I. great teamwork !!!
II. credibility game
III. my credilibity
IV. freedom is not free
V. just our best guess
VI. filipinos are unsophisticated
VII. competence trumps the law
VIII. culture trumps morality
IX. authorities have the DISadvantage
X. arrest is a spectrum
XI. slippery slope?
XII. governor jun davide and congressman pablo john garcia
XIII. activism 101
A. the next duterte
1. SAP app
2. transparency app
3. internet speed
B. branding
C. promoting painful logic
XIV. fb posts
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I. great teamwork !!!
pro-duterte and anti-duterte people belong to the same team. we all want to live in a safe and prosperous society. we all want to get rid of drug dealers. it breaks my heart to see my dear teachers quarrel in facebook because of politics. our opinions differ when it comes to methods, particularly the extrajudicial killings (EJK) or tokhang. in january of 2018, duterte reformed his war on drugs - https://www.rappler.com/newsbreak/iq/194687-new-oplan-tokhang-guidelines-pnp-war-drugs.
before i congratulate the EJK protesters, i googled to find out if the 2018 EJK reform was actually carried out. rappler reports and human rights watch websites do not show monthly or even yearly charts or statistics on the death toll (https://www.hrw.org/news/2020/01/14/philippines-no-letup-drug-war-killings). it simply gave the CUMULATIVE statistics which is about the same as 2 years ago. any educated person with common sense knows that excluding this piece of vital information is utterly ridiculous. even the UN human rights council report last week (june 30) did not provide any statistical trend data. the narrative have shifted from "STOP EJK !!!" to lackluster investigations and justice for the EJK victims. i therefore conclude (mr lutaw impression) the EJK reform was successfully implemented. so congrats to the EJK protesters. your job may be far from over but you just scored a huge victory. pro-duterte folks should also celebrate because any decent person in their right mind would prefer bloodless drug raids. great teamwork !!!
II. credibility game
i think the anti EJK movement wasted the opportunity to build their credibility by not celebrating whenever there was a bloodless drug raid. i think an anti-EJK or anti terror law group will gain credibility if they support some of duterte's agenda such as the bangsa moro law.
when duterte said he will kill his own son if he gets into drugs, that struck a chord into the hearts and minds of the filipinos. there's also a viral video of duterte thunderously berating criminal cops and asking forgiveness in advance from the family of those cops because he will personally put a bullet in those cop's heads.
politics is a likability game and nowadays, ordinary folks don't like political ideologues. the success of any political system or ideology heavily depends on HUMAN NATURE. it's too complicated and it has to be a case by case basis. capitalism has it's merits, socialism has it's merits, it's stupid to have to choose a pure form of one or the other. folks like raffy tulfo and the bitag dude gained credibility by helping all kinds of people irregardless of class and political beliefs. none of that class warfare crap. they even go after the poor kotengeros of quiapo. in the US, trump and biden wiped out their ideologue counterparts even if they flip flop all over the political map. the republicans will probably lose this november but the republican donors will be happy because biden is practically a far right republican. bernie sanders is the original republican because his agenda is exactly the same as that of dwight eisenhower's. balimbings are in fashion and ideologues are out of fashion.
i'm thankful for UP cebu protesters and folks like maria rezza because although i support most of duterte's agenda, for me checks and balance is more important. rezza will win more supporters if she reports both sides of the issue, like thank duterte for making the slums safer. she should play the credibility game by saying things like, "i'm just trying to report the facts and maybe the reason why i can't feel the significant improvements under duterte is because i live in a high rise condo with good security". it really makes me angry that maria rezza won't say these things. i want duterte and rezza to succeed. it's not a zeo sum game. if they both succeed, we all succeed.
jeepney drivers are very important because transportation is the backbone of our economy. if i drive in traffic for only 2 hours i get very fatigued. i used to snowboard on weekends and the 4 hour drive was very painful even if my car had power steering, climate control, cruise control and there was no traffic. jeepney drivers suffer from heat, humidity, pollution and traffic. not for 2 hours but 12 hours a day for their entire life if they are lucky and don't die early from pollution related illness. you might shout in anger if a jeepney stops in front of you in the middle of the road to load or unload a passenger but if you are in their shoes, you feel totally drained and your muscles are already too soar to pull over to the side of the road. so if you point out that maria rezza had to sit on a chair for 7 hours that would be a slap on the face to the majority of filipinos who physically suffer on a daily basis. i mean construction workers get scolded for sitting on a chair for 30 minutes while on the job. i'm not downplaying the injustice done to rezza. i'm just giving advice on how she can be more effective in helping society. i'm sure even duterte would wish his grandkids and great grandkids would one day live in a society where maria rezzas flourish.
freedom of speech is universal so anyone would be suspicious why the UP Cebu protesters were quite homogeneous. i think symposiums are more effective than street protests. encourage and welcome all opinions in a cordial discourse. maybe invite ordinary folks like jeepney drivers and vegetable vendors. there is a lot we can learn from each other. maybe start a radio show where people can call in and ask questions or voice their opinions.
III. my credilibity
i'm not really a smart person but even a vegetable vendor can advice albert einstein if it's safe to go in the slums. in the spirit of teamwork, i'm just giving my humble advice to the UP cebu protesters. i say "humble" because i failed the entrance exam to UP cebu high school. i enrolled at cebu normal university and on the first day of school, i was having breakfast when my father noticed my white uniform and said, "color white na diay ang UP uniform?". i told my dad i did not get in to UP. so he told me to put on my brother's blue UP uniform and go with him. turns out he was good friends with the principal prof. verdan so he got me in and i went to class that same day (UP already started school 1 week earlier).
so don't blame me for polluting this facebook group with my phony philosophizing and self interested crusades. just like johnny kawa blaming prof. verdan for his diarrhea, you should blame prof. verdan for getting me in to UP which opened my mind to challenge the prevailing orthodoxy even if i'm probably the only person dumb enough to learn the hard way that bathing your hands with alcohol does not give you the license to rub your itchy eyes. i was screaming from the pain. my high school classmates knows this happens to me a lot that's why their nickname for me is "oplok". like the time we attended a scout jamboree in mt. makiling. i was showering in the rain and while i was soaping my hair the rain suddenly stopped and soap flowed into my eyes. i was screaming from the pain luckily glen villarin was kind enough to bring me dirty left over water from washing the dishes. my eyes got infected and when i went to the clinic, the los banos locals were cheering when they saw my infected eyes. that's because when we arrived in mt. makiling, i was talking and laughing loudly so the locals told me not to be noisy because maria makiling might get angry. i told the locals i came here to have sex with maria makiling. the horrified faces of the locals was like that of the audience when duterte said he fingered his maid (although duterte was just a teenager so maybe the maid was technically committing statutory rape for letting it happen).
even if members of the UN human rights council have oxford degrees, does not mean i should not be criticizing their report. the leaders of maoist china had all kinds of phd's and experts at their beck and call. they had their country's best interest at heart yet their decisions led to millions of people dying from famine. when they dispersed the decision making to the less educated local leaders and farmers the famine ended. the famine started their "eating exotic wild animals" culture which probably lead to this covid-19 pandemic causing this lockdown and giving me all the time in the world to write this annoying essay.
this essay may be annoying but i will be posting it to facebook groups because encouraging and welcoming all kinds of opinions resides in the same territory as freedom of speech. it would be hypocrisy to support the protesters championing freedom of speech but be angry at me for polluting this facebook group with my opinions.
