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Here is a damning Twitter thread comparing the article to Lola's published obituary: https://twitter.com/caulkthewagon/status/864656017480708102 https://twitter

by akalin 9y ago

Here is a damning Twitter thread comparing the article to Lola's published obituary: https://twitter.com/caulkthewagon/status/864656017480708102 https://twitter.com/caulkthewagon/status/864656017480708102 It makes the author and his family a lot less sympathetic.

jordigh 9y ago
I didn't find the author very sympathetic. He obviously knew something was wrong but never did enough to fix it. I think the article was more of a confession than anything. I get the feeling that the author was wracked with guilt.
- poweribo 9y ago
  how would you fix it as a teenager? did you get to the part where he took Lola to live with his family and treated like a real family? she was already family. looks like you didnt read the whole story.
  - jordigh 9y ago
    I read the whole thing, and I still think he didn't feel like he did enough, because she couldn't stop acting like a slave, because he couldn't pay enough money to send her home once he was an adult, because he couldn't turn his back on his parents over what they did to her. I get the feeling he felt very guilty, even as an adult, and was trying to confess (shortly before dying, interesting).
    - titanomachy 9y ago
      He did send her home. Then he went to visit her a month later and she asked to come back to America with him. She intended to go live in the Philippines for her last years, but died unexpectedly before that could happen.
- ralphie02 9y ago
  I'm sure he and his siblings were pretty sympathetic, which is why the tried to defend her from their parents and help her with her duties. This made their mother angry because they would take their Lola's side. This is actually quite typical of kids (especially in asian cultures?). Being timid and following your parents orders wholeheartedly are so ingrained it's criminal. The children could only do so much as young teenagers; I question the eldest more because he was 20 and has noticed the slavery for a while yet didn't do much to help their Lola (or maybe he did, the author just failed to mention it). Regardless, it seems like you're being unsympathetic to the author and his siblings. You don't know what they've been through: poverty, fear, abandonment, humiliation, anxiety, etc (speculations). It's a whole lot easier to judge someone's situation based on your current status and upbringing. Just because you think you would've been more resolute if you were in his place doesn't mean that you actually would have been. Remember, this is a family from Asia in the 60-70s. Not an attack. Just a reminder to put things in perspective.
  - jordigh 9y ago
    I am Mexican. I had domestic servants too. While their conditions were slightly better (they could visit their families every few months, they had a pittance of a salary), they still live in almost slavery. I too feel guilty for having participated in that and not done enough to stop it. I know what it's like to be perpetuating a class system and not do anything about it. https://www.theguardian.com/cities/2015/nov/10/mexico-city-domestic-workers-life-lesser-person https://www.theguardian.com/cities/2015/nov/10/mexico-city-d...
sumzup 9y ago
It doesn't seem particularly damning (relative to the Atlantic article). It's pretty much what you'd expect out of someone who was hiding the truth.
placeybordeaux 9y ago
The obit reads more or less as you'd expect from someone both trying to hide a horrible secret and honor that person's memory.
helb 9y ago
Seattle Times published a followup yesterday: Why the obituary for Eudocia Tomas Pulido didn’t tell the story of her life in slavery, http://www.seattletimes.com/seattle-news/northwest/why-the-obituary-for-eudocia-tomas-pulido-didnt-tell-the-story-of-her-life-in-slavery/ http://www.seattletimes.com/seattle-news/northwest/why-the-o...

by akalin 9y ago

jordigh 9y ago

I didn't find the author very sympathetic. He obviously knew something was wrong but never did enough to fix it. I think the article was more of a confession than anything. I get the feeling that the author was wracked with guilt.

poweribo 9y ago
how would you fix it as a teenager? did you get to the part where he took Lola to live with his family and treated like a real family? she was already family. looks like you didnt read the whole story.
- jordigh 9y ago
  I read the whole thing, and I still think he didn't feel like he did enough, because she couldn't stop acting like a slave, because he couldn't pay enough money to send her home once he was an adult, because he couldn't turn his back on his parents over what they did to her. I get the feeling he felt very guilty, even as an adult, and was trying to confess (shortly before dying, interesting).
  - titanomachy 9y ago
    He did send her home. Then he went to visit her a month later and she asked to come back to America with him. She intended to go live in the Philippines for her last years, but died unexpectedly before that could happen.
ralphie02 9y ago
I'm sure he and his siblings were pretty sympathetic, which is why the tried to defend her from their parents and help her with her duties. This made their mother angry because they would take their Lola's side. This is actually quite typical of kids (especially in asian cultures?). Being timid and following your parents orders wholeheartedly are so ingrained it's criminal. The children could only do so much as young teenagers; I question the eldest more because he was 20 and has noticed the slavery for a while yet didn't do much to help their Lola (or maybe he did, the author just failed to mention it). Regardless, it seems like you're being unsympathetic to the author and his siblings. You don't know what they've been through: poverty, fear, abandonment, humiliation, anxiety, etc (speculations). It's a whole lot easier to judge someone's situation based on your current status and upbringing. Just because you think you would've been more resolute if you were in his place doesn't mean that you actually would have been. Remember, this is a family from Asia in the 60-70s. Not an attack. Just a reminder to put things in perspective.
- jordigh 9y ago
  I am Mexican. I had domestic servants too. While their conditions were slightly better (they could visit their families every few months, they had a pittance of a salary), they still live in almost slavery. I too feel guilty for having participated in that and not done enough to stop it. I know what it's like to be perpetuating a class system and not do anything about it. https://www.theguardian.com/cities/2015/nov/10/mexico-city-domestic-workers-life-lesser-person https://www.theguardian.com/cities/2015/nov/10/mexico-city-d...

sumzup 9y ago

It doesn't seem particularly damning (relative to the Atlantic article). It's pretty much what you'd expect out of someone who was hiding the truth.

placeybordeaux 9y ago

The obit reads more or less as you'd expect from someone both trying to hide a horrible secret and honor that person's memory.

helb 9y ago

Seattle Times published a followup yesterday: Why the obituary for Eudocia Tomas Pulido didn’t tell the story of her life in slavery, http://www.seattletimes.com/seattle-news/northwest/why-the-obituary-for-eudocia-tomas-pulido-didnt-tell-the-story-of-her-life-in-slavery/ http://www.seattletimes.com/seattle-news/northwest/why-the-o...