Same old, same old

Did you have a nice holiday season? Mine was terrible. Actually that's not quite accurate. It was simply uneventful - no wild parties, no getting drunk in Lan Kwai Fong, no kissing on the lips at midnight on New Year's Eve to Auld Lang Syne.

I had toyed with the idea of going to church on Christmas Eve even though I am not religious. But I was forewarned that the churches would be packed with Filipino domestic helpers. I found the comment rather derogatory. It seems all those government adverts on TV telling us to be tolerant of others aren't working. We're still as racist as ever.

People go through this silly ritual of making New Year resolutions which they never keep. Among those habitually broken resolutions must be one about being tolerant of others, that is, if anyone even bothers to make such a resolution. Racists see no need for it, nor do those who are not racists.

Someone high up in government told me that the black travel warning against the Philippines has less to do with safety than political vengeance against Manila. But, of course, you know that already.

What you may not know is that some executive councillors - Chief Executive Donald Tsang Yam-kuen's inner-circle advisers - are adamant that the travel warning remains as a punishment.

That borders on bigotry. Most Hongkongers consider the Philippines to be an inferior nation - not only economically but also racially - which gives our policymakers a mandate to be bigots. Would these executive councillors dare dish out the same treatment to, say, Sweden, where there had been a recent terrorist attack? I think not.

I usually return to the US for the holidays but didn't this year. After landing in Seattle last year from Hong Kong, I overheard the conversation of two Americans who had been on the same flight as me. They were ridiculing the Christmas lights that blanket our office buildings. I asked them what was wrong with the lights. It's way overdone, they laughed.