David Dovale is an online editor and writer in Curacao. In his spare time, he manages and writes for his own websites, including Curacao Connected and the Curacao Connected Network. He also found time to contribute to Meet Curacao.

By now, you have probably seen or at least heard of Wendy van Dijk’s attempt at satire as she portrays a character on Dutch channel RTL 4 called Lucretia Martina, or what she considers to be the “typical” Antillian woman that lives in Curacao.

A lot has been said about the show, both here in Curacao and in Holland and not surprisingly, the opinions are all over the map. Omayra Leeflang called it a failed attempt at satire while Jaap Paulsen of RTL 4 considers it to be a big and positive advertising campaign for Curacao. Some think that it is incentive and racist but others see nothing wrong and think that everyone should lighten up and enjoy a good laugh, which again should not come as a surprise considering the polarizing nature of the topic.

Personally, I’ve been going back and forth on this for over a week now and I think that we should take some things into consideration before jumping to the inevitable conclusions.

First, you have to separate the pure humor aspect from the ethical point of view. If you’re just looking at the delivery of the comedy, then it was indeed a very big failure in my opinion. I have watched the videos on Youtube and it’s safe to say that I did not laugh once. The character was not funny, it was not accurately portrayed, the accent was way off and all in all, it just came up short. If pure comedic value was her goal, then we were robbed.

There’s nothing that I enjoy more than good comedy. I like stand-up, I like satire, I like awkward humor and I can spend hours watching shows like Family Guy, the Office, Curb Your Enthusiasm, the Simpsons, 30 Rock, South Park, the Daily Show, the Colbert Report and also the stand-up guys like Louis C.K, Chris Rock, Dave Chapelle and Kat Williams. I can keep going on but the point is that I have a wide taste when it comes to “comedy” and even so, Wendy van Dijk brought absolutely nothing to the table. In that regard I will agree with Omayra Leeflang that it indeed was a failed attempt at satire.

Now, if you take the “humor” out of it and concentrate solely on the ethical and racial aspects of it, it becomes a bit trickier. A lot of people in Curacao got mad and were insulted at what they considered to be something racist. Part of me also understands where these feelings come from because we “Antillians” are not seen in the most positive of lights abroad and a character like this can only add to the bad perception that some have in other countries.

The real Antillian woman that has a good education and a good job and that manages her household and that carries herself with grace and respect does not see how Lucretia Martina helps her image in any way. On the flip side, you can also say that the classy Antillian woman should just shrug it off because she is not like this and she does not have to feel singled out.

But here’s my opinion on all of this. I’m not saying that it’s right or wrong, I’m just saying that you have to be fair all across the board. Again, just to be clear, I am 100% against racism but if you are someone that is going to poke some “innocent” fun at someone else or some other culture or some other country, then you have to be open for when that same “fun” is poked back at you.

Basically, if Wendy van Dijk and RTL 4 meant no harm and they were just trying to be funny and make satire, then both parties should be open to someone else mocking them and their culture as well (as long as no harm is intended). And this counts for the other side (locals from Curacao) as well.

People on Curacao are quick to have nicknames for people from other countries and to do impressions or poke fun at people from other places, so now when the tables are turned, you have to grow a thick skin and be fair all around. If you don’t like this type of stuff, then don’t do it yourself. Don’t make fun of how the Chinese person talks, don’t associate Bonaire with donkeys, don’t make generalizations based on religion or heritage etc. etc. In that case, you may be offended and you may send angry letters to RTL 4.

However, if you are going to enter a Chinese restaurant and call the owner “Chino” and yell at him because your “sate ku batata” does not have enough “saus”, then you have absolutely no right to be angry at this character. We laugh at guys like Chris Rock when they touch on race, we laugh at our local comedians when they bring up cultural differences and if we are then going to feel outraged by this poor attempt at satire, it’s just dumb and hypocritical.

Again, I’m 100% against racism but just evaluate the facts. Was it meant in a bad way? Was it satire? Did it succeed? And do I have the right to be angry here? Am I not being hypocritical? Personally, as someone who watches Family Guy, I have to shut up and take satire when it is aimed at my own culture. You can’t have it both ways and that’s a big mistake that we like to make over here. We want to insult, we want to throw around big words, we want to be in charge, but we get very angry when someone steps on our toes.

In the end however, just think of the bottom line. This is television and the aim there is to get as many viewers as possible and to have as many people talking about you and your show as possible. This creates hype, this creates viewers and that in return brings in the money, the one variable that gets all the puppets dancing.

And if we are going to judge based on buzz, hype, outrage and viewers, then Wendy van Dijk did her job perfectly because we are still talking about her and her show.