COVID-19 Pandemic is a Myth

Submitted by:

Jhon Ace T. Durico

ETH-K1

Submitted to:

Johnny Bolangaita
 As the pandemic began to hit, the world has changed in all aspects unforeseen since
centuries ago. All of the nations were shocked, unable to prepare from the tidal waves of
problems and changes that the pandemic has brought in terms of the economy, healthcare,
social life, political changes, as well as inter-territorial governing. Some were much prepared,
able to cope quickly and get back on its feet easier. As for the unfortunate few, hell has been
realized on earth, the culmination of hardships, struggles, and suffering has been realized,
personified by the COVID-19 Pandemic. Now that it’s been three years since the devastating
pandemic striked, efforts of recoveries from all the countries has been gradually creeping
through, reaching the light at the end of this dark tunnel of misery.

Despite the seemingly world-changing impact and damage that the COVID-19
Pandemic had brought to the majority of earth’s population, the issue of the legitimacy of its
existence still plague the whole ecosphere. Not only is it prevalent in arguably the least
informed group of people; the Filipinos, this conspiracy is also widespread among the foreign
demographic, such as the Americans. As I sit in my dimly lit room and contemplate, I
question why such occurrence seems to be happening in a global scale. Why does a sizable
chunk of the world think that “the COVID-19 Pandemic is a myth”?

As a firm believer of rational thinking and science, I couldn’t wrap my head around
the idea of such claims to even be a truthful consideration. First and foremost, COVID is
definitely not unheard of in the medical field. I remember my first recollection of a similar
strain virus was of SARS COV and MERS COV. COVID-19 is just a different strain of the
similar various deriving from different types of mutations. This strain of virus is not
unprecedented by any means for similar various strands has been appearing in a recurring
fashion throughout the years, it is therefore logical for it to effectively evolve into something
as menacing as the COVID-19 given enough cycles. As my curiosity grew and grew on the
number of COVID-19 hoax I’ve been hearing and seeing through the media, I’ve began
researching the origins of such tales, how these people hold on to their firm belief of
falsehood. I scoured the internet for any sort of trace I can find, something that would bring
me to the answer. I search locally and internationally, trying to understand this overarching
narrative of how some people don’t believe in the COVID-19 pandemic.

One of the things I noticed when it comes to the Filipino people and their skepticism
of COVID-19 is it mainly boils down into three things. We have the irrationality of believing
in falsehood fed by unreliable sources in social medias such as “tiktok” or any fake news
pages on “Facebook”, the distrust of the government’s COVID response and possibly
manipulation, and lastly, the overreliance the religious teachings promoting conspiracies. An
alarming thing I have diligently observed as a digital citizen is that Filipinos are easily
misinformed. The amount of misinformation I’ve seen online being shared, reposted, and
preached by Filipinos in all walks of life is rather discomforting to say the least, especially
when you take into account the impact it makes in their life. Such propagandas include that of
COVID-19, and how it’s all a hoax, how it is just created to widen the social divide between
the rich and the poor. This skepticism is directly related to the people’s skepticism of the
countries COVID response. In my opinion, the Philippines had the worse COVID-19
response imaginable. This might be due to various reasons such as corruption, low economic
capacity, political weaknesses, the disregard of the law, or any combination of the
aforementioned. Nevertheless, this has been the source of skepticism of the Filipino people.
A lot of Filipinos loosed their trust on the government, leading to the irrational radicalism of
the illegitimacy of the virus. Some even say that the whole COVID-19 ordeal is fake, and it’s
manufactured to take advantage of the poor; to make the rich richer. While I do sympathize
with their emotions, I find it idiotic to radicalize the illegitimacy of COVID-19 just because
our government isn’t doing the best service it can give. The last thing that drives the
falsehood of COVID myth is the overwhelming and borderline cult like preaching of some of
the local Christian based religion. As a devout Christian, I know firsthand how giving every
single piece of trust you have to a religion can lead some people astray in the hands of the
wrong preacher. I’ve seen countless examples of this, especially here in our place, where a
certain religion runs rampant, spreading lies to its devotees. I saw firsthand how this so called
“preacher” was spreading lies, telling people; old people mind you, that vaccines are the work
of evil, that they are meant to be the sign of evil, that whoever gets them accepts the devil
within themselves. Social media, politics, and religion, I think that the overarching narrative
that people has about the pandemic stems from these underlying problems left untreated
under the Philippines’ soil.

