No day goes by without me thinking of my former teacher in the US, who is now my friend.  She had tremendous impacts on me both philosophically and my personal life which stands on Philosophy.  One of the classes she teaches is Non-Violent Resistance Class, and I asked a question on what is at the heart of her class.  In response she wrote to me, which I want to share with all the group members;

“The real difficult question to answer is how compassion, forgiveness, love and the greater will can be taught to others.  It is one thing to talk about these qualities and to read about them, but it’s quite another thing altogether to actually get people to start regularly living their lives in a more compassionate, loving, and forgiving manner.”

In Topeka, Kansas, there is a small group of people – almost all of its entire clans are the family members of Pastor Fred Phelps – organized Westboro Baptist Church.  This Church is by no means no ordinary church.  Anti-Defamation League monitors their activities and Southern Poverty Law Center lists them as one of the hate groups: promoting defamation and hatred.  Talk to anyone who knows a bit of them; and they will tell you the same story: they are insane far beyond redemption.

Anybody with decent knowledge in the biblical scriptures can construct arguments in a way that is convenient to him or her.  I certainly can do that if I want to.  They do just the same but to the point of extreme.  “Thank God for IED,” “Thank God for 911,” “Thank God for Tsunami,” “Thank God for War” and the list goes on endlessly.  According to them, every catastrophe, disasters, war, etc. are all wraths of God.  God is raging over the people who have departed from the Words of God so far to the point that everyone, except Westboro Baptist Church members, go to hell.  The members never pray for others who have, to their eyes, fell out of the Words of God, and they never associate themselves with anyone else.  BBC did a documentary of them entitled “The Most Hated Family in America” available for you to view on youtube.

The vaunted self-anointed prophets of ‘god’ go on with unimaginably insane protests throughout the US.  They even attempted to go to UK, but they were banned from entering UK.  All of us, except them, are the fallen sons and daughters of Adam who are doomed to go to hell.  Here is a quote from the spokesperson of Westboro Baptist Church – Shirley Phelps Roper.  “I feel good about the mourning this nation that wrath of god is pouring out on their heads because they will not obey.  Lord is punishing this nation by the weapon of his choice sending your children (fallen soldiers) home dead…  There are no innocent people.  Thank God for 911, Thank God for dead soldiers…”  In short, all the disasters are attributed to God’s punishment for (America’s) tolerance to gay people, adultery, idolatry, etc.

In my view, and in many others’, they are simply fanatics, nuts, insane, insensitive and no room for any kind word.  What is relevant here is the use of religion in a manner that is consistent to the fundamental basis of the religion.  They (Westboro Baptist Church) advocates love and tolerance, but their actions are the direct opposite: showing outward hatred and intolerance, and I cannot think of any decent person who can say that is love at all.  What is relevant here is the gap between peaceful and loving nature of religion and what people do by using religion to show outward hatred and intolerance.

Fortunately not to the point of Westboro Baptist Church, but there are concerning level of intolerance and hatred among the Philippines as well as in any part of the world.  I often recite three words: compassion, love and forgiveness for one reason: they are the fundamental principles by which all people beyond the differences of races, sexual orientations, beliefs and all others can be united into one harmonious society of humankind.  Unfortunately many people fail to see it that way, and many fail to practice the opposite to what binds all of us together; creating disharmony among us, creating pain among us that continue to consume all of us in sorrow.

People these days use the expressions like “shame on you” or “go to hell.”  Most certainly, as I hope, they probably do not literally mean by what they say.  They probably just expressing their dissatisfactions.  While there certainly is a room to be concerned of the levels of dissatisfactions that average people experience and express, the real concerns are on socio-political arena.  To put it in a different perspective, anyone who has seen the activities of Westboro Baptist Church would say they are insane, but the clans of Westboro Bastist Church certainly do not see it that way for they are so tightly guarded within their own shell and living in their own world.  I am not saying we are like them, but to some extent, we may perhaps be like them in one way or another.  Just for a second, consider yourself outside the box you are in and give yourself a second look.  Would you still be able to say that we are peaceful and loving people?  This is one question everyone should ponder on, and try to answer.

Perhaps I should elaborate more, but I suppose there is a better way.  See it for yourself and think for yourself.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gSFrNOnvtls

I always receive massive criticisms for encouraging people to give a second look to those who people openly condemn.  In supporting Dr. Kho, Jr., someone addressed me as “Mrs. Irene Kho” and “Mike Piranha.”  (Personally I would not mind “Piranha”)  In addressing equality among men and women, I received cold criticisms from feminists that I as a man have no right to speak to them or for them.  When I tried to share my knowledge about Gender Studies among gay people and particularly address the issues within gay communities such as HIV/AIDS, racism and some other forms of discriminations that exist, someone told me my writings are dangerous.  When I tried to encourage people in nightlife and adult entertainment to find ways to move on to better and more secure life by educating themselves, people accuse me for being a pure pervert.  When I tried to address importance on improving correctional facility programs, people treat me as if I were a part of crimes.  I am not scared of any of these misconceptions and misunderstandings I receive even though I find them unfair provocations.  I will still go on no matter what.

You can address me in whatever way you want.  I do not break apart that easily.  What is so derogatory and dangerous to a society is not a critical examination into life, but staying and hiding in its own shell refusing to see the problems and blindfolding eyes for the improvements in the future.  I am criticizing the cultural attitudes that persistently deny of critical examinations into its own culture and refusing to see the progress and better future, and that is why I make critical examinations.  Not to the point of Calvinism, but I address importance of re-realizing what compassion, love and forgiveness can bring to all of us who have sander and divine ourselves endlessly.  If you say I am giving a lecture, fine: your point has been noted.  I do not have anything new to add.

I will make it absolutely clear that my primary purpose behind founding this
group was my ethical response to the socio-political reactions to the scandal.
I also have sympathy towards those who are affected by the scandal. For the
most part, this group has been silent on issues on women or rather: I have been
silent on those issues. I had my own reasons. What goes on between two
consenting individuals, at least to me, is none of my business, but purely
theirs; and if they have to quarrel over what happened; that is their business.
I also know that it is not a good idea to speak ill of anyone’s past partners,
so I refrained from making personal comments on particular women involved in the
scandals. I stick with what I can say within the framework of what is in the
public sphere.

I learned from the news that Dr. Kho, Jr. joined the movement to fight against
violence against women, which some did find appropriate. In this manuscript, I
will only respond to their reaction; and this is not about Dr. Kho, Jr. or
whoever found him inappropriate to join such a movement.

Their opposition to Dr. Kho, Jr. is duly noted; and I do respect their opinion
of dissatisfaction. Nonetheless, I find their opposition to Dr. Kho, Jr. to be
highly questionable. According to them, Dr. Kho, Jr. should not be idolized by
many. Granted that is their view, but that is not enough of a ground to exclude
him from joining the movement to fight against the violence against women. So
far as I know, he is not committing violence against women at this present
moment, and regardless of his reasons for joining the move to fight for women’s
rights, his action should be noted and welcomed by those who fight against
violence against women. It is apparent that they unfortunately do not see it
that way; and they simply took Dr. Kho, Jr. as their threat to them. In my
view, taking him or his decision to fight against violence against women is
really violence against women committed by those who claim that they fight
against violence against women; or least to say is that they are not
contributing to what they try to achieve.