IV. freedom is not free
our grandparents had to rush the german pillboxes in normandy and face the bombs and bullets of the japanese imperial army. all we have to do is hold symposiums, town hall meetings and acknowledge the pros and cons on both sides of the issue. welcome and encourage all kinds of opinions. make an effort to know and understand the human nature of different people in society.
V. just our best guess
human nature is too complex therefore any decision based on human nature of different people is really just a best guess. deciding to vote for duterte or not is like deciding to buy stocks or bonds. not even the smartest person knows the right answer. apple is clearly a great company. iphone is a great product. i dare you to put 100% of your nest egg on apple stock. even the greatest investor and the biggest fan of apple would tell you that's very stupid.
we should continue to fight for what we believe in but it will make us less angry and make us more happy if we are aware that our advocacy is just our best guess. if you haven't noticed i'm really just trying to make everyone happy. realize that there are many super smart people on both sides of the issue which can only mean it's too complicated. unless you know something others are not aware of, it's really just a coin toss and there's no reason to be upset at the result of a coin toss. although i understand that it's normal human impulse to treat politics like sports. we can't control our feelings but we can control our actions. it's very normal to hate duterte just like it's normal to hate lebron james. we're only human of flesh and blood we're made. but as a human being, you are gifted with the ability to celebrate a bloodless drug raid even if you hate duterte.
VI. filipinos are unsophisticated
when senator sotto was accused of plagiarizing JFK's speech, it didn't have any political ramification because the majority of filipinos just thought what senator sotto did was no different from karaoke or a contestant in "the voice" singing someone else's song. unlike karaoke, at least the senator did not disturb nimrod's sleep.
filipinos can relate to concepts that are part of basic human instinct such as safety and food on the table. writing essays about freedom of speech and the immorality of a news outlet getting shutdown would at best be preaching to the choir. netizens mocked the rants of kim chiu and coco martin about the legality of the abs-cbn shutdown because they made it about them and failed to connect their message to "food on the table" of the struggling filipinos. singapore is more authoritarian but people like to live there because they have "food on the table'.
i notice that people living in the upper social status or academic bubble are not aware that the mass majority don't really care about the prevalence of illegal drugs. the resurgence of illegal drugs won't affect duterte's approval rating. the core issue is safety. before duterte, they were afraid of drug dealers. now the drug dealers are afraid of them. the slums used to be very dangerous. visitors are afraid the drug lords might mistake them for a police asset. i remember when i was a kid 40 years ago it was considered suicide if i visited the slums such as lorega, hipodromo, or pasil. drug lords were considered untouchables because people assumed they were connected to powerful politicians. but duterte miraculously changed all that. because of duterte i now feel safe visiting the mestiza dela pena ladies in pasil and sinoy ladies in hipodromo. this cannot be quantified for experts and academics to analyze. you have to live in the slums or frequent the slums to feel this.
VII. competence trumps the law
even if the anti terror law is defective, i wouldn't worry too much about it. i don't think filipinos will allow it to get out of hand. anyway, even if we have perfect laws, society will still collapse if it's people are too incompetent. communism is ideally a perfect system. the problem with communism is human imperfection.
EJK is technically unlawful yet 80% of filipinos support it. vote buying is technically unlawful yet we still vote for politicians who we know are engaged in vote buying.
everyone is aware that nature's basic universal law states that if you smoke you increase your chances of cancer. yet many highly intelligent and honorable people like obama smoke cigarettes. obama condemned duterte for the unlawful EJKs but obama ordered illegal drone strikes that killed hundreds of innocent civilians. it really makes me angry that duterte and harry roque won't say these things. US congress denied senator bato's US visa but they are not charging president bush for the crime of tricking the country into an illegal and useless war in iraq that killed 5 thousand US soldiers, cost the country $3 trillion and only increased iran's influence and power in the region.
on a more selfish perspective, if filipinos are very competent like the swedish, UP students won't have to worry about any EJK or anti terror law but UP graduates will have to worry about finding a job that is not tiresome and boring because there will be too much competition for sweet jobs. i will probably just be a taxi driver if i live in sweden or japan. but of course if we are too incompetent we could also end up like syria. i think the philippines is in a competency sweet spot that works out best for UP graduates.
instead of being frustrated at the level of competence of the filipinos, be thankful, take advantage of it and consider it as a calling to lead society in anyway you can.
VIII. culture trumps morality
political arguments always boils down to human nature. arguing about duterte or trump is like arguing which color is more beautiful. it astounds me that human nature is the biggest factor yet the smartest people in the world totally ignores it. karl marx's theories sounded so logical and scientific except he forgot to take into account human imperfections that's why it resulted in millions of people dead in the gulags of siberia and ukraine famine.
we have differing opinions because we have different inborn personalities. i don't think there's even 1 person who tried to evaluate the pros and cons before voting for a candidate. that would be like saying you decided to be attracted to the same sex after you evaluated the pros and cons of being a homosexual. be honest with yourself. your mind was already made up before you even gave it a thought. but our diversity is actually a good thing because it's the reason why we are enjoying the comforts of electricity and the iphone.
i agree the anti terror law and EJK are wrong from a morality perspective. but to many people, morality is just a means to an end, and that end is prosperity and happiness. if an invading army is raping my wife and daughter, i'm not going to tell the rapists "haha jokes on you because you are the bad guys and we are the good guys". ghandi and mother theresa were very moral but if they were the president during world war 2 we would all be speaking german right now.
native americans were the good guys yet they were massacred to near extinction. black slaves were the good guys. free land and free labor lead to excess capital that allowed america to industrialize and build a strong navy which allowed it to defeat the nazis and enjoy world wide hegemony for 50 years. which is the reason why we are enjoying facebook and the iphone. some say the native americans were decimated because they were not immune to the flu virus of the europeans, but how come lapu lapu and the native filipinos did not get decimated by a virus from magellan and the europeans? maybe it's because we eat lots of fish. if you look at the places that have very high covid19 death rates, they lack seafood in their diet. fake news !!! i should go to jail !!!
