Friday, December 20, 2024
3:38 PM |
St. Luigi Patron Saint of Health Care as Human Right
Labels: health, human rights, humor, murder, people
[0] This is Where You Bite the Sandwich
Tuesday, July 12, 2016
1:06 PM |
A Quiet Despair
Now I totally get what life was like for ordinary Germans in Nazi Germany. You kinda know what's happening, but you feel so helpless about it. And worse, the friend you thought you knew is a member of the Black Shirts. And any dissent you offer is met with very vocal violence. Hitler started with the "undesirables," too -- people he thought had no place in polite society he just systematically eliminated, and everyone cheered him on. There is only a slight difference with their 1933 and our 2016. I could still post this in the name of freedom of expression. But for how long? The media is now just beginning to be discredited, with pronouncements like "there are many media people who are connected with the drug trade." It's a subtle charge with deeper repercussions. Soon, any dissenter -- even those without drug connection -- could just be anonymously picked up, killed, wrapped in tape, with a cardboard to proclaim the corpse: "Pusher 'to." And nobody can do anything about it. What's next? The ironic thing is that I know the President means well. But I'm not sure he knows how this framework he has created could easily escalate into something monstrous and uncontrollable. History is rife with the bloody reminders of mob rule. Why are we not learning from it?
Labels: current events, justice, life, murder, politics
[0] This is Where You Bite the Sandwich
Wednesday, January 06, 2016
6:27 AM |
Film Log 10: Irrational Man
A philosophy professor escapes from life by taking up a job teaching at a small and gossipy college. His demons follow him, and with that his reputation as a campus cad. That does not stop two women -- a colleague and a student -- from falling in love with him. And so he turns to the only thing he can do to make life matter: plot out a murder. That should make for a fascinating film but what an unexpectedly tedious film Woody Allen's
Irrational Man (2015) turned out to be. Maybe not tedious. Maybe the word boring, or repetitive, or unnecessary would suffice to describe this story that borrows the dilemma from Fyodor Dostoevsky's
Crime and Punishment and sprinkles it with a collegiate setting, a mouthful of philosophy, and well-treaded elements from
Crimes and Misdemeanors, Matchpoint, and all other Allen films where an older man falls for a younger woman. Of course, Allen is known to recycle many of his plot points, but this film seems to go the extra mile to seem irrelevant: it has none of the wit of Allen's best. You can tell where the story is headed from a mile away, and every exchange in this film feels forced, contrived, dispirited. Considering that this stars Joaquin Phoenix, Emma Stone, and Parker Posey, it's a waste of talent and a waste of an opportunity. I am a huge Woody Allen fan, and this feels like a huge let-down. ★★☆☆☆
Labels: film, murder, philosophy, review
[0] This is Where You Bite the Sandwich
Thursday, November 26, 2009
10:13 PM |
In Memory of Connie Jayme-Brizuela and the Other Victims of the Ampatuan Massacre
The massacre was spawned by a culture of impunity that has long been kept unchecked by a government that is now widely perceived by the international community to be tolerant or approving of extrajudicial killings, enforced disappearances and other human rights violations.
This culture of impunity imperils the exercise of the legal and media profession in the country and the defense of human rights and fundamental freedoms including the right to suffrage.
We can only surmise that, as a lawyer, Connie must have asserted herself as part of the negotiating panel to ease the tension or to remind their would-be attackers of the rule of law, if any such dialogue could have occurred at all. We are certain as well that Connie, having been a broadcaster herself, and her companions, had thought that a horde of media practitioners and the presence of women would deter any act of violence against their party.
But because of the culture of impunity in this country, these have become mere notions.
The unchecked rule of political warlords like the Ampatuans, army and police units like those controlled by President Arroyo’s mistahs, and warmongers in government like General Hermogenes Esperon and National Security Adviser Norberto Gonzales, make up a culture of tolerance for killings and contempt for the rule of law. Thus, this culture of impunity traces itself right back at the doorstep of Malacañang.
Atty. Connie Jayme-Brizuela had been at the forefront of the campaign against impunity. We are outraged that it has caught up with her through this tragic and gruesome death. We will miss her. She was a gentle but firm and determined human rights advocate. In her diminutive frame loomed large a feisty peoples’ lawyer and human rights defender undeterred by the rich and the powerful in Mindanao.
Labels: issues, murder, politics, rants
[0] This is Where You Bite the Sandwich
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