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Reasonable Protestation

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The Question of Reasonable Protestation: Discourse on the Freedom of Expression and the Right to one’s religion
I am writing to express my thoughts and views concerning the on-going massive tensions and large-scale violence at the whole Arab world.
What trigger the fiasco and violent protestations of the Muslims all over the world is a low-budgeted, flimsy, out-of-context, far-out, and distorted film entitled “Innocence of the Muslim” which they claimed lampooned, bastardized and disrespected the prophet Muhammad. Further, they are also attacking the said film, which they view as an attack to their religion.
The Muslim world, in the process of their condemnation and renunciation of the said rubbish film, also included the West in their vehement barrage and vicious attacks.
As a humanist and an independent observer, I extremely respect and always encourage the right of all people to air their grievance, whatever it is, whatever the issues are, to protest, as much as they like, to demonstrate collectively, even individually, to vent their anger and disgust, in short, to express their views and to dissent.
However, having said that, the demonstrators and protesters must be aware of the reasonableness of their means, conscious of the logic of their purpose and always govern by the justness of their cause.
If indeed the said rubbish film, which ironically is the root cause of all these anger, rages, rant and frustration of the Muslims --- is truly a misrepresentation of what Islam is, that it wrongly portrayed the prophet and that it shows an untrue version or picture of the faith; then, by all means criticize the film, condemn the film maker and question the veracity and purpose of the same; yet do not resort into violence, madness, paranoia, fanaticism, barbarity, savagery and hooliganism.
I have always been critical of the West, all my conscious life, specifically of America. The reason behind my hate, mistrust and disgust with them is by virtue of their world-wide arrogance, their imperialism (whether economic or military) and their unjust act of hegemonizing the entire globe to bow-down to their financial control, economic dictates and cultural brain-washing.
Yet, despite the seeming evilness and arrogance of the Pax Americana Empire, I also like some of their beliefs and values. There is no debate on this, yes, they are bad, but there are also some good beliefs and worthwhile values in them.
That is the other side of America.
The specific beliefs and values that I love and cherish about them despite my rant, contempt and hate against them are the following:
a. Their extreme respect for the right of the individual. This is their philosophy of Individuality;
b. The Freedom to Believe; and,
c. The Freedom of Expression.
These beliefs and values are all utterly related and intimately interconnected.
There is no iota of doubt that the utter respect for individuality is the hallmark of most Western society.
Corollary to this are the twin indispensable rights stated above guaranteeing the citizen’s right to think and to believe, whatever and everything they want; and to say, express and utter everything that they wishes to express and convey --- that is regardless and irrespective of whether it is in private, public and to the whole world, in whatever means, in whatever form.
Hence, in a case under consideration, the government cannot pass a law that will infringe and invade on the right of the people to practice and exercise these rights. Such law would definitely be unconstitutional, unjust and illegal!
1. The government does not have right to tell to the press what to write or to report;
2. The government does not have the right to tell to the artist what to write, what to paint, what to carve, what to perform, what to dramatize, in short, what to do in their respective crafts;
3. The government does not have the right to tell to the teachers and professors what to teach and what to discuss;
4. The government does not have the right to tell to people how would they going to live and lead their lives; and,
5. The government does not have right to tell to the people how would they going to practice these rights.
The citizens are all free to exercise and practice all of these rights, so long as their actions are confined within the parameters of the Constitution and the law.
The Question of the Controversial Film
As I already noted, if the Arab and Muslim world believe that said film is rubbish and indeed, a garbage product, then criticize it by all fury and by all might; yet to engage in violence, hate-mobs, mass anarchy and terrorism is equally wrong, undeniably stupid, palpably idiotic, unmistakably preposterous and can never ever be justified in whatever grounds!
Fighting fire with fire is not only unreasonable but definitely inhumane and unethical.
Instead of bringing the points and highlighting the issues to the fore, due to the violence and mayhem and pandemonium being committed by those who claimed were hurt by this stupid and rubbish film, it rather obscure and evade the truth. This is a shame! This is truly disgusting and undeniably deplorable!
I understand why they are angry with the said rubbish film and its maker, but what I cannot understand is: why attacked various foreign missions, embassies and consulates?
What did they have to do with the said rubbish film?
On this juncture, I would like to underscore and strongly emphasize the firm fact that I have never liked the so-called Secretary of the United States of America, Hilary Clinton, yet nonetheless, let me state for purposes of the records that I overwhelmingly concur with her in one particular speech. Said speech of her on religion is so powerful and I cannot help but agree substantially, to all of the points raise and theses that she advance.
Here’s what she said during the an Eid ul-Fitr reception:
“When Christians are subject to insults to their faith, and that certainly happens, we expect them not to resort to violence. When Hindus or Buddhists are subjected to insults to their faiths, and that also certainly happens, we expect them not to resort to violence. The same goes for all faiths, including Islam.”
She further added that:
“I so strongly believe that the great religions of the world are stronger than any insults. They have withstood offense for centuries. Refraining from violence, then, is not a sign of weakness in one’s faith; it is absolutely the opposite, a sign that one’s faith is unshakable.”
Lastly, I commend her when “she asked the crowd to work towards building a world where if one person commits a violent religious act, millions of people will stand up and condemn it.”
Finally, I love her moving pledge, especially when she said forcefully that:
“We can pledge that whenever one person speaks out in ignorance and bigotry, ten voices will answer. They will answer resoundingly against the offense and the insult; answering ignorance with enlightenment; answering hatred with understanding; answering darkness with light.
“In times like these, it can be easy to despair that some differences are irreconcilable, some mountains too steep to climb; we will therefore never reach the level of understanding and peacefulness that we seek, and which I believe the great religions of the world call us to pursue, but that’s not what I believe, and I don’t think it’s what you believe… Part of what makes our country so special is we keep trying. We keep working. We keep investing in our future.”
In my conclusion, I call upon all our Muslim brothers and sisters to refrain from violence, and for America to renounce their imperialism!

Jose Mario Dolor De Vega
Passport No.: XX4070556
Mobile No.: 0129368909
No. 19 USJ 11/3 A 47620
Subang Jaya, Darul Ehsan,
Selangor, Malaysia

The Rehumanization of Our Humanity

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The Rehumanization of our Humanity
I unreservedly concur with Chong Yew Keat of Malacca when he stated categorically that:
AFTER thousands of years of human formation and development, the time has come for a complete rethinking of what our roles truly are in this world -- whether to contribute to a prosperous, peaceful and harmonious world or to hijack and abuse our existence to do evil deeds, and let out conscience and rationality be deluded by the lure of greed and power that will contribute to our destruction (“Fill the world with love, compassion, and empathy”, NST, January 2nd).
The way of life then was free and beautiful, yet what is happening now in the world?
A titanic curse is haunting the whole globe; it is the chronic and malignant cancer of an economic system that duped and brain-washed the people that the most important thing in this life is wealth, economic status, financial capability, gold, investment, position, power and money.
Due to this rapid transformation of the world’s economic resources, we somehow lost our reason and unconsciously replaced it by uncontrollable appetites; we’ve forgotten our passions and replaced it by desires; we junked our creative powers and replaced it by material gain; worst, we shattered our humanity into pieces and replaced it by mere commerce and reduced everything to the sphere of economic activity. We betrayed our very selves to the system which ironically we ourselves had created into being! Indeed, it is the greatest irony of all time! The slave now is our master, because we have forgotten our very nature and being!
Sad but true!
We all want to help one another and share each other’s happiness; human beings are like that; yet as economic progression has further developed and as we maximized to the maximum all the resources of mother earth; it seems to me that we have lost our way. Greed has invariably poisoned men’s minds and corrupted their souls. The present global financial system has barricaded the world with individualism, hate, racism, nihilism, selfishness and false consciousness. The prevailing system has reduced man into a machine that is a mere appendage to the whole economic operational chains. This presently ‘developed’ world has led and goosed us to misery, degradation and widespread bloodshed.
We have developed speed, but we deny the very existence of our fellows; and shut ourselves inside our very selves. Machinery that gives unimaginable abundance and immeasurable wealth has left has in want, hunger and deprivation!
In the grim analysis of Gil Lahav of Harvard College:
“The inexorably increasing celerity with which things happen and the increasing importance of technologies and intelligent machines seem to jeopardize some of what we find valuable as humans. While all of these technological advances in speed and convenience are ultimately designed to help humans, they also threaten to desensitize us. If sensitivity is a property of humans that confers value on us, and if sensitivity is stifled by an ever-hastening technological environment, then the haste that technology imposes upon human life may diminish some of what is valuable about humans”.
Our knowledge has made us cynical and apathetic; our cleverness turns us into hard and unkind beings!
We think too much, yet we feel so little! It seems that we have already erased from our memory what Ludwid van Bethoven had taught us: Recommend to your children virtue; that alone can make them happy, not gold.
We are not aware, but the system has transformed us into a machine. The system has assumed an invincible power over our own selves, clouded our better judgment and has shattered our independence. We are all victims of this system that tell us what to think, what to feel, what to do, what to prioritize and what to value. Man is forgetting that he is not a machine or an object nor a commodity. He is man, natural, living, independent and free!
However, all is not lost! There is always hope and regeneration! As Charlie Chaplin lucidly expressed in a speech in one of his classical movies:
“More the machinery, we need humanity. More than cleverness, we need kindness and gentleness. Without this qualities; life would be violent and all would be lost”.
We have the capacity and the power to overthrow this evil system and transform it to a more genuinely humanistic and pro-human being economic system.
Ultimately, as Lahav firmly maintained, it is we who will have to decide the extent to which technological advances change our values. Then, he gave us a strong warning: “If we do not actively control the meaning and uses of our inventions, they may eventually reinvent us”.
As Martin Luther King, Jr. said:
“We must rapidly begin the shift from a “thing-oriented” society to a “person-oriented” society”.
If I may be allowed to add to that:
We must now transform this world of greed to that of the world of love; a world that respect the inherent humanity of man, that world that gives him the freedom to freely develop himself and all his natural faculties, a world that accept him for what he is and not what he has, a world that recognizes the brotherhood of man and the unity of the souls, a just world, a beautiful world!
Man must return to himself! Man must return to his nature! He must struggle passionately to be free once again, to regenerate his original consciousness and always strived to be independent, as he has always been!
To paraphrase Rosa Luxemburg:
What we need is a universal system that would enables us to love everybody with a clear conscience.
In the poignant and utterly beautiful words of Rueben Dudley:
“We need to set aside whatever differences, real or perceived; eschew pride, envy and greed; uphold truth, integrity and justice; and, above all, put into practice those greatest of life's values -- "love your neighbour as yourself" and the golden rule, "Do unto others as you would have them do unto you"”.
It's really, "now or never"! (“World Concerns: It’s now or never for us to wake to the truth”, NST, January 10th).
In conclusion, I am leaving these magnificent words of exhortation of Mr. Keat:
“The world and humanity have suffered enough from our folly and ignorance.
For a better path ahead, we, as humans, must come together as one as fellow humans.
This is the time to bask in the strength of humanity, to join hands and work towards our shared destiny and a brighter future.
We must be wise, mature and rational enough to look beyond the divisions that exist among us, and not to let them be hijacked by certain groups that are out to exploit us and sow hatred, misunderstanding and discord.
The positive forces in human nature -- empathy and the spirit of humanity -- will always prevail”.

Jose Mario Dolor De Vega

Subang Jaya, Darul Ehsan,
Selangor, Malaysia

Freedom of Expression and Political Dissent in Russia through Music and Art

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In Defense of Artistic Freedom and the Freedom of Expression: Political Dissent in Russia through art and music
This letter is in support of the rock/punk group Pussy Riot which has been in jail since March.
This writer is in complete solidarity to the said punk group who as of the moment are languishing in jail by virtue of their political dissent and ideological objection to the policies and regime of Mr. Putin.
The said anti-Putin protest which is composed of the various section of the Russian population that ranges from the intellectuals, to the member of the political opposition, students, workers, artistes, and ordinary people, has fomented so much unrest, and which was originally considered blasphemous by many, but it did not involve violence, neither vandalism, or lewd actions, but the women who are member of the said protest, now in jail are still facing serious charges that many now feel are too severe and stiff.
It is the contention of this author that those artistes are being detained not because they violated a grave law, but because they are member of the opposition group that is against the present form of government in Russia.
They are prisoner of conscience! They are artistic and political detainees. They should be release immediately!
As reported by the AFP:
“Pussy Riot is the name of the punk trio currently detained pending trial for protest against President Putin last February.
“Nadezhda Tolokonnikova, Yekaterina Samutsevich and Maria Alekhina face up to seven years if jailed, after having barged into a Moscow church to sing a “punk prayer” calling for the overthrow of Putin.”
Though, I do not condone the act or the means used by the said group and that is disturbing a religious ceremony, it is my firm view, that the time that they have spent in detention is more than enough for them to be release.
Yet, as the media reported, “the three have already been held in detention since March and on Friday a Moscow court ordered them for another six months, until January 12.”
It is my uncompromising stand that the said court is a rubber stamp and not worthy to be called a court.
The antecedent of the whole case stems from the fact that five masked girls from the said Pussy Riot band allegedly performed an anti-Putin song at Moscow’s Christ the Savior Cathedral on February 21.
They performed an anti-Putin chant clad in bright balaclavas and skirts before security took them off of the premises.
The following month, three band members were arrested.
Maria Alehina, Ekaterina Samutsevich and Nadezhda Tolokonnikova have spent the last four months in jail. The Khamovnichesky Court in Moscow has ruled that the three will remain in detention for another six months.
I am terribly confused of what the true crime or charge or indictment or complaint was being face by these rockers. Is it the disturbance that they had committed in the church or is it because of their political stand which is inconvenient and not in conformity with Putin?
For purposes of clarity, let me state that if the charge is the disturbance and the annoyance that they carried out in the church; then the time that they spent in jail is enough for them to be release. Now, if the true indictment is the latter, then Russia must answer to the international community by virtue of the fact that the powers that be in Moscow is violating the rights and dignity of these individuals --- whose rights and freedom are guaranteed by international law and universal convention.
On this juncture, I would like to highlight my admiration to the courageous act and noble deeds done by Anthony Kiedis (he is the lead singer of the US rock band, the Red Hot Chilli Peppers) by throwing his lot and giving his backing to the said jailed Russian punk group.
During a Moscow concert, Kiedis performed with his band at the city’s Luzniky stadium wearing a tee-shirt emblazoned with “Pussy Riot”.
Another artist that I would like to commend is Pyotr Pavlensky.
St. Petersburg’s My Neighbourhood newspaper reported that:
“In support of the jailed punk group Pussy Riot, a St. Petersburg artist has sewn his mouth shut, and paraded through the city’s Kazansky Cathedral.
“Pyotr Pavlensky, looking pale and thin and wearing a black sweater, walked into the Kazansky Cathedral carrying a placard in support of Pussy Riot, with his mouth closed by red string.
“The man’s poster read: “Pussy Riot performance was a remake of a famed Jesus Christ’s deed (mf. 21:12-13).”
Apparently, the said poster “specifically referred to an episode in the Jesus Christ Superstar 1973 film adaptation of the Andrew Lloyd Webber and Tim Rice rock opera”.
Pyotr Pavlensky’s assistant told the media that:
“With this action Pyotr Pavlensky calls on the believers to find powers to understand that Christian culture is inseparable from Christ’s deeds, and on artists to overcome their fears and at least once state their opinion frankly and openly.”
I call upon the Amnesty International, the United Nation’s Human Rights Committee, all Humanists and Artists of the world to come together and join our hands and forge a collective will and unified solidarity to the sad plight of these young and poor women whose only fault is to exercise their right to artistic expression and freedom of expression though protest/punk/rock music and political dissent!
We must all work together to free the Pussy Riot band out of jail. Their place in society is in the world of the stage, not in the coldness and darkness of detention.
To the Pussy Riot punk group; my fellow artist, keep the faith and hang in there. Lastly, please allow me to leave you a central quote from one the poems of one of the national artists of the Philippines, Amado V. Hernadez:
“You can imprison my body; but you can never imprison my mind.”