From time to time, I do get negative comments from feminists. In a nutshell,
they say that I cannot speak for women since I am not a woman. If that logic
were to apply, I could easily return `fire’ and say they cannot speak for men
since they are not men. This path only goes so far as to having endless and
unsophisticated quarrel. It would be an endless contrast between the line of
“Women are from Venus and Men are from Mars.” As I have repeated many times,
men or women are just as good or bad as their words and deeds are. I understand
the distinctions but I do not tolerate discriminations or male-female
inequalities.

Here is a crash course to feminism. In the past, there was the first-wave
feminism (to claim the suffrage or rights to vote), the second-wave feminism (to
claim socio-political equality between men and women, and its views somewhat
coin with the idea that Women are from Venus and Men are from Mars: or they have
very fixed views on what women are) and the third-wave feminism. The third-wave
feminism is a counter position, in a way, to the second wave-feminism. It is
difficult to articulate it in this manuscript but suffice it to say that the
second-wave feminism has a fixed identity on women and the third-wave feminism
challenges the position of a fixed identity which the second-wave feminism
takes. (If you know anything from Structuralism to Post-Modernism, the second
wave is more towards structuralism and the third wave is really post-modern.)
Please note that the description above is a rough schematic from American
contexts. First-wave is now complete and no longer around since women can vote
now. The second-wave, strictly speaking, is not completely over, but it was a
movement from 60s through 70s.

Concerning the movements that the women’s rights groups here in the Philippines
are making, they are inclined towards the second-wave feminism. They are
politically charged and they are concerned on socio-political equality among
women, and finally the one that is pertinent to my manuscript: their persistent
theoretical attempts to center pornography as the central cause of the violence
against women and women’s oppressions.

Let me put it into the context of the scandal. The women who accuse Dr. Kho,
Jr. as a perpetrator of a violence against women is basing their view
unanimously on the position that pornography `is’ a violence against women.
They confuse their words to their advantage and this is what they do.

In response to pornography, they say it is “violence” against women. In this
case, what they mean by `violence’ is clearly pornography; and that is all.
However when they generally speak of `violence,’ they are referring to domestic
violence that takes places every day and night. Theoretically, they include
pornography as a form of many types of violence committed against women. So
long as their definition is concerned, that is fine; but when they respond to
Dr. Kho, Jr., they confuse the usage of the word `violence.’ The fundamental
problem is that by confusing the word `violence,’ they are tactically attaching
the label of, say, “a perpetrator of crimes of all types of violence against
women” to the image of Dr. Kho, Jr. THIS IS THE SERIOUS PROBLEM.

If Dr. Kho, Jr. is being accused for being a pornographer, and if they insist
that pornography is violence to women, only to that extent, their assertion has
a solid ground even though I strongly protest such a move. However the women’s
rights movements that oppose Dr. Kho, Jr. do not just stop there. They make him
as the ultimate symbol of all the crimes and violence committed against women.
Unless I am seriously mistaken, Dr. Kho, Jr. never committed non-pornographic
crimes like physical abuse towards any woman. I am not sure if they are doing
that intentionally or unintentionally, (while I have this gut instinct that they
do it unknowingly due to lack of their critical analyses on themselves), that is
what they are doing.

There is an (ill-taken) advantage to those who tactically confuse the word
`violence.’ Now I have to mention Ms. Katrina Halili as the perfect example.
Before I proceed, I would like to remind all the readers that I do have sympathy
for everyone including Ms. Halili. On one hand, Dr. Kho, Jr. was attached a
label of a pornographer and a perpetrator of all forms of violence against
women; and on the other hand, Ms. Halili, by the virtue of the logic, becomes
the victim of pornography and she will also be seen as the victim of all forms
of violence against women. To the eye of the women’s rights movements, Ms.
Halili is an ultimate symbol who gets all the sympathies, while all the hatred
is directed towards Dr. Kho, Jr. Most of the women’s rights advocates in the
Philippines have been going through this trend, and certainly Cosmopolitan
Magazine took advantage of this situation.

Granted that pornography may be violence against women, as they insist, I can
understand how they perceive Ms. Halili as the victim of it, but to elevate her
status more than a victim of pornography does not seem appropriate. Did she get
hit? She certainly did not. After all, if immorality alone is the sole basis
for accusing Dr. Kho, Jr., it is only fair to accuse Ms. Halili for knowingly
participating in infidelity for it is also considered immoral. It takes two to
tango. Since I believe in equality between men and women to the full extent, a
possible claim like: “because I was so in love” and “because I am a woman
(implying a woman is lesser than a man)” sorts of excuses to justify infidelity,
at least to me, cheapens and denigrates women’s status. At least to this end, I
do not find Ms. Halili as a suitable symbol for women’s rights movements. It is
also fair to point out the infidelity on Dr. Kho, Jr. as well. That is to be
fair.

I can imagine many women marching up against me for my critical tone towards
women’s rights movements, but like I said before I believe in equality between
men and women to the full extent; and I do not see how my view to take both
sexes as equals go against women’s rights movements. I understand that there
are many fields in which inequalities exist for both men and women; and to claim
equality comes with responsibilities. If women are to step up and claim
equality with men, they cannot get away with responsibilities that come with
equality. If women claim for equality without courageously taking
responsibilities that come with equality, then in that case, I wonder if there
can be any equality to be achieved on women; and women would forever remain
inferior to men. I say the same thing to men. One politician said that women’s
greatest weapon against men is their tears they cry. I challenge everyone,
especially women, to think what that means in the light of equality they wish to
achieve.

Earlier I said that the second-wave feminism centers pornography as the center
of violence against women. What that really means is that their entire
theoretical framework operates on a response to violence against women, which is
ultimately symbolized in pornography. This is why women who take the
second-wave feminism tradition are part of “women against pornography”
movements. In a way, they require the existence of violence against the women
as a fuel to propel their movements. The most important point is that they take
a fixed view that pornography is violence against women; and this is where
FEMINIST SEX WAR begins.

The second-wave feminists can be considered anti-pornography feminists or sex
conservative feminists. Many Filipino women, I believe, fall under this
category. There is a variation of the third-wave feminism, which is called
“pro-sex feminism,” “sex radical feminism,” or “sex liberal feminism.”
According to the sex conservative feminism, pornography is inherently violence
against women. They fix the status of pornography is relation to women as
violence against women. However according to the sex liberal feminism, that is
not the case. They argue that fixing pornography at a position of violence
against women is a form of oppression against women. In other words, for sex
liberal feminists, pornography is a form of freedom of expression. They also
take that sex conservative feminism oppresses the expressions that women can
make to such an extent that by placing pornography as inherent violence against
women, it confines women’s expressions, and arbitrarily set up norm for women
as to what they should be and can be (or what they should not do or what they
cannot do); hence an oppression generated by women against women. Their
differences in approaches towards pornography sharply divided feminism. It
should be reminded that I am citing the words coming from women. It is women
themselves who divide on this issue. This is what is known as “feminist sex
wars.”

So long as the theoretical or political frameworks are concerned, there is no
answer to whether one should take the second-wave feminism or the third-wave
feminism. The choices are such that it is like choosing between Chinese cuisine
or French cuisine. Our ethical mind cannot escape from imposing certain ethical
prescriptions to perceive one of these two views as more moral than or
preferable to the other. I wonder if many people in the Philippines have put
enough time to contemplate on these issues. Except for certain privileged
liberal universities, the answer is most likely no. In the Philippines, where
Roman Catholicism dominates, the second-wave feminism or sex conservative
feminism is automatically preferred, however it seems to be done so without
critical examinations into its application to current situations and into
consequences.

