The “rescue missions” recently undertaken by Philippine Embassy personnel in Kuwait to free Filipino household workers from the grip of their abusive employers are, from a Filipino standpoint, singularly laudable. Done quietly — and with the knowledge and cooperation of the host government — these proactive moves affirm the state’s responsibility to come to the … Read more
Nearly two years after Rodrigo Duterte was elected to the presidency, his signature approach to power has become all-too-familiar. It is one based on the methodical use of the coercive power of the state in order to intimidate dissenters, critics, skeptics, deviants, and noncooperative individuals who, in his perception, are not taking him seriously. It … Read more
One thing allegedly struck Mark Zuckerberg when he was building a prototype of Facebook as a Harvard University undergraduate student. This was the readiness with which people shared aspects of their private lives online in exchange for the chance to multiply their social connections. Such pervasive gullibility supposedly shocked the Facebook founder. Two billion Facebook … Read more