Jose Mario Dolor De Vega


Subang Jaya, Darul Ehsan,
Selangor, Malaysia

The Right to be Left Alone: In Defense of the Right to Privacy

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The Right to be left alone: In Defense of the Right to Privacy and Humanity
I refer to the provocative and lucid article of Naomi Wolf, “How the US uses sexual humiliation as a political tool to control the masses” which appeared on the Guardian overwhelmingly disparaging and heavily criticizing the outrageous ruling of the US supreme court.
As she stated:
“Believe me, you don't want the state having the power to strip your clothes off. And yet, it's exactly what is happening”.
The crux of the matter is as follows:
“In a five-four ruling this week, the supreme court decided that anyone can be strip-searched upon arrest for any offense, however minor, at any time. This horror show ruling joins two recent horror show laws: the NDAA, which lets anyone be arrested forever at any time, and HR 347, the "trespass bill", which gives you a 10-year sentence for protesting anywhere near someone with secret service protection. These criminalizations of being human follow, of course, the mini-uprising of the Occupy movement.
“Is American strip-searching benign? The man, who had brought the initial suit, Albert Florence, described having been told to "turn around. Squat and cough. Spread your cheeks." He said he felt humiliated: "It made me feel like less of a man."”
One of those jurists who voted for the majority, justice Anthony Kennedy explained “that this ruling is necessary because the 9/11 bomber could have been stopped for speeding. How would strip searching him have prevented the attack?”
Wolf’s retort is so logically instructive:
“Did justice Kennedy imagine that plans to blow up the twin towers had been concealed in a body cavity? In still more bizarre non-logic, his and the other justices' decision rests on concerns about weapons and contraband in prison systems. But people under arrest – that is, who are not yet convicted – haven't been introduced into a prison population.”
Further she firmly asserted the: “Our surveillance state shown considerable determination to intrude on citizens sexually.”
Worst, this sexual exploitation and sexual dehumanization was also used to a massive degree to the “militants, the terrorists and Al Qaeda”. Who would forget those brutal pictures of sexual brutality and extreme inhumanity in the Abu Ghraib?
In Guantanamo prison, “where young female guards stood watch over the forced nakedness of Muslim prisoners, who had no way to conceal themselves.”
And then there's the sexual abuse of prisoners at Bagram, where American GI’s exploited and oppressed those detainee as if they are human beings but like toys and mere objects! Who would forget the photos of the dogs, while those US soldiers are torturing systematically those prisoners while at the same time they are having their animalistic and bacchanalian orgy in a grand and utterly disgusting manner?
Yes, I concur to Ms. Wolf that:
“Believe me: you don't want the state having the power to strip your clothes off. History shows that the use of forced nudity by a state that is descending into fascism is powerfully effective in controlling and subduing populations.
“The political use of forced nudity by anti-democratic regimes is long established. Forcing people to undress is the first step in breaking down their sense of individuality and dignity and reinforcing their powerlessness. Enslaved women were sold naked on the blocks in the American south, and adolescent male slaves served young white ladies at table in the south, while they themselves were naked: their invisible humiliation was a trope for their emasculation. Jewish prisoners herded into concentration camps were stripped of clothing and photographed naked, as iconic images of that Holocaust reiterated.”
Then, she talked about the issue of “patted down”. This is nothing more than a “sexually perverse intrusiveness of the state during an airport "pat-down", which is always phrased in the words of a steamy paperback ("do you have any sensitive areas? … I will use the back of my hands under your breasts …").”
This is a sham judgment, indeed a frivolous ruling! Undeniably, this pronouncement of the court is the heights of absurdity and idiocy!
They have the guts and the balls to call their land the land of the free! Shame on them! They are now the empire of the slaves! The world as a whole must stand up as One to counter this attack upon Man!
The central substantive issue here is the Humanity of Man and his inherent rights as against the enormous and overwhelming powers of the state.
Ms. Wolf also offered us a grim analysis of this ruling. She said that:
“The most terrifying phrase of all in the decision is justice Kennedy's striking use of the term "detainees" for "United States citizens under arrest". Some members of Occupy who were arrested in Los Angeles also reported having been referred to by police as such. Justice Kennedy's new use of what looks like a deliberate activation of that phrase is illuminating.”
It seems to me and there is no doubt whatsoever in my mind that the conservative faction in the US supreme court not only raped the constitution but undeniably violated viciously all their magnificent jurisprudence defending the constitutional and human rights of the citizens, including the foreigners.
This stupid and detestable ruling of that bloody moronic court completely demolished and destroyed the constitutional rights of the citizens as embodied and enumerated in the Bill of Rights of the Constitution.
It is my fervent contention and firm position that the government has no rights whatsoever to invade the privacy of the individual neither to crush his physical rights over his body.
Each individual is a part and parcel of the sovereign whole. Hence, it follows that the moment the state violated and dishonor a citizen’s body, that government is also violating and tearing the whole body politic.
The duty of a true government is to respect and protect the individuality and autonomy of each citizen.
The right to privacy of the individual does not only entail his rights to be left alone; but it also includes the rights of the said person not to be harass, dishonor, to be violated physically and/or humiliated by the state’s unreasonable and unjust intrusion to his body and person.
Further, it is my considered view and so holds that this preposterously outrageous ruling by that kangaroo court, clearly reveals the sharp division not only of the ideas and the temperament of the justices involved, but incontestably their class biases, personal prejudices, politico-moral orientations and socio-economic backgrounds.
The ruling of this ridiculous court is also a reflection of American society as a whole. Inasmuch that the American proclaimed to the world that they are united, that is not the case! That is not true! That is a big and a blatant lie. There is no shadow of doubt that they are a fragmented and utterly divided empire.
I would also argue that the ruling clearly shows the legal and moral decadence of one of their so-called vital institutions. Imagine the scene, a citizen went to the court to demand that the state defend, protect and respect his rights; what happened was a complete legal fiasco! The court, not only sided with the state but also trampled, reduced, abused, diminished and legalized the bastadization and prostitution of his rights based on this so-called ‘majority’ ruling.
Ms. Wolf asked such a categorical question:
“Where are we headed? Why? These recent laws criminalizing protest, and giving local police – who, recall, are now infused with DHS money, military hardware and personnel – powers to terrify and traumatise people who have not gone through due process or trial, are being set up to work in concert with a see-all-all-the-time surveillance state. A facility is being set up in Utah by the NSA to monitor everything all the time: James Bamford wrote in Wired magazine that the new facility in Bluffdale, Utah, is being built, where the NSA will look at billions of emails, texts and phone calls. Similar legislation is being pushed forward in the UK.
“With that Big Brother eye in place, working alongside these strip-search laws, – between the all-seeing data-mining technology and the terrifying police powers to sexually abuse and humiliate you at will – no one will need a formal coup to have a cowed and compliant citizenry. If you say anything controversial online or on the phone, will you face arrest and sexual humiliation?
“Remember, you don't need to have done anything wrong to be arrested in America any longer. You can be arrested for walking your dog without a leash. The man who was forced to spread his buttocks was stopped for a driving infraction. I was told by an NYPD sergeant that "safety" issues allow the NYPD to make arrests at will. So nothing prevents thousands of Occupy protesters – if there will be any left after these laws start to bite – from being rounded up and stripped naked under intimidating conditions.”
I agree with the incisive contention of our bold correspondent that one of the reasons why these inhumane and barbaric acts are happening because it will benefit those “warlords”,” war-businessmen”, those military hawks and private military contractors (such as Blackwater USA) “who profited from endless war and surveillance – but now I see the struggle as larger.”
As one internet advocate said: "There is a race against time: they realise the internet is a tool of empowerment that will work against their interests, and they need to race to turn it into a tool of control."
Consider the following report of Chris Hedges:
"There are now 1,271 government agencies and 1,931 private companies that work on programs related to counterterrorism, homeland security and intelligence in about 10,000 locations across the United States, the Washington Post reported in a 2010 series by Dana Priest and William M Arken. There are 854,000 people with top-secret security clearances, the reporters wrote, and in Washington, DC, and the surrounding area 33 building complexes for top-secret intelligence work are under construction or have been built since September 2011."
Indeed, “this enormous new sector of the economy has a multi-billion-dollar vested interest in setting up a system to surveil, physically intimidate and prey upon the rest of American society.”
I condemn to the highest possible degree with outrageous, ridiculous and patently illegal ruling of the US supreme court. This ‘law’ is void ab initio. Void from the beginning for the very reason that it does not contain any resemblance of propriety or even the slightest color of legality due to its being oppressive, discriminatory, and capricious. Indeed, the ruling is a grave violation of human rights and the constitutional rights of the people as a whole.
However, I still believe in the other half of America, the good America, the America of the working class, the America of Thomas Jefferson, Abraham Lincoln, Dr. Martin Luther Kings, jr., Frederick Douglass, etc.
I still believe in the American Declaration of Independence that: we hold these truths to be self-evident that all men are created equal that they have unalienable rights that includes the right to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness and if the government or the state negate and/or subvert these rights; it is the moral, the constitutional, legal and human rights of the citizens and all the people as a whole to launch or wage an insurrection or revolution to right and restore those inherent rights.
Why? It is because the price of freedom is eternal vigilance.
In the immortal words of Patrick Henry:
“As for me, give me liberty or give me death”.

Subang Jaya, Malaysia
April 9, 2012

Virtue and Wisdom are the True Aim of Education

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Virtue and Wisdom are the True Aim of Education
There is a grain of truth to our present malady namely, that our educational system has failed us!
The answer must be "yes" and this modern day education system has in fact, failed the whole world.
The world has built many colleges and universities, yet we have no peace because what we consider education is but an incomplete one.
We failed to realize that education is not a scheduled event, but a continuing process; that the quest to develop ourselves and to refine our character does not cease even if we left the four corners of the university and enter the competitiveness atmosphere of the workforce. The duty to excel and to polish our capacities and capabilities must not wane nor slow down. It must proceed!
What kind of education is needed?
My humble contention is a Liberal Education. It is my ardent belief that this is the type of education that makes civil society possible and human relations reasonable.
Please allow me to quote Professor A. C Grayling’s elaboration on the point:
“By ‘liberal education’ is meant education that includes literature, history and appreciation of the arts, and gives them equal weight with scientific and practical subjects. Education in these pursuits opens the possibility for us to live more reflectively and knowledgeably, especially about the range of human experience and sentiment, as it exist now and here, and in the past and elsewhere. That, in turn, makes us better understand the interests, needs and desires of others, so that we can treat them with respect and sympathy is returned, rendering it mutual, the result is that the gaps which can prompt friction between people, and even war in the end, come to be bridged or at least tolerated”.
I concur that education must be a blend of the external and internal in order to create true humanness in a student. External education alone cannot confer human values and benefit the world.
The external factor is what our educational institution hammered us to be, while the internal substance is how our social background, our culture, our upbringing, our family raised, reared and educated us. The two elements must concur to produce a good individual! Why? If one element is missing or one requisite is lacking, there is no point of talking of any foundation at all! There is no plate in the template, it is a house of cards, because there is no foundation whatsoever to speak of!
It is my contention that, even if a person is a graduate of Harvard, yet he or she did not received a humanistic upbringing or the family is a dysfunctional one; then sad but true, it is idiotic on our part to expect the said individual to be a good soul.
We don’t come to school to be good, rather we are there to harmonize and to cultivate the goodness that is already there within us prior even to our very first day in the school. Prior to the school, our first ever school or training ground is our homes!
If we did not learnt/learned anything good in our ‘first school’, it is my firm position that the ‘second school’, the ‘third school’, etc. would all be useless.
The duty to make a student or a pupil good is not an exclusive role of the teacher; because in truth and in fact, that crucial and critical role is also incumbent and specially lodged to our ‘first teachers’ and they are no other than our mothers, fathers, our parents.
Hence, if our ‘first teachers’ are good for nothing or lazy or ignorant or apathetic; even the brightest and the most passionate teacher will have a hard time moulding a student which has no foundation of learning at all. The teacher may win and save some lost souls, but it would be definitely an uphill battle, a constant struggle.
The Greek philosopher Aristotle categorically stated in his book The Nicomachean Ethics that “ethics begins at the feet of your mother”. We learn ethics right from the beginning, from our family.
He gave us a strong warning that it was useless to teach ethics and morality to individuals who did not have a good upbringing.
No artificial means, like subjecting them to read voluminous moral tracts and discussing different ethical theories and lecturing to them on all the good values, would make them good persons.
They may appreciate it intellectually, but without a strong moral foundation inherited and imbibed at home; those books, lectures and moral/ethical notes would be worthless. It will be an exercise in futility.
Without a good upbringing, no school, no government, no NGO, no institution can save them and teach them how to become good individuals, and they will never live a good life.
These are the hard facts. Sad but true!
Therefore, it is an absolute element that in order for a person to become good, a moral, ethical and noble family life must always be present – at the beginning!
Hence, to squarely answer the question: What is the end of true education?
The true aim of education is virtue and wisdom!

