It puzzled me why we are polarized over TV personality's "joke" on national TV.
Filipinos love smiles and laughter. We make fun of ourselves and others laugh with us; other people laugh at themselves and we laugh with them. Happiness is ingrained in our culture as we make living easier to bear.
But issues about mental health, which includes depression, is something that everyone, not only doctors, should take seriously. It has consequences that affect both the person inflicted with the illness and the people around him or her. Just imagine how much a person has to go through fighting depression on top of his daily life struggles.
Depression and other mental health illnesses are difficult to recognize, but they are VERY REAL. I am not an expert on the workings of the mind (i would rather deal with microbes), but this is no laughing matter. A pronouncement on national TV that depression is ".. gawa gawa lang ng mga tao iyan. Gawa nila sa sarili nila" may be understood as true. And for those who really have this illness, this may cause delay in seeking proper treatment.
The calls of the people on this personality's comments is not to undermine his ability for comedy, but to correct the damage he may have created. There is a fine line between what people will perceive as a joke or what they will believe as the truth. Straddling on this line may cause someone's life.
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" Indifference and neglect often do much more advantage than outright dislike" --J.K. Rowling
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As of this afternoon, Mr. de Leon has publicly apologized for his statements. This is commendable as he was humble enough to accept his ignorance on an important matter. and I agree that one good thing that happened with this fiasco is the enlightenment of people on the importance and impact of mental health illness, which facilitated a more in depth discussion.
