War Between The Vanity

Veritas vincit

[thefoucaultpoint-blog]

Power is not localised in the state apparatus. Nothing in society will be changed if the mechanisms of that power that function outside, below, and alongside the state apparatuses, on a much more minute and every day level, are not also changed.

Michel Foucault (via thefoucaultpoint)

We have yet to realize that the change that we are aiming for does not come at the expense of losing more lives. But more so, it is in changing the way we think about the lives that surround us. It is in treating an employee as someone who deserves fair wage. It is in sharing to a neighbor who desperately needs money to pay for her child’s education without putting up a huge interest rate in the years to come. It is in respecting the Muslim preacher along the side streets of Manila because he wants to share his values and beliefs to people. 

These are the micro-powers that we can exercise in our every day lives yet so unwilling to do.

[thefoucaultpoint-blog]

Allowing public executions is not a only a sign of our revert back to primitive and punitive executions but also, a reactivation of the power of the state over its people.

(via thefoucaultpoint)

It is both frightening and saddening when we realize that we have come to the age where the grim reality is that an average Filipino citizen is willing to offer sacrificial lambs just to obtain a delusional paradise. 

[thefoucaultpoint-blog]

Allowing public executions is not a only a sign of our revert back to primitive and punitive executions but also, a reactivation of the power of the state over its people.

[thefoucaultpoint-blog]

Power is not localised in the state apparatus. Nothing in society will be changed if the mechanisms of that power that function outside, below, and alongside the state apparatuses, on a much more minute and every day level, are not also changed.

Michel Foucault

[thefoucaultpoint-blog]

He is trying to affirm the antecedent by providing an inconsistent comparison. It might be true that cussing is not equivalent to being a bad person; but the way he used it to disrespect women’s rights and the Pope, for that matter, is tangential to the comparison. He is yet to explain how people claiming to be religious relates to rationalizing his obvious show of disrespect to human rights. 

[thefoucaultpoint-blog]

I am not your perfect option. But I am your last card. I promise you I will get down and dirty just to get things done. I will get things done. I will do it for the Filipino people.

Rodrigo Duterte  (via thefoucaultpoint)

Overwhelming Exemption

Duterte has been separating himself from other candidates by claiming that he is a political messiah therefore, he deserves a special pleading from our legislative bodies. 

[thefoucaultpoint-blog]

‘Yan ang problema. Kung 'di ka marunong pumatay ng tao at takot ka mamatay, you can not be president.

Rodrigo Duterte  (via thefoucaultpoint)

He is trying to shift the burden of proof to another individual because he cannot provide a logical explanation as to why despite his injustice to human rights, he is still eligible to become President of the Philippines. He is cherry picking the reader by sounding so rhetorical yet giving little or no evidence to his unfair definition of a “leader” in a democratic society. 

[thefoucaultpoint-blog]

“I will use the military and the police to go out and arrest them, hunt for them, and if they would offer a violent resistance, thereby placing the lives of the law enforcers and the military whom I would task for a job to do [at risk], I will simply say, ‘patayin niyong lahat para matapos na ang problema.’

Rodrigo Duterte  (via thefoucaultpoint)

Not only is this a problem-solution mismatch, but it is a slippery slope argument. It forces the audience to believe that in order for the ultimate plan to succeed, there shouldn’t be a resistance that would inevitably put him in a position to kill every single criminal, regardless of circumstances, in order to stop the problem. 

[thefoucaultpoint-blog]

If I make it to the presidential palace, I will do just what I did as mayor. You drug pushers, hold-up men and do-nothings, you better go out. Because as the mayor, I’d kill you.

Rodrigo Duterte  (via thefoucaultpoint)

During the entire campaign period, Duterte had been using his scare tactics to cloud the judgment of the Filipino people. In as much as criminality, peace, and order are grave predicaments of our nation, these are problems that should be taken under justified measures. Sometimes, people steal precisely because of the structural limitations (i.e. economic crimes); to kill someone because he stole food is parallel to blaming someone because he is poor. 

[thefoucaultpoint-blog]

There will be no corruption in government. If you don’t believe just go to Davao and see.

Rodrigo Duterte (via thefoucaultpoint)

Just because Davao is deemed to be the one of the safest cities in the world, the entire Philippines would too in three to six months. To say that the problem of corruption in the country can be solved through death penalties is a gross oversimplification. Death is not a retribution for death. 

[thefoucaultpoint-blog]

There will be no corruption in government. If you don’t believe just go to Davao and see.

Rodrigo Duterte

[thefoucaultpoint-blog]

I am not your perfect option. But I am your last card. I promise you I will get down and dirty just to get things done. I will get things done. I will do it for the Filipino people.

Rodrigo Duterte 

[thefoucaultpoint-blog]

If I make it to the presidential palace, I will do just what I did as mayor. You drug pushers, hold-up men and do-nothings, you better go out. Because as the mayor, I’d kill you.

Rodrigo Duterte 

[thefoucaultpoint-blog]

Ako hindi ako tarantado. I still have the basic decency, pero huwag akong ipitin ng Congress, huwag akong ipitin ng [Commission on] Human Rights, huwag akong ipitin ng Ombudsman, because I have a task to do, a very important one for this nation, especially for the protection of our young children

Rodrigo Duterte 

[thefoucaultpoint-blog]

“I will use the military and the police to go out and arrest them, hunt for them, and if they would offer a violent resistance, thereby placing the lives of the law enforcers and the military whom I would task for a job to do [at risk], I will simply say, 'patayin niyong lahat para matapos na ang problema.'

Rodrigo Duterte 

[thefoucaultpoint-blog]

'Yan ang problema. Kung 'di ka marunong pumatay ng tao at takot ka mamatay, you can not be president.

Rodrigo Duterte 

[thefoucaultpoint-blog]

“I apologize to the Filipino people for my recent remarks in a rally. There was no intention of disrespecting our women and those who have been victims of this horrible crime. Sometimes my mouth can get the better of me. However, I will not apologize for the things I’ve done to protect our people, especially the weak and defenseless, from crime. I know what it can do to the victims and their families. The anguish and pain they cause. The trauma that can’t be erased. I have witnessed these myself numerous times. This is why I am angry. I am angry because horrendous things like this continue to happen to our women and children all over our land. And sadly, government has failed to protect them. If you will give me the chance to lead this country, I promise to all of you that I will protect our women, children and families from the horrors and disorder that crime inflicts. I will do this even if I lose my life, my honor and even the presidency. My life is an open book. I am a man of many flaws and contradictions. But when it comes to securing the lives and future of our countrymen and women, you can trust me to do the right thing. I will fight for my people until my last breath.” - Rodrigo Duterte

The rhetoric in Duterte’s speeches are compelling however, these are vague and contradictory, at best. When he claimed that “Sometimes his mouth can get the better of him” concomitantly saying that he wants to “secure the lives of women,” he had to explain how he can protect the image of Women in our society if he cannot control the words that come out of his mouth. Remember that perceptions towards women in the PH are relatively hard to change because men do not advocate for their goals more so, because women continuously become victims of sexual harrassment (i.e. Cat calling). Even if his claims were logically valid, he still is vague in so far as operationalizing the “protection towards women.” The only thing we got from him is that he is willing to “fight for his people until his last breath,” but the problem with that is many politicians retrospectively have said this and change has not been achieved.