Law Is Law

The recent news about the shutdown of prominent, and at this point, nearly legendary Philippine media company ABS-CBN because of its broadcasting franchise having expired (or, depending on who you ask, having been allowed to lapse) sparked a firestorm of controversy, with debates raging— mostly online, because of the COVID-19 quarantine— between those who supported the shutdown and those who opposed it.

As far as I can tell, at least on social media, those who support the network’s shutdown seem to coincide for the most part with those who support the current President Rodrigo Duterte and his administration. For quite some time now, they’d tagged the network as “ABias-CBN,” accusing it of unfair coverage, criticism, and “fake news” about the President.

On the other hand, those who oppose it seem to coincide largely with those who also oppose and criticize the President, viewing the shutdown as a dangerous and unconscionable assault on democracy and the freedom of the press.

In the interest of full disclosure, I’ll state very clearly, as I have from the start, that for the most part, I tend to fall on the side critical of the current President’s policies. However, this post isn’t about that.

As I kept an eye on the discussions, a certain phrase that the shutdown’s supporters kept repeating, with variations every now and then, stood out to me.

Just like our post on “build bridges, not walls,” this post won’t primarily be about the recent controversy, though it might touch on it indirectly. Instead, my primary aim is to offer a reflection on this interesting phrase (to me, at least) and its possible implications, and what it means for law to be law.

The News from Paris (poem)

The tributes pile high from page to page
to her, glorious in every age—
and yet she lies silent, in ruin still
after fire and flame had eaten their fill.

The censures ring out line by line
crying punishment levied by God or time—
yet love and faith live on as best they could
amid rubble, glass, charred stone and wood.

