Never Again!?

MANILA: "Never again!" shout some people who belong to some anti-Marcos group or something (The image above is from Facebook.) There are 3 things going against them (not to mention that the above is negative marketing):

One, they're copycats, not original.

I worked as copywriter in an advertising agency some 40 years ago; no, he rules of marketing haven't changed. "Never Again!" They should have looked at it as a long-drawn marketing campaign, not random thoughts. And no, you cannot have impact unless you're original and, if possible, brilliant. Ferdinand "Bongbong" has not been an ordinary Governor, Senator, who is now a candidate for Vice President.

To prove that the Never Again people are not original, here Wikipedia lists the albums of the same title (I provided the years):

1981 "Never Again" (Discharge EP), or the title song
1984 "Never Again" (Discharge album)
2006 "Never Again" (Kittie EP), or the title song
2009 "Never Again" (Lee Soo Young album)

And Wikipedia lists these songs (I also supplied the years):

1979 "Never Again" by Angelic Upstarts from Teenage Warning
2001 "Never Again" by Milk Inc.
2002 "Never Again" (Nickelback song)
2006 "Never Again" (Agnetha song)
2007 "Never Again" (Kelly Clarkson song)
2007 "Never Again" by Justin Timberlake from Justified
2007 "Never Again" by Remedy from The Genuine Article
2008 "Never Again" (Danny Fernandes song)
2008 "Never Again" by Paradise Lost from Believe in Nothing
2008 "Never Again" by The Midway State
2008 "Never... Again" by All Shall Perish from Awaken the Dreamers
2009 "Never Again" by Killswitch Engage from Killswitch Engage 2
2010 "Never Again" by Disturbed from Asylum
2014 "Never Again" by Power Quest from Master of Illusion

And Wikipedia lists these films and books (again, I put in the years):

1912 "Never Again" a silent comedy short starring Edith Storey
1915 "Never Again" a film starring William Collier, Sr.
1916 "Never Again" a silent comedy short starring Oliver Hardy
1956 "Never Again" an episode of Alfred Hitchcock Presents
1963 "Normalcy Never Again!" original title of "I Have a Dream" speech by Martin Luther King
1969 "Never Again!" slogan of the Jewish Defense League
1972 "Never Again! A Program for Survival" book by Jewish Defense League founder Meir Kahane
1981 "Never Again… Never Again" episode of Magnum, P.I.
1983 "Never Say Never Again" James Bond film
1997 "Never Again" (The X-Files), episode of The X-Files
2000 "Never Again: A History of the Holocaust" a book by Martin Gilbert
2001 "Never Again" (2001 film), film directed by Eric Schaeffer
2004 "Never Again" series of (alternative) history books by RJ Rummel
2006 "Never Again: Securing America and Restoring Justice" book by John Ashcroft

Never Again. They shouldn't just say Bongbong is rewriting the history of the Martial Law years. In the first place, I haven't seen a book written by Bongbong. Those Never Again people should write that history themselves according to their point of view, and not just about human rights violations, so then we can compare what Bongbong is saying and what they are saying. Sorry, it's too late now.

Two, it's the wrong person.

During the first and only "debate" involving all the candidates for Vice President held at the UST Quadricentennial Pavilion, people from the Youth Alliance Against the Return of the Marcoses (YAARM) heckled Ferdinand "Bongbong" Marcos as he started introducing himself (ANN, 11 April 2016, Shout: "Never again to Martial Law!" manila.coconuts.co).

"Never again!" What the YAARM means with that is this: "Not another fellow who will declare Martial Law in the Philippines!" And they point to Bongbong Marcos. I cannot catch their logic.

Why not Rodrigo Duterte, who has a Justice League image and posture and whose mouth is full of "Never Again!" as far as I am concerned. As far as I can see, he will most likely declare Martial Law (or National Calamity) so that he can fulfil his promise of cleaning up the whole Philippines of crime within 6 months. He will impose death, so "Never Again" to drug dealers, drug pushers, and other criminals. "Never Again!"

Or, which is the same, you can say that to anybody running for President or Vice President: "Never Again!"

Those people pick on Bongbong because he is the son of the dictator Ferdinand "FM" Marcos. They must argue that "Like father, like son." I might agree with that, although I have 4 sons and 1 wife, and none of those boys is like the father, and I'm glad. One original aboriginal is enough!

Three, the moral is wrong.

Still, the anti-Marcos loudmouths and many a Facebook denizen go further and recite a litany of the venial and mortal sins of the father and heap them on the son. I cannot argue on the merits of the cases but, like the devil, I can cite the Scriptures for my purpose.

I'm a Roman Catholic, so I will quote from a proper source (Catholic Answers, catholic.com):

Question: Does the phrase "sins of the father" mean that the spiritual burdens of previous generations can be passed to succeeding ones?

Answer: No one can pass down to others their personal sins. We say that the original sin of Adam and Eve is passed down through the generations, but original sin is not the actual fault of the recipient. Rather, its effect is the privation of grace and the loss of original innocence that our first parents had.

From another Catholic source (carm.org): The contexts in both Deuteronomy 24:16 and Ezekiel 18:20 are the same: the law of man. No, the son cannot answer for the sins of the father.

In short: Legally, no. Otherwise, you can jail the son for the crimes of the father. Were any of the 5 Presidents after FM – Cory Aquino, Fidel Valdez Ramos, Joseph Estrada, Gloria Macapagal Arroyo and Noynoy Aquino – convinced of the iniquity of the Marcoses? If so, why did they not put in jail any or all of the Marcos family members for their alleged crimes? The Marcoses were not in power all those times.

From me: Logically, no. Otherwise, you suffer from the mental disease called Logical Fallacy.

Question: Will Bongbong Marcos declare Martial Law and abuse the people like his father allegedly did?

Answer: If he declares Martial Law when and if he becomes President (I'm not discounting the possibility), it does not follow that his ML will be like his father's ML. And it does not follow that he will abuse the people. And it does not follow that we will allow him. We can always adopt federalism, where there can never be a dictatorship. If you insist "Like father, like son," that's a logical fallacy called argumentum ad hominem. If you don't know what that means, shame on you!