You all must have already heard. The derogatory and disparaging comments of Devina DeDiva against Megan Young and the Filipino race caused rage and annoyance to many. Her thoughts and words were hateful beyond imagination. I am not a huge fan of beauty pageants but knowing that another Filipina garnered the crown makes me truly proud of my native roots. I was on the bus on my way to work when I read about Ms. Devida’s ill and racist thoughts. I felt what I need to feel. Unpleasant emotions started to brew up inside me. And like everyone else I was shocked, disgusted and most of all offended. I wanted to rant at that very minute but I couldn’t. I was on a public transit.
Ms. DeDiva’s photos, at a glance, can be inferred to as a seriously disturbed person. We can perhaps swiftly conclude as well that her childhood life might have been inflicted by a host of negative events which haunt her to this day. But we cannot instantaneously assess a person’s character through photos and through words posted on Facebook. I believe that we, as well, do not want to be judged or assessed the same way, right? The thought I have about her is that, one, she is what she is, she believes what she believes and she wants to say what she wants to say. Second, Ms. DeDiva has her own interpretation of freedom of speech and she’s acting out on her own context. At this point, nothing and no one can change her views and perspectives at a flick of a finger. Perhaps the flurry of attention she gets at this point pleases her. She may be one of the people who crave for social attention and that was her way of getting one.
I write this with a very composed and objective mind and I write this neither to attack Ms. DeDiva nor take her side nor to express my rage, but because most of the comments I read were, in a way, disconcerting too. I very well understand the theory of cause and effect. Hostile words are hurtful hence anger. As human beings, we were normally taken to that effect and because anger tends to cloud the reasonable processes of the mind, people become disposed to express views without thinking about it judiciously. The kind of dialogue and comments that are currently being thrown to Ms. DeDiva, in my opinion and with such certainty can cause more hate and divide and can result into more mouths foaming, cursing. It also encourages more to build an environment conducive to the spread of ill and racist views.
We have to learn how to calm down. While Ms. DeDiva currently basks with the attention she wanted, everyone else suffer from physiological distress caused by her racial slur. We subject ourselves more to become her victim instead of freeing our minds of it. Love begets love. Hate begets hate. We are under her abusive behaviour and we are accepting the abuse by being abusive as well by way of exchanging views in a hateful manner. Kill the spite with kindness. If we want light, let us spread light. If we want goodness, let us encourage goodness. This seems to be a tough thing to do especially amidst hurt. I always believe though, that no matter how displeasing a person is in her words and actions, still that person should be helped and offered some healing and rehabilitation. Let us not punish and instead do our best to instil love with the kind of love that our one true God has taught us. Here is something from Adele Horin’s word of Sydney Morning Herald which we can ponder upon. “One person challenging a racist comment in a calm and measured way in a train, bus, at a party, at work can have a profound influence on all those who witness it.