the good news is that culture is born out of necessity and advancements in technology is constantly evolving our culture. slavery was not abolished because of anti slavery protesters or lincoln's gettysburg address. the industrialized north did not need slaves because they already had machines in the factories. but their products were not able to compete with the south who still had free labor. so the north imposed high tariffs on the south which forced the southern states to secede. this lead to the civil war and abolishment of slavery. similarly, american products cannot compete with the cheap labor of china so trump imposed tariffs on chinese products forcing china to unleash the coronavirus which will lead to the abolishment of trump (joke).
speaking of morality, the UP cebu protesters probably eat innocent cows and chickens. you can't argue that animals have less value because if i eat your pet dog i'm sure you won't be very happy. also note that a billion humans in india believe cows are sacred. you can't use intelligence as an argument because pigs are scientifically way way more intelligent than dogs and we love pork (except a billion muslims). future generations will probably look back and think we are barbarians for eating innocent animals even if there already are plant based alternatives. my coworker in silicon valley (altera corporation) named razmik ahanessians told me i'm being immoral for eating fried chicken. i told him i agree with him and i admire him for being a more evolved person than me but if it ever becomes illegal to eat prime rib steak i will find him and i will kill him. just like the catholic church tortured and killed gay people for centuries.
IX. authorities have the DISadvantage
when i was in high school during the mid 80's, cops were being assassinated. the dad of my classmate venjie balansag was a cop so i tried to console him because i thought he was worried. instead venjie laughed at me and said he was not worried because only abusive cops were being killed and his dad is very popular and beloved by all jeepney drivers (instead it was dandee nellas who i ended up consoling because he was very worried the enkanto of the tree that was cut down to make way for the new library building would come for his parents next. dandee told me the faculty had a group picture taken in front of the new library and those in the photo were dying in the same order in the photo and his parents were next in line. one day i noticed dandee had a big smile on his face. he told me the curse has been broken because the UP administration hired a white witch and spread chicken blood around the building. at first i couldn't believe it, considering UP is suppose to be the bastion of science and rationality but our teacher told us the story and my classmate gia reformina said she witnessed the ceremony. by the way when i visited mr. and mrs. nellas to invite them to our batch's 25th anniversary reunion i was surprised they both looked incredibly young).
the bottom line is that duterte doesn't have darth vader powers and cops are not like star wars storm troopers who can just go around imposing their will on the people. duterte's power still depends on the will of the majority. so instead of protesting duterte or the anti terror law, talk to the people via public symposiums or town hall meetings. duterte has political enemies who are very rich and powerful and the reason why they can't bring down duterte is because they know duterte is just acting on the will of the majority.
just think about it. if the cops are really murdering innocent EJK victims, they will have to hire body guards for their wife and kids. anyone can know where they live and their daily routine. and they have no clue who will come after them. that's the worse situation to be in. that's why people are so impressed at duterte's insane bravery when he took out the drug cartels in davao while he was just a mayor.
it also doesn't make sense to mock the cops for wearing full battle gear against the protesters because they are just following orders and working hard to provide food and shelter for their family. one of cops could very well be a parent of a UP student. we all belong to the same team if you really think about it.
X. arrest is a spectrum
if i was one of the arrested protesters, i would consider my arrest beneficial to my cause. spending 3 days in detention is a small trade off considering the publicity and support that the protesters garnered. just think about it. why would olympians sacrifice blood sweat and tears for 4 years just to win a medal? humans want to be loved and accepted. so the arrest turned out to be a gift.
one day i was watching CNN and they were interviewing this dude named dinesh d' souza, a harsh obama critic who was jailed by obama for a petty campaign contribution infraction. CNN was trying to portray dinesh as a racist. i never heard of dinesh before so i looked him up and discovered he had pretty impressive political arguments especially against socialism. so obama and CNN practically gifted dinesh with a bigger platform which helped dinesh sell more books. made me suspect maybe obama and dinesh are secret BFFs. the jail term was only 8 months house arrest which is not a big deal because dinesh is a writer. it catapulted dinesh to right wing royalty. dinesh was invited to politicon where his debate opponent foolishly mocked dinesh as an ex con. i say foolish because the accusation would only make anyone in the audience curious and if you read about it in wikipedia, you will actually admire dinesh who was just being a good friend by supporting his friend's campaign even if his friend had no chance of winning. it's also a known fact that democrats and republicans routinely take advantage of campaign contribution loop holes with graver consequences to the fabric of democracy, yet obama never went after them.
XI. slippery slope?
one only needs to look at EJK death toll chart to answer this question. i rest my case your honor.
senator de lima is still in jail but that's because she did not file a petition for bail even if it is well within her means to do so. if de lima filed for bail and got out, i don't think the US congress would have denied US visa for senator bato, a symbolic gesture that boosted de lima's cause because it caused duterte to be very angry and act irrationally by cancelling our military treaties with the US. even duterte's top generals and cabinet members voiced out openly that it's a bad idea to refuse protection from the US military. so maybe de lima's choice to stay in jail was a good chess move.
also note that abs-cbn is back and rappler was never shutdown despite being a harsher critic towards duterte. also note that rappler don't have vice gandas, kim chius and coco martins so it should be less politically dangerous to shut down. rezza is being charged and detained a couple of times but again i think her arrest only created publicity beneficial to rezza.
even if it really is a slippery slope, it's just a short slope because duterte's term will end soon in 2022. duterte is a once in a century phenomenon. i don't think the successor would be able to duplicate his charisma.
XII. governor jun davide and congressman pablo john garcia
i'm a big fan of my UP cebu schoolmates gov. davide and cong. garcia. back when we were in high school we were always yelling "our government sucks !!!". now they are the government and they are doing a phenomenal job. they walked the talk. under their guardianship, cebu has been experiencing not only the best growth in asia but also a huge budget surplus. a very rare combination.
i realized the arrest of UP cebu protesters puts cong. garcia and gov. davide on a difficult spot. since the protesters were detained for only 3 days, i'm pleading to my fellow UPinians that we should not expect the congressman and governor to jeopardize their positions by voicing out support for their fellow UPinians who were arrested. they can better serve society if they don't rock the boat or piss off certain people. helping society is not as simple as doing the right thing every time. it's like a chess game.
XIII. activism 101
A. the next duterte
you can better serve society from the position of influence and you become influential if you have the majority of people on your side. you can get people on your side if you demonstrate that you can solve their problem. example duterte demonstrated he can make davao city free from illegal drugs while the other cities across the country were suffering from the drug epidemic.
