Live data from Hacker News

Body count rises as Philippines president calls for drug addicts to be killed

asiancorrespondent.com

71–80 of 353 posts

Re: Body count rises as Philippines president calls for drug addicts to be killed

#71

As usual, mostly western commentators sitting on their high horses pointing and pontificating with no idea of local context or understanding. First of all, Duterte was elected overwhelmingly with a clear mandate of using brute violence to clear out drug dealers. He was clear about it and he is delivering on that mandate. I have to accept, he has made a PR error by not calling them terrorists. At which point, he will…

>But hey.. it's what life it.

Once you start arguing like this, any political stance is valid as long as your group is not the one being killed.

Re: Body count rises as Philippines president calls for drug addicts to be killed

#72
post #52

As usual, mostly western commentators sitting on their high horses pointing and pontificating with no idea of local context or understanding. First of all, Duterte was elected overwhelmingly with a clear mandate of using brute violence to clear out drug dealers. He was clear about it and he is delivering on that mandate. I have to accept, he has made a PR error by not calling them terrorists. At which point, he will…

Hitler was also democratically elected. What will happen in the Philippines now is that anyone who any grudge with anyone will just kill that person and label him a drug dealer.

So like the U.S. drone regime in the Middle East.

Re: Body count rises as Philippines president calls for drug addicts to be killed

#73

What an idiot. The highest government official calling for extra-judicial killing of citizens should lead to a single indictment. What's really disturbing is that this guy got voted in. 30 people in 4 days.

well you're right, but as a side note multiple US presidents have authorized target killings in an undeclared war in countrys that are not part of this "war" with civil casualties .... and both got reelected .... I'm from germany, we're helping because our government does nothing in stopping the use of Rammstein Airbase as drone satellite uplink. So we are also partly responsible. :( food for thought

I think nobody in this thread thought the US would be somehow better. But in opposite to civilized countries this approach sounds really extreme.

Re: Body count rises as Philippines president calls for drug addicts to be killed

#74

What an idiot. The highest government official calling for extra-judicial killing of citizens should lead to a single indictment. What's really disturbing is that this guy got voted in. 30 people in 4 days.

America killed 1,033,000 in iraq war. nobody give a shit. wow.

Re: Body count rises as Philippines president calls for drug addicts to be killed

#75

As usual, mostly western commentators sitting on their high horses pointing and pontificating with no idea of local context or understanding. First of all, Duterte was elected overwhelmingly with a clear mandate of using brute violence to clear out drug dealers. He was clear about it and he is delivering on that mandate. I have to accept, he has made a PR error by not calling them terrorists. At which point, he will…

> The fact is, you do not get radical progress pandering to western styled hypocritical democracy or "human rights". It the reality. A harsh one.

So what's the progress towards then? A totalitarian dictatorship that murders people? That's hardly progress of any sort. I'm quite happy to stay on my high horse if that means arguing for the rule of law and basic decency, both things which Duterte has thrown out the window in his quest to rid society of 'problems' by getting vigilantes to murder people.

Hating on democracy and human rights because they're 'Western' (and usually by extension 'Imperial') really annoys me. It's a stupid, petty argument that is continuously peddled by figures in non-Western countries as a justification for doing whatever they like.

Re: Body count rises as Philippines president calls for drug addicts to be killed

#76
post #49

An attempt to kill a whole subset of the population, this is genocide, isn't it? It might be appropriate to refer this lovely gentleman to the International Criminal Court.

Sadly not. Even what the nazis did to homosexuals didn't qualify as genocide because the definition doesn't include sexual orientation (just ethnicity, religion and a few other things) -- no matter that they were targeted as an entire class of people to be exterminated.

Re: Body count rises as Philippines president calls for drug addicts to be killed

#77
post #60
post #52

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Hitler was also democratically elected. What will happen in the Philippines now is that anyone who any grudge with anyone will just kill that person and label him a drug dealer.

Labeling him a drug dealer won't be easy because its difficult to prove that he dealt drugs. The logical thing to do would be to label your victim a drug user instead. Far easier to simply plant some drugs in their house, kill them and collect your medal for saving society.

> Far easier to simply plant some drugs in their house

Isn't the normal procedure to just sprinkle some crack over their body?

Re: Body count rises as Philippines president calls for drug addicts to be killed

#78
post #16

> During the campaign, Duterte said 100,000 people would die in his crackdown, with so many dead bodies dumped in Manila Bay that fish there would grow fat from feeding on them. This isn't a joke. This is real. What a sick bastard.

Well it less than Obama.

Re: Body count rises as Philippines president calls for drug addicts to be killed

#79

As usual, mostly western commentators sitting on their high horses pointing and pontificating with no idea of local context or understanding. First of all, Duterte was elected overwhelmingly with a clear mandate of using brute violence to clear out drug dealers. He was clear about it and he is delivering on that mandate. I have to accept, he has made a PR error by not calling them terrorists. At which point, he will…

> As usual, mostly western commentators sitting on their high horses pointing and pontificating with no idea of local context or understanding.

Or maybe they do understand but simply do not agree with either the methods or the goal.

> First of all, Duterte was elected overwhelmingly with a clear mandate of using brute violence to clear out drug dealers.

This goes well beyond drug dealers (and even then it is not the way).

> He was clear about it and he is delivering on that mandate.

Could not care less about whether or not he was clear about it. Wrong is still wrong.

> He was clear about it and he is delivering on that mandate. I have to accept, he has made a PR error by not calling them terrorists.

Hard to tell if you're sarcastic or not, going on the assumption that you're not.

> The fact is, you do not get radical progress pandering to western styled hypocritical democracy or "human rights".

No, you'll get progress by giving everybody a license to go out and kill anybody they don't like on a pretext. That's going to make life so much better.

> It's the reality. A harsh one. Of course, I will not be so "logical" if I happen to be at the receiving end of such needed reform. But hey.. it's what life is.

It need not be. And if you're already hedging your position then I guess you too understand that this is not a solution, only more trouble.

> I am speaking like a man living in a country where some not so nice things will be needed to be done if we are going to ever progress.

Mass murder of citizens is never 'progress'. Especially not if the context is a corrupt police force that makes other avenues less likely to work. Then you go and fix the police force, you don't hand out a 'license to kill' to the population at large.

Re: Body count rises as Philippines president calls for drug addicts to be killed

#80

Earlier quoted context omitted.

well you're right, but as a side note multiple US presidents have authorized target killings in an undeclared war in countrys that are not part of this "war" with civil casualties .... and both got reelected .... I'm from germany, we're helping because our government does nothing in stopping the use of Rammstein Airbase as drone satellite uplink. So we are also partly responsible. :( food for thought

People are not responsible for those they didn't vote for. I know, must be a German thing, but how am I responsible for those sick bastards I disagree with, even if most of the others agree? My persuasion powers are limited.

I think thats really a german thing. Swiss media regularly makes fun of you because your society feels so disconnected to the politics.

IMO if the majority of the society does not agree, it is also their fault if they still let it happen. Its (some kind of) democracy after all.

Post reply on HN