With all due respect to fellow Filipinos, the Philippines is one of the popular
destinations for sex tourism, and frankly it is also been indulged by local
Filipinos here. I will ask you this; except for families traveling to the
Philippines for their vacations, do you honestly think a group of bachelors or
even bachelorettes or single men or single women come to the Philippines just to
tour around the sceneries and shopping? There is a brutal truth; and the truth
is that there are many sex tourists both international and local. At first, I
thought KTV was a Karaoke Bar; then I realized it is the place where ladies
serve male customers. There are many of those places inhabited with GROs, Macho
Dancers, Massage Therapists for Extra Service, etc. Maybe not as `open’ as
Amsterdam or Bangkok, but there plenty of them in all major cities like Manila
or Cebu.

The Philippines is not a pornography producing country for pornography
production is outlawed. Consequently types of feminism I have been talking
about do not automatically apply to the context of the Philippines; thus it
requires a few modifications, but what is at the very bottom is still the same.
The sex conservative feminists have to address the issues like GROs or call
girls together with pornography. They can certainly address the easy ones like
sense of shame they feel or the level of extortion they endure or they blame it
to the poverty. However they almost always remain silent on what they do not
like to address like why they do things they do and in many cases they even
refuse to answer tough issues. Poverty may be one reason for a woman (and a
man) to become a GRO or a call girl (call boy) or whatever the sex related
profession she chooses, however it is a true horror to them to think that she
probably likes it too and she is doing it out of her will – whether you find her
psychologically normal or not. Do they not constitute `violence’ against women,
which all women rights’ activists fight against? Understanding their
theoretical frameworks, I do not see how they can answer “no” to the question
without being intellectually dishonest.

Among my close friends, I jokingly say that I can be a porn producer and
successfully run a porn production company. Frankly, I can. (But I won’t.)
Over the course of years in studies of Gender Studies, particularly in the field
of adult entertainment industries, which include bars, strip clubs and porn
productions, I became intimately familiar with what goes on in adult
entertainment industries; and I learned not to generalize sexually explicit
materials under one term “pornography.” There are just tremendous levels of
diversities: from sensual ones to whatever that is down the road. They are so
diverse to the point that generalization is impossible. There is a straight
pornography, gay pornography, lesbian pornography, etc. There are also what is
called genre, which I will not go over in detail. Concerning pornography, sex
conservative feminists often have the mental picture of pornography as whereby
men rape women: a depiction of violence against women. I do not contest that
rape is a serious crime and I can also see how such a depiction can be
denigrating to women. However I cannot see how a depiction of consensual and
very sensual sexual act can be denigrating to women. If they insist that they do
so, I expect them to demonstrate it. There are women who dislike pornography,
but I have also encountered numerous women who like pornography even though what
they like may not be as hardcore as what men tend to like. The equation of
“pornography = violence” does not always apply.

Even after years of studies, I am not really sure if they understand what they
really mean by pornography is violence. I can understand that it can be
violence if it is a violent form or if a woman is coerced or forced to be
featured in pornography or tied up to a chair and forced to watch pornographic
material against her wish. Otherwise, I do not know how pornography can
constitute as violence. Perhaps I am liberal on this matter; and to me, the
solution is simple: if you do not like pornography, then buy it and don’t watch
it. If you willfully watch it and got disturbed, that is the consequence of
your own doing; and solely bringing blames to pornography does not seem fair.
If there is anything more to be said, it has to be said carefully on individual
basis without generalizing all genre of pornography under one term of
“pornography.”

Many of you may wonder why I have spent in such a length talking about
pornography. It is because pornography is essentially what is at the bottom of
the framework of sex conservative feminism. To give a critical examination into
them would put anyone into the path of discussing it inevitably. I can still be
sympathetic towards them and say that pornography can be present in violence
against women. I am sure a lot of psychologists would agree with me, but one
thing that has to be pointed out is that we are not entirely certain if
pornography alone is to be blamed for the causes of violence against women for
we may never be sure. The reason is simple and obvious: everyone has sexual
appetite and since pornography in one way or another is incarnation of sexual
appetite we naturally have as instinctual drive, we cannot exclude the
possibility that it is our own sexual appetite that may be at the bottom of
violence against women; and it cannot just be generated by men alone since it
can also be generated by women. Perhaps we can put it this way: violence
against anyone regardless of one’s sexual identity is produced by us: living
humans.

So far, what I have done is a critique of women’s rights movements. It is
entirely wrong to say that I am going against them. What I am doing is to
demonstrate that they lack considerations in their theoretical frameworks and
they often fail to consider the present situations and their consequences in
relation to their theoretical frameworks under which they currently operate.
Fight against violence against women (or men) is an admirable thing to do and I
have no doubt on that. I strongly believe violence against anyone regardless of
their sex, sexual orientation, gender, age, race, religion, etc., should not be
tolerated. Through my lengthy critique on the women’s rights movements in the
Philippines, I wanted to articulate the point that for them to denounce Dr. Kho,
Jr.’s support on fight against violence against women is a regrettable response;
for it seems to do nothing but to defy their own activities on fight against
violence against women.

End Note
I did fly off on a few topics not just to cover diverse issues. My manuscript
became the way it is mostly because the women’s rights movements have their
groundwork in topics that often fly off: sometimes incoherent and inconsistent.
What they vocally want to say is this: “we women find what Dr. Kho, Jr. did to
women disgusting.” That point is well noted and I understand that. Frankly it
is not easy to imagine that there are many women who would love to be videotaped
of their intimate moments with their lovers. Criticizing Dr. Kho, Jr. to this
extend is understandable, but to bring about socio-political tone beyond that
level by using Dr. Kho, Jr.’s case is, least to say, carelessness committed on
the side of the women’s rights movements; and it may very well be violence
brought up by women against women who they want to protect.

In the line of Gender Studies, I also bring careful investigation into the field of adult pornography, which is very rarely done by scholars for unjustifiable biased reasons.  Even among scholars, they in their mind think that those who study pornography are, to them, porn maniac or pure perverts.  They just do not say it, but that is what happens.  Setting those people aside, I have no problem whatsoever admitting that my Philosophical investigations include wide range of pornography but because of my physiological make up, (that I am a man), I focus on pornography featuring men.  (Very often feminists criticize men for men’s inherent inability to talk about or talk for women’s rights, but if that is so, feminists themselves have inherent inability to talk about or talk for men’s rights.  People – both men and women- often forget that we are all humans!!)  In case you are not yet convinced, the next paragraph contains descriptions of my studies.  If you are not interested, skip the next paragraph and go to the third paragraph.

The focus point in studying Pornography in my case is to understand the social dynamics that are very often left out from the public spheres.  Since pornography is a commodity (products), there is a supplier and a buyer; and my intension is to discover the intricate socio-political-economic correlations and structures between suppliers and buyers of pornography.  The pornography is often ‘enjoyed’ in the private sphere, and since any individual can say one thing in private and completely different in another; there are some dualistic views on pornography coming from the buyers’ perspectives.  Pornography should not be discussed purely from the public point of view.  It should consider private perspectives as well, which such perspectives are the reasons in propelling porn industries.  If buyers live on one side of the street, the other side is where the producers or people involved in producers live.  There is a harsh reality there that buyers do not see.  Most people in porn industries are just like good folks next door; but they have been subject to brutal side of socio-political-economic oppressions: it can be anything from poverty to sexual assault in home to rape, etc.  My task is to uncover the power dynamics or schematics involved in pornography, free of biases or sheer opinions, which would contribute to better way of dealing with pornography in public and political spheres…

We all human beings have sexual urges and for every individual – whether you are man or woman – there is some likes and dislikes in sex.  Some may want to call it a fetish.  The point is that for every individual, there is a certain fetish; and it is not too much to say there are as many fetishes as there are for the number of people there is.  This is why there are tremendous diversities in genres of pornography, and it is no longer appropriate to assign one term “pornography” to refer to all genres.  Since I am fully aware of the inherent difficulties in generalizing different genres of pornography, I deal each case as its own even though I can see some similarities in the mainstream genres.  (I will not discuss what the mainstreams are.)

For the sake of this essay, I will exclude Child pornography, but I can say two thing.  First of all, child pornography is a serious crime against humanity and it must be stopped.  Second and lastly, we need to develop Psychiatry and Psychology to better understand the behaviors, causes and patterns of Pedophilia; and find out a way to curve pedophilia.

Before I go further into the discussion on pornography, I would like to quote the words from National Commission on the Role of the Filipino Women (NCRFW)

“Women in pornography are violated and dehumanized as they are mostly presented in scenes depicting degradation and humiliation. Pornographic materials depicting heterosexual sex do not just hurt the women directly involved in their production, but also all women and girls who are potential targets of aggression from the male consumers of pornography.”

There is one thing to consider: whether or not a given pornography is done as a contract basis business.  Most of the materials I deal are of the contract basis.  In other words, both the producers and participants of pornography are of legal age with enough mental capacity to consent to participate in the productions of and sales of pornographic materials.  One thing I want to address is that there have been countless attempts of lawsuits against pornography in the US, and each and every time, the plaintiffs horribly fail to demonstrate the alleged damages caused by pornography; and because they fail to demonstrate the damages, they have lost virtually all lawsuits against pornography.  In fact, if they want to be responsible for their assertion that pornography causes damages, it is truly fair that they demonstrate the damage.  I can sum up my comment on them in two words: “PROVE IT.”

Even if I grant that pornography depicting or reenacting consensual heterosexual sex is dehumanizing the women, since they said “heterosexual” meaning there is at least one male participant and one female participant, both male participant and female participant are equally responsible for their alleged dehumanization against the women.  In short, they cannot escape from admitting that porn actresses (obviously women) are also responsible for dehumanizing women, which most of feminists or women’s rights activists fail to address and often refuse to admit.  Such an attitude is, in my view, another form of sexism (reverse sexism) that they impose when in fact it is sexism which they criticize.  In other words, they say one thing and they do the direct opposite of what they are saying.

I will just use the term feminism as a generalization for women’s activism or women’s rights movement of this time.  Feminists are entirely silent on dehumanizing effects that heterosexual pornography has on men.  If they say pornography is dehumanizing women, the question of why it does not dehumanize men would immediately arise.  I cannot add more about them since they remain silent on this issue; but again, it seems only fair that they address this as well.

Another thing feminists fail to elaborate is the socio-economic background behind the men and women who consent to be videotaped in pornography.  Except for those exhibitionists who achieves libido from being watched, most of the porn actors and porn actresses go into the porn industry for imminent economic problems.  These economic problems are not part of porn industry at all.  They come from poor family or broken family, or those adult entertainers had such horrible childhood that many of them had been abandoned by their parents or they had simply left home as young as 10 years or so.  The failure in child protection and failure to provide adequate financial needs to people are some of the causes behind pornography.  If you talk to people in porn industry, which I did many times, they are not abnormal or suffering from debilitating psychiatric problems.  They have financial problems.  Without the solution and resolution to the poverty, broken families and other financial related issues are solved, the talk on pornography is utterly incomplete and perhaps ignorant.  People who are against pornography NEVER ever discuss these issues; and I challenge them to open up their mouths on this topic.

Feminists who join the force against pornography are also responsible in negative impacts anti-pornography movement they case on porn actors and actresses.  Once a person is in a porn industry, he or she is in a complete mouse trap with no exit.  No company hires them, no organizations would show a tiny bit of compassion towards them and feminists themselves see them as enemies.  Where are they going to go after their physique reaches to the point where they could no longer perform in porn industry?  Lucky ones get to work with their history in pornography hidden, but once it surfaces, they can get fired on spot; and it has happened hundreds of times.  Really, where are they going to go?  If they do nothing, they will die.  If they are lucky, they are out of the porn industry.  If they are not so lucky, for survival, they have no other choice but to stay in porn industry as producers, etc.  Feminists who fail to address these issues are, in my view, irresponsible and self-centered or least to say is that they are incapable of making decisive political choices.

Male aggression on women and children is a serious issue to be addressed, and I echo my voice with feminists to this effect.  However it is utterly implausible that male consumers of heterosexual pornography are having male aggressions.  I am not convinced that heterosexual pornography that enacts consensual and sensual sexual intercourse can lead to aggression.  Male aggressions can be attributed to hormonal imbalances or other psychiatric conditions and without looking into those, portraying pornography as if they are responsible for aggression, which dehumanizes women and children, to me is a fallacious argument brought by feminists who know that there are readers and supporters of them who lack critical thinking and do not see the defect in their arguments.

I admit that there are extremely humanizing genres of pornography that are still done upon signed contracts.  I will leave the issue of if they dehumanize people up to my readers.  Personally I think they do, but I will set my opinion aside for my purpose is to present an essay that is objective, not subjective.  The issue here is if they lead to male aggression, which feminists often criticize.  To simply, the feminists assert that aggressive pornography comes first, then men turn into aggressive ones harming women and children.  Behavioral studies often show the opposite.  In the development of a human being, signs of aggressions start at younger age: presumably before they get exposed to pornography.  I cannot pin point at which developmental stage a man becomes aggressive for every man is different.  I agree that aggressions against women, children (and men) are reprehensible, but I do not see a reason why pornography has to be sited in here for the violent men who victimize women and children.

Serious challenges to feminists who are against pornography come from women who buy pornographic materials.  It is a pure myth that women do not buy pornography or indulge themselves with eroticism.  There are places called male strip clubs, where dancers are males.  In the Philippines, it is commonly believed that gay men constitute the vast majority of the revenues, but women, too, go there.  Women also purchase pornographic materials.  While I admit that I do not have statistical data for Filipino women who cater male strip clubs, pornography or types of pornography, to say that women have nothing to do with pornography is a myth.  Pay a few visits to male strip clubs would reveal my point.  In the name of studies, I did it; and on several occasions, most of the customers were women.  If they think women do not go wild, they should interview “macho dancers” to see what they have to say.

Concerning Dr. Kho, Jr., National Commission on the Role of Filipino Women has a fixed presupposition that there are only Dr. Kho and Ms. Halili and that one is a perpetrator and the other is automatically a victim.  It is a very convenient on them to do so, but their claim is too simplistic to reflect on reality.  What if there was a window in the room where the curtain was wide open, and ABS-CBN happened to videotape them and broadcasted it as a scandal “the infidelity of celebrities exposed.”  I could hardly convince myself that NCRFW would be marching up against ABS-CBN for depicting sexually explicit images in the name of protecting the women whose rights were violated due to the videos.  I can bet that they won’t do it.  This point makes me speculate that it does not really matter who videotaped it or who was videotaped it.

Media like ABS-CBN and tabloids alike require a case like that of Dr. Kho, Jr., for making profits.  They cannot escape from that argument because unless I am mistaken, they are profit driven corporate entities.  As for NCRFW, their internal politics seem to require men to be suppressed in order for them to function as an organization.  In other words, by means of reverse sexism, they are also riding on Dr. Kho’s case and also on Ms. Halili and other women featured in the videos.  I do not know what more is there to say; but I suppose they should be the ones to talk back.