1. SAP app
immerse yourself with poor people so you can feel their pressing problem and a find solution that is Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Realistic and Timely. example many are not getting their SAP cash assistance or rice ration. the government has the money but the system just needs some engineering overhaul. i don't think it's that hard to develop a scalable app or system for this. maybe the sitio leader and a DSWD rep will go around distributing an atm card for each household. they will input the name and address of the each recipient and the atm card number to an app. the key is transparency. people love transparency. transparency could be the new EJK. anyone should be able to go to the website or app and view the database in a hierarchical fashion. example clicking a province will display a list of the municipalities and totals for each. clicking a municipality will list the barrios and totals. clicking a barrio will display all the sitios and the recipients. this way anyone who lives in the area can report any anomaly. maybe have a reward system for anyone who can successfully prove a rule violation. example anyone can inspect to make sure his neighbors are all legitimate and deserving recipients.
a mayor or even a baranggay captain can work with a local bank to test this out on a small scale. then promote to the whole country that the system is working and is scalable. you just need to pay facebook to advertise your app to all filipinos. that mayor or baranggay captain could be the next duterte.
this translates to "food on the table" in the hearts and minds of the majority. it's what really matters. when duterte said he fingered his maid, it was during an event where he was distributing land ownership certificates to agrarian reform beneficiaries in kidapawan city. i rest my case your honor.
2. transparency app
a mayor or governor could also develop a very transparent expense system where anyone can go to a website or app and view the total expense for a certain time period and view the breakdown in a hierarchical manner down to the last detail. this website would be like porn to the citizens. especially in this pandemic where people want to know how much we are spending on testing and the quality of our supplier. it sounds crazy but duterte sacrificing the safety of his family by going to war with the drug lords is crazier.
3. internet speed
slow internet makes people pull out their hair in frustration. i'm aware of our country's limitations. but after finding out the philippines has the slowest and most expensive internet service compared to our southeast asian neighbors, i became suspicious.
the duopoly of pldt-smart and globe is practically a criminal monopoly. it's easy for them to connive to distribute profits to their shareholders instead use it to upgrade or expand their infrastructure. this is perfectly legal and if i was in their shoes i would do the same thing. so i'm not blaming the telecom oligarchs.
i also don't blame the government for not opening up the industry to more players to increase competition because people are not exactly clamoring for it. my philosophy is that it's not my fault for eating an innocent cow. it's the cow's fault for not having the ability to defend itself. i know it sounds cruel and ugly but it's just reality. it's the law of nature since time immemorial. if we don't sacrifice our time and energy to demand for better internet, it's our fault we have slow internet.
or maybe it's just that the philippines is mostly water and it's way more expensive to install and maintain cables in the ocean. i don't know. i'm just brain storming. maybe check their SEC filings and find out how much they are investing on upgrades as a percentage of their profit.
B. branding
note the EJK and anti-terror law issue has nothing to do with the socialist or communist ideology. it shouldn't even have anything to do with duterte. if you belong to a left leaning group, it will make people suspicious and you are just hurting the specific anti EJK and terror law movement. similarly if you belong to a group that sweepingly opposes all of duterte's agenda, you are also hurting the specific anti EJK and terror law movement. it makes people suspect you are just acting on your political emotions and not really concerned about improving society.
keep in mind the ultimate goal of socialism is to take away our rights to own property and do business with one another. if you are protesting about freedom of speech and EJK, what do you think the socialist will do to me if they were given the power and i refuse to give up my property that i earned through blood sweat and tears?
chomsky says owning property is immoral and the reason why we have a strong desire to own property is because we have been brainwashed with capitalist propaganda. ok i won't argue with that because i know i'm just an idiot compared to chomsky who is considered the greatest intellectual. but the reality is that it's not about what's right or wrong. it's about way of life or culture. i eat innocent cows and chicken even if it's immoral because they are delicious. the only counter to my argument is if there is god and there is reward and punishment in the after life. but chomsky is an atheist. so chomsky won't say to the invading army raping his wife and daughter, "haha joke's on you because you are going to burn in hell while we are going to heaven".
i don't even believe in the propaganda narrative because since prehistoric times when there was no capitalist propaganda, humans have been killing each other for territory. i therefore conclude (mr. lutaw impression) that property ownership is a basic instinct. in modern times it's a moral necessity because it prevents a much bigger immoral behavior which is laziness and dependency on a welfare state which is unsustainable and can lead to eventual collapse of society which is what happened in soviet union, china, venezuela, greece and it's starting to happen to spain, france and italy.
the crusades didn't start as a religious war. climate change forced the nomadic herders of the east to the much warmer territories of the west occupied by settled farmers. the herders were unwilling to adopt to the settled life of farmers simply because it's not in their genes or personality so conflicts ensued on whether a land should be used for farming or herding. it started with christian and muslim farmers battling against christian and muslim herders. it was simply a battle for way of life. there was no right or wrong. it later ballooned into a holy war known as the crusades.
if leftists really want to help people by giving land to the farmers, they can denounce socialism and rename their organization to something like "neo capitalist alliance". sounds ridiculous? actually it makes sense because the natives owned the land and the spaniards stole it from them. the main principle of capitalism is property rights or ownership and the strongest rule of ownership is "first use".
however under capitalist principles, i should not give my city townhouse to a native because another rule of ownership is investment cost, and the the value of my property has skyrocketed because of the capital investments and expertise of the engineers that built the ports, roads, and infrastructure that made the property values in the city astronomically high compared to the remote farm lands. i should only pay the natives the same price per square meter as that of remote farm lands and i'm already doing that in the form of annual taxes which the government uses to provide basic services like free hospitals to the natives. also, another rule of ownership is succession, and i'm 90% native blood.
don't get me wrong i love leftists i just don't want them to be my leaders. leftists have a kind heart while capitalists are greedy but both have important roles in society. capitalists invent our iphone, leftists teach our children. capitalists enforce law and order and protect us from internal and external aggression while leftists entertain us with their beautiful music and movies. leftists are like the mothers of society while capitalists are like the fathers.
C. promoting painful logic
finally, i humbly think the root of the problem is society's lack of logical or reasoning skills. i think it's possible for america or the philippines to one day become like sweden or south korea after only a few generations if reasoning skills are emphasized in schools with the same magnitude as math and language.
for more of my activism tips and unorthodox perspectives, search "ian's knowledge bombs
on the web and click "politics-for-dummies" in the table of contents.
(for more of my knowledge bombs, click the "ian's knowledge bombs" banner at the top of this article and choose any article in the table of contents that piques your interest)
1/19/21 fb post
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I. great teamwork !!!
pro-duterte and anti-duterte people belong to the same team. we all want to live in a safe and prosperous society. we all want to get rid of drug dealers. it breaks my heart to see my dear teachers quarrel in facebook because of politics. our opinions differ when it comes to methods, particularly the extrajudicial killings (EJK) or tokhang. in january of 2018, duterte reformed his war on drugs - https://www.rappler.com/newsbreak/iq/194687-new-oplan-tokhang-guidelines-pnp-war-drugs.
before i congratulate the EJK protesters, i googled to find out if the 2018 EJK reform was actually carried out. rappler reports and human rights watch websites do not show monthly or even yearly charts or statistics on the death toll (https://www.hrw.org/news/2020/01/14/philippines-no-letup-drug-war-killings). it simply gave the CUMULATIVE statistics which is about the same as 2 years ago. any educated person with common sense knows that excluding this piece of vital information is utterly ridiculous. even the UN human rights council report last week (june 30) did not provide any statistical trend data. the narrative have shifted from "STOP EJK !!!" to lackluster investigations and justice for the EJK victims. i therefore conclude (mr lutaw impression) the EJK reform was successfully implemented. so congrats to the EJK protesters. your job may be far from over but you just scored a huge victory. pro-duterte folks should also celebrate because any decent person in their right mind would prefer bloodless drug raids. great teamwork !!!
