Selectivity

Again, people are sending us messages asking us to make a comment about the 17 year old kid who got shot by policemen in Caloocan the other day.

Well if you hadn't noticed, we seldom react abruptly to issues that are not clear to us. We do not echo and parrot the posts of others, we do not comment based on impulse, we do not say things just to gratify people, we do not jump the bandwagon, and no we do not pander to the crowd.

Things are just too sketchy right now for us to make an informed commentary. The cops say the kid was a runner. The parents are saying he's a good kid. The CCTV footage seems to trigger more questions than provide answers. The neighbors say Kian was pushing drugs. Complicated as things may seem, why don't we just sit back for a while and suspend judgment until a clearer picture comes out? And yes, there is equally no need for us to have an opinion on everything. A lot of times, keeping your mouth shut and learning to observe in silence could be the smartest singular thing to do.

Now this much we can say. People are taking advantage of this tragedy to once again further their own selfish agenda. The yellows are using it as yet another pretext to oust the President. The mainstream press are amplifying the noise to add to the chaos and confusion despite being curiously silent on a number of equally important issues - such as massive electoral fraud by the COMELEC-Smartmatic Syndicate and our exposes about the presumptuous FVP. Clergymen are being their usual hypocritical selves. And Leila De Lima just can't seem to stop yakking from her jail cell.

A lot of unsavory characters with dubious persuasions are just riding on this issue for the rare opportunity it presents. The opportunity to divert attention from matters of more serious import.

Should the cops go to jail if they are found guilty of overkill? By all means yes. If proven otherwise, should this 17 year old be turned into some kind of rallying symbol on account of his young age? No. If he is later proven to be the drug pusher the cops claim he is, then it gives us more reason to support the government's campaign against the scourge of illegal drugs. Crime does not choose its victims. Neither does it choose its perpetrators. Crimes committed by people regardless of skin color and age are crimes all the same. Whether a perpetrator is young or old doesn't make the crime any less criminal.

But must we be silent about other things just because of what happened to this kid? Must we be selective in our critique? Must everything else be forgotten and swept under the rug every time things like these happen? Must bigger crimes perpetrated by bigger culprits be forgiven?

You tell us.