Mike Hirama

Here is an excerpt from the closing page of the S magazine’s interview with Dr. Kho, Jr.

S Magazine: Are you ready for jail, if that is part of the consequences?

Dr. Kho:  I’m not ready for jail, but if it’s really part of the consequences, then yes I accept my faith.

There is one manuscript I still have not yet published and it is entitled Tears of Criminals; and Crimes of the Philippines.  People think that the support group activities I am doing are confined to supporting Dr. Kho, Jr., but the truth is that I am doing more.  One of which has to do with the administrative justice.  I advocate the importance of giving education to inmates, and I strongly oppose administrative justice which fails to offer education to inmates.  Poor countries often fail to give education to inmates, and through their so-called “rehabilitative programs,” what they end up doing is destroying their lives far beyond repair.  The obvious reason for them to fail in giving adequate education is always lack of funds, but being poor is never a justification for committing a crime.  If administrative justice fails to give adequate correction for inmates, to me, that is and injustice and crime done on the part of the nation, for which no one prescribes any justice.

Even though I was aware of this concern for quite some time, I did not want to talk about it until now.  Since S magazine touched the subject, I believe it is my time to talk about it.

If ever Dr. Kho, Jr. is found to be guilty, putting him in Jail will not only ruin his life and negatively affect his friends and family for a long time, but also really ruins his life for good.  That is not a justice.  It is an incarnation of medieval brutality prescribed by the state (the church) in this twenty first century.  For someone with medical license, if he ever needs rectification in legal sense, putting him in the line of medicine for the public is the best resolution.  There is something called COMMUNITY SERVICE.  Personally I do not think Dr. Kho, Jr. is guilty of anything under legal sense in any light, but it something legal has to be imposed, I strongly believe community service is what is more needed and beneficial to all.

There are health crisis here in the Philippines.  In terms of microbiology, there are Dengue, Malaria, Tuberculosis, Leprosy, Rabies, etc.  Like Dr. Kho, Jr. himself said in S Magazine that he can be part of anti-drug program.  Shabu or Methamphetamine (or Amphetamine) abuse is a serious health and public crisis in the Philippines.  After he recovers well, he can also be inspirational to people suffering from mental health.  He can do all these better than the ones who know these just from the books because experiences speak more than anything.  He can also do reconstructive surgery unless I am mistaken.  With all the possibilities open for better and productive ways, I strongly oppose jail terms on him and any jail term that does nothing but destroys lives of inmates.  If the Philippines continue this trail, a horrid trail, it only brings Tears in Criminals; and that is the gravest crime against Filipinos brought by the Philippines.

On one occasion when I was asked to give a seminar on Gender Studies, I included the history and the careful analysis of the Biblical scriptures. During the time of the Old Testament (or in the Ten Commandment) , sins were understood as `reducing human acts to the level of animals.’ Jewish people knew that humans dad both human side (rational side or anima rationalis if you prefer Latin) and animalistic side (anima or “corpus humanum”). Reducing one’s behavior to that of animal was what they meant by `sin,’ but it was not pronounced with the finality. They did not commend it, but they did not even denounce it for they knew humans are both anima rationalis and anima: corpus humanum.

Maybe one might think of “adultery,” but adultery is a concept that only applies to a married person. If one is not married, `adultery’ does not even apply in the first place. The historical reason why adultery was forbidden was that during those days, say, 1600 BC to 1500 BC (supposedly around the time when Ten Commandments were written), the population was so small that marriage was done by abducting women from another town or tribe and often adultery or extra marital relationship caused fierce fight or battle, to avoid such, adultery was considered forbidden.

Early Christian tradition during Roman Era took a different approach. Sin was when Adam (and Eva) ate the fruit of knowledge. People should simply know this as “original sin.” This original sin was repaid when Jesus was crucified. We are supposedly sin-less according to Early Christians, but not so according to the Orthodox Christian or more specifically Catholicism.

It was the Orthodox Christian (now the Catholic Church) who was responsible for introducing what we now know as “sin.” What is meant by `sin’ is going against divine plan or the Church’s doctrines; the latter was politically speaking significantly important to keep the Church in power in the Roman Empire after Christianization of Roman Empire in 395 A.D. all the way through the collapse of Medieval Time, but this idea of `sin’ still prevails in most of the Christian nations including the Philippines.

The reason why there is such a thing as sanctity of marriage can be found in I Corinthians 7:10. But this is one part that I emphasized the historical significance. In the original text (Codex Vaticanus), it can be read as: “I, not Lord, command on Marriage. The author of I Corinthian was St. Paul. It has a terrifying implication for Theologians and the Church alike that that passage does not contain God’s words, but those of St. Paul. Most of the Bible available here in the Philippines would say: I command on Marriage… It is at least intellectually interesting to think of who really gave the command on marriage, and who really considered pre-marital sex bad. Well, the discussion would go beyond the scope of my essay here, so I will leave it there.

Suffice it to say that “repenting a sin” is uniquely a Christian phenomenon at least in the Biblical sense because repenting a sin is not exactly same as feeling bad. If someone admits of his mistakes on whatever ground and feels bad about it and wants to somehow rectify it, I see no reason to doubt him; and in that sense, I sincerely believe Dr. Kho repents his sins.

Personally what I think to be the gravest sins that have ever been committed was not committed by Dr. Kho or me or you, but the entire human race who have forgotten to treat other humans as our own kind, and we who because of fear fail to stop them even when they happen in our faces. From a robbery to murder and racism to genocide; these are the gravest sins far greater than any sin a given individual can ever commit. Individually each of us may have not committed those, but as a whole human race, we always have and we still do till this day.

Generally I do not spend much time talking about Religion or God(s). I just go on with my own daily things, which include some volunteer activities; but occasionally I see no harm in sharing some of the philosophical findings from fine literatures published on religions or gods.

It is often said that religions begin with revelation; and knowledge of Him begins with realization…

God who is omnipotent knows not only our past and present, but future. For he foresees everything in all time of the universe, all there is to Him is NOW. That is from God’s standpoint, not we human beings. For forgiving God, anyone including Dr. Kho, me and you, who committed sins or will commit more sins, are already forgiven beforehand.

The question of why there is a sin always remains. If I could spend one semester on this topic, it would make sense, but think of our life from the ancient time to far into future as one big canvas, where God is the painter. There are lights and shadows of paints on the canvas. Each small shadow or light wont make much sense on its own, but from the whole canvas, it makes sense. No matter how hard it is to see it from our perspective, both good and bad: are all good from the grand painter’s perspective GOD. (But please don’t take it that it you can go ahead with shooting spree in a mall…)

Christians often read this in prayer: Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven. There is a special meaning that most people do not realize it. The whole meaning of the good and bad, life and death, is a manifestation of the infinite God. It is God himself who knows all in its entirety wills and wishes each individual to realize what he knows. That is why “thy will be done” is always a prayer, and never a resolution. It is a prayer coming not from us, but from God. If you do not believe me, look into what Christian doctrines say about the true prayer. True prayer comes from God. When you make a true prayer, your words, your thoughts… all of these come from god and you share them with him, where you and God together united with divine spirit.

Written by: Masaki Hirama

Mabuhay!!  Welcome to the Philippines.  From the ultra modern architectures in Makati to sunny sunshine beautiful white beach in Boracay.  Yes, this is the Philippines: with 7107 beautiful islands of paradise to choose from.