Now Notre-Dame stands, as if for the sake
of half-remembered lessons and cold hot takes
in twisted litanies and internet games
where noble and commoner once loved her name.

~~~~~

Also on DeviantArt.

Notre-Dame de Paris—burned April 2019.

Some years back, my parents were able to attend Christmas Eve Mass at Notre-Dame Cathedral 🙂 I hope to see it someday still.

Some rights reserved. This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 3.0 License.

 

The Robin Theory

Some years ago, I came across this meme on 9Gag.

From WeKnowMemes.com

This was way, way back when 9Gag was everyone’s introduction to Internet culture, but since then I’d seen it in other forms, on places like Tumblr or my Facebook news feed. To me, it was like the image macro version of one of those sentimental Thought Catalog articles floating around on the Internet, so I never really gave it much thought.

Memes work because they are snappy, quick, and quickly-digested. One of my favorite examples is how the phrase “I sexually identify as an Apache attack helicopter” satirizes some of the discourse popping up on identity politics and gender issues. But in order to work, the audience needs to be in the loop to get it. Certainly the 2016 Hillary Clinton campaign and its allies weren’t in the loop when they went after a green cartoon frog on the Internet and lost (psh, normies) but that’s just how memes work. And in hindsight, that might be why I didn’t get it.

So when it popped up again years later, when I was a bit older, more stressed, and with a “Robin” of my own, something clicked for me. And I wondered, “What had I missed before? What could this meme — this ‘Robin’ thing — tell me?”

The Concealed Word and the Sought-Out Speech

After taking a bit of a break from her Youtube channel, Laci Green, one of the most prominent faces of feminism on the Internet, uploaded a video entitled “TAKING THE RED PILL?” It caused a bit of a stir.

She talked a little about herself, and about how, despite her ascended status as a feminist meme, she wasn’t quite the ideologue that people made her out to be, and mentioned that she’d been “down the rabbit hole” looking into arguments from critics of feminism and social justice ideology and even found herself agreeing with some of them. She also spoke about her willingness to engage the “other side” in debates and discussions and, using the controversy over an article published in the philosophy journal Hypatia to illustrate, criticized the silencing of discussion and dissent in some circles of the feminist/social justice movement.

For her video, she received both (guarded) praise and criticism. On “her side” she was criticized for giving a voice and lending legitimacy to anti-feminists, while some critics of feminism and social justice ideology floated the theory of a disingenuous and cynical cash-grab.

Personally, I’d like to see what happens next, because thinking and ideas can be “dangerous” and infectious, especially for someone sincere in stepping into unfamiliar shoes and seeing with unfamiliar eyes 🙂 But her video and the dramatic response to it interested me, living in a country where a vocal supporter of the current administration who’d previously questioned and attacked the value of fundamental rights was given an important government post. In her video, Ms. Green had alluded to free speech and inquiry, so I wanted to look into the purpose of free speech, and why some people might think that certain ideas don’t deserve a voice and ought to be suppressed.

The Meaning of Forever

Walang forever– there is no “forever,” not for people in relationships.

I’ve heard this phrase many, many times before, hurled like an anarchist bomb at couples or at people who might be interested in beginning a romantic relationship. Sometimes it isn’t malicious or mean-spirited; most of the time, it’s just the joke tinged with bitterness which rises out of superficial relationships that eventually implode, ending in break-ups and divorces and nasty court battles. All jokes are grounded in reality– in this case, the joke is grounded on the reality of relationships which are a joke.

Though the joke might have something to stand on, the problem with anarchist bombs is that they explode. And not only do they kill the emperor, they also blow up the carriage, the footmen, and the innocent bystanders, too. It might hold some grain of truth, but is that truth really the whole picture, or we missing the rest of it and risking ourselves?

Wala ba talagang forever? Is there really no such thing?

Freedom and Discipline

Back in June, I came across an interesting Facebook post by Ms. Mocha Uson, the performer better known on that corner of the Interwebs as “Mocha Uson Blog,” who caused– and continues to cause– some stir for her vocal and enthusiastic support for the man who eventually took the presidency, Mr. Rodrigo Duterte. In her post, Ms. Uson sets down some of her views on freedom and discipline.

Now, I’ve found that artists are almost always people of great faith. Sometimes they have faith in God, or in some form of spiritual belief, but most often they have faith in ideas– for instance, in the very human idea that the things we think and say bear any relation at all to reality 🙂 But the issue here isn’t with Ms. Uson, but rather, with how we might have been ill-used and misled by her post. Though they may seem opposed to each other, freedom and discipline aren’t opposites, and the notion that they are seems too narrow and limited to teach us anything. I would say, instead,

• that both freedom and discipline are necessary;
• that of the two, freedom takes primacy of place; and
• that discipline, properly understood, will keep us free.

Always–A “Castle” Tribute

Spoilers ahead! 🙂

On Monday, 16 May 2016, the ABC crime comedy-drama Castle aired its series finale in the U.S.

Truth be told, story-wise, its last season didn’t always (no pun intended) have the quality of the previous ones, and it felt rushed and rough at times. Still, watching that closing scene, those last few moments mystery writer Richard Castle (Nathan Fillion) and his wife, NYPD Captain Kate Beckett (Stana Katic) shared onscreen was bittersweet for me.

I followed the series since 2009, when it came out, and it became a big part of my life in the years since. I remember going through articles and posts talking about it; I was already familiar with fanfiction at the time, but the series’ fan community helped me realize why fan works existed; I made a friend and grew closer to another one because of it. And at one point, I used scene from an episode (“The Blue Butterfly,” S4 E14) to describe an experience of love.

I was already a fan of the mystery genre when Castle came out. I became interested in it because I loved the genre; I stayed because I came to love the series, too.

Putting the ‘Free’ in Free Speech

Did somebody say “freedom”?

I’ve been thinking a lot about freedom of speech recently.

Many recent stories– such as those linked on online spaces such as the KotakuInAction subreddit— have made me realize that in democratic societies, the right of free speech is one of the most important yet most invisible rights a person can enjoy.

The Demagogue from Down South

This piece was mostly brought on by a sense of apprehension and trepidation on my part. What I say here might not be completely warranted, but I personally feel better writing it down.

As I write this, it is February, 2016. Come May, my country will hold its national elections.

The Moral Agency of Jessica Jones

Warning: Spoilers

Full disclosure: before Marvel announced the Netflix series Jessica Jones, with season one slated for a November 2015 release (they were still referring to it as A.K.A. Jessica Jones at the time), I’d never heard of the character before. I was drawn to it because it sounded like an interesting concept: a former superhero turned private detective. The last place I’d expect to find a superhero would be in a car, camera in hand, staking out a seedy motel where a cheating spouse is meeting her lover.

Also, Krysten Ritter was in it, playing the eponymous heroine. I thought she did a really good job in the series and movie Veronica Mars (often compared to this series) and enjoyed much of her other work as well. Seeing her in this series has only made me admire her even more.

Much of the material written online about season one have looked at it through a feminist point of view: the mind-controlling Kilgrave (David Tennant) is the patriarchy, and Jessica its victim. This is almost inevitable in this day and age. I’m not seeking to discredit the feminist point of view or say that it’s invalid, but I will say that it’s not the only possible lens through which to view it. In fact, I’m sure most would agree that it’s not a very complete way of looking at things. However, neither will I pretend that what I say here will be more “complete” than what others have said: I simply want to present my own view, which can be summarized in one sentence: