| Written by Maria Elena Salinas |
| Monday, February 17 2003 |
| |
| A few laughs are not worth offending millions of people and perpetuating false stereotypes. That's why I didn't find anything amusing in recent comments made by the flamboyant cross-dressing character Dame Edna Everage in the February issue of Vanity Fair magazine.
Asked by a fictitious reader if Spanish lessons are a good idea, Dame Edna responded by saying that learning Spanish is "twaddle" and the only possible reason to learn it would be to talk to "the help" or to "leaf blowers."
Dame Edna went on to say that there isn't anything Spanish has to offer except "Don Quixote." To stick the dagger deeper into the guts of all of us who are lucky enough to speak Spanish, Vanity Fair threw in a cartoon of a man wearing a sombrero and talking to an armadillo. Ironically, the issue that insulted so many Latinos featured Mexican-born, Oscar-nominated actress Salma Hayek on its cover.
Dame Edna, who is really Australian comic Barry Humphries dressed in drag, managed to offend a rather sizeable ethnic group, when you consider that Spanish is the second-most-
spoken language in the world, after Mandarin. In the United States, there are some 37 million Hispanics, 30 million of whom speak Spanish. And it didn't take long for many of them to respond.
"We understand that the column's advice is not intended to be taken seriously. We also understand the question ... was supposed to elicit laughter," Juan Gonzalez, president of the National Association of Hispanic Journalists, wrote in a letter to Vanity Fair. "We simply don't see what's so amusing about an appalling display of bigotry."
"Your column in Vanity Fair caused me a great deal of distress," wrote Betty Cortina, editor of Latina magazine. She went on to list such world-renowned Spanish-language writers as Gabriel Garcia Marquez, Carlos Fuentes, Jorge Luis Borges, Pablo Neruda and Octavio Paz.
"Such disrespect and disparagement of our fellow Americans is not just bad manners, it is offensive to us all," stated Lisa Navarrete, of the National Council of La Raza. The group urged a boycott of Dame Edna's one-woman show, "A Night With Dame Edna."
Dame Edna's stinging remarks had Hispanic groups threatening to boycott Vanity Fair and demanding an apology from the magazine and from Dame Edna herself (or is it himself?). Someone pointed out that knowledge of Spanish and Spanish literature might be in short supply in Dame Edna's native Australia, but certainly not in the United States, where Hispanics make up the largest minority group.
As for me, I support the efforts to get an apology. As someone who uses Spanish on a daily basis, I know that it is not "twaddle" and is indeed spoken by more than maids and gardeners, as Dame Edna would have us believe. As a matter of fact, it would be beneficial for everyone to learn how to speak one of the richest and most beautiful languages on Earth, and be able to communicate with the more than 400 million native Spanish speakers in the world.
Defenders of Dame Edna point out that she/he is a fictional character who insults everybody. An equal-opportunity distributor of insults is how Vanity Fair described her/him.
Dame Edna might be make-believe, but there was nothing fictional about her insulting remarks. They show a lack of sensitivity not only on her/his part, but on the part of the editors of Vanity Fair, who allowed them to be published. They just don't get it. Hispanics are the fastest-growing ethnic group in the United States. Their purchasing power is estimated to be above $600 billion. Instead of insulting Hispanics, Vanity Fair should consider publishing its magazine in Spanish. And that is no joke. |