II. credibility game
i think the anti EJK movement wasted the opportunity to build their credibility by not celebrating whenever there was a bloodless drug raid. i think an anti-EJK or anti terror law group will gain credibility if they support some of duterte's agenda such as the bangsa moro law.
when duterte said he will kill his own son if he gets into drugs, that struck a chord into the hearts and minds of the filipinos. there's also a viral video of duterte thunderously berating criminal cops and asking forgiveness in advance from the family of those cops because he will personally put a bullet in those cop's heads.
politics is a likability game and nowadays, ordinary folks don't like political ideologues. the success of any political system or ideology heavily depends on HUMAN NATURE. it's too complicated and it has to be a case by case basis. capitalism has it's merits, socialism has it's merits, it's stupid to have to choose a pure form of one or the other. folks like raffy tulfo and the bitag dude gained credibility by helping all kinds of people irregardless of class and political beliefs. none of that class warfare crap. they even go after the poor kotengeros of quiapo. in the US, trump and biden wiped out their ideologue counterparts even if they flip flop all over the political map. the republicans will probably lose this november but the republican donors will be happy because biden is practically a far right republican. bernie sanders is the original republican because his agenda is exactly the same as that of dwight eisenhower's. balimbings are in fashion and ideologues are out of fashion.
i'm thankful for UP cebu protesters and folks like maria rezza because although i support most of duterte's agenda, for me checks and balance is more important. rezza will win more supporters if she reports both sides of the issue, like thank duterte for making the slums safer. she should play the credibility game by saying things like, "i'm just trying to report the facts and maybe the reason why i can't feel the significant improvements under duterte is because i live in a high rise condo with good security". it really makes me angry that maria rezza won't say these things. i want duterte and rezza to succeed. it's not a zeo sum game. if they both succeed, we all succeed.
jeepney drivers are very important because transportation is the backbone of our economy. if i drive in traffic for only 2 hours i get very fatigued. i used to snowboard on weekends and the 4 hour drive was very painful even if my car had power steering, climate control, cruise control and there was no traffic. jeepney drivers suffer from heat, humidity, pollution and traffic. not for 2 hours but 12 hours a day for their entire life if they are lucky and don't die early from pollution related illness. you might shout in anger if a jeepney stops in front of you in the middle of the road to load or unload a passenger but if you are in their shoes, you feel totally drained and your muscles are already too soar to pull over to the side of the road. so if you point out that maria rezza had to sit on a chair for 7 hours that would be a slap on the face to the majority of filipinos who physically suffer on a daily basis. i mean construction workers get scolded for sitting on a chair for 30 minutes while on the job. i'm not downplaying the injustice done to rezza. i'm just giving advice on how she can be more effective in helping society. i'm sure even duterte would wish his grandkids and great grandkids would one day live in a society where maria rezzas flourish.
freedom of speech is universal so anyone would be suspicious why the UP Cebu protesters were quite homogeneous. i think symposiums are more effective than street protests. encourage and welcome all opinions in a cordial discourse. maybe invite ordinary folks like jeepney drivers and vegetable vendors. there is a lot we can learn from each other. maybe start a radio show where people can call in and ask questions or voice their opinions.
III. my credilibity
i'm not really a smart person but even a vegetable vendor can advice albert einstein if it's safe to go in the slums. in the spirit of teamwork, i'm just giving my humble advice to the UP cebu protesters. i say "humble" because i failed the entrance exam to UP cebu high school. i enrolled at cebu normal university and on the first day of school, i was having breakfast when my father noticed my white uniform and said, "color white na diay ang UP uniform?". i told my dad i did not get in to UP. so he told me to put on my brother's blue UP uniform and go with him. turns out he was good friends with the principal prof. verdan so he got me in and i went to class that same day (UP already started school 1 week earlier).
so don't blame me for polluting this facebook group with my phony philosophizing and self interested crusades. just like johnny kawa blaming prof. verdan for his diarrhea, you should blame prof. verdan for getting me in to UP which opened my mind to challenge the prevailing orthodoxy even if i'm probably the only person dumb enough to learn the hard way that bathing your hands with alcohol does not give you the license to rub your itchy eyes. i was screaming from the pain. my high school classmates knows this happens to me a lot that's why their nickname for me is "oplok". like the time we attended a scout jamboree in mt. makiling. i was showering in the rain and while i was soaping my hair the rain suddenly stopped and soap flowed into my eyes. i was screaming from the pain luckily glen villarin was kind enough to bring me dirty left over water from washing the dishes. my eyes got infected and when i went to the clinic, the los banos locals were cheering when they saw my infected eyes. that's because when we arrived in mt. makiling, i was talking and laughing loudly so the locals told me not to be noisy because maria makiling might get angry. i told the locals i came here to have sex with maria makiling. the horrified faces of the locals was like that of the audience when duterte said he fingered his maid (although duterte was just a teenager so maybe the maid was technically committing statutory rape for letting it happen).
even if members of the UN human rights council have oxford degrees, does not mean i should not be criticizing their report. the leaders of maoist china had all kinds of phd's and experts at their beck and call. they had their country's best interest at heart yet their decisions led to millions of people dying from famine. when they dispersed the decision making to the less educated local leaders and farmers the famine ended. the famine started their "eating exotic wild animals" culture which probably lead to this covid-19 pandemic causing this lockdown and giving me all the time in the world to write this annoying essay.
this essay may be annoying but i will be posting it to facebook groups because encouraging and welcoming all kinds of opinions resides in the same territory as freedom of speech. it would be hypocrisy to support the protesters championing freedom of speech but be angry at me for polluting this facebook group with my opinions.
IV. freedom is not free
our grandparents had to rush the german pillboxes in normandy and face the bombs and bullets of the japanese imperial army. all we have to do is hold symposiums, town hall meetings and acknowledge the pros and cons on both sides of the issue. welcome and encourage all kinds of opinions. make an effort to know and understand the human nature of different people in society.
