visual assignment

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Introduction
In this paper, the negative and positive impact of the image of a 17-year-old girl that was featured on Wednesday, 26, October 2016 by the Reuters will be covered. The body of the girl was pictured dead next to her doll with blood coming from her mouth and staining her white top. Though the photograph covered only the girl, she was not alone, because some of her friends were also killed by the unknown motorcycle-riding hit men. The hit men are believed to be members of the vigilante who are working with the government to fight drug business (Hincks 5). The incident occurred in the Philippines, Manila alley. Besides, the police also found the cardboard next to the bodies that claimed that the girls were drug pushers, therefore, called them animals.
Positive impacts of the image
In the Philippines, the stringent laws, vigorous prosecution, spectacular police drives, and imprisonment of both the addicts and the drug peddlers have proved to be ineffective and expensive as far as the war against drug is concerned. It is worth noting that President Rodrigo Duterte promised during his campaigns for the 2016 elections that his government would suppress crime, corruption, and drugs within a span of three to six months of his time in the office. Moreover, he also promised to fatten the fish found in the Manila Bay with the 100,000 criminals’ bodies (Hincks 9). This means that the government has resorted to killing as the only way of fighting drugs in the Philippines.

The move is working because the report from the Al Jazeera claimed that between July 1 to the September 5, of this year, more than 686,000 drug addicts and dealers have voluntarily surrendered to the police (Hincks 14). Therefore, images of dead drug pushers like the case of the 17-year-old girl has got positive impact as far as the fight against drugs in the Philippines is concerned.
Apart from scaring away drug pushers from indulging in the drug dealing business, the image can also act as a warning to both the parents and the young ones against involving in the illegal business. In the Philippines, the majority of the drug pushers are the minors. However, it is believed that they do not only push drugs, but also abuse them. Disruption of the chain of distribution, such as eliminating the peddlers is the key towards fighting off the drug business. Therefore, an image like this 17-year-old girl can serve as a stern warning to both the parents and the minors against any involvement in drug trafficking business. Instead of pushing drugs, the parents can use such images to advise their young to indulge in another form of activities that are good for their future.
Negative impacts of the image
Though this form of extrajudicial killing is effective in the war against drugs, it paints a negative picture as far as the Philippines’ judicial system is concerned. In any society, including the Philippines, every citizen has a right to a fair and a just hearing in a court of law. Therefore, images like this 17-year-old girl portray a picture that there is no justice in the Philippines. The fact that the girl was in a possession of a doll but not a drug is an indicator that the girl might not be actually a drug pusher. On this ground, it can be argued that the majority of the killings that happen in the Philippines are innocent and law abiding citizens. The image represents a gross violation of human rights that exist in the Philippines. In fact, President Rodrigo Duterte was once quoted saying that he does not care about human rights (Hincks 60).
Besides portraying the violation of human rights, another positive impact of the image is the portrayal of the Philippine as a failed state. A government that turns against her own people by killing them is actually a failed state. Therefore, the image and many other more that have surfaced in the recent past is hurting the government more than the drug dealers. The fact that the image was a body of 17-year-old girl with a doll in the company of her dead friends worsens the situation. It is worth noting that the government that kills the young members of the society actually kills the future of that particular country. Therefore, the image portrays the uncertainty that surrounds the Philippines (Hincks 62).
Work cited
Hincks, Joseph. “Philippines: Inside Duterte’s Killer Drug War.” News from Al Jazeera.8 Sept.
2016. Web. 22 Nov. 2016.