I have read a chronicle about RH Bill entitled “Why the RH bill is bad: the real truth behind the suppose truth about the RH bill”. It was written by Dustin Celestino. The style and way of how the article is written was really groovy. It flares me up at first. I thought it was serious and it was really about to wrap me up that the author is really against the RH Bill but as you continue to read it, he is about to change all his viewpoint into being a pro one. It was a humorous critique in a satirical form of the various fallacies that the church passes out as justifications for opposing the bill. The writer is making a parody out of the controversial issue. He is somewhat kind of using a technique that bombard the audience which he called “stupidity” until they agree out of frustration. The sarcasm used was simply to mock the argument of those opposing it.
Some of the fallacies he includes and the meaning behind it in his article are:” Students in public schools are well educated because the teacher to student ratio is very low,”--of course we are bombarded with the news of getting low education. “We are not overpopulated! Look at the mountains, the jungles, the caves and the ocean floor. There are no people there!”--The point here is not the geographical area, but the resources; we are short in resources compared to the number of population. “Furthermore, the role of women in society and the universe is to make babies. That’s why God made women. That’s their sole purpose in life.”—and this, who else will believe that women is made only for procreation? It is a big NO. A woman just like a man should have the rights to decide what and what not to do with their body. “Population decline is just bad for nations. Just look at the countries which have a declining population – Italy, Japan and Singapore. They’re in such a bad shape. The Philippines obviously has a better economy and has a higher literacy rate than these countries.”—vice versa! Of course those said countries are wealthy than us. “In my opinion, people should make as many babies as they can because the population is not a problem, If ever a person is not able to feed the 15 babies he made, it’s the governments fault, because it’s the governments sole responsibility to make sure that every Filipino baby is fed.”-- We are an important piece in the development of our government. Feeding 15 babies in a family is not of course the sole responsibility of the government. We hold responsible for every action we make and the government is just there to support us. “The RH Bill is wrong because the priest said so, and priests are never wrong”—in this mortal world, no one is perfect. Everyone can make mistake, even priest.
Well, back in my thoughts. Though it is sarcasm, it is a little too simplistic also of the stand of those who do not support the RH Bill. Even if unintended, it seems to imply that those who are of the opinion to oppose the RH bill did not arrive at their decision rationally. Of course it is also true that many Anti-RH bill advocates are, for the lack of a better word, passion-driven. Nevertheless, if you are a Pro-RH bill advocate who grounds her arguments on the rationality of supporting the RH bill, then isn't it also reasonable to differentiate from among the Anti-RH bill advocates those who arrived at their decision based on rationality too? Sarcasm is not a constructive way of making one's point in a discourse. It only aims to derogate the opinions of the other party. If you cannot respect the opinions of your opposition, no matter how much you disagree with them, by what standard can you demand them to respect yours?
I am obviously against the RH bill. I respect other opinions. In fact, I may even agree with them. This is because I do support population control, social justice, universal health care and other goods the Bill claims to uphold. But what I am against is the bill itself, in its form. It is still insufficiently clear as to how it shall be implemented with efficiency while still maintaining the highest ethical standards acceptable. I believe that while this issue remain unaddressed, I cannot as a student and as a citizen, conscientiously support the RH Bill.
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