The New Normal
#annotations #short-story #transgressive
Author: Jose Miguel Arguelles
About a man who caught his girlfriend cheating, in his own bed and got beaten up by the other guy who was half his size.
This man went back to his family home despite worrying about the shame and shit talking behind his back after the incident because he is worried more bout their house being broken in twice.
Very much like drugs, a successful theft can be addicting.
This passage suggested that the story was set during Rodrigo Duterte's War on Drugs, and how drug addicts and petty thieves are being perceived during this time. Our new normal since he got elected.
Displaying so much machismo from his internal monologue that no one can protect the family aside from him because he's the only man, in spite of freezing every single time during the face of conflict. All talk, all bark. Just like Duterte.
He was someone I'd rather not face. As the only man in this house- that responsibility was mine and mine alone.
The story implied that the family home is situated somewhere in the Philippines that has US military exercises. At one point a character suggested that the they should turn over the thief to American army men visiting in the city.
Another suggestion on how where the family stand about the war on drugs:
When I told her [his grandma] that I had no plans, she sighed and prayed that the president's war on drugs would somehow sweep up the thief so he could no longer bother us.
The thief got caught. The main character beat him to almost-death because he's pouring all of his frustrations in life from his fist to that man's face.
Police came in and whatever he did to that man sort of gained the policeman's approval, the police took over and shrugged, snorted, and chuckled a bit. This thief will be another "nanlaban" in the books.
An angle on War on Drugs, where in the story didn't even mention why the thief targeting their home to begin with or why is he stealing in the first place. Just like how the government and its rabid supporters conveniently remove the fact that crime and drug use is not a personal failing rather a systemic problem.