The Philippines: Forget everything you thought you knew about human rights

The Something Awful Forums > Discussion > Debate & Discussion > The Philippines: Forget everything you thought you knew about human rights

WeedlordGoku69: Feb 12, 2015; by Cyrano4747

How long until Duterte makes an alliance with the DPRK?

# ¿ Sep 10, 2016 22:10

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# ¿ Apr 27, 2024 18:00

WeedlordGoku69: Feb 12, 2015; by Cyrano4747

gradenko_2000 posted:

On the night of the Plaza Miranda bombing, Aug 21, 1972, my father, a medical student and an activist, already decided that he would not go home that night. The declaration of Martial Law would come almost a month later, but he and his friends already figured that something like that was going to happen anyway, and did not wait around for it.

He left Manila and stayed with various friends and relatives for weeks until he was sure that the police, who did go my grandparents' house, had stopped looking for him. He only came back to grab his personal effects and say his goodbyes, and then left for the States, where he'd spend the next couple of years studying optometry in DC and Maryland.

One of his schoolmates from medical school stayed behind. He would go to the province of Isabela to work at a rural clinic there. Occasionally, they would have patients who were Communist rebel soldiers, but they treated them anyway. Government soldiers eventually got wind of this, and one night my father's friend was murdered in cold blood. The family never found out who was directly responsible.

My father, and his fallen schoolmate's younger brother, to this day still share a clinic in Manila together. It's a very small private practice, and never as glamorous nor as well-paying as working in a large hospital, but that's what they chose to do. Every year they still go back out to the province to do a stint serving the rural population.

I knew bits and pieces of this for a long time, but my father relayed the whole story to me when we talked on the eve of the elections, May 8, 2016.

I'd read the polls, and I knew that Duterte was going to win, and I wanted someone to tell me that I was just being panicky, just being melodramatic, that I was being absurd for worrying as much as I did about the country electing the second-coming of a dictator. He didn't. He told me that it was playing out just like it did so many years ago, when people believed that Martial Law was necessary for the security of the country. It wasn't an instant dip in Marcos's approval ratings, it wasn't perceived as a tipping point in the erosion of civil rights. It was just something that had to happen, and people welcomed it.

I asked him, "What do we do now?"

"There are no easy answers, son"

What you do is gather as many like-minded Filipino expats as you can and start pushing for the US to put sanctions on the Philippines until Duterte fucks off (especially if you live in DC, like you implied). If he wants to act like Kim Jong-Un, he can drat well be treated that way.

# ¿ Sep 28, 2016 21:18

WeedlordGoku69: Feb 12, 2015; by Cyrano4747

Fojar38 posted:

Pretty strategically important as they form part of the island chain that forms a colossal military barrier for the Chinese, but even if they weren't, they're a US treaty ally. The US would never break it because that's a really bad message to all its other treaty allies.

What, "we'll support you as long as you don't elect a completely bugfuck insane dictator who flips us off at every opportunity and tries to curry favor with the literal exact country they're supposed to be helping us defend against?" How is that a bad message?

# ¿ Sep 29, 2016 00:15

WeedlordGoku69: Feb 12, 2015; by Cyrano4747

Hahaha he is literally asking us to oust his rear end

# ¿ Oct 7, 2016 16:23

WeedlordGoku69: Feb 12, 2015; by Cyrano4747

TROIKA CURES GREEK posted:

Someone actually trusting chinese statistics that's utterly precious.

so, uh, what stats should we trust

ones pulled directly from your rear end in a top hat?

# ¿ Oct 13, 2016 00:11

WeedlordGoku69: Feb 12, 2015; by Cyrano4747

Deceitful Penguin posted:

Trust nothing and believe no-one

and welcome to the world of Chinese Studies~

so... basically we should either go see for ourselves or take wild shots in the dark :v:

# ¿ Oct 13, 2016 01:14

WeedlordGoku69: Feb 12, 2015; by Cyrano4747

TROIKA CURES GREEK posted:

Not chinese ones, young goon. Are you really that ignorant about how made-up they are?

no, but thanks for not answering my question. :v:

Fojar38 posted:

There are no trustable stats when it comes to China.

fair enough!

# ¿ Oct 17, 2016 03:31

WeedlordGoku69: Feb 12, 2015; by Cyrano4747

TheDeadlyShoe posted:

For some reason people are especially bloody-minded when it comes to injuries inflicted by cars, a lot more likely to sympathize/fantasize about such violence and unlikely to give a poo poo about the victims. I've noticed this in several countries. I'm really not sure what to attribute it to.

Same reason the DPRK uses anti-aircraft guns to execute people. No kill like overkill.

# ¿ Oct 19, 2016 18:10

WeedlordGoku69: Feb 12, 2015; by Cyrano4747

Invisible Handjob posted:

Every Filipino I know in the US loves this guy, none of them are very bright though.

I work with a Filipina woman who hates Duterte with a burning passion and is literally hoping he gets shot in the face. She's also pretty terrified of Trump due to the obvious parallels.

# ¿ Dec 31, 2016 20:55

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# ¿ Apr 27, 2024 18:00

WeedlordGoku69: Feb 12, 2015; by Cyrano4747

Argue posted:

Oh yes, they're taking it very seriously--that's why they seriously punished all the cops involved in a recent scheme to rob and extort Koreans:

That's right, these vile miscreants were punished with a stern lecture AND push-ups!

Said "stern lecture" included a blunt warning that doing this again would get them executed, unless I misunderstood the "firing squad" bit.

# ¿ Feb 13, 2017 19:04

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