Why do I get a sad sentiment when I write that?  In Japan, there is a book entitled “One Way Ticket to Manila: Living Hell Disguised in the Name of Heaven and Paradise.”  I have never read that book myself, but whoever lives in the Philippines can easily imagine that it is about.  Cut away from travel guides and blindfolded even by locals, there is a completely different story to be told about the Philippines: that is the story about living hell in the Philippines disguised in the name of heaven and paradise.  I will dare open that up; and the rest is up to you either to believe it or not.

Only some 15 minute away from the ultra modern state-of-the-art architectures that Manila is so proud of, we witness a harsh reality of the Philippines.  The homeless, the sick and street children wonder around along the trash filled filthy streets in severely impoverished area; and in some areas Tuberculosis and Leprosy thrive.  At night, that very city makes a miraculous transformation.  Parts of City like Malate or Quezon City turns into the home of alcohol, drugs, sex and prostitution and all sort of crimes: attracting all kinds of people from the poorest of the poor to the rich.  People in the nightlife say there is a different language spoken at night.  Let’s start with the different language of the night.

When the priests, nuns and supposedly good people go to bed is the time when the city begins to speak the language of the night.  Even though the Philippines is a deeply religious country, at night, the Bible does not speak, and the only language here is money.  Now all ‘there is’ is alcohol, drugs, sex and more sex and more crimes.  Police would be of no help sometimes for they could be a part of criminal cartels.  We – locals – know all of these.  If you happen to be decently familiar with the atmosphere of the administrative justice here in the Philippines, the city of the night where money is the only language is a Sodom and Gomorrah thriving and standing alive and well, but there is nothing that is not being told and being blindfolded by locals.

There is one Japanese song I like.  The translation is this; we always try so hard to look up stars above us that we forget to see around ourselves; where the real stars shine alone in darkness forgetting that there is a galaxy of stars called people around us.  The point is simple: there are people all around us, but we forget to see how beautiful each life is; and it is our blindness towards people around us that consume other people.  Just like we never pay any attention to a small flower that blooms along a dirty street, we never pay attention to people around us.  When there are the poor or whoever we find as outcasts, we almost never stop and look at them, and we pretend they do not exist throwing them into the darkness of our blindness.

Right; those people are night, call them creatures of the night, are just as filthy as dump sites, perhaps.  Yet, who knows?  Some of the street children could have been next Einstein.  Some homeless could have made exemplary politicians.  Some GROs at KTV bars could be women of power with undaunted heart and high morale for the people.  Some of Macho Dancers or so-called Call Boys around QC circle could be the kindest men you could ever meet in your life.  Granted: their deeds we see may morally reprehensible, but we often refuse to see them beyond what we see; and treat them as if they never deserve a life or even a bit of compassion in this supposedly holy land – the Philippines – for their unholy life.

I may in return want to ask one question: if you as an active participant of a society, allow a society to bestow unfortunate circumstances upon people from which they cannot escape, and condemn them for their misdeeds to which the circumstances the society disposed them in the first place, what else can be said that we make unfortunate people and punish them for their misdeeds?  I find it very questionable that anyone who leads such a state of perpetual inconsequences can be any holier than those who he/she accuses and blames endlessly.  Perhaps those people live in Sodom and Gomorrah, but pointing that out just to accuse them and blame them does not make us any holier than they are.  Perhaps there is another kind of Sodom and Gomorrah; it lives in the heart of those who live a life of pretention: pretending to be good and pretending to be better than others by blaming others.  I wonder if that is heaven at all.  Perhaps it is: it is a living hell disguised in the name of heaven and paradise.

We humans are weak: and we always try to protect ourselves before anyone else even if that has to be done by forgetting and ignoring to see our own misdeeds.  When we see street children, the sick or the ones who are outcasts, we pretend they are non-existent or we see them with outward rage and cold cruelty.  In expressing outrage directed towards the accused with cold cruelty, we forget to see how cold and inhumane we have become; and to justify our own misdeeds, we quote the words of the Bible and we pretend to be good by pretending that we are prescribing justice.  What is justice if we bring upon “justice” through unjust life we pretend we do not lead?  Perhaps, “none whatsoever” is the answer.

I sometimes wonder what would really happen to us if we all go to heaven after our death because I wonder how much of a heaven that is going to be if all of us who live in the life of everlasting pretention go to heaven.  Granted: we are not perfect and from the moment we are born into this world, we are doomed to make mistakes and commit misdeeds from time to time.  For we admit that we are imperfect, hanging on to the idea that we can be perfect is nothing but a mirage which we can never reach.  We have to embrace both sides of humanity: good sides and bad sides.  “To err is to human, and to forgive divine.”  I would like to add one more sentence: “to forgive is also human.”  There is the fact that we all make mistakes, but that seems to be the very reason why we have this ability to show our compassion, human love and forgiveness; and as a human, I see no reason why we cannot extend our compassion, human love and forgiveness to all including ourselves and others who we call filth.

There is a side of the Philippines I regret the most: hurting people and condemning them to hell for all eternity.  It seems that the whole Philippines is and has already been doomed to burning hell.  I am not so certain about the biblical hell because I have never been there, but I know what a human hell or living hell is; it is all around us, in every human heart, and in the Philippines.  I cannot tell how to change it, but I know it begins with ourselves by showing compassion, love and forgiveness.  I am not exactly religious in a ritual sense, but if we cannot please other humans, I wonder if we could ever please God.  I do not know how to please Him and I do not even know how to please others with so many different thoughts, but I know compassion, love and forgiveness are the binding principles that bring all of us together from different backgrounds and from different views into one harmonious humanity; and that is all I can show as one individual and that is all I can do as one person.

Jean-Paul Sartre said that hell is other people.  Perhaps he is right, but I want to make one addition.  By showing compassion, love and forgiveness to all, we can add a letter “O” to this hell; to make it a “Hello” to all.

This “men don’t cry abuse” really begins innocently as mothers discourage their little crying sons from crying; and boys are being taught that way and believing that is how boys/men should be most of their entire life.  The problem is that when a man becomes a subject to violence, he remains almost entirely silent in a belief that “men don’t cry,” he neglects to seek some help; which makes it very difficult to keep decent track of the number of and the cases of violence against men, and in many cases, they fall to depression or substance abuse, and in the worst cases, they take their own life.  These are parts of the society many do not care to know.

Statistically, majority of those who are abused are women and children; and granted that many perpetrators of heinous crimes against women and children are men.  There is almost a universal belief that perpetrators are always men.  No matter how that is statistically true, each individual – men, women or children – are not statistical figures, but real human beings.  What I am saying is that it is NOT always the case that men are perpetrators because men can fall victims as well; which is a defect that I am pointing out in Republic Act No. 9262.

Republic Act No. 9262 is known as the “Anti-Violence Against Women and Their Children Act of 2004.”  That law itself is a good one and it is to be respected, but it has a fundamental flaw: that it does not cover men.  In general, a good law applies to everyone and treats everyone as equal, but that is not the case with R.A. No. 9262.  Under R.A. No. 9262, if a man ever falls victim in sex related crimes, based on what is written, he is not protected under the law.    Concerning Dr. Kho’s scandal, R.A. No. 9262 has a very unfortunate and most likely implication that Dr. Kho is almost automatically placed in a position as a perpetrator of sex related crimes in which women depicted in the scandal videos become victims.

