Sharing what’s weighing on my mind.
may naponood ako ww2 documentary recently and they interviewed a lady survivor of the concentration camps. She told the story of regular Wehrmacht soldiers separating her from her siblings and parents when she was little and seeing their shoes and luggage beside a pile of burnt bodies later amongst a long list of indescribable atrocities.
When asked if she could share what she learned if any, it was that ‘the only thing cruelty needs is permission.’
It did not impact me at the time but what she was saying was this – the only thing murderers need is to be told it’s ok to kill. This explains why ordinary Germans at the time – Teachers, Farmers, Regular people off the street once enlisted were able to carry out murders on thousands of non militant civilians from babies to elderly with zero guilt. They don’t need to have had childhood trauma. They don’t need to ‘feel empty inside’ or some similar internal pain that would explain bloodlust. They don’t need to have experienced some religious or otherwise spiritual emergence.
All they needed was the top guy to tell them it’s ok. Hence:
Duterte: “Ako ang bahala sa inyo. I will take responsibility for you. Lahat na gawin ninyo sa utos ko, akin iyan, ako ang magpakulong.”
JD Vance: “(you are) protected by absolute immunity. (you) cannot be prosecuted for actions taken during federal duties.”
THIS is why we need laws. THIS is why laws need to be extra and almost excessively discussed and crafted over and over, and THIS is why extra care is needed when implementing them as well.
Because apparently it’s so easy to give people the agency to take another life. Sabihan mo lang na ‘ako bahala sa yo’ ok na yun. Sure there will be ones with the moral voice enough to say no, but I know people personally who will not hesiate to do exactly that if it would have no consequences.
And if you can take a life easily, everything else below that should be easy. Would it make sense if a person is willing to kill but not steal? Of course not. Once you are allowed the worst of crimes you are now open to a vast array of criminal activities that can keep you busy for the rest of your life.