Jose Mario Dolor De Vega

Subang Jaya, Darul Ehsan,
Selangor, Malaysia

The True Meaning and Real Value of Critical Thinking

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The True Meaning and Real Value of Critical Thinking
This work is a humble reply to some quarters of our society to the unjust and irrational claim that to be a critical thinker and subsequently to be a vigilant crusader means to oppose and defy the government. This is utterly a preposterous and supra ridiculous proposition, that does not deserve even a scant consideration! However, let me state for purposes of the record that: the charges are bereft of merit and indeed precisely unjust because the aim itself of critical thinking is to seek justice and equity in all areas of our lives! Consequently, there is no shadow of doubt that the baseless accusation is irrational, by virtue of the fact that the ultimate objective of a vigilant crusader is no other than the noble practice of responsible citizenship and universalism! The practice of Critical Thinking does not necessarily meant defying the government without any reasonable and valid justification, but primarily to change how the people as a whole thinks in a given body politic. It is not simply overthrowing the existing unjust form of government, but its primordial goal is to change society in a rational, radical transformative manner. Critical Thinking aims to change the world! How? By changing ourselves, our fellow men, our community, our society and eventually, the world in its totality! Gandhi expressed this so lucidly: “We must be the change we are looking for in the world…”
People as a whole would defy their governments not simply for the naïve reason of defiance just for the sake of defying without any justified grounds! To do so would indubitably qualify as the heights of absurdity and would undeniably suffices as the lowest form of idiocy! Let us analyze the reason behind the anger and the rant of the citizens! Why if ever they would defy the establishment? The Malayan people, then, led by its Founding Fathers defied the British Empire! Does that means they are uncritical and lacking reason in opposing the colonial masters of the past? I certainly believed without the slightest iota of doubt that the truth is the reverse! They fought the Britons not simply because they want to, but precisely because they were moved by reason and passion to see a free country, a liberated Malaya, ruled and governed by its proud people! Today, because of the sacrifices and hardships offered by this country’s heroes, their devotion and unwavering faith gave birth to a new nation: The Government of Malaysia! The Founding Fathers of this country are indeed heroes, yet they are not merely critical men of history but also great leaders of the new nation by virtue of their deeds and action!
Critical Thinking is not exclusive not it is limited to the philosophy subjects of Logic, Ethics and Epistemology, but rather it encompasses all the relevant rivers and branches of knowledge! Hence, let us not reduce this Elemental Truth but instead further expand and maximize it for purposes of continuous human use, mental progression and social development for all Mankind!
For my last point, I admit that exercising self-knowledge and developing critical thinking through constant reflection is not only a noble task, but also a ‘dangerous’ occupation! Why, history has shown us repeatedly that, it is always those critical men and women through-out the ages who uses their thinking for the benefit of mankind, who stood and fought for the general interest of Humanity to change the world!
Who are they? They are the “crazy ones, the misfits, the rebels, trouble-makers, the round pegs in a square wholes, the ones who see things differently. They are not fond of rules and they have no respect for the status quo. You can quote them, disagree with them, glorify or vilify them, but the only thing you can’t do is ignore them, because they changed things. They pushed the human race forward. And while some may see them as the crazy ones --- we see genius, because the people who are crazy enough to think that they can change --- are the ones who do”. (Quoted from YouTube, Think Different)

Jose Mario Dolor De Vega

Subang Jaya, Malaysia

Alienation and Estrangement: In Defense of Humanism

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Alienation and Estrangement: In Defense of Humanism
In 1844, a young German philosopher wrote a book entitled “The Philosophic and Economic Manuscripts”. The said writer is no other than Karl Marx. In that work, Marx begun to examine, analyze and scrutinize the concept of alienation (entausserung). The other term that he used is estrangement (entfremdung).
Marx’s central thesis is that:
The externalization of the worker in his product means not only that his labor becomes an object, an external existence, but that it exists outside him, independently of him and alien to him, and begins to confront him as an autonomous power; that the life which he has bestowed on the object confronts him as hostile and alien.
What does he means? Though, there is no doubt that it is the workers who produced the products, ironically the products does not belong to the worker who produced the said products but to his employers. Further, the product or commodity which was produced due to the labor of the worker has assumed a life of its own which works against the worker. There are other forms of alienation and/or estrangement that Marx discussed and analyzed (especially during his old, mature age), however, for our present exposition: the two kinds of alienation would suffice! Taken as a whole, these two forms of economic exploitation constituted the alienation of the worker.
In 1999, the whole world witnesses the Battle of Seattle, the site of the APEC meeting. It is the battle between the forces of globalization and international finance capital as against the people’s movement, NGO’s, activists and peace groups, rights groups, environmental activists, socialist, communists, minority groups, women’s group, etc. The former maintained the necessity of capitalism, while the latter claimed that capitalism as a system simply means the exploitation of man by man, the superiority of corporations as against governments, the destruction of the environment, the continuous inequality of the classes and the sexes, the degradation of the minority groups, etc.
The former admits the excessiveness of the capitalist system, yet hold on to the beliefs that there is no alternative but to harmonize its ironies and soften its periodic brows. The former, on the other hand, sternly believe that capitalism as an economic system is beyond salvation and could not be repair nor could it be control. They are proposing that the world must find an economic system wherein the aim of production is the benefit of man and not the interest of the market.
In 2008, the world was plunged into a financial crisis which is even worst, than the Great Depression of the 1930’s. The grim effect of that event is still with us and continuous to reverberate as of the moment.
The effects are: Iceland melts, Greece lost its grandeur, the US invented a new buzz term known today as “bail-out”, and UK after twenty years of “relative peace” suffered again its periodical and historical riots.
As of the moment, the latest event in America is that: “Protesters speaking out against corporate greed and other grievances were maintaining a presence in Manhattan's Financial District even after more than 700 of them were arrested during a march on the Brooklyn Bridge in a tense confrontation with police”. They are televising the revolution, inspired by the Arab Spring movement and remembering their glorious revolutionary past, the American people, especially those who belong to the lowest class have taken the bold initiative to tell to their government, to their society as a whole and to the world in general that ‘normal economic things’ cannot go on anymore. Enough is enough. Power which originally possessed by the people must return to the people! The government must respect that and its first duty as of the prevailing circumstances is to curb the unlimited power of the corporations and other financial institutions which are exploiting and degrading the rights and humanity of man.
What these people are fighting for?
Let us listen to their chant:
WE the People --- not the corporation
Benefit to the People --- not the corporation
Power to the People --- not the corporation
Government Of the People --- not the corporation
Authority to the People --- not the corporation
Government By the People --- not the corporation
Instituted by the People --- not the corporation
Government For the People --- not the corporation
Allegiance to the People --- not the corporation
Consent of the People --- not the corporation
Servants of the People --- not the corporation
People die defending --- not the corporation
People Pledge Allegiance --- not the corporation
People are Human --- not the corporation
People have Soul --- not the corporation
Allegiance to the People --- not the corporation
People have a Conscience --- not the corporation!!!
As Andrew Collier noted in his brilliant discourse:
…the experience of alienation as defined by Marx --- of one’s time being stolen from one, of one’s product turning against one, of work being only an undesirable means to an external end --- seems widespread. Perhaps, while material conditions have improved, alienation has taken over even areas of life that escaped it in Marx’s day. The defining cases of unalienated work (artistic production, cooking a meal for one’s family or friends) --- work in which one has no boss, possesses the means of labor, and works for the sake of the finished product and the pleasure it will give others, not the money it will bring in --- have increasingly been edged out of that position. Art becomes the design market, cooking is replaced by working extra alienated time to pay for ready meals. Education is increasingly dominated by assessment, and reduced to uncreative cramming. Even in a university, to suggest that learning may have a value in itself is to invite derision… Even marriage has come to be seen as a contract. In this ideological climate where the spirit of commerce pervades every sphere of life, the indignation of the young Marx against the prostitution of humanity is appropriate as ever.
As Marx have famously said: Philosophers have only interpreted the world in various ways that is not the point; the point however is to change it!
His objective: in order for man to return to his true essence, his genuine human nature; i.e. to appreciate his human dignity, develop his full potentials and complete his humanity!

Jose Mario Dolor De Vega

No. 19 USJ 11/3 A 47620
Subang Jaya, Darul Ehsan,

The Destruction of Creativity

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The Destruction of Creativity


I read with extreme sadness and a certain tinge of gloom inside my heart the heart-piercing letter of Liong Kam Chong (“Motivating teachers”, The Star, July 21st) with regard to the sorry plight of our teachers and the general state of our educational system! One of the issues that he raised was on the question of “performance” in conjunction to “rewards”. Our correspondent categorically stated that:

“It is a common knowledge that the core business for most schools today is to make students score and pass examinations”.

The “emphasis in on drilling and more drilling, coaching and more coaching, and even cajoling students to do “well” in examinations.” I couldn’t agree more to his brutal contention, especially when he highlighted the dangerous tendency of these misplaced procedure: “Never mind about if they have truly learned anything in the process”.

I certainly concurred to his position that this process is not education itself neither does it cultivate the minds of our students. This is spoon-feeding; the worst type of brain-washing that would give rise to mental retardation and academic regression. Such process of relying solely to the perfection of the examination will undeniably would kill all forms of creativity, dynamism, distinctiveness and intellectual/mental diversity. The product of this puerile system would be grim and ugly!

Why?

Instead of molding independent thinkers and passionate scholars; true and faithful to their craft; we on the other hand are producing “robots”, bonsais”, and rare species of birds who cannot use their wings and afraid to fly, because we destroyed, shattered and broken institutionally their wings!

The primordial duty of the teacher is not merely to teach their students to pass the examination with flying colors, but more importantly to inculcate the virtue of good moral character, perseverance, ethical leadership and intellectual values; which are utterly necessary for the further development of their personality and soul.

As Socrates himself selflessly taught, our duty and obligation as teachers and educators is not to teach our lads what to think, but how to think and to think independently beyond our teaching! They must transcend the borders of their minds, create their own queries and have the courage and audacity to answer their own questions! Yet, sad but true, that is not it seems to be the way of teaching in today’s world. More and more, education is becoming a commodity, a thing that is for sale in the market. From an inherent right of every human being, it is now becoming a mere privilege! As the joke goes: No money, no honey! No tuition fees, no entry, no permit, no examination, no ID, no entry! Sad but true! It is a heart-wrenching global phenomenon that “teaching” today emphasizes more on getting the “necessary” degrees and high paying jobs at the expense of true scholarship and moral well-being.

As Chris Hedges (“Why the United States Is Destroying Its Education System”, April 11, 2011) wrote forcefully:

Passing bubble tests celebrates and rewards a peculiar form of analytical intelligence. This kind of intelligence is prized by money managers and corporations. They don’t want employees to ask uncomfortable questions or examine existing structures and assumptions. They want them to serve the system. These tests produce men and women who are just literate and numerate enough to perform basic functions and service jobs. The tests elevate those with the financial means to prepare for them. They reward those who obey the rules, memorize the formulas and pay deference to authority. Rebels, artists, independent thinkers, eccentrics and iconoclasts --- those who march to the beat of their drum --- are weeded out.

It is my humble belief and so holds that the pure aim of education is primarily seek the goodness of man’s soul and not simply to develop his financial capability. As one great philosopher have said: “Seek first the Kingdom of the Soul and all the treasures of the world will be added unto you”! Hence, I will passionately argue that ultimate objective of the educational institution whether they are public or private is to hammer our lads to be the best that they can be by developing their character through critical thinking, harnessing their soft skills and cultivating their inner moral worth. We must teach them to think logically, exhort them to always do the right thing and at all times, admonish them to act with justice and conduct themselves in a humanitarian manner.

Of course, the function of the government, of society at large and our whole body politic is to recognize the indescribable sacrifices, the undeniable role and the genuine nobility of the teaching profession. We owe our teachers our abiding respect and our students deserves more from them not simply a passing mark neither a high score.

As our writer concludes his piece: “Once teachers and also schools administrators realize that their genuine and true efforts to make a difference are being recognized, there is no holding back to their avalanche of enthusiasm, eagerness and energy to improve their schools. I strongly believe that when you take care of the teachers, the school will take care of itself”. End of the day, the school is nothing but the mere collection of its teachers and students. In conformity to a time-honored principle: It is not the institution, but rather it is the individuals comprising the said institutions that would incontestably determine their character, their substance and their ultimate value to the community and to the rest of the world.


Jose Mario Dolor De Vega

No. 19 USJ 11/3 A 47620
Subang Jaya, Darul Ehsan,
Selangor, Malaysia


What Does It Means To Be A Good Teacher?