V. just our best guess
human nature is too complex therefore any decision based on human nature of different people is really just a best guess. deciding to vote for duterte or not is like deciding to buy stocks or bonds. not even the smartest person knows the right answer. apple is clearly a great company. iphone is a great product. i dare you to put 100% of your nest egg on apple stock. even the greatest investor and the biggest fan of apple would tell you that's very stupid.
we should continue to fight for what we believe in but it will make us less angry and make us more happy if we are aware that our advocacy is just our best guess. if you haven't noticed i'm really just trying to make everyone happy. realize that there are many super smart people on both sides of the issue which can only mean it's too complicated. unless you know something others are not aware of, it's really just a coin toss and there's no reason to be upset at the result of a coin toss. although i understand that it's normal human impulse to treat politics like sports. we can't control our feelings but we can control our actions. it's very normal to hate duterte just like it's normal to hate lebron james. we're only human of flesh and blood we're made. but as a human being, you are gifted with the ability to celebrate a bloodless drug raid even if you hate duterte.
VI. filipinos are unsophisticated
when senator sotto was accused of plagiarizing JFK's speech, it didn't have any political ramification because the majority of filipinos just thought what senator sotto did was no different from karaoke or a contestant in "the voice" singing someone else's song. unlike karaoke, at least the senator did not disturb nimrod's sleep.
filipinos can relate to concepts that are part of basic human instinct such as safety and food on the table. writing essays about freedom of speech and the immorality of a news outlet getting shutdown would at best be preaching to the choir. netizens mocked the rants of kim chiu and coco martin about the legality of the abs-cbn shutdown because they made it about them and failed to connect their message to "food on the table" of the struggling filipinos. singapore is more authoritarian but people like to live there because they have "food on the table'.
i notice that people living in the upper social status or academic bubble are not aware that the mass majority don't really care about the prevalence of illegal drugs. the resurgence of illegal drugs won't affect duterte's approval rating. the core issue is safety. before duterte, they were afraid of drug dealers. now the drug dealers are afraid of them. the slums used to be very dangerous. visitors are afraid the drug lords might mistake them for a police asset. i remember when i was a kid 40 years ago it was considered suicide if i visited the slums such as lorega, hipodromo, or pasil. drug lords were considered untouchables because people assumed they were connected to powerful politicians. but duterte miraculously changed all that. because of duterte i now feel safe visiting the mestiza dela pena ladies in pasil and sinoy ladies in hipodromo. this cannot be quantified for experts and academics to analyze. you have to live in the slums or frequent the slums to feel this.
VII. competence trumps the law
even if the anti terror law is defective, i wouldn't worry too much about it. i don't think filipinos will allow it to get out of hand. anyway, even if we have perfect laws, society will still collapse if it's people are too incompetent. communism is ideally a perfect system. the problem with communism is human imperfection.
EJK is technically unlawful yet 80% of filipinos support it. vote buying is technically unlawful yet we still vote for politicians who we know are engaged in vote buying.
everyone is aware that nature's basic universal law states that if you smoke you increase your chances of cancer. yet many highly intelligent and honorable people like obama smoke cigarettes. obama condemned duterte for the unlawful EJKs but obama ordered illegal drone strikes that killed hundreds of innocent civilians. it really makes me angry that duterte and harry roque won't say these things. US congress denied senator bato's US visa but they are not charging president bush for the crime of tricking the country into an illegal and useless war in iraq that killed 5 thousand US soldiers, cost the country $3 trillion and only increased iran's influence and power in the region.
on a more selfish perspective, if filipinos are very competent like the swedish, UP students won't have to worry about any EJK or anti terror law but UP graduates will have to worry about finding a job that is not tiresome and boring because there will be too much competition for sweet jobs. i will probably just be a taxi driver if i live in sweden or japan. but of course if we are too incompetent we could also end up like syria. i think the philippines is in a competency sweet spot that works out best for UP graduates.
instead of being frustrated at the level of competence of the filipinos, be thankful, take advantage of it and consider it as a calling to lead society in anyway you can.
VIII. culture trumps morality
political arguments always boils down to human nature. arguing about duterte or trump is like arguing which color is more beautiful. it astounds me that human nature is the biggest factor yet the smartest people in the world totally ignores it. karl marx's theories sounded so logical and scientific except he forgot to take into account human imperfections that's why it resulted in millions of people dead in the gulags of siberia and ukraine famine.
we have differing opinions because we have different inborn personalities. i don't think there's even 1 person who tried to evaluate the pros and cons before voting for a candidate. that would be like saying you decided to be attracted to the same sex after you evaluated the pros and cons of being a homosexual. be honest with yourself. your mind was already made up before you even gave it a thought. but our diversity is actually a good thing because it's the reason why we are enjoying the comforts of electricity and the iphone.
i agree the anti terror law and EJK are wrong from a morality perspective. but to many people, morality is just a means to an end, and that end is prosperity and happiness. if an invading army is raping my wife and daughter, i'm not going to tell the rapists "haha jokes on you because you are the bad guys and we are the good guys". ghandi and mother theresa were very moral but if they were the president during world war 2 we would all be speaking german right now.
native americans were the good guys yet they were massacred to near extinction. black slaves were the good guys. free land and free labor lead to excess capital that allowed america to industrialize and build a strong navy which allowed it to defeat the nazis and enjoy world wide hegemony for 50 years. which is the reason why we are enjoying facebook and the iphone. some say the native americans were decimated because they were not immune to the flu virus of the europeans, but how come lapu lapu and the native filipinos did not get decimated by a virus from magellan and the europeans? maybe it's because we eat lots of fish. if you look at the places that have very high covid19 death rates, they lack seafood in their diet. fake news !!! i should go to jail !!!
the good news is that culture is born out of necessity and advancements in technology is constantly evolving our culture. slavery was not abolished because of anti slavery protesters or lincoln's gettysburg address. the industrialized north did not need slaves because they already had machines in the factories. but their products were not able to compete with the south who still had free labor. so the north imposed high tariffs on the south which forced the southern states to secede. this lead to the civil war and abolishment of slavery. similarly, american products cannot compete with the cheap labor of china so trump imposed tariffs on chinese products forcing china to unleash the coronavirus which will lead to the abolishment of trump (joke).
speaking of morality, the UP cebu protesters probably eat innocent cows and chickens. you can't argue that animals have less value because if i eat your pet dog i'm sure you won't be very happy. also note that a billion humans in india believe cows are sacred. you can't use intelligence as an argument because pigs are scientifically way way more intelligent than dogs and we love pork (except a billion muslims). future generations will probably look back and think we are barbarians for eating innocent animals even if there already are plant based alternatives. my coworker in silicon valley (altera corporation) named razmik ahanessians told me i'm being immoral for eating fried chicken. i told him i agree with him and i admire him for being a more evolved person than me but if it ever becomes illegal to eat prime rib steak i will find him and i will kill him. just like the catholic church tortured and killed gay people for centuries.