Close analysis of the case reveals several factors that would be taken into consideration.  Dr. Kho and his women had consensual sex; and this itself is not a crime, and consequently R.A. No. 9262 does not apply.  The first obvious question is whether or not videotaping two individuals’ intimacy counts as violence against women.  What the law says is not so much of a problem, but the problem is centered in what the law does not say.  Take a look at a direct quote from R.A. No. 9262 under Section 3 B.  “Sexual violence” refers to an act…committed against a woman…  It includes, but is not limited to:…”  This innocuous statement “but not limited to” allows almost anything to be considered as a crime against women; and in theory, the videotape depicting a woman in consensual sexual act can be considered as violence against a woman: for instance, against Ms. Katrina Halili.

One crucial point has to be pointed out: the difference between Philosophers particularly Ethicists and those who I call People of the Law: law-makers, politicians, lawyers, law enforcers, etc.  Beginning with the latter, they are in nutshell do not care what Philosophers say, but they just stick to what is being written as laws.  Whereas, Philosophers do not care much about what is written, but more concerned with what should be and what should not be in and out of the written laws.  It is not always the case that Philosophers and “people of the law” clash with every case, but in the case concerning Pornography as well as R.A. No. 9262, the clash between Philosophers and “people of the law” is inevitable.

Just like any other laws concerning pornography around the globe, Anti-Obscenity and Pornography Bill of 2008 in the Philippines is a controversial one.  I am sure many of my readers are familiar with the movie Titanic where Rose (played by Kate Winslet) disrobed herself and allowed Jack (played by Leonardo DiCaprio) to draw her.  That scene, under Anti-Obscenity and Pornography Bill, it is already a pornography.  Singapore, for instance, would delete the scene where female breast is visible.  Another case is Botticelli’s famous painting of Birth of Venus (where naked Venus is on a half clamshell) or Michelangelo’s famous sculpture of David: who stands completely naked with his genitalia visible.  In the case of Michelangelo’s David, David does not have an erect penis; but there are enormous numbers of so-called arts depicting very graphic sexual intercourses including erect penis.  To measure what is obscene and pornography may as easy as looking at it, but to do so legally is a mud pit: and it is always extremely difficult.

In the US, for instance, there have been a number of lawsuits against pornography to ban pornography.  First of all, there is freedom of expression, which I will not articulate further.  Second, the definition of pornography is extremely difficult just like the case of Birth of Venus, David or other erotic arts.  Third, which is the most crucial point to articulate, is the tremendous difficulties in demonstrating actual and measurable damages that are caused by pornography.  Granted that pornography may be immoral, that is against custom, pornography has no serious damages on viewers provided that they are of adults (with average rational capacity to make his/her decision) who consent to view pornographic materials.  In all legal actions taken against pornography failed miserably because they all fail to demonstrate the damages that pornography cause against which they sued.

As I am aware of all these difficulties, I have always asserted there are three conditions that have to be met for anything to count as pornography.  First, there has to be a clear business intention in producing a material; second, such a material is sexually explicit in nature for the purpose of sexually arousing the viewers, and third, such a material is to be commercially sold by a producer.  After I reviewed Anti-Obscenity and Pornography Bill of 2008, I am convinced that the lawmakers were fully aware of the importance of business intention behind what makes pornography for the law clearly states: “regardless of the motive of the author thereof…”

Lawmakers and the law enforcing agents like NBI perhaps would like to consider videos depicting Dr. Kho and his women as pornography.  Under Anti-Obscenity and Pornography Bill of 2008, it is only a definition of pornography; that is so vast as to count almost anything showing skin as pornography, that makes those videos pornography, and nothing else.  Without that Bill, those videos would not even be pornography even though it may be pornographic*.

*I use the word ‘pornographic’ to any depiction of sex, but not necessarily pornography as I defined pornography as a commercial product.

Based on my philosophical grounds, videotaping private sexual acts is not pornography; and that is my conviction which led me to start a support group for Dr. Hayden Kho Jr.  Using a very technical phrase, sexual depiction is a necessary condition for pornography, but never a sufficient condition for pornography.  (For instance, being able to run is a necessary condition for completing a marathon, but it is never a sufficient reason to join a marathon.)  Dr. Kho’s case is unique because stolen videos were reproduced by illegal business ventures as their products: which are violations of privacy, of copyrights (or authorship), and operation of illegal business bent on those violations.  It is not correct to say “what makes his videos pornography,” but it is only appropriate to say those illegal venders (and those who stole the videos) are the ones who made his videos pornography, where venders made profits that they should not be making and the one who stole videos apparently accomplished his ill-intention.

Finally back to the victims to be considered here are: Dr. Hayden Kho Jr. himself and those women depicted in the videos.  They are the victims of the one who stole the videos, illegal venders who sell their videos for their profit, and the ones who endlessly circulate their videos on the internet.  Republic Act No. 9262 can extend the support for women in the videos, but unfortunately it does not extend so far as to cover Dr. Hayden Kho Jr.; that is a defect in R.A. No. 9262.  It is not just the defective law that does not support Dr. Hayden Kho Jr., but on top of that, him being portrayed as the evil (I heard something much worse than that), the entire society is geared up towards tormenting Dr. Kho.  Society says “men don’t cry” and “men are always the perpetrators,” but there are times men cry and men become victims; but the society as a whole keeps to blindfold its eyes.

= With the touch of human heart we can live in peace =

Written by Mike Hirama

Hello,

Today, I would like to kindly ask you to give me a few minutes of your time to read my letter to you.  This is not about me.  This is about you, your friends and family and the country you dearly love: the Philippines.  There is one young man living in Manila whose life you may not care at all, but I would like to introduce him to you.  His name is Dr. Hayden Kho, Jr.  Perhaps you hate him to death, but I beg you on my knees to just please give me a chance to speak to you.

Some 2000 years ago, Jesus did not just teach his followers; if he did, he would just be a god of Christians at the most, but God of all.  He invited from sinners to roman soldiers who were vengefully against him.  In fact, he accepted all people with everlasting compassion.  What Jesus taught was the meaning of compassion with his deeds.  Compassion or compassium in Latin means “to suffer with.”  By showing His unconditional love for all people whose life had been continued to divine and sander with agony and hatred, He suffered with them for their suffering was his suffering; and by showing love, He suffered with them.

Even till this day, words of Jesus stand firmly in the hearts of people.  By sharing their suffering as your owns is to love them as your own kind and to love Jesus; and that was his teachings.  Yet, unfortunately many have turned their backs against the teachings of Jesus; and turn to people with agony and hatred that continue to divide and sander people, which Jesus firmly stood against 2000 years ago.  Sadly even after two millennia, people still hate each other and on each other’s throat.

Think of Dr. Hayden Kho, Jr. just for a minute.  You know the scandals.  As he admitted he made mistakes, but please think of what he is going through right now.  He has the entire nation all up in arms against him: from the careless gossips on each street all the way up to the senate and even NBI.  What you may not notice is that he is suffering intolerably and he is being torn apart alive.  Is it not more than enough for his misdeeds?  What he is going through – agony, suffering, vast sense of desolation and immense isolation – are far more than his misdeeds can ever justify, and this is already injustice, and yet, people still want to torment him more.  I want to ask you: “how much more pain do you have to inflict on him before you are satisfied?”

There are many of you who believe in the words of Jesus, and yet somehow manage to do the exact opposite of his teachings by raising their fists of anger and coarse words against him.  If you say what you do is justice, I kindly ask you to look at yourself.  You are just as good or bad as your words and deeds are; and I cannot help, but wonder what is so just about raising fists with anger and coarse words.  If you really think about it, what killed Jesus you dearly love was outrage and violent anger on Ancient Romans.  Granted: Dr. Kho, Jr. is not god, but why would you treat him with the same cruelty that ultimately put Jesus to death?  How much more sufferings do we have to see before we realize that?  In a way, many of us are no better than the Ancient Romans who crucified Jesus.  When people live in anger, there can never be peace among us but what remains are agony and hatred that will simply divide and sander us even further.  Yet, if we could show even a bit of compassion, love and forgiveness; and really give a touch of human heart to others; we can live in peace.