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What does it mean to be a Good Teacher?
It is the humble contention of my brief exposition that the best educators are those teachers who teach from the heart, not from the book. It doesn’t mean that books are worthless or that they are not important. The point that I am driving at is the incontrovertible thesis that without an inspiring teacher, indeed a tireless mentor; even the most exquisite and even the greatest book would not suffice, nay it will be useless. A true teacher is the one who has the gift to instill naturally a sense of awe and wonder to his pupils. He is the one who can inculcate in a harmonious manner the virtue of diligence and the incontestable need for discipline both mental and physical; he who has the inherent moral ascendancy to guide his lads to the ladders of values without a sense of arbitrary authority; who has the necessary skills and reasonable method to pass and transmit raw knowledge to his kids; who has the unquestionable devotion to implant virtue and hammer a sense of character and moral worth towards his students.
Of course, I am conceding that not all teachers are true teachers, not all educators are genuine educators and not all mentors are real mentors! What do I mean? Let me explain!
To expound on this central and crucial point, we have no choice but to distinguish between: a teacher who merely taught for the sake of teaching; to that of a teacher, on the other hand who educate, cultivate and touch lives. The first is a mere occupation, while to the latter it is a profession! To the former it is but a mere job, but to the latter and the genuine ones it is a pure devotion, a sacrifice, a struggle, a life! To some members of the teaching profession, teaching is simply a means to earn a living; yet to the real ones, it is beyond that, in truth and in fact; it is the very ends and the very meaning behind all their lives and existence.
Hence, the determinative question pertinent for our analysis is: do we merely and simply teach just for the sake of saying that we are teaching? Or, in a larger and much higher sense, are we teaching for the primordial reason of educating our young, inculcating values and virtues to them and touching our pupil’s lives?
Our retort and reply to the said examination would unmistakably reveal what kind of teachers are we!
I will argue the same way as Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart asserted that: “Neither a lofty degree of intelligence nor imagination nor both together go to the making of genius. Love, love, love, that is the soul of a genius”. Hence, undoubtedly, if the teacher has no concern nor love, if he/she does not care nor put into the primary consideration the collective welfare and the general well-being of his/her students; then sad but true, that teacher is not a true teacher, but simply a worker in the school, or worst, a mere employee of the said educational institution.
The primordial obligation of a teacher is to inspire and guide his pupils to think unlimitedly, to wonder unceasingly, to dare to ask beyond imagination, to question without hesitation, to ask unafraid, to speak their minds, to express themselves boldly and courageously, to open up both their hearts, so as their souls --- these are the indispensable keys and important ingredients in the making and molding of a responsible citizen, a critical thinker, an independent being and a pure-bloodied humanist in the real sense of the word, utterly necessary for them to uplift their dignity, develop their character and most importantly to complete their humanity. Without the slightest iota of doubt, it takes one hell of a teacher to carry-out this noble act and humanistic endeavor. It requires indomitable passion, sheer will, good will, extreme determination and an extreme sense of self-sacrifice, because a “teacher who is attempting to teach, without inspiring the pupil with a desire to learn, is hammering on a cold iron" as succinctly pointed to us by Horace Mann.
Lastly, it is my fervent belief and so holds dearly, that the ultimate duty of the teacher is to teach his lads not what to think, but how to think. A true teacher is the one who could gear his students to think for themselves, independently of the teaching and rearing and training of the teacher himself. He/she must teach them to craft their own paradigm, to construct their own truths, to create their own foundations, to answer their own queries and questions. That’s the true value of a real teacher; not simply teaching in order for his pupils to conquer the provinces of facts and information, but most importantly he/she is helping them laboriously to grasp the inner insights which are undeniably the key towards them attaining/arriving at the mountains of knowledge and reaching ultimately the kingdom of wisdom. As Socrates himself expressed it so eloquently: “The unexamined life is not worth living”. Henceforth, to teach, to inspire and to guide is to offer our soul for the sole benefit of our young.
PS: I dedicate this humble literary work of mine to my dear Teacher, Dr. Zosimo Lee (Dean, College of Social Science and Philosophy, University of the Philippines, Diliman, Quezon City, Philippines) on the occasion of his birthday, August 17th.)

Jose Mario Dolor De Vega

No. 19 USJ 11/3 A 47620
Subang Jaya, Darul Ehsan,
Selangor, Malaysia

The Rediscovery and Re-enchantment of Our Humanity

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The Rediscovery and Re-enchantment of Our Humanity
The present times are complicatedly so fast and furious. So fast the pacing that we forget to stop and pause to enjoy the quality time with our family and savor the moment with our friends! We are so concern with so many pressing issues and material needs that we forgot the importance of silence, of meditation and reflections with are necessary in having conversation with our inner selves. Sadly, we instead push and push and in doing so, we fail to cherish life’s true joys and simple pleasures.
Modern technology has truly revolutionized human life. It has indeed made living hassle-free, easy, and above all, comfortable. However, I am wondering whether the price that we have to pay for this kind of fast-paced life is worth it? Technology made it possible for us to hook up with anyone that we wish to talk to, yet ironically we spend more time ‘talking’ to our computers rather than our family. The internet has turned the young today as addict, worst than the television. Rather than engaged in actual interaction, our kids today are more interested in an on-line, virtual ‘relationship’. Everybody seems to be so busy with their respective business and duties that we miserably forget the necessary things from the mere pleasurable and fleeting cravings.
We have no time to ourselves and so as to our love-ones. We are so preoccupied with the ways of the modern world that it blinded us from the true, the good, the lasting and the beautiful! Truth hurts! Reality bites!
Sad but true! What went wrong?
It was widely reported that when the Dalai Lama was asked, what surprised him most about humanity, he answered thus as: Man. Because he sacrifices his health in order to make money. Then he sacrifices money to recuperate his health. And then he is so anxious about the future that he does not enjoy the present; the result being that he does not live in the present or the future; he lives as if he is never going to die, and then dies having never really lived.
We betrayed our humanism for materialism. The modern way has programmed us for quick results and immediate outcome; yet we completely forgotten that life as a whole does not operate that way, that we cannot forced certain things because they in itself are dependent in time and circumstances. We failed to realize that the most important things in life are those beautiful things, momentous events and vivid experiences that come naturally at their own time. Perfect examples of this would be the fulfillment of a dream, the realization of an objective and moment of critical decision. These acts cannot be made in haste nether can they be force by an instant desire.
The book of Ecclesiastes has taught us that there is always a perfect time for everything:
To everything there is a season, and a time to every purpose under the heaven:
A time to be born, and a time to die; a time to plant, and a time to pluck up that which is planted;
A time to kill, and a time to heal; a time to break down, and a time to build up;
A time to weep, and a time to laugh; a time to mourn, and a time to dance;
A time to cast away stones, and a time to gather stones together; a time to embrace, and a time to refrain from embracing;
A time to get, and a time to lose; a time to keep, and a time to cast away;
A time to rend, and a time to sew; a time to keep silence, and a time to speak;
A time to love, and a time to hate; a time of war, and a time of peace.
We all want to help one another and share each other’s happiness; human beings are like that; yet as economic progression has further developed and as we maximized to the maximum all the resources of mother earth; it seems to me that we have lost our way. Greed has invariably poisoned men’s minds and corrupted their souls. The present global financial system has barricaded the world with individualism, hate, racism, nihilism, selfishness and false consciousness. The prevailing system has reduced man into a machine that is a mere appendage to the whole economic operational chains. This presently ‘developed’ world has led and goosed us to misery, degradation and widespread bloodshed.
We have developed speed, but we deny the very existence of our fellows; and shut ourselves inside our very selves. Machinery that gives unimaginable abundance and immeasurable wealth has left has in want, hunger and deprivation!
Our knowledge has made us cynical and apathetic; our cleverness turns us into hard and unkind beings! We lost track of what is important in life, such as family, friendship and human solidarity. Instead we replaced them by money, competition and technology.
We think too much, yet we feel so little! It seems that we have already erased from our memory what Ludwid van Bethoven had taught us: Recommend to your children virtue; that alone can make them happy, not gold.
We are not aware, but the system has transformed us into a machine. The system has assumed an invincible power over our own selves, clouded our better judgment and has shattered our independence. We are all victims of this system that tell us what to think, what to feel, what to do, what to prioritize and what to value. Man is forgetting that he is not a machine or an object nor a commodity. He is man, natural, living, independent and free, a social being by nature!
As the great German philosopher Karl Marx said: Humans are urged to live to work, not to work to live.
However, all is not lost! There is always hope and regeneration! As Charlie Chaplin lucidly expressed in a speech in one of his classical movies:
More the machinery, we need humanity. More than cleverness, we need kindness and gentleness. Without this qualities; life would be violent and all would be lost.
As I stated then: Knowledge without morality is dead; wisdom without a firm ethical basis is unthinkable.
To be a complete man, what we need is not only the dryness of the mind, but also the warmness of the heart and the goodness of the soul!
We can only realize all of this, if we would return to our humanity and share it to our families, friends and the rest of society. No man is an island. To paraphrase the Greek philosopher Aristotle: Man by nature is a socio-political animal. We will never ever complete our social beings without immersing and bonding with our fellowmen.
Hence, we must not only return to ourselves, but also it would certainly do humanity as a whole a lot of good if we will return to ancient teachings which are based on wisdom, compassion and courage to re-adjust, re-look, re-learn and reform ourselves in all aspects our lives to restore the values, virtues and position of human beings in the world!

The Cybercrime law in the Philippines: A discourse

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An Unconstitutional Law: A Discourse on the Cybercrime Law
I refer to the burning issue of the day that concerns our society as a whole. This pertains to the new measure enacted by the Legislative and signed into law by the Chief Executive. I am specifically referring to RA 10175 or Cybercrime Prevention Act of 2012.
I overwhelmingly concur with the contention advanced by the Human Rights Online Philippines in condemning the said law. As they directly expressed it in an official statement wherein they stated that they:
“…stands against the present state of the Anti-Cyber Crime Law and we demand that such law must be consistent with human rights standards and perpetrators behind this spiteful law be held accountable.”
Further, they added that:
“RA 10175 or Cybercrime Prevention Act of 2012 is a State crime and an assault against the human rights of the people. HRonlinePH.com is one with the Filipino netizens in condemning its intention to deliberately go against our right to defend human rights online.
“Under the law, activists and human rights defenders will be the obvious and primary target of attacks by guilty politicians and government officials. The intentional inclusion/insertion of treacherous provisions poses great danger to defenders utilizing the internet in its work to promote, defend and assert human rights against violators from the government.
“The law is an obvious assault to many of the peoples’ rights both activists and ordinary citizens like free speech, freedom of expression, due process and among others. It is inconsistent with government’s obligation to respect, protect and fulfill human rights as provided in the Bill of Rights under the Philippine constitution and international Bill of Rights.”
There is no shadow of doubt that this law is sinister and nefarious by virtue of that irrefutable fact that it attacks the fundamental basic rights of the citizens with regard to their right to free speech, freedom of expression, political rights and the right to believe.
Hence, the citizens and various cause-oriented groups joined forces and troops to Padre Faura to ask the Supreme Court to questioned before the Highest Court of the law its legality and constitutionality.
In the words of attorney JJ Disini:
“Indeed, various petitions have been lodged in the Supreme Court to question the constitutionality of the Act’s provisions relating to libel, increased penalties, real-time collection of traffic data and the so-called takedown provision.”
Undeniably, “the law is also a blatant breach of the Government’s obligation and commitment to the United Nation International Covenant on Civil Political Rights.”
Article 19 of the (ICCPR) clearly states that:
1. Everyone shall have the right to hold opinions without interference.
2. Everyone shall have the right to freedom of expression; this right shall include freedom to seek, receive and impart information and ideas of all kinds, regardless of frontiers, either orally, in writing or in print, in the form of art, or through any other media of his choice.
I echo once again the Human Rights Online Philippines on their statement that:
“Certainly we need a law that would protect the people from cyber criminals and it’s our elected officials’ obligation to provide us one. But we cannot allow a law that would be used to suppress any of our democratic rights and freedom may it be on the internet or on the grounds. We must not allow any law that violates standards and protection of our rights.
“We challenge and demand that PNoy government fulfill its duty and obligation to protect us. Protect the people from cyber criminals and from any form of attacks of human rights violators from the government.
“We reiterate and assert that it is our right to defend human rights offline and online and any law that would violate these rights must be junked and perpetrator must be held accountable!”
It is my firm conviction that this law is constitutionally infirm on the following constitutional aberrations:
1. The provision on libel is unconscionable, oppressive and arrogant. Further, the trending in almost all civilized judicial world today is tilting to the decriminalization of this flimsy and stupid law; yet in this country this law is still being used and utilized to the maximum by the powers that be in attacking political activists, journalists, bloggers, etc. this is utterly ironic, “instead of bringing its libel legislation in line with its UN treaty obligations, the Philippines has set the stage for further human rights violations by embedding criminal libel in the “cybercrime” law.” What a shame! The whole world knows that: “It is obviously the intention of the malicious provisions of the law for guilty politicians to protect themselves by depriving the people of venues for airing demands and remedy for their issues.”

2. This preposterous law violates the rule against double jeopardy “since the acts and the crime of online libel are the same as that defined in the Revised Penal Code” hence there is a dangerous tendency for an offender to be penalized twice for the same offense. Consider the following: a person could be sentenced to 12 years imprisonment for posting online comments judged to be libelous. This is indeed, grossly unjust and oppressive, to say the least!

3. This law violated the Protection Clause
In the words of counsel Disini, “”since the online libel law targets the fundamental right to free speech, the onus is upon the government to demonstrate a compelling state interest in penalizing online libel in this manner, and show that there was no less restrictive alternative available to promote that interest.

4. This law violates the constitutional provision against unreasonable searches and seizure. Further, by empowering various state agencies to launch surveillance against suspects and suspicious netizens, this law clearly violates the right of the citizens to their privacy, so as their communication.

5. The so-called takedown provision. Indeed, this is the most sinister and utterly odious provision of this dangerous law. Said provision “authorizes the DOJ to block access to any content upon a prima facie (or first glance) finding of a violation of the provisions of the Act.” Hence, it logically follows that under this scenario, “the DOJ has effectively become the judge, jury and executioner without the benefit of a trial or a conviction established beyond reasonable doubt.”

