The Kingmaker wrote:It appears I'll be a bit contrarian here in this case.
I'm mid-far left by UK standards. (Hard left as my dashing Bi friend calls it, although he's a bit further left than me I think) As such, I wholly believe in a nationalised healthcare system and equality of this that and the other.
We don't have the death penalty here.
And thus when I hear Duterte is "killing thousands of criminals", I don't see that as an en masse extension of the most extreme facet of judicial punishment to the guilty, I see it as an unnecessarily violent, bordering on criminal, action. I don't see the killing of criminals as necessary in any way. I don't know about the state of the Philippine prison system, but even if your prisons are fit to bursting, idealistically, you want to rehabilitate criminals. That is the point of prisons in all but reality. And even though prisons aren't the best at that purpose, its better than outright killing a criminal.
Again, I don't know much context here, but I severely doubt all those thousands of people have had an unbiased and lawful trial ending in the judge having no options for rehabilitation of the defendant and thus sentencing them to death as an unfortunate necessity. It seems like a purge.
And because I don't see the killing of those people as a good or necessary thing I don't see Duterte in the best light. My gut also tells me lots of what you two are hearing is through a rather baised media.
"After his inaugural speech Duterte again urged citizens to go ahead and kill drug addicts because "getting their parents to do it would be too painful", and said that he didn't care about human rights or due process." Imma just leave this here. Addicts are victims, not aggressors, failed by systems and institutions and falling upon drugs and petty crime as a result. They should be rehabilitated, not fucking put down like fucking animals. And when someone in power doesnt care about human rights or due process, what's the point in anything anymore.
That's exactly what the country needs, though. Who cares if laws get trampled on? They're in the way. So we ignore them.
The point here is progress as a nation--we don't want to see what we can do to get out of the Philippine shithole: we want to see how fast we can get out of it, regardless of the cost. The Philippines has been in a poor state for a long time, and people want change as fast as possible. If that means just flat-out killing thousands, then kill thousands. Yes, there will be innocents among them. Kill them anyway. Yes, drug addicts and users are often a byproduct of a failed nation. Kill them anyway. The point here isn't to uphold human rights, it's to ignore them entirely, for the simple reason that they're in the way of progress.
My main problem with Duterte is that he doesn't outright kill politicians involved with drugs, just puts them out of their positions. Like, what the fuck, man? I understand that these are people with power and control, and therefore people who can fight you, but he said himself that there should be no distinction between drug users of any kind. I don't care if it's a politician or a policeman or a homeless guy. If you protect drugs then you protect drugs, and people who protect drugs get shot and killed. No trial, no arrest, just a death-squad. That's how it was for the thousands already killed, that's how it should be for everyone else.