I want you to think how you would feel if you have the entire nation standing against you in outrage and violence.  Perhaps no words can ever match how you would feel, how your friends and family would feel; and you would be crying out for mercy because you are a human.  That is exactly what Dr. Kho, Jr., his friends and family and everyone around him are going through.  He has gone more than enough; and it is about the time for us to feel what he is going through as our own suffering, and show him compassion, love and forgiveness; and reach out to him him with a touch of human heart.  We can do that because we are human, and he deserves that because he is also a human being with heart and emotion just like me, you or everyone else.

By showing him compassion, human love and forgiveness that come from a touch of human heart you can offer, you do good for yourself, for your friends and family and for the country.  Please think.  You can do it; and we can progress as a nation.

Thank you for taking your time.

Mike Hirama

mhirama@yahoo.com

The Founder of Hayden Kho Support Group

http://groups.yahoo.com/group/support_hayden_kho/

The catholic nation the Philippines is hotter than ever with the sex scandal of Hayden Kho.  As his private sex videos are released into internet and even sold at video venders along the streets, Kho gained the notoriety and gossipers endlessly talk on the scandal.  Blinded by religious faiths people use at their convenience to accuse Kho in endless and pointless gossips, we have neglected ourselves from seeing what we have become.  It is not Kho’s sex videos that are scandalous, but what is truly scandalous is this supposedly holistic nation we live in – the Philippines – and we are the real scandals.

Perhaps it is only fair to briefly introduce myself.  Unless I am overstating my expertise, I possess knowledge in Gender Studies and far more familiar with political and even religious issues concerning sex and pornography than average folks out there.  Ordinarily I find no point in engaging in gossip, but as I began to read headlines like: “Senatorial hearing on Kho” or “NBI investigation on Kho,” I simply could not help, but notice something ridiculous about the Philippines.  While there are more pressing issues they should attend to such as issues on Agrarian Land Reforms, Spratly Islands, Poverty, Child Labor, Human Trafficking, Drugs…etc., what they find most pressing to attend to is sex scandal of Hayden Kho.  It is simply a waste of tax payers’ money.

The focal point is the sex videos.  Admitting that I was extremely hesitant and reluctant to view them, after viewing them, what I saw could be stated in one sentence.  They just had consensual sex.  I seriously question the motion to consider those videos under Anti-Pornography Act.  For anything to be considered pornography, it has to meet some conditions.  First, there has to be a clear business intension in producing a material; second, such a material is sexually explicit in nature for the purpose of sexually arousing the viewers; and third, such a material is to be commercially sold by a producer.  Without these three conditions, any material cannot be strictly considered to be pornography.  It is fairly certain that Kho had absolutely no intention to produce pornographic materials.  His videos are sexual in nature, but they are not pornography.

Venders who sell his private sex videos and the gossipers who must have intentionally viewed his videos are to be fully blamed for making his videos seem pornographic.  They produce the DVDs or VCDs and sell them and people buy them; which are bent on exploiting Kho and seriously invading into his privacy.  There is no excuse on the side of the illegal distributors of such materials and there is no excuse on the side of those who buy them for buying illegal materials are illegal in the first place.  Gossipers are also equally guilty on exploiting Kho.  People have freedom of expression, but such a freedom has its limitation as well.  For the most part, gossipers do nothing but talk on Kho for their pure enjoyment, which lacks anything socially and politically productive; and all there remains is endless insults on Kho from which anyone who understands freedom and responsibility of expression should refrain.

The nature of the gossips done on Kho’s sex videos is almost always negative.  They may not be something to be commended, but the talks on his videos have reached to the height on verbal assaults on him, but for the most part, gossipers do not realize that they are engaging in verbal assaults on him.  The legality of premarital sex is not the concern of people.  Their concern is on morality based on the Catholic doctrines, which teaches premarital sex to be immoral.  In these contemporary days, moral prohibition on premarital sex is ghostly remains of Catholicism.  Simply it no longer works like it did before.  To the eyes of non-religious people, the Philippines is filled with perpetual inconsequences.  People go to church faithfully, and even confess their sins supposedly repenting their sins, but how could a nation filled with people who always repent their sins in their prayers still happens to be one of the most corrupted nations is South East Asia?

The contemporary day Filipinos are still deeply religious, but more often than not, people use religious reasons at their own whim and at their convenience; if it helps them, they use it, and if it does not, they ignore it; and that is the reality of the contemporary day Filipinos.  I will not go forward as to commending or denouncing Kho’s acts, but before there is anything to be said about him, we have to begin with looking at ourselves first.  We have unfortunately not yet come so far as our nation should even till this day.  We say things and we often act contrary to what we say and what we believe.  Many accuse Kho for committing premarital sex by citing religious reasons at their convenience.  Kho has already suffered enough, and yet people relentlessly assault him by further bestowing suffering on him.  If we had lived in medieval time, we would have probably immolated Kho and his women in the square after saying “in the name of God.”  Fortunately we do not live in medieval time, but unfortunately we are just as bloody as people in the medieval time were.  The state of perpetual inconsequences – the state in which people cite religious reasons at their convenience without looking at ourselves – is the true scandal of the Philippines.

The way how the entire Philippines is reacting to the sex scandal involving Kho does nothing, but to victimize Kho in politics, in media and among people; from which virtually no socio-political or even moral progress could ever arise.  It is almost to the point that the entire nation is dragging him in a cage all across the country labeling him as evil everywhere and allowing and encouraging people to do so.  Often people only see people labeled as evil – Kho – but if they could ever put a mirror of some sort between them and Kho and look at themselves, what they are doing is not justice, but a barbaric humiliation on Kho: and we are simply as barbaric as our words are and our deeds are.  How much worse can one’s private sex videos be than people’s pretention to administer justice under the religious dogma they cite at their own whim, while what they are prescribing is nothing more than mere barbarism?  Immorality of the Philippines is precisely ourselves; creating new victims every day.  We can name at least one victim.  His name is Hayden Kho.

The rest of this paper is an endnote.  Kho has every right to videotape anything that happens in his private area; and investigation into his private life is already an invasion into his privacy.  Judging from the videotapes, there were only consensual sexual acts; and everyone in the video shares same responsibility as Kho.  The kind of responsibility they have is the responsibility for their actions only and not for the legal matters.  The scandal became precisely scandalous the moment someone released the private videos that had been intended to be kept in private.  Whoever that person is, he or she owes grave responsibility for causing controversies by violating into people’s privacies.  From the published articles, it seems that the release of the videotapes was done with a malicious intention.  Whether or not there had been considerable reasons behind it, unauthorized release of private videotapes without the consent of the owner is not to be justified at any rate.

There are a few more things I want to say.  Sex is an experiential state, and anyone who has never experienced it may never say a word about it.  The grave ignorance that Catholicism has seen and yet refuses to admit is the miraculous power of sex.  There are crucial parts of life that are expressed through sex; they can be inter-personal relationship, deepening of trusts and affirming of love, or pleasure.  To consider sex as forbidden fruit or something to celebrate is up to the readers’ moral judgments, but the failure to acknowledge such powers of sex is not only ignorance, but really a denouncing of the important part of humanity, which to me is far worse than any sex scandal that can ever be out in the public.