The abominable snob-woman

Every so often, we have the misfortune of encountering people so horrid, so utterly despicable, that we are left sputtering in a fit of disbelieving outrage ("I can't believe someone could be so hateful!"). Usually, these loathsome characters are fictional, such as Dolores Umbridge from the Harry Potter series, or Jabba the Hutt, or any antagonist played by actor David Morse. But occasionally, we run into the real thing, and we are unpleasantly reminded of the existence of vile beings who walk among us.

One such vile being writes a column for the Manila Standard, and goes by the name Malu Fernandez. Yang sent me this link to a blog post by her friend Jae, who was writing in reaction to an article the self-declared "divalicious" Ms. Fernandez contributed to the magazine People Asia. Apparently, this charming woman fancies herself a jet-setter and connoisseur of the finer things in life. In said article, she writes about an Emirates flight to Greece, and her mistake of deciding to travel in economy class. She laments that she wanted to slash her wrists upon learning she would be stuck in a plane full of OFWs, which she equates to a "private hell" God designed for her. She also describes it as "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."

When you're done sputtering in outraged disbelief, I'd also like to share that this Malu Fernandez openly declares she is "perennially stressed just by living in this godforsaken place in the Third World" (read more of her crappy writing here), which is apparently why she loves traveling so much with her well-heeled, ladeedah friends. If I ever find myself traveling in first class with this pretentious, egotistic social-climber, I'm transferring to coach.

As abhorrent as this bitch is, I am a bit more appalled at the editors of People Asia for allowing such elitist and RACIST remarks to be put in print. And they're supposed to be a magazine about Filipinos for Filipinos? Perhaps they should be more specific, that they're a publication for Filipinos who can afford to vacation in Greece and turn their noses down at Boracay villas, dismissing them as "rustic" (the word Malu Fernandez chose to use in her Manila Standard column).

I'm a self-professed capitalist myself, and I won't pretend I'm a champion for the masses, or that I take up the cudgels for all noble social causes. And I cannot conceal that I lead a comfortable, sometimes lavish, lifestyle. But you will never, NEVER hear me blatantly belittling anyone below my socioeconomic class, nor would I ever act so condescendingly towards anyone who can't afford the same luxuries I enjoy. That would be absolutely reprehensible, and offensive, and LOW. Shameless snobs like Malu Fernandez have too many privileges in life as it is. They should not be given the additional privilege of airing their sickeningly skewed views of the world in supposedly respectable publications.

Oh, and the Malu Fernandez monster actually had the audacity to defend her "humorous", "tongue-in-cheek" People Asia piece in another of her badly composed columns: "If any of these people actually read anything thicker then a magazine they would find it very funny." Well I'm a voracious reader, Ms. Fernandez, and I didn't find it funny at all. Unless by "funny" you meant "repulsive", which it is, and which you are.