6. The Question of the Public Interest

Public Interest is defined as “the welfare of the general public (in contrast to the selfish interest of a person, group, or firm) in which the whole society has a stake and which warrants recognition, promotion, and protection by the government and its agencies.”

While Wikipedia defined the term thus:

“The public interest refers to the "common well-being" or "general welfare". The public interest is central to policy debates, politics, democracy and the nature of government itself.”
From the two definitions given, one can deduced incontestably that public interest means the interest of the whole public and the protection of the general welfare.

I am wondering aloud, where the hell is the advancement or the protection of the public interest in this law?
There is no iota of doubt that this Cybercrime law undeniably threatens free speech and the right thing to do is for the Congress to either review it or repeal its unconstitutional provisions.
In the case of Hustler Magazine, Inc. v. Falwell, 485 U.S.46 (1988), the United States Supreme Court speaking through Chief Justice Rehnquist stated that:
"At the heart of the First Amendment is the recognition of the fundamental importance of the free flow of ideas and opinions on matters of public interest and concern.
“The freedom to speak one's mind is not only an aspect of individual liberty - and thus a good unto itself - but also is essential to the common quest for truth and the vitality of society as a whole.
“We have therefore been particularly vigilant to ensure that individual expressions of ideas remain free from governmentally imposed sanctions."
On this juncture, may I highlight that I also agree with the position taken by the Amnesty International in their stand with regard to this issue:
“The ‘cybercrime’ law rolls back protections for free speech in the Philippines. Under this law, a peaceful posting on the Internet could result in a prison sentence.”
Further, Isabelle Arradon, the deputy Asia director at Amnesty International added that:
“The law, which came into effect on Wednesday, broadly extends criminal libel (defined in the Philippines as the public and malicious imputation of a discreditable act that tends to discredit or dishonour another person and which currently exists under the Revised Penal Code) to apply to acts “committed through a computer system or any other similar means which may be devised in the future”.
“It also increases the criminal penalties for libel in computer-related cases.
“In January 2011, the UN Human Rights Committee found the Philippines’s criminalization of libel to be “incompatible” with the freedom of expression clause in the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights.
“The Philippine constitution establishes that ‘no law shall be passed abridging the freedom of speech’”.
In the stirring words of Dr. Zosimo Lee, former Dean of College of Social Science and Philosophy at the University of the Philippines:
“The Cybercrime Law is inviting non-compliance because it is perceived to be unfair and undemocratic. Non-compliance from citizens, if it reaches critical levels, should be worrisome to any legitimate government because it can weaken the whole force of the law and hobbles effective administration. And when the force of the law is weakened, the legitimacy of any government becomes suspect on the whole.”
On this note, I would like to commend the Supreme Court in issuing a Temporary Restraining Order (TRO) days ago which effectively suspend the execution and implementation of the said law pending the examination and determination of the said Court of its legality and constitutionality.
It is my hope and a great number of our people that eventually the Honorable Court as the last bastion of Freedom, Justice and Fairness will rule that the said law is unconstitutional!
Until then, until that judgment and judicial pronouncement of the Court, it is our passionate and firm will to continue to fight this unjust, unfair and illegal law in whatever means we means necessary.
Hence, it is our collective shouts and screams that:
It is not a crime to criticize government inaction and irresponsibility, it is our right!
It is not a crime to expose government violations, it is our right!
It is not a crime to assert and defend our rights, it is our right!
But it is a CRIME by the Government to violate our internet freedom because it is our human rights!

Jose Mario Dolor De Vega
October 11, 2012
The writer has a Master’s degree in Philosophy, a law degree and a degree in AB Political Science. He was previously teaching Philosophy, Ethics and Anthropology at an institution of higher education in the Nilai University College at Nilai, Negeri Sembilan, Malaysia

What does it mean to be a Philosopher?

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What does it mean to be a Philosopher?

They are always being accused by the establishment as the under-miners of the system! They are mockingly referred to as either the fool on the hill or the solitary hermit in the forest, the madmen, the cave-men, the lone voices in the wilderness, the reclusive fellow in the urban jungle, the poet without a pen, the writers without papers, the thinkers without followers, the warriors without the sword, the soldier without the cavalry, rebel without a cause, hopeless romantic freaks, the darling of the starving masses!

Are the accusations justified?

In a sense, yes; however in another much larger sense, the labels are not only misplaced but totally devoid of merit.

The existence of the philosopher is a necessary element in any given society. The very existence of them would undeniably reveal the extent of the depth and breadth of the said community. Show me a society that has no philosophers, thinkers, poets, artists, etc. and I will tell you that that society is either a dysfunctional entity disengaged in only worthy mental activity or worst a dead community that can be likened to a large-scale cemetery.

But what precisely is a philosopher?

According to Simon Critchley, the freedom of the philosopher consists in either moving freely from topic to topic or simply spending years returning to the same topic out of perplexity, fascination and curiosity.

It is my contention that philosophers are the critic and conscience of the community and the world in general.

They are the critic in the sense that they tend to show to the people and to their society the weaknesses of its collective characters and moral ills.

As correctly noted by Simon Critchley, “the philosopher shows no respect for rank and inherited privilege and is unaware of anyone’s high or low birth”. Hence, it follows that they are anti-royalty, anti-monarchy, anti-sexism, anti-racism, against all kinds of privileges, and against all forms or shades of the inhumanity of man by man.

Philosophers are humanists. They do not care about the color of a man, his economic status, their religious creed, ethnic background, gender, sexual orientation, nationality, height, weight and/or physical features. They consider all of these labels as mere historical accidents and accidental qualities. They view man for what he is, as a whole; not simply by his external form; but primordially by his inner substance.

They are guided and bound by Reason! They evaluate and judge man solely on the content of his character, the nobility of his spirits, the warmness and independence of his mind, and the goodness of his heart; not by invoking some preposterous and ridiculous categories.

They are the light and the conscience of the community. They serve as the guiding post to show to the people the right way to live, not simply to exist.
For as long as injustice exists in this world, the philosophers will always be there to harass the oppressors, to fight on the side of the masses, to teach the young and touch the conscience of the rest. Their aim is to spread the virtues of justice and to uphold the humanity of man at all time, at all costs. The powers that be may kill the philosophers, the thinkers, the intellectuals, the poets, the artists, the rebels, etc. yet they can never ever kill the idea of freedom and humanism. The truth is indestructible. It is in this incontestable sense that the philosopher’s value, work, meaning and task are invincible.
They serve as the light of the community by telling society “that the emperor has no clothes”, that “the most important thing in life is not material possessions, but rather the cultivation of the soul”, that what does “a man to gain if he would have the whole world yet he will lose his soul?” and that the ultimate meaning of human life and existence is love! It is in this irrefutable sense that philosophers are the conscience of the world. Their inherent duty is not merely to admonish people how to live, but undeniably to teach and guide the people how to live good, happy and virtuous lives.

For my last point, I admit with all honesty that exercising self-knowledge and developing critical thinking through constant reflection is not only a noble task, but also a ‘dangerous’ occupation!

Why, history has shown us repeatedly that, it is always those critical men and women through-out the ages who uses their thinking for the benefit of mankind, who stood and fought for the general interest of Humanity to change the world!

Who are the philosophers?

To settle the score and to register the main point, so to speak, let me state that: They are the “crazy ones, the misfits, the rebels, trouble-makers, the round pegs in a square wholes, the ones who see things differently. They are not fond of rules and they have no respect for the status quo. You can quote them, disagree with them, glorify or vilify them, but the only thing you can’t do is ignore them, because they changed things. They pushed the human race forward. And while some may see them as the crazy ones --- we see genius, because the people who are crazy enough to think that they can change --- are the ones who do”. (Quoted from YouTube, Think Different)

Jose Mario Dolor De Vega

Terrorism, then and now: Remembering 9/11 (Part I)

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Terrorism, then and now: Remembering 9/11

On September 8th last year, the Sun Daily paper published my article entitled “Eradicate root causes of terrorism”. On that piece I marked the 10th anniversary of the said infamous and bloody event.
Tomorrow, the world will once again remember the said horrendous, gory and horrible catastrophe!
For the benefit of our reader, please allow me to share once again my take and views on the whole event:
ON Sunday, the world will mark the 10th anniversary of the infamous Twin Tower attacks that killed thousands of lives. The gruesome events led the United States under President George Bush and its allies dubbed as the coalition of the willing to start formally the "war on terror".
First on their list was to wipe out the Taliban of Afghanistan (which they themselves helped in its formation). The year was 2001. Then, after that they went to Iraq to oust Saddam Hussein (they earlier helped him to consolidate power and subsequently used as a pawn in their war against Iran) who they accused of concealing weapons of mass destruction, which turned out to be the mother of all frauds; because it was revealed that the dictator, despite his arrogance and criminality towards his people, had no capacity to create the weapons he was accused of.
Despite this embarrassing revelation, the coalition of enduring freedom continues its occupation of Baghdad. What follows since the occupation of the "liberators" up to the present is the sectarian violence between the Shi'ite and Sunni Muslims, not to mention the Kurdish restiveness.
On May 1, 2003, Bush declared: "Mission accomplished". Everyday, scores of civilians are dying and American soldiers are dying in the areas they declared as already "pacified" and "peaceful".
While all these horrendous things are happening in Iraq and Afghanistan, at their home front, the US Congress, the various defence agencies, the US State Department, the police and other relevant government agencies were used by Dubya to further amplify his war on terror.
He urged Congress to pass the Patriot Act I and II which restricts the political and civil rights of the citizens. He then used and abused the courts even the highest one to declare his unconstitutional laws constitutional.

Yet, despite their claim for "victory", the terrorists still managed to strike Spain on March 1, 2004 and this gruesome event was followed by another on July 7, 2005 in England. Not included in this list are the bombings and strikes in Pakistan, the Philippines, Indonesia, Australia and the latest which was hit back to back was India; while the recent victim was Norway.
What is the lesson we could draw from the foregoing premises? I will argue that terrorism cannot be defeated by imperialism, by neo-colonialism, not by force (whether it's military or economic, or both) and by equal or superior violence. History has already proven that.
The United States, the United Kingdom and their allies are also guilty of terrorism and violence. They are no different from the criminals that they are claiming to bring to "justice". By doing the same acts of these vultures and creatures of violence and terrorism; they are terrorists and criminals themselves!
The US accused the terrorists of not respecting human rights; yet they cannot admit their own animality and barbarity inside the Abu Gharib prison, where they tortured and humiliated thousands of people, simply by their hunch that those individuals were Saddam loyalists Al Qaeda sympathisers.
The US accused the terrorists of not respecting laws and international conventions. That is true, yet they themselves went to war against Iraq without the sanction of the United Nations Security Council. In fact, what they did was a violation of UN Resolution 1441.
I can go on and on. However, the central point that I would like to drive at is to hammer the irrefutable truth that: the whole world must condemn those 19 criminals who slammed themselves into the Twin Towers. They are terrorists. Plain and simple!
In the same vein that the world must also condemn the US, UK and their allies for their crimes against humanity which they committed in such a large and global scale against the people of Afghanistan, Iraq and Pakistan. They are terrorists themselves. The Taliban and the US marines are one and the same. In their glorious quest of eliminating each other; it is the civilians and the innocent people who are suffering and dying.
Equally, the whole world must also condemn Pakistan. While, allowing the west to use its territory as a military base, it also harbours Taliban and Al-Qaeda terrorists.
Lastly, the international community must also condemn the Taliban, Al-Qaeda, and all terrorists of whatever breed or type or form; whether they belong to the centre or the right of the political spectrum.
The legacy of 9/11 is for the world to remember those victims of these idiocy, fanaticism, hatred, bigotry, racism and ethnocentrism of man towards his fellow men.
The world must not be duped again by those western powers in their war on terror; their message of liberation and their concept of freedom.
The whole world must study, locate and eradicate the root causes of terrorism and violence. They are poverty, economic slavery, ignorance, apathy, religious fundamentalism, ideological paranoia, and cultural supremacy.
If we as members of the international community do not act to address these global issues and universal problems, our only prerogative would be to pick between the battles of two "terrorist camps"; this so-called "war of civilizations".
We will defeat all kinds of terrorism by humanism, violence by reason, hatred by love, barbarity by humanity.
The choice is ours.

