Leave Kitty Duterte out of this

Marguerite de Leon

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Leave Kitty Duterte out of this
If we don’t channel our fury in the right direction, then we’ll just be adding strife to a country that’s overflowing with it

On August 22, Tuesday, after pop star Ariana Grande’s Manila concert, presidential daughter Kitty Duterte uploaded a photo of herself with Ariana with the caption “I’m literally dying.” The backlash was fierce and instantaneous, with memes juxtaposing the 13-year-old’s post with photos of EJK victims, and tons of hateful language spewed toward her.

How dare she not realize the utter insensitivity and tone-deafness of her statement, the angry mob cried. Well, angry mob, the answer is simple. She is a child.

A child exposed greatly to slang such as “literally dying,” meeting an international pop star. I’m fairly sure that when she wrote that caption for the photo, the prospect of spitting on the graves of every EJK victim wasn’t exactly what she was going for, so much as being a ditzy pre-teen spazz. And let’s face it: we were all ditzy pre-teen spazzes once.

Let’s say, for the sake of argument, that you know Kitty just didn’t know any better. Let’s say you are harnessing her post regardless to make a statement about her father’s doings, with the reasoning that if a man is a monster, then his family is fair game. If that is your way of reasoning, then how much better are you, really, than the drug war’s supporters, who rationalize that innocents who die in the line of fire are simply collateral damage? If you are willing to twist logic and forego compassion just to get your way, then you don’t seem to be a very upstanding person yourself.

Yes, anger can definitely be healthy, especially at a time like this when we need to be indignant about so many, many wrongs, but if we don’t channel that fury in the right direction, then we’ll just be adding strife to a country that’s overflowing with it.

I’M LITERALLY DYING RN @arianagrande

A post shared by veronique (@vduterteee) on

At the core of it is that fact that this is a kid we’re talking about, and she still has a lot to learn and improve about herself. Maybe, again for the sake of argument, that she is a hardcore defender of killing the poor. While that is very much a horrible thing, she has her whole life ahead of her to realize that she is flat-out wrong. Please don’t tell me that every single thing *you* took for true when you were 13 remains true until now.

It’s the same way, in fact, with Duterte supporters in general. So much blood has been shed, and yes, the country keeps feeling like it’s going to be maimed and mangled for the final, fatal time, but minds can still change, however naive that sounds.

Some, in fact, already have, because of tragedies such as the Marcos burial and the death of Kian delos Santos. And we have to take it upon ourselves to convince the others who remain hard-headed, because we can’t just keep waiting for another terrible, terrible thing to happen to shake up a conscience here and there.

The best way to do that is to be a reminder of why we should value each other. Be the kind of person who does things, big or small, that teaches others that cooperation and respect generates far greater results than causing conflict and inciting hate. So, for starters, maybe you should leave Kitty Duterte out of this. I mean, if you want her to grow up to be good, then show her what it’s like to be good. – Rappler.com

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Marguerite de Leon

Marguerite Alcazaren de Leon heads Rappler’s Life and Style, Entertainment, and Opinion sections. She has been with Rappler since 2013, and also served as its social media producer for six years. She is also a fictionist.