Off with their hands!
A long time ago, some colleagues of mine were discussing over lattes
about the "Hudud" and "Maliki judicial school of thought",
particularly on how criminals who commit offences such as theft etc.
would have their arm(s) amputated as punishment. Many of my friends
immediately denounced it as barbaric and inhumane. As for me, I though
that it was indeed cruel, but did however
serve certain functions if done properly and justly... in the physical
aspect it would not allow thieves to use their hands (now gone) to
steal, and in the psychological and social sense it would both deter
potential thieves due to the gravity of the consequences, and also
immediately allow identification and ostracization of the offender.
As such, I thought of how it can related to elections in the
Philippine context. I am always frustrated to see politicians spouting
countless promises to the voters during campaign periods. Promises that
would never happen. These not only insulted one's
intelligence if one did not buy the pitch, but at the same time spat at
concepts of honor and even basic decency for those who naively believed
the trapos (traditionally corrupt politicians). If amputation could be
used as punishment in the most mundane cases of petty theft, would it
not be more appropriate to apply it to those who not only blatantly
steal from the coffers of the country, but also rob the country's youth
of the future and the chance for better governance by better candidates?
However, in the real world, one cannot expect the amputation
of hands of these corrupt scoundrels to ever happen (notwithstanding
human rights issues)... the most corrupt of politicians are already
entrenched in the legal and judicial systems, they make the laws. Even
if they are caught breaking the law they personally know people in high (and low) places, and pay enough
people to become above it. Plus the fact that they can afford the big
time lawyers and firms that are also well-connected.
Hence, one may
resort to the only place where magical things can happen... No, not
Disneyland. The Internet. Here are some possibilities for those who wish
to visually express the "Maliki judicial school of thought" without
breaking the law (libel/slander/internet laws etc., which are mostly
made to protect the trapo scoundrels).
1) Obtain a picture of
your favorite trapo waving during campaign period. (You should own the
rights to the photo or use Wikimedia commons etc.)
2) Go through
the promises of your trapo during their election campaign and number
them from one to ten. Include these in the side of the picture as
captions.
3) For each promise that he/she failed to keep cut off one of his/her fingers (by Photoshop airbrush,silly)
4) Post and share that nice composite picture of the trapo waving his
mangled hand, symbollizing dishonesty and dishonor in Facebook, Twitter,
Tumbler etc.
Who knows, it may become a viral thing...
Hopefully two things may happen: The trapos stop promising bogus things;
or people realize how crummy their candidates are and stop voting for
them. A picture paints a thousand words, now start MSpainting and try
to make elections better.
Saturday, April 20, 2013
Off with their hands :-)
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