Terrorism, then and now: Remembering 9/11 (Part II)

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On September 13th, a certain correspondent by the name of Ms. Amina Omer replied to my commentaries and viewpoint, published by the same paper on their Letter to the Editor section.
Immediately, I issued a reply, yet unfortunately, said paper where both our articles appeared did not print my piece. I am hoping that this time around, the various newspapers will not publish my response by reason of the paramount significance of this case and the extreme importance of the universal human public interest involve with regard to this pressing international issue.
Here’s my reply to her.
Let Pakistan admit the Brutal Truth
I want to thank Ms. Amina Omer for her letter (Pakistan is a victim of terrorism, Sun Daily, Sept. 13th) wherein she categorically stated that she “agree with most” of my opinion expressed in my comments (Eradicate root causes of terrorism, Comment, Sept. 9th). However, I do not agree with her position that “it is unjustified to say that Pakistan should be condemned for its role in this war”. Let me debunk her contention. It is precisely by virtue of Pakistan’s role in this so-called war on terror that I am condemning it! Why it allowed its land to be use as a base of the imperialists-terrorists? In doing so, it gave more reason to the Taliban, Al Qaeda and other fanatic fundamentalist to attack the country and its people. Because of their “selling-out” to the west, Pakistan became the magnetic field of all haters of the west.
Hence, her claim that “Pakistan is not a cause but a victim of this terrorism” is utterly devoid of logic! By allowing the US base and its allied forces to used its land, Pakistan committed the graves injustice to itself, worst its people are the one who are suffering everyday in a state of fear and paranoia! Undeniably, though it is not the main cause of global terrorism; it is a cause in itself and incontestably an indispensable link in the global theater of war and regional conflict! The whole world community do acknowledged this irrefutable fact!
It became the symbol and arena of the global struggle against two stupid camps. Her argument that “Pakistan has already paid a heavy price for it and that too in terms of blood of its own people” is not only misplaced, but undeniably bereft of any merit. It is a fallacious contention! Does it mean that because Japan has already shaken by a 9.0 earth-quake and tsunami, lost scores of its people and cost massive damages to property and structure, does it washed its crimes and sins against humanity that it deliberately and arbitrarily committed to the peoples of Southeast Asia during World War II? Does it mean that because of this colossal calamity it also washed its barbarity and indescribable animality that they carried out, such as the infamous rape of Nanking? I do not think so! Though, they are in a sense paying now for their sins; history however will passionately pursue them to pay the ultimate and complete price! The vengeance of history is more terrible than all the might of Mother Nature combined!
Though I agree with her that: Pakistan did not bring this war to its territory, it did not offer its bases to the US this war was forced upon it through a dictator, a man whose status changed overnight from an outcast to the most allied ally.
Internally it's an extremely unpopular war, which has brought terrorism right to the doorstep of each and every Pakistani”. I concur! However, the ultimate question is: why the government and the people of Pakistan agreed with this “pact with the devil”? Please don’t tell me that Pakistan has no choice! Turkey was asked, yet that country declined the “honor”! Hence, the question remains: Why?
How on earth could Pakistan explain to the whole world the brutal assassination of former PM Benazzir Bhutto? The greatest irony ever of finding and killing the number one terrorist, Osama Bin Laden in its territory; worst his hide-out is just outside a military camp! Whose sane and rational man would ever believed that that bastard criminal simply managed to sneak into that country without the knowledge of the authorities; whose military is one of the best organized in the world? Is there any person, who in their right frame of mind would ever believe in the explanation of the Pakistani authorities that they are not aware that Osama was hiding at their very lair? Days after the “glorious death of their boss”, Osama’s bunch of criminal hoodlums attacked a military camp, held their ground despite their inferior numbers and shamed to the maximum the Pakistani military in their laxity and seeming lack of interest in containing the situation! Not included with this are the series of bombing across the nation! Those animals and barbarians claimed that this is they revenge attacks for their fallen leader. How could the authorities and the government of Pakistan (especially its military) allowed this mayhem and massive terrorist activities to unfold? Why are they allowing these Satanism, barbarism and sectarian violence to thrive?
Reality bites! Sad but true, but the Pakistani authorities is engaged in a dual military prostitution; while allowing its territory to be used, utilized and abused by the west in killing innocent people, helpless civilians, men and women in Iraq, Afghanistan and even in Pakistan itself by using its so-called sophisticated drone attacks and other weapons of mass destruction; it also allowed the Taliban and the Al Qaeda terrorist networks to flourish in its very soil! Could Ms. Omer dispute this fact? Where can you find a country in this planet who would allow an aggressor, an imperialist nation to freely use its land for purposes of killing people in other lands, including its own citizens? Only in Pakistan! Why? Is it because of the financial aid being given by America? Or, perhaps it is because of the training of its local military by the US military? Or, could it be the case that they are truly partners on the so-called war on terror? I do not think so! With all due respect to Ms. Omer, I firmly maintain my unshakable contention that the whole world must also condemn Pakistan, as a war criminal state like its partner US, the UK and their allies in their so-called war on terror. In fact, said country is the worst kind of terrorist entity! Why? The US and the UK and their allies, truthful to their racism and imperialist aggression are terrorizing the peoples who does not belong to their own ranks, who does not believe in them, who does not want to join them; while Pakistan is not merely terrorizing its neighbor; worst it is also engaged in a global criminal partnership in terrorizing and killing its very own people. What kind of government is that? If that is not terrorism, then I do not know what the hell is that?
The whole world knows the truth! It is the moral duty of the Pakistani government to admit the truth and do the right thing! Which are: expel the US base, renounce religious fundamentalism, fanaticism and combat their own native terrorism!
In the moving and prophetic words of Emile Zola:
If you deny the truth and bury it underground; it would but grow and gather to itself such explosive power that the day it burst through, it will destroy everything in its way!
If the government would not do all these things, then I call upon the Pakistani people to launch the necessary political transformation of their society and country for global peace and the universal brotherhood of men!


Jose Mario Dolor De Vega

September 10, 2012

Japan’s Moral Responsibility with regard to their Extreme Heinous Historical crimes

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I refer to the international news which pertains to South Korea’s sharp demand to Japan to compensate their ‘comfort women’. This concerns the unceasing plight and continuing fight of those sexually enslaved and sadistically abused women with regard to their persistent struggle for justice, acknowledgement and due compensation!
This piece is in solidarity to their worthy cause and legitimate demand for apology!
I implore and beseech them to keep the flames of the crusade alive!
The struggle of these women does not simply entail financial or monetary compensation. That is just a tiny link in this whole series of chain of events.
To put this matter in its proper historical perspective, this continuing battle primordially centers on a demand for justice and due recognition.
Japan cannot evade historical responsibility neither can it deny complicity to all these horrible and supra horrendous dehumanization and blatant exploitation in such an organized, large-scale and systematic manner.
It is but just and moral for the Japanese government to accept the truth, admit the massive havoc that they wreaked and their incomparable barbarism, bear the responsibility, sincerely apologize to all those ‘comfort women’ and finally to pay for damages and/or allocate a corresponding compensation.
The Japanese people and its government cannot forever live in lies, denial, evasion and worst; historical falsification!
This is in-line with the precise analysis of the director of Asian studies at Temple University of Tokyo, Jeff Kingston:
"Historical grievances in Korea do not depend on who is in charge in Japan. They simmer on and on until every once in a while they boil over. Tokyo is living in a dream world if it believes that these matters are resolved and not worth addressing.”
They must do the right thing and that is to sincerely apologize, openly confess and unequivocally admit all responsibility for their war time animality, barbarity, inhumanity and atrocity!
As lucidly reported by the Guardian, “Anger of wartime sex slaves haunts Japan and South Korea”, October 18th, by Justin McCurry:
Earlier this week, South Korea repeated its demand that Japan acknowledge its use of former sex slaves and compensate them. "Japan's legal responsibility has not been settled," the country's deputy chief envoy to the UN, Shin Dong-ik, told a UN committee. "Those acts were a crime against humanity."
Until such time that the Japanese government and so as its people is not doing the right thing, the just decision and the honorable thing to do --- them they will never ever wash their historical crimes and they will forever be haunted and hounded by the dark ghosts of the bloody past! Their future will never be glorious or triumphant!
To all ‘comfort women’ from Korea, China, the Philippines and other countries; I admonish you all to keep up the faith, continue the struggle and never ever give up for your heavenly cause to exact justice and demand due recognition!
I applaud you all for your unwavering resolve!
Now, whether Japan admit its sins or not, issue the sincere and true apology or not is already beyond the domain of this historical case of exceptional importance.
For all intents and purposes, this quest has already assumed its central aim; because this struggle is a struggle for humanity and dignity. This is a noble crusade in reclaiming their honor.
May I remind the Japanese authorities that there is no Statute of Limitations for Crimes Against Humanity and that Command Responsibility is an accepted principle by international and local jurisprudence.
The Japanese government with a quiet acquiescence and partial conspiracy with its people may deny, even lie; but fear not, because history is neither blind nor myopic. There is no iota of doubt that the international community of nations, reason and history herself is on your side.
I am so certain about this and there is no doubt whatsoever in my mind.
We will win in the end, because the truth can never ever be defeated --- even by a thousand lies…
In the immortal words of Emile Zola:
If you deny the truth and bury it underground; it will but grow and gather to itself such explosive power that the day it burst through, it will destroy everything on its way!

Jose Mario Dolor De Vega

October 21, 2012

The Rediscovery and Re-enchantment of Our Humanity (Part II)

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The Rediscovery and Re-enchantment of Our Humanity
I refer to that doubtlessly thought-provoking letter of Dr. S. Nathesan of Muar, Johor “Technology rendering society cold”, The Star, Malaysia November 8th).
I certainly concur to his central thesis that, “technology has truly revolutionized human life. It has indeed made living hassle-free, easy, and above all, comfortable.
However, he immediately shown us the dark side of this modern sophisticated lifestyle: “but all this has taken its toll on traditional human values like taking time to talk to each other, visiting friends and relatives, and attending marriages and funerals”.
Sad but true! What went wrong?
It was widely reported that when the Dalai Lama was asked, what surprised him most about humanity, he answered thus as: Man. Because he sacrifices his health in order to make money. Then he sacrifices money to recuperate his health. And then he is so anxious about the future that he does not enjoy the present; the result being that he does not live in the present or the future; he lives as if he is never going to die, and then dies having never really lived.
We betrayed our humanism for materialism. The modern way has programmed us for quick results and immediate outcome; yet we completely forgotten that life as a whole does not operate that way, that we cannot forced certain things because they in itself are dependent in time and circumstances. We failed to realize that the most important things in life are those beautiful things, momentous events and vivid experiences that come naturally at their own time. Perfect examples of this would be the fulfillment of a dream, the realization of an objective and moment of critical decision. These acts cannot be made in haste nether can they be force by an instant desire.
The book of Ecclesiastes has taught us that there is always a perfect time for everything:
To everything there is a season, and a time to every purpose under the heaven:
A time to be born, and a time to die; a time to plant, and a time to pluck up that which is planted;
A time to kill, and a time to heal; a time to break down, and a time to build up;
A time to weep, and a time to laugh; a time to mourn, and a time to dance;
A time to cast away stones, and a time to gather stones together; a time to embrace, and a time to refrain from embracing;
A time to get, and a time to lose; a time to keep, and a time to cast away;
A time to rend, and a time to sew; a time to keep silence, and a time to speak;
A time to love, and a time to hate; a time of war, and a time of peace.
We all want to help one another and share each other’s happiness; human beings are like that; yet as economic progression has further developed and as we maximized to the maximum all the resources of mother earth; it seems to me that we have lost our way. Greed has invariably poisoned men’s minds and corrupted their souls. The present global financial system has barricaded the world with individualism, hate, racism, nihilism, selfishness and false consciousness. The prevailing system has reduced man into a machine that is a mere appendage to the whole economic operational chains. This presently ‘developed’ world has led and goosed us to misery, degradation and widespread bloodshed.
We have developed speed, but we deny the very existence of our fellows; and shut ourselves inside our very selves. Machinery that gives unimaginable abundance and immeasurable wealth has left has in want, hunger and deprivation!
Our knowledge has made us cynical and apathetic; our cleverness turns us into hard and unkind beings! We lost track of what is important in life, such as family, friendship and human solidarity. Instead we replaced them by money, competition and technology.
We think too much, yet we feel so little! It seems that we have already erased from our memory what Ludwid van Bethoven had taught us: Recommend to your children virtue; that alone can make them happy, not gold.
We are not aware, but the system has transformed us into a machine. The system has assumed an invincible power over our own selves, clouded our better judgment and has shattered our independence. We are all victims of this system that tell us what to think, what to feel, what to do, what to prioritize and what to value. Man is forgetting that he is not a machine or an object nor a commodity. He is man, natural, living, independent and free, a social being by nature!
As the great German philosopher Karl Marx said: Humans are urged to live to work, not to work to live.
However, all is not lost! There is always hope and regeneration! As Charlie Chaplin lucidly expressed in a speech in one of his classical movies:
More the machinery, we need humanity. More than cleverness, we need kindness and gentleness. Without this qualities; life would be violent and all would be lost.
As I stated then: Knowledge without morality is dead; wisdom without a firm ethical basis is unthinkable.
To be a complete man, what we need is not only the dryness of the mind, but also the warmness of the heart and the goodness of the soul!
We can only realize all of this, if we would return to our humanity and share it to our families, friends and the rest of society. No man is an island. To paraphrase the Greek philosopher Aristotle: Man by nature is a socio-political animal. We will never ever complete our social beings without immersing and bonding with our fellowmen.
Hence, we must not only return to ourselves, but also it would certainly do humanity as a whole a lot of good if we will return to ancient teachings which are based on wisdom, compassion and courage to re-adjust, re-look, re-learn and reform ourselves in all aspects our lives to restore the values, virtues and position of human beings in the world!