IX. authorities have the DISadvantage
when i was in high school during the mid 80's, cops were being assassinated. the dad of my classmate venjie balansag was a cop so i tried to console him because i thought he was worried. instead venjie laughed at me and said he was not worried because only abusive cops were being killed and his dad is very popular and beloved by all jeepney drivers (instead it was dandee nellas who i ended up consoling because he was very worried the enkanto of the tree that was cut down to make way for the new library building would come for his parents next. dandee told me the faculty had a group picture taken in front of the new library and those in the photo were dying in the same order in the photo and his parents were next in line. one day i noticed dandee had a big smile on his face. he told me the curse has been broken because the UP administration hired a white witch and spread chicken blood around the building. at first i couldn't believe it, considering UP is suppose to be the bastion of science and rationality but our teacher told us the story and my classmate gia reformina said she witnessed the ceremony. by the way when i visited mr. and mrs. nellas to invite them to our batch's 25th anniversary reunion i was surprised they both looked incredibly young).
the bottom line is that duterte doesn't have darth vader powers and cops are not like star wars storm troopers who can just go around imposing their will on the people. duterte's power still depends on the will of the majority. so instead of protesting duterte or the anti terror law, talk to the people via public symposiums or town hall meetings. duterte has political enemies who are very rich and powerful and the reason why they can't bring down duterte is because they know duterte is just acting on the will of the majority.
just think about it. if the cops are really murdering innocent EJK victims, they will have to hire body guards for their wife and kids. anyone can know where they live and their daily routine. and they have no clue who will come after them. that's the worse situation to be in. that's why people are so impressed at duterte's insane bravery when he took out the drug cartels in davao while he was just a mayor.
it also doesn't make sense to mock the cops for wearing full battle gear against the protesters because they are just following orders and working hard to provide food and shelter for their family. one of cops could very well be a parent of a UP student. we all belong to the same team if you really think about it.
X. arrest is a spectrum
if i was one of the arrested protesters, i would consider my arrest beneficial to my cause. spending 3 days in detention is a small trade off considering the publicity and support that the protesters garnered. just think about it. why would olympians sacrifice blood sweat and tears for 4 years just to win a medal? humans want to be loved and accepted. so the arrest turned out to be a gift.
one day i was watching CNN and they were interviewing this dude named dinesh d' souza, a harsh obama critic who was jailed by obama for a petty campaign contribution infraction. CNN was trying to portray dinesh as a racist. i never heard of dinesh before so i looked him up and discovered he had pretty impressive political arguments especially against socialism. so obama and CNN practically gifted dinesh with a bigger platform which helped dinesh sell more books. made me suspect maybe obama and dinesh are secret BFFs. the jail term was only 8 months house arrest which is not a big deal because dinesh is a writer. it catapulted dinesh to right wing royalty. dinesh was invited to politicon where his debate opponent foolishly mocked dinesh as an ex con. i say foolish because the accusation would only make anyone in the audience curious and if you read about it in wikipedia, you will actually admire dinesh who was just being a good friend by supporting his friend's campaign even if his friend had no chance of winning. it's also a known fact that democrats and republicans routinely take advantage of campaign contribution loop holes with graver consequences to the fabric of democracy, yet obama never went after them.
XI. slippery slope?
one only needs to look at EJK death toll chart to answer this question. i rest my case your honor.
senator de lima is still in jail but that's because she did not file a petition for bail even if it is well within her means to do so. if de lima filed for bail and got out, i don't think the US congress would have denied US visa for senator bato, a symbolic gesture that boosted de lima's cause because it caused duterte to be very angry and act irrationally by cancelling our military treaties with the US. even duterte's top generals and cabinet members voiced out openly that it's a bad idea to refuse protection from the US military. so maybe de lima's choice to stay in jail was a good chess move.
also note that abs-cbn is back and rappler was never shutdown despite being a harsher critic towards duterte. also note that rappler don't have vice gandas, kim chius and coco martins so it should be less politically dangerous to shut down. rezza is being charged and detained a couple of times but again i think her arrest only created publicity beneficial to rezza.
even if it really is a slippery slope, it's just a short slope because duterte's term will end soon in 2022. duterte is a once in a century phenomenon. i don't think the successor would be able to duplicate his charisma.
XII. governor jun davide and congressman pablo john garcia
i'm a big fan of my UP cebu schoolmates gov. davide and cong. garcia. back when we were in high school we were always yelling "our government sucks !!!". now they are the government and they are doing a phenomenal job. they walked the talk. under their guardianship, cebu has been experiencing not only the best growth in asia but also a huge budget surplus. a very rare combination.
i realized the arrest of UP cebu protesters puts cong. garcia and gov. davide on a difficult spot. since the protesters were detained for only 3 days, i'm pleading to my fellow UPinians that we should not expect the congressman and governor to jeopardize their positions by voicing out support for their fellow UPinians who were arrested. they can better serve society if they don't rock the boat or piss off certain people. helping society is not as simple as doing the right thing every time. it's like a chess game.
XIII. activism 101
A. the next duterte
you can better serve society from the position of influence and you become influential if you have the majority of people on your side. you can get people on your side if you demonstrate that you can solve their problem. example duterte demonstrated he can make davao city free from illegal drugs while the other cities across the country were suffering from the drug epidemic.
1. SAP app
immerse yourself with poor people so you can feel their pressing problem and a find solution that is Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Realistic and Timely. example many are not getting their SAP cash assistance or rice ration. the government has the money but the system just needs some engineering overhaul. i don't think it's that hard to develop a scalable app or system for this. maybe the sitio leader and a DSWD rep will go around distributing an atm card for each household. they will input the name and address of the each recipient and the atm card number to an app. the key is transparency. people love transparency. transparency could be the new EJK. anyone should be able to go to the website or app and view the database in a hierarchical fashion. example clicking a province will display a list of the municipalities and totals for each. clicking a municipality will list the barrios and totals. clicking a barrio will display all the sitios and the recipients. this way anyone who lives in the area can report any anomaly. maybe have a reward system for anyone who can successfully prove a rule violation. example anyone can inspect to make sure his neighbors are all legitimate and deserving recipients.
a mayor or even a baranggay captain can work with a local bank to test this out on a small scale. then promote to the whole country that the system is working and is scalable. you just need to pay facebook to advertise your app to all filipinos. that mayor or baranggay captain could be the next duterte.
this translates to "food on the table" in the hearts and minds of the majority. it's what really matters. when duterte said he fingered his maid, it was during an event where he was distributing land ownership certificates to agrarian reform beneficiaries in kidapawan city. i rest my case your honor.
