brag about their credentials in comments left on articles about these Filipino stars.
In particular, Charice Pempengco and Manny Pacquiao, are the two celebrities that Filipinos rabidly follow to the point of obsession.
Many of you are too ignorant to understand my gripe and will call me a CRAB. I am far from a CRAB. I am proud of my fellow Filipinos and support the positive aspects as much as possible. I am fan of both Charice and Manny Pacquiao, but I will not downgrade or insult other people, entertainers and sports figures to boast their images.
Recently, Charice made her acting debut on the very popular FOX TV show “Glee” and I happen to read some different websites that had wrote about Charice on Glee and notice that some Charice fans were leaving insulting comments toward the lead actress, Lea Michele, the girl who Sunshine Corazon (Charice’s character) becomes rivals with. What bothered me about the comments was the Charice fans almost took the show as if it was real life. Instead of insulting the character Lea Michele played, named Rachel Berry, they insulted the actress herself. Wake up people, it’s called ACTING. This is just make believe–the show is not real and they are just playing fictional characters! Filipinos tend to get serious when it comes to soap operas and TV shows, many times they will act like the story is real and develop a hatred towards the actor and actress on the screen.
As for Manny Pacquiao, he is one of the most successful international stars out of Asia. Pacquiao is probably the best boxer of our era, and only Floyd Mayweather Jr. can offer a claim to that title of best pound 4 pound boxer in the world. But the obsessive fans of Manny Pacquiao are by far some of the most embarrassingly vulgar and racist. I am a fan of Pacquiao and always will go for him in a fight, but I won’t ever lose rationale and go to the point of having to insult someone and make them my enemy just because they don’t like Pacquiao or pick against him in fights.
People who are not familiar with Filipinos or the Philippines might see the obscene comments being left on blogs and websites and think all Filipinos are distasteful. If we want to support Charice and Pacquiao we have to also carry ourselves in a dignified manner, so people can see that the Philippines is a great country with hospitable and friendly people.
Just some friendly advice, when you are a fan, just remain a fan. Don’t get sensitive when someone doesn’t like Charice or Manny, everyone is entitle to their own opinions, even if you like them or not. The moment you become obsessive and leave obscene comments and insult others in honor of your idols, it makes Filipinos look bad.
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