 

Jose Mario Dolor De Vega

 

November, 2011

The Right to be left alone: In Defense of the Right to Privacy and Humanity (Part I)

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The Right to be left alone: In Defense of the Right to Privacy and Humanity
I refer to the provocative and lucid article of Naomi Wolf, “How the US uses sexual humiliation as a political tool to control the masses” which appeared on the Guardian overwhelmingly disparaging and heavily criticizing the outrageous ruling of the US supreme court.
As she stated:
“Believe me, you don't want the state having the power to strip your clothes off. And yet, it's exactly what is happening”.
The crux of the matter is as follows:
“In a five-four ruling this week, the supreme court decided that anyone can be strip-searched upon arrest for any offense, however minor, at any time. This horror show ruling joins two recent horror show laws: the NDAA, which lets anyone be arrested forever at any time, and HR 347, the "trespass bill", which gives you a 10-year sentence for protesting anywhere near someone with secret service protection. These criminalizations of being human follow, of course, the mini-uprising of the Occupy movement.
“Is American strip-searching benign? The man, who had brought the initial suit, Albert Florence, described having been told to "turn around. Squat and cough. Spread your cheeks." He said he felt humiliated: "It made me feel like less of a man."”
One of those jurists who voted for the majority, justice Anthony Kennedy explained “that this ruling is necessary because the 9/11 bomber could have been stopped for speeding. How would strip searching him have prevented the attack?”
Wolf’s retort is so logically instructive:
“Did Justice Kennedy imagine that plans to blow up the twin towers had been concealed in a body cavity? In still more bizarre non-logic, his and the other justices' decision rests on concerns about weapons and contraband in prison systems. But people under arrest – that is, who are not yet convicted – haven't been introduced into a prison population.”
Further she firmly asserted the: “Our surveillance state shown considerable determination to intrude on citizens sexually.”
Worst, this sexual exploitation and sexual dehumanization was also used to a massive degree to the “militants, the terrorists and Al Qaeda”. Who would forget those brutal pictures of sexual brutality and extreme inhumanity in the Abu Ghraib?
In Guantanamo prison, “where young female guards stood watch over the forced nakedness of Muslim prisoners, who had no way to conceal themselves.”
And then there's the sexual abuse of prisoners at Bagram, where American GI’s exploited and oppressed those detainee as if they are human beings but like toys and mere objects! Who would forget the photos of the dogs, while those US soldiers are torturing systematically those prisoners while at the same time they are having their animalistic and bacchanalian orgy in a grand and utterly disgusting manner?
Yes, I concur to Ms. Wolf that:
“Believe me: you don't want the state having the power to strip your clothes off. History shows that the use of forced nudity by a state that is descending into fascism is powerfully effective in controlling and subduing populations.
“The political use of forced nudity by anti-democratic regimes is long established. Forcing people to undress is the first step in breaking down their sense of individuality and dignity and reinforcing their powerlessness. Enslaved women were sold naked on the blocks in the American south, and adolescent male slaves served young white ladies at table in the south, while they themselves were naked: their invisible humiliation was a trope for their emasculation. Jewish prisoners herded into concentration camps were stripped of clothing and photographed naked, as iconic images of that Holocaust reiterated.”
Then, she talked about the issue of “patted down”. This is nothing more than a “sexually perverse intrusiveness of the state during an airport "pat-down", which is always phrased in the words of a steamy paperback ("do you have any sensitive areas? … I will use the back of my hands under your breasts …").”
This is a sham judgment, indeed a frivolous ruling! Undeniably, this pronouncement of the court is the heights of absurdity and idiocy!
They have the guts and the balls to call their land the land of the free! Shame on them! They are now the empire of the slaves! The world as a whole must stand up as One to counter this attack upon Man!
The central substantive issue here is the Humanity of Man and his inherent rights as against the enormous and overwhelming powers of the state.
Ms. Wolf also offered us a grim analysis of this ruling. She said that:
“The most terrifying phrase of all in the decision is justice Kennedy's striking use of the term "detainees" for "United States citizens under arrest". Some members of Occupy who were arrested in Los Angeles also reported having been referred to by police as such. Justice Kennedy's new use of what looks like a deliberate activation of that phrase is illuminating.”
It seems to me and there is no doubt whatsoever in my mind that the conservative faction in the US Supreme Court not only raped the constitution but undeniably violated viciously all their magnificent jurisprudence defending the constitutional and human rights of the citizens, including the foreigners.
This stupid and detestable ruling of that bloody moronic court completely demolished and destroyed the constitutional rights of the citizens as embodied and enumerated in the Bill of Rights of the Constitution.
It is my fervent contention and firm position that the government has no rights whatsoever to invade the privacy of the individual neither to crush his physical rights over his body.
Each individual is a part and parcel of the sovereign whole. Hence, it follows that the moment the state violated and dishonor a citizen’s body, that government is also violating and tearing the whole body politic.

The Right to be left alone: In Defense of the Right to Privacy and Humanity (Part II)

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The duty of a true government is to respect and protect the individuality and autonomy of each citizen.
The right to privacy of the individual does not only entail his rights to be left alone; but it also includes the rights of the said person not to be harass, dishonor, to be violated physically and/or humiliated by the state’s unreasonable and unjust intrusion to his body and person.
Further, it is my considered view and so holds that this preposterously outrageous ruling by that kangaroo court, clearly reveals the sharp division not only of the ideas and the temperament of the justices involved, but incontestably their class biases, personal prejudices, politico-moral orientations and socio-economic backgrounds.
The ruling of this ridiculous court is also a reflection of American society as a whole. Inasmuch that the American proclaimed to the world that they are united, that is not the case! That is not true! That is a big and a blatant lie. There is no shadow of doubt that they are a fragmented and utterly divided empire.
I would also argue that the ruling clearly shows the legal and moral decadence of one of their so-called vital institutions. Imagine the scene, a citizen went to the court to demand that the state defend, protect and respect his rights; what happened was a complete legal fiasco! The court, not only sided with the state but also trampled, reduced, abused, diminished and legalized the bastadization and prostitution of his rights based on this so-called ‘majority’ ruling.
Ms. Wolf asked such a categorical question:
“Where are we headed? Why? These recent laws criminalizing protest, and giving local police – who, recall, are now infused with DHS money, military hardware and personnel – powers to terrify and traumatise people who have not gone through due process or trial, are being set up to work in concert with a see-all-all-the-time surveillance state. A facility is being set up in Utah by the NSA to monitor everything all the time: James Bamford wrote in Wired magazine that the new facility in Bluffdale, Utah, is being built, where the NSA will look at billions of emails, texts and phone calls. Similar legislation is being pushed forward in the UK.
“With that Big Brother eye in place, working alongside these strip-search laws, – between the all-seeing data-mining technology and the terrifying police powers to sexually abuse and humiliate you at will – no one will need a formal coup to have a cowed and compliant citizenry. If you say anything controversial online or on the phone, will you face arrest and sexual humiliation?
“Remember, you don't need to have done anything wrong to be arrested in America any longer. You can be arrested for walking your dog without a leash. The man who was forced to spread his buttocks was stopped for a driving infraction. I was told by an NYPD sergeant that "safety" issues allow the NYPD to make arrests at will. So nothing prevents thousands of Occupy protesters – if there will be any left after these laws start to bite – from being rounded up and stripped naked under intimidating conditions.”
I agree with the incisive contention of our bold correspondent that one of the reasons why these inhumane and barbaric acts are happening because it will benefit those “warlords”,” war-businessmen”, those military hawks and private military contractors (such as Blackwater USA) “who profited from endless war and surveillance – but now I see the struggle as larger.”
As one internet advocate said: "There is a race against time: they realise the internet is a tool of empowerment that will work against their interests, and they need to race to turn it into a tool of control."
Consider the following report of Chris Hedges:
"There are now 1,271 government agencies and 1,931 private companies that work on programs related to counterterrorism, homeland security and intelligence in about 10,000 locations across the United States, the Washington Post reported in a 2010 series by Dana Priest and William M Arken. There are 854,000 people with top-secret security clearances, the reporters wrote, and in Washington, DC, and the surrounding area 33 building complexes for top-secret intelligence work are under construction or have been built since September 2011."
Indeed, “this enormous new sector of the economy has a multi-billion-dollar vested interest in setting up a system to surveil, physically intimidate and prey upon the rest of American society.”
I condemn to the highest possible degree with outrageous, ridiculous and patently illegal ruling of the US Supreme Court. This ‘law’ is void ab initio. Void from the beginning for the very reason that it does not contain any resemblance of propriety or even the slightest color of legality due to its being oppressive, discriminatory, and capricious. Indeed, the ruling is a grave violation of human rights and the constitutional rights of the people as a whole.
I still believe in the other half of America, the good America, the America of the working class, the America of Thomas Jefferson, Abraham Lincoln, Dr. Martin Luther Kings, jr., Frederick Douglass, etc.
I still believe in the American Declaration of Independence that: we hold these truths to be self-evident that all men are created equal that they have unalienable rights that includes the right to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness and if the government or the state negate and/or subvert these rights; it is the moral, the constitutional, legal and human rights of the citizens and all the people as a whole to launch or wage an insurrection or revolution to right and restore those inherent rights.
Why? It is because the price of freedom is eternal vigilance.
In the immortal words of Patrick Henry:
“As for me, give me liberty or give me death”.

Jose Mario Dolor De Vega

April, 2012

A Time to Laugh at Death

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A Time to Laugh at Death
A week from now is Halloween! It is the season for the trick or treat, watching scary movies, wearing ghastly costumes and attending bizarre and horror-inspired night parties.
However, the aim of my exposition is not to write about this well known side of this holiday, but to scribble some views with regard to an idea which is also irrefutably a part and parcel of this event.
Today, with the indulgence of the reader, I would to write about death. Yes, death. As the Greek philosopher Epicurus famously stated: Death is nothing to us, since when we are, death has not come, and when death has come, we are not.
The proponent of the philosophical school of Stoicism has maintained that death is nothing until the end of his life; he ardently believed that rather than death, it is life that is the most important thing in this life.
Death is not the end, but rather the beginning!
However, as Julian Baggani noted ironically: As long as there are philosophers, there has been some bafflement as to why we are so worried about death. Hence, we return to the one of the most perennial philosophical questions of all time: what is death and why are we so concern and worrisome about it?
In the lucid words of Robin Williams who played Patch Adams in the movie of the same title:
Death. To die. To expire. To pass on.
To perish.
To peg out. To push up daisies. To push up posies. To become extinct.
Curtains, deceased, demised, departed and defunct.
Dead as a doornail. Dead as a herring.
Dead as a mutton. Dead as nits.
The last breath. Paying a debt to nature. The big sleep.
God's way of saying, "Slow down."
To check out.
To shuffle off this mortal coil.
To head for the happy hunting ground.
To blink for an exceptionally long period of time.
To find oneself without breath.

Death comes to us all! That is one of the inexorable laws of life.

Yet, as Samuel Johnson argues: It matters not how a man dies, but how he lives.

Corollary to this indisputable wisdom of truth is the very fact that not all men really lives, in the same equal vein that not all men really dies!

Hence, my ultimate thesis is that, death and life is not reducible to physical extinction neither it is comparable to physiological demise. Rather, our existence is measurable by the quality of our lives, the greatness of our soul and content of our character! If we truly had lived a meaningful and well-rounded life, then the question and the manner of our deaths or end are immaterial. We didn’t truly die. We shall live forever!

Why?

It is because a good man doesn’t die nor fade away; they just rest for a while!
Again, as our writer and philosopher Julian Baggani assured us:
To want not to be dead is simply the logical concomitant of the desire to be alive and enjoy all that life offers us. It is the very fact that death is nothing, and life is sometimes wonderful something, that makes death matter to we who will never experience it.
In a metaphorical sense, we have to die once in a while; in order for us to know the real meaning and ultimate value and reason of life!
Happy Halloween, folks! Awwwwoooooohhhhhh!!!

