Sunday, June 10, 2018

Of Judging and the Entertainment Kiss



Each time a high government official appears in public, the good citizen among the crowd must think like a courtroom judge and not a freak show audience. Governance must not be reduced to entertainment. 

Incidentally, in any court of law, buffoonery is greatly considered contemptuous. With few exemptions, here in this ever-seeking-for-justice country of ours, some incumbents or aspirants for national political positions are pundits in their own buffoonery!

Every now and then, a controversy or scandal transpires from public appearance of our sitting president, be it in Davao City or in Seoul. About the so-called Korean Kiss, Department of the Interior and Local Government (DILG) Assistant Secretary Marjorie Jalosjos herself said that it was “just part of entertainment”. Well, entertainments too are subject to judgments and criticisms. Judges scattered around every corners of the earth coming in different political colors and brain sizes.

Taking the risk of stepping into the realm of lawyers, I would like to share some thoughts from a book I read some days back. The book is titled “Law and Philosophy” (Appleton Century Craft, NY; 1970; pp 408 – 409) by Joseph C. Hutcheson, Jr. He was a United States federal judge. Born in Houston, Texas, Hutcheson received an LL.B. from the University of Texas School of Law in 1900, according to Wikipedia. There’s a chapter there discussing types of intuitive judgments rendered by courtroom judges and what produces them. The author categorized them into five types.

The Intuitive Judgment, according to Hutcheson, is a product of a hunch or a feeling been reasoned out. The Aleatory Judgment is a product of something depending on the throw of a dice or on chance, random and a thing that avoids thinking. Pusillanimous Judgment is the product of fear of apprehension of displeasing authority or showing a lack of courage. Venal Judgment is a product of bribe, corruption sometimes offered but of late, often demanded. And lastly, Asinine Judgement which is plainly a product of an ass!

The 5th  item is our usual doughnut, complete with its hole…
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Photo: mfwa.org.




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