2. transparency app
a mayor or governor could also develop a very transparent expense system where anyone can go to a website or app and view the total expense for a certain time period and view the breakdown in a hierarchical manner down to the last detail. this website would be like porn to the citizens. especially in this pandemic where people want to know how much we are spending on testing and the quality of our supplier. it sounds crazy but duterte sacrificing the safety of his family by going to war with the drug lords is crazier.
3. internet speed
slow internet makes people pull out their hair in frustration. i'm aware of our country's limitations. but after finding out the philippines has the slowest and most expensive internet service compared to our southeast asian neighbors, i became suspicious.
the duopoly of pldt-smart and globe is practically a criminal monopoly. it's easy for them to connive to distribute profits to their shareholders instead use it to upgrade or expand their infrastructure. this is perfectly legal and if i was in their shoes i would do the same thing. so i'm not blaming the telecom oligarchs.
i also don't blame the government for not opening up the industry to more players to increase competition because people are not exactly clamoring for it. my philosophy is that it's not my fault for eating an innocent cow. it's the cow's fault for not having the ability to defend itself. i know it sounds cruel and ugly but it's just reality. it's the law of nature since time immemorial. if we don't sacrifice our time and energy to demand for better internet, it's our fault we have slow internet.
or maybe it's just that the philippines is mostly water and it's way more expensive to install and maintain cables in the ocean. i don't know. i'm just brain storming. maybe check their SEC filings and find out how much they are investing on upgrades as a percentage of their profit.
B. branding
note the EJK and anti-terror law issue has nothing to do with the socialist or communist ideology. it shouldn't even have anything to do with duterte. if you belong to a left leaning group, it will make people suspicious and you are just hurting the specific anti EJK and terror law movement. similarly if you belong to a group that sweepingly opposes all of duterte's agenda, you are also hurting the specific anti EJK and terror law movement. it makes people suspect you are just acting on your political emotions and not really concerned about improving society.
keep in mind the ultimate goal of socialism is to take away our rights to own property and do business with one another. if you are protesting about freedom of speech and EJK, what do you think the socialist will do to me if they were given the power and i refuse to give up my property that i earned through blood sweat and tears?
chomsky says owning property is immoral and the reason why we have a strong desire to own property is because we have been brainwashed with capitalist propaganda. ok i won't argue with that because i know i'm just an idiot compared to chomsky who is considered the greatest intellectual. but the reality is that it's not about what's right or wrong. it's about way of life or culture. i eat innocent cows and chicken even if it's immoral because they are delicious. the only counter to my argument is if there is god and there is reward and punishment in the after life. but chomsky is an atheist. so chomsky won't say to the invading army raping his wife and daughter, "haha joke's on you because you are going to burn in hell while we are going to heaven".
i don't even believe in the propaganda narrative because since prehistoric times when there was no capitalist propaganda, humans have been killing each other for territory. i therefore conclude (mr. lutaw impression) that property ownership is a basic instinct. in modern times it's a moral necessity because it prevents a much bigger immoral behavior which is laziness and dependency on a welfare state which is unsustainable and can lead to eventual collapse of society which is what happened in soviet union, china, venezuela, greece and it's starting to happen to spain, france and italy.
the crusades didn't start as a religious war. climate change forced the nomadic herders of the east to the much warmer territories of the west occupied by settled farmers. the herders were unwilling to adopt to the settled life of farmers simply because it's not in their genes or personality so conflicts ensued on whether a land should be used for farming or herding. it started with christian and muslim farmers battling against christian and muslim herders. it was simply a battle for way of life. there was no right or wrong. it later ballooned into a holy war known as the crusades.
if leftists really want to help people by giving land to the farmers, they can denounce socialism and rename their organization to something like "neo capitalist alliance". sounds ridiculous? actually it makes sense because the natives owned the land and the spaniards stole it from them. the main principle of capitalism is property rights or ownership and the strongest rule of ownership is "first use".
however under capitalist principles, i should not give my city townhouse to a native because another rule of ownership is investment cost, and the the value of my property has skyrocketed because of the capital investments and expertise of the engineers that built the ports, roads, and infrastructure that made the property values in the city astronomically high compared to the remote farm lands. i should only pay the natives the same price per square meter as that of remote farm lands and i'm already doing that in the form of annual taxes which the government uses to provide basic services like free hospitals to the natives. also, another rule of ownership is succession, and i'm 90% native blood.
don't get me wrong i love leftists i just don't want them to be my leaders. leftists have a kind heart while capitalists are greedy but both have important roles in society. capitalists invent our iphone, leftists teach our children. capitalists enforce law and order and protect us from internal and external aggression while leftists entertain us with their beautiful music and movies. leftists are like the mothers of society while capitalists are like the fathers.
C. promoting painful logic
finally, i humbly think the root of the problem is society's lack of logical or reasoning skills. i think it's possible for america or the philippines to one day become like sweden or south korea after only a few generations if reasoning skills are emphasized in schools with the same magnitude as math and language.
for more of my activism tips and unorthodox perspectives, search "ian's knowledge bombs
on the web and click "politics-for-dummies" in the table of contents.
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1/5/21 fb post:
i thought i'm dreaming because globe keeps contacting me saying they want to upgrade me to fiber, which is much faster and has the same price. turns out president duterte read my essay about internet speed and a month later granted emergency authorization to a 3rd player, which left the virtual criminal monopoly of pldt-smart and globe scrambling and panicking. i'm not really a duterte supporter what i want is balance of power and checks and balances. my essay was intended for the the opposition to take on the internet speed banner because it's an issue dear to the hears of people. i believe the opposition are good people, but they are mostly academics who naturally tend to be disconnected from the real world and would only give credence to voices with good grammar and follows capitalization rules. if you want to read my juicy essay, search "ian's knowledge bombs" on the web and click "unorthodox-perspectives-on-arrest-of-up-protesters" in the table of contents.
XIV. fb posts
1/19/21 fb post
this letter form the department of defense has good reasoning, but the reasoning is not supported by easily verifiable data. the UP admin should demand that the military disclose and publish the names of all UP students killed in their NPA encounters and the UP administration should confirm/deny and publish the department's findings for the public to judge for themselves. we should all stop being ideologues or cocks in the cockfight and realize we all share common goals and many of our misunderstandings are really not that difficult to resolve if we just let go of our pride, feelings of superiority and other emotional baggage. the UP administration will get a lot of credibility if once in a while they will strongly denounce the NPA, because it's stupid to fight for freedom of speech if it looks like you are fighting side by side with people who will point a gun in our heads and take away our right to own property once they are in charge. having said that, i still believe socialism is a legit perspective and a socialist party should be allowed to exist, but once your party uses an armed militia, then that party and it's supporters loses it's right to exist. if you want to know more about socialism, search "ian's knowledge bombs" on the web and click "socialism-demystified" in the table of contents.
(for more of my knowledge bombs, click the "ian's knowledge bombs" banner at the top of this article and choose any article in the table of contents that piques your interest)
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