Jose Mario Dolor De Vega

October 31, 2011

The Reproductive Health bill of the Philippines

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The RH bill, UST as bastion of intellectual myopia and religious fanatical dogmatism: A Discourse on Angels and Demons
This humble work is a response to the Editorial of the official student publication of the UST, the Varsitarian which is aptly entitled “RH bill, Ateneo, and La Salle: Of lemons and cowards” that appeared on September 30th.
In their opening salvo, said student publication stated that:
“Going against the grain, going against the tide, going against popularity surveys, the University of Santo Tomas has upheld the stand of the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of the Philippines (CBCP) condemning the Reproductive Health (RH) bill as an anti-poor, social-engineering measure that not only denigrates the natural law but also runs roughshod over maternal health, kowtows to the contraceptive imperialism of the West, and generally blames the poor and their alleged overpopulation for the ills of society, when it’s the Philippine state and its depredations—its mismanagement and appalling corruption—that are to blame.”
Reply:
The University of Santo Tomas indeed has upheld the dogmatic and fanatical stand of the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of the Philippines (CBCP) against the Reproductive Health (RH) bill by going against the will of the greater number of the citizens, by going against the grain of thoughts of the people, by questioning the result of the surveys and by legislating what is right and proper for the people themselves.
The CBCP and their lapdog, the Varsitarian has blamed everything in condemning the proposed bill ranging from being an anti-poor, a social engineering measure “that only denigrates the natural law but also runs roughshod over maternal health”, the bows down or “kowtows to the contraceptive imperialism of the West” and lastly, they claimed that it “generally blames the poor and their alleged overpopulation for the ills of society”.
I agree that “the Philippine state and its depredations---its mismanagement and appalling corruption” is one of the reasons why we have this problem in the first place. Yet, having said that, it is my contention that it would be completely preposterous to single-out the government is the sole culprit in this matter.
All of us are part of this menace and imbroglio. It follows that the solution or the antidote shall also come from us as members and living components of our society as a whole.
The Varsitarian claimed that the RH bill is anti-poor!
The question is: why it is so?
How could a proposed law that gives the people, especially those who are poor the chance and the choice to decide their lives, fates and happiness be anti-poor? How could a proposed bill that empower the people and enlighten them regarding their sexuality and reproductive rights be construed as being anti-poor?
It further asserted that the said proposed law is a social engineering measure that denigrates the natural law. I would like to know how could this bill be a social engineering scheme?
In what sense or way is this measure denigrating the natural law? When they speak of natural law; what do they mean? In what sense does the bill “runs roughshod over maternal health”? I cannot understand the basis of the charge! When they alleged that this bill is an act of bowing or giving in to the contraceptive imperialism of the West, what precisely do they mean by that? Does it mean that if a lover or a husband will wear or use a condom in making love to his lover or wife, said person or persons are being or becoming puppets of US Imperialism? What if the condom that the said person will use is not made in the West, but in the East; will the Varsitarian also accuse the same as kowtowing to the contraceptive imperialism of the East?
The duly constituted authorities in crafting this bill, in a sense, admitted that it is also to blame with regard to the sorry condition and the poor state of some of our people, because the government has forgotten one of its primary core duties and that is to educate the citizenry with regard to their sexuality and reproductive health rights and duties.
“UST is a Catholic institution. It is a pontifical institution—the second to be so named in world history. Nobody should question whether the University supports the Church’s stand as the Gospel of Christ is UST’s—and any Catholic institution’s—pillar and foundation.”
Reply:
This is a non-issue! They can keep their title to themselves, but the world will keep on proceeding to its business!
“Professors who are affiliated with UST must respect the stand of the University against the RH bill as they are part of an institution which is fundamentally bound with Catholic faith and teachings. If UST professors don’t agree with the stand of the CBCP, then they have a problem. The bishops are the successors of the Christ’s apostles and possess the Magisterium, the teaching authority of the Church.”
Reply:
This is a clear case of a gag order. The problem is that, it seems to me that the Varsitarian has forgotten that their institution is standing under the land of the Republic of the Philippines and being a democratic government, we have laws and statutes that governed our political and social lives.
Are they implying that their so-called mandatum or magisterium or whatever is more superior than the fundamental law of this land?
It is my fervent view that the duty of the people as citizens is far more superior than their religious beliefs.
“If faculty members of UST and other Catholic schools feel they need to invoke their academic freedom to make known their stand in conflict with the bishops regarding the RH bill, then they’re free to do so. But they must resign from UST. They must give up their Catholic academic affiliation. They must have the courage of their intellectual conviction. Upholding their conscience, they must respect the Church and her teachings.”
Reply:
This is a clear case of Bushism. It appears that what they are saying is that: either you are part of us or against us! This is so ruthless and egoistical to say the least.
“Recently, a number of professors from Ateneo de Manila University and De La Salle University have voiced their support for the RH bill. A close reading of the measure should show it promotes abortifacients.”
Reply:
Again, those creatures from the Varsitarian had issued another claim. The question here is: what is their basis that the RH bill is promoting abortifacients?
“A total of 192 Ateneo professors supported the RH bill in their Aug. 13 statement, arguing that the “RH bill can have a decided impact on alleviating pressing social concerns such as high maternal mortality ratio, the rise in teenage pregnancies, and the increase in the number of HIV/AIDS cases, among others.”
“Last Sept. 3, 45 La Salle professors joined the bandwagon, arguing that there is a need for artificial contraceptives as these can control the growth of the population and improve the quality of life.”
Reply:
First point: Did the Varsitarian answer squarely the categorical contention laid down by the 192 Ateneo professors in supporting the said bill? The answer is a deafening no!
Second point: is it the case that just because 45 La Salle professors also issued a statement supporting the position of the Ateneo professors in their support to the said bill; does it made them liable or guilty of bandwagon? It seems to me that the charge of the Varsitarian is a slippery slope.
Let us examine a specific example. I may agree to some policies and programs of President Obama on certain issues, such as the Universal Health Care yet I maintain my hate and disgust with regard to their imperialism and terrorism!
Can they also accuse me of being guilty of bandwagonism? I do not think so!
They accuse people and institutions of joining bandwagon when in fact those individuals and institutions has come out to the public and express their position despite the pressures and the dilemma involve.
Who is the one that is truly following the bandwagon?
“It’s quite shocking that Ateneo and La Salle professors should harbor naive and misguided thinking about health and social problems. How could they argue that an RH measure would be needed to lower maternal mortality when the Philippine government not too long ago had told the United Nations that it was on track to meet the Unesco millennium development goals by 2015, one of which was the lowering of maternal deaths? How could they argue that alleged high mortality must be checked by an RH measure when pregnancy complications are not in the Top 10 causes of women's deaths? How could they argue that contraceptives allegedly worth billions of pesos must be given to women to avert pregnancy risks when contraceptives have been known to cause cardiac problems, which are the No. 1 cause of death of Filipino women?
“How could Ateneo and La Salle professors dismiss the medically established dangerous side effects of contraceptives when they are not even physicians?”
Reply:
How could the people there at the Varsitarian also question the wisdom of the RH bill when they are also not physicians?
This is a stupid argument, if one could even construe it as one. So what those idiots are saying is that, let us take my personal example: I, as a philosophy professor cannot give my (legal, political, medical, mathematical, social, spiritual, etc.) opinion on such an important issue that gravely affects of community by virtue of the fact that I am not a lawyer, a politician, a doctor or a physician, a mathematician or engineer, a sociologist, a priest or imam or preacher, etc? That is not only ridiculous but utterly laughable.
Question:
What if I am a genius? A scholar who lives and stays at the library? A polymath? A Renaissance Man? Does it give me the absolute authority on all matters that affects the public interest and the general welfare?
This is an elitist and discriminatory pronouncement that will only comes from the true intellectual pretenders and genuine interlopers of the worst kind!
How about the ordinary people? Are they not entitled to express, to speak, to say, to convey and to register their own opinion and position with regard to this matter?
“In contrast, UST, which has the oldest and the foremost school of medicine in the Philippines and Southeast Asia, has always warned about the dangerous side effects of contraceptives. UST and her physicians surely know whereof they speak. They’re scientists and experts, unlike the Ateneo and La Salle professors who are intellectual pretenders and interlopers!”
Reply:
This is a clear case of the fallacy of argumentum ad hominem. The issue does not refer to the age of the institutions concerned with regard to these conflicting issues but with the quality and substance of the argument.
Yes, admittedly UST is the oldest school of medicine in this country, but to claim that it is the foremost school of medicine is plain blatant lie which has no basis in fact, probably only in the imagination of the writer.
The institution may be old, but it does not necessarily follows that it is reasonable, prudent and wise. There are so many people who are already old, yet remain a child up in the head; and there are also some individuals who despite the fact that they are still young are already old and responsible within!
“But what’s more appalling is that the Jesuit and Christian Brother administrations of Ateneo and La Salle didn’t reprimand their faculty members for openly defying the bishops. Ateneo said it respects the academic freedom of its professors: it had nothing to say about the intellectual dishonesty of its faculty members who are teaching in and receiving high salaries from a Catholic institution who however chose to bite the hand that feeds them all in the name of academic freedom.”
Reply:
What is wrong with this charge is that, the Varsitarian is trying to make the Ateneo and La Salle to follow their mediaeval method and dogmatic tradition. If they want to remain backward despite the modernity of times; then that is their problem, but to demand that the Ateneo and La Salle must follow them is plain dictatorial and utterly idiocy.
If in the UST, academic freedom is not being practice; then don’t compel others to follow their being irrelevant and preposterous. If they want to remain dinosaurs and extinct entity, then so be it; that is their right, but to impose their will to others is the heights of absurdity and ruthlessness!
The Varsitarian is appalled that the Jesuit and Christian Brother administrations Ateneo and La Salle did not reprimand their faculty members for openly defying the bishops. This is idiotic! Those professors did not defy the bishops; they simply registered their point to the people as a whole and made their stand to the public in a categorical manner. It does not mean that because a Catholic differs with the bishop or some teachings of the Church; said person is already defying the bishop or the church?
That is not only illogical, but completely idiotic!
“The Ateneo administration did not even clamp down on two theology professors who signed the pro-RH statement for violating the mandatum of the Catholic Church on theology professors to observe orthodoxy. Perhaps even worse, a Filipino Jesuit professor has been quoted by his student in the latter’s Facebook as scoffing at the alleged threat of the bishops to remove Ateneo’s Catholic title, saying that Ateneo in any case does not have the word “Catholic” appended to its name, so what’s there to lose? We’re pretty sure Saint Ignatius would have no confusion on where to put that jesuitic Jesuit—in Heaven or Hell?—in his famous Spiritual Exercises.”
Reply:
Again, the Varsitarian is asserting their mediaeval dictatorship!
“The Ateneo and La Salle professors therefore have been treated with kid gloves by the Jesuits and the Christian Brothers. Although they’re religious and members of Catholic orders, the Jesuits and Christian Brothers have failed to uphold orthodoxy and defend the Church. As far as the RH bill and support for it among their faculty are concerned, they’re lemons. And as far as the Pro-RH Ateneo and La Salle professors are concerned, they’re dishonest and don’t have the courage of their intellectual conviction. Contradicting the bishops and defending the RH bill, they have clung on to their faculty membership in Catholic institutions. They want to have their cake and eat it, too. They’re intellectual mercenaries, nothing more, nothing less.”
Reply:
The Varsitarian simply cannot understand that the Jesuits and the Christian Brothers are so far different from their Dominican brothers!
It’s a pity to me that they cannot discern that in Ateneo and La Salle, academic freedom and the right to religious tolerance is being practice, even though in a certain extent; unlike in their antique institution wherein the said right is a dead practice and completely unheard-of. What a shame!
To quote, Fr. Joaquin Bernas (My Stand on the RH bill, Philippine Daily Inquirer, May 22, 2011):
“I am very much aware of the fact that we live in a pluralist society where various religious groups have differing beliefs about the morality of artificial contraception. But freedom of religion means more than just the freedom to believe. It also means the freedom to act or not to act according to what one believes. Hence, the state should not prevent people from practicing responsible parenthood according to their religious belief nor may churchmen compel President Aquino, by whatever means, to prevent people from acting according to their religious belief. As the “Compendium on the Social Teaching of the Catholic Church” says, “Because of its historical and cultural ties to a nation, a religious community might be given special recognition on the part of the State. Such recognition must in no way create discrimination within the civil or social order for other religious groups” and “Those responsible for government are required to interpret the common good of their country not only according to the guidelines of the majority but also according to the effective good of all the members of the community, including the minority.”
Would the Dominican brothers or the Varsitarian also ask Fr. Bernas to leave the Ateneo and the church? Will they also accuse him of being an intellectual pretender and an interloper?
“It is quite gratifying that UST has cracked the whip and reminded its faculty members that they’re members of a Catholic institution and should toe the line.”
Reply:
So, what the Varsitarian is saying is that they are the only true Catholic and genuine believers of the church. Wow!
“UST Secretary General Fr. Winston Cabading also stated in his letter that “all faculty members of the University are to refrain from teaching or expressing their personal opinions within the bounds of the University, anything contrary to Catholic faith and morals.”
“As these professors have chosen to teach in a Catholic university, they must abide by its teachings and beliefs. In the first place, the same is demanded of students.
“Cabading emphasized that such reaffirmation is “to safeguard the right of the students to a solid Catholic education.””
Reply:
This is just an affirmation that in UST, the freedom of expression and academic freedom as guaranteed by the Constitution does not exist.
“Faculty members are “obliged to uphold and show deference to their teaching authority whenever the bishops of the Church have spoken on an issue and have taken a stand in behalf of the Church,” the Dominican Patristics scholar explained.
“Father Cabading has also clarified that professors, “if they are to speak outside the University of anything contrary to the position of the Church, they are to do so only as private individuals and never identify themselves as faculty members of the University.”
“Every person is given the “freedom” to choose but that freedom is not absolute.”
Reply:
If the “freedom to choose” is not absolute, then it follows that the powers of “Magisterium” of the church is also not absolute.
“Professors, who are opposed to the University’s—and the bishops’—stand, have always the choice of leaving the University’s portals if they adulterate the Catholic education that the student is entitled to with their personal preference or personal position. The student of a Catholic school must receive Catholic teachings without adulteration, without debasement.”
Reply:
Again, what they are saying is that, if you don’t believe in us, then get out! Wow! Such “civilized” and “reasonable” manner!
“But is Father Cabading’s declaration contrary to “academic freedom?””
Reply:
The question is absolutely misplaced by virtue of the irrefutable fact that the answer is a categorical yes!
“In the first place, academic freedom is not absolute. The Church does not say that a professor must always take the stand of the Church. In the first place, teachers and scholars should know that they’re applying for teaching positions in a sectarian institution.”
Reply:
To reiterate, if academic freedom is not absolute; in the same vein, the power of the church is also not absolute.
The church does not say that a professor must always take the stand of the church, but do so as a private citizen and outside the university premise; because if you do so within the university, we will ask you to leave?!
How could UST be a sectarian institution when it is such a fanatical entity?
“The professors, before they apply for a university position, must know the background of a university. In this case, a Catholic university, like Ateneo, La Salle and UST, has a purpose over and above academic freedoms: the nature and function of a Catholic school are inextricably tied up with the mandatum given by Christ to the Apostles before He ascended to Heaven: “Go ye therefore, and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them into the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit” (Douay-Rheims Bible).”
Reply:
I could detect a dangerous tendency here. It’s like the Varsitarian is more loyal to their religious beliefs than their duty and obligation as citizens of this Republic.
To reiterate my stand, it is my considered view and so hold, that responsible citizenship is far more superior than any religious beliefs.
“In short, over and above academic freedom, the Catholic university exists for evangelical purposes. By going against the stand of the bishops, the Ateneo and La Salle professors are saying they don’t agree with the Church’s mission. If so, they’re free to leave. In fact, they must leave. They must resign if they have the courage of their conviction.”
Reply:
Again, what the Varsitarian is saying is that: you don’t believe or subscribe or do not want to tow the line or follow them: then get out, leave and resign. Wow!
These, I believe is the third or the fourth time that those creatures from the Varsitarian has invoked this kind of contention. It appears to me that their “philosophy” is something like this:
Don’t talk, just believe.
Don’t question, just believe.
Don’t argue, just believe.
Why? The moment you ask and question me, I will doubt your religious commitment and later would ask you to resign and leave! Wow! This is a clear case of Damasoism!
To quote the categorical words of Timothy Leary:
"Throughout human history, as our species has faced the frightening, terrorizing fact that we do not know who we are, or where we are going in this ocean of chaos, it has been the authorities — the political, the religious, the educational authorities — who attempted to comfort us by giving us order, rules, regulations, informing — forming in our minds — their view of reality. To think for yourself you must question authority and learn how to put yourself in a state of vulnerable open-mindedness, chaotic, confused vulnerability to inform yourself."
“But alas, it seems intellectual honesty and moral conviction are in such short supply in Katipunan, Quezon City and Taft Avenue, Manila.”
Reply:
This last portion of the article from the Varsitarian is the worst of all in their barrage and attack against Ateneo and La Salle. This is a clear case of hitting below the belt. In basketball, this is not only a foul, but a deliberate, indeed a fragrant one.
Are they saying that it is only them who are from Espana, Manila that has all the monopoly of intellectual honesty and moral conviction?
Is so, then may I ask, are they brave enough to admit that the land where their so-called pontifical university is situated; is it a legitimate property that belongs to them or is it a property that was land grabbed by the Dominicans from the Filipinos?
They are accusing the Ateneo and La Salle professors as intellectual pretenders and interlopers; but are they aware that their religious order is the number one land grabber in the history of the Philippines? Are they aware of the numerous historical and indescribable human right violations, such as rape, robbery, discrimination, mass murder, etc. that was committed to the natives, to the Filipino people of the Dominican religious order?
Who is the true interloper?
Who is the genuine intellectual pretender?

Jose Mario Dolor De Vega
October 25, 2012




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