Filipino Men are Lazy

One of the more comfortable things about California is that there are a lot of Asians here.  It’s really diverse.  In Rancho Penasquitos (or PQ as the kids call it), where I’m staying, there are a lot of Filipinos in particular.  A lot of Vietnamese and Koreans also from what I can see.  It’s nice to go to Target or the Asian Grocery and hear people speaking Tagalog.

I took my car in to get looked at.  My uncle, a former car dealer, suggested that I go to his guy, so I went and saw his mechanic, who is this vietnamese guy in Mira Mesa (the next neighborhood over).  My uncle told me to go there and ask for “Kuya” (older brother in Tagalog).  I thought to myself, “isn’t this guy vietnamese?”  And yes, he is.  Apparently after knowing each other for a decade or so, they’ve become friends.  He was a really nice guy, and he didn’t charge me for taking a look at my car and dealing with the Check Engine light that had recently lit up.  One of the other mechanics just explained to me the importance to tightening the cap to the gas tank.

I couldn’t help but think that it’s a little odd that there is a peaceful coexistence between the Vietnamese and the Filipinos here in PQ/Mira Mesa.  After all, my recent experience with Vietnamese men has not been a good one, especially if you’re dating their daughter.

Filipino men are lazy.  I found this article, which I think is interesting because I’m doing a show right now that explores interracial dating, racism, and personal preferences. http://asiancemagazine.com/oct_2007/legends_of_the_white_guy

When I was growing up I was, let’s say, misunderstood.  I was called all kinds of things, but mostly by uneducated idiots who couldn’t tell the difference between a Chinese, Filipino, and a Black person.  So I always found it funny that people didn’t even know enough to insult me using a stereotype of my own race.

Fast forward 20 years and here I am, face to face with a real Filipino stereotype.  Filipino men are lazy???  Immigrant Filipino moms are telling this to their daughters in the hopes that they’ll end up with a white guy.  My X’s dad told her not to date a Filipino because he had heard it too… and a Filipina friend of my X’s confirmed it for my X’s father.  He already didn’t like Filipinos cuz we eat with our hands (I’d like to take him to McDonalds and see him eat a burger and fries with chopsticks and a spoon).

This is the first I’d heard of this.  I didn’t know that when my dad came to the US with $500 and a few suitcases full of clothes that he was “lazy.”  And now that I’ve sat with my parents and discussed their retirement with their financial planner, and after I’ve learned that they can live comfortably for probably the next 50 years or so, I’m surprised at what such a lazy man can accomplish.  Imagine what he could have done for my family if he actually applied himself.

I can’t say that my X-future-father-in-law was all wrong, there are lazy Filipinos. But there are also lazy chinese, lazy koreans, lazy white folks, lazy black folks, lazy latinos…and, yes, even lazy vietnamese.  It’s just nice to know that here in the northern suburbs of San Diego they’ve all learned to get along.