When it comes to the international scene and how some people believe that the
pandemic isn’t real, I find it rather questionable that despite the higher standard of living in
general, the narrative of “COVID 19 is a hoax” is still widespread, more widespread than
what we see in the Philippines I would argue. Take for example how in the USA, people were
mass protesting even the simplest gesture of wearing a mask. This has made me curios as to
what could be the reasoning behind these clearly illogical and uncalled for outburst of
disregarding scientific and lawful guidelines set to minimize the rate of spread of the disease.
As I’ve seen, as well as research on the internet, much like the Philippines, there are a
multitude of reason why people disregard the COVID guidelines, as well as believe the
COVID 19 pandemic is a myth in general. The first thing I’ve discovered is that as a society
progresses, its scope of problems changes from a more economical standpoint, to a rather
socio-political one. This is very evident in America and in UK for example. I’ve noticed that
in USA, the roots of the COVID -19 are highly related to socio-political issues. People
protest their ill-informed beliefs fed to them by various institutions whose goals are to sway
the public opinion to boost their political agendas. They will spew these conspiracies such as
“the virus was engineered in a laboratory in China”, “wealthy elites are using the virus to
profit from vaccines” pushing the agenda that the pandemic is actually planned by the
wealthy to further their goals. This, along with the shared distrust in American institutions
has helped to unite several groups behind the banner of COVID-19 conspiracy theories. I’ve
read a survey by the American Psychological Association stating 1 in 4 people in America
believe such conspiracies to be true.

Amidst all these conspiracies and falsehood, I find it hard to judge and persecute the
people that beliefs such to be true, for they just believe is in what they think is correct. I
personally pity them, for they are being manipulated and used by these people and
institutions with dark agendas, which deliberately spreads misinformation to benefit
themselves. I believe that these people are the ones to be held accountable.

With all that being said, saddening part about this blatant spread of disinformation is a
slap on the face of all the scientist and medical professionals who’s there in the field day in
and day out, working extra hard with their blood, sweat, and risking their own lives to be able
to halt the spread of this deadly disease. I find it rather disrespectful and outright ungrateful
to them, and their sacrifices. Yes, people can argue that “they are just doing their jobs”, but I
think there is no argument to be made when scientist and medical professionals are literally
dying in the field because of the disease.

In the grand scheme of things, the victim of all these conspiracies and lies are us, the
people who are powerless. We are the ones whose lives have been or are going to be
devastated, displaced, and disorganized as a result. Thus, combatting misinformation should
be taken seriously, for it’s our only weapon against the devastating lies. COVID-19 is not a
myth, the only thing fabricated in this whole farce are the conspiracies and lies.
Is your Existence worth Existing?

Submitted by:

Jhon Ace T. Durico

ETH-K1

Submitted to:

Johnny Bolangaita
 Is life worth living? A thriving question that drives my very existence. As if a shadow
casted upon creation, I walk with it beside me, in every waking moment of my trifling life. Is
life worth living? A question so simple, yet so complex. What gives life its meaning? In
existence what is there to get? I pondered and pondered, squeezing every single drop of
thought I deem worthy, worthy of my value, something to give my life distinction and reason.
As I gradually tried to find the answer to this question, I reminisced about the holistic totality
of the life I lived so far, my virtues, my pains, my struggles, my gains, all of the things that
complete me, as if a puzzle made up of million pieces. I fiddled with every thought, every
answer, every memory I can take. Soon, I found the answer within me, of why my existence
is worth existing.

How’d you define the worth of life? It is an interesting topic to explore. Is it in their
past? Is it in the present? Or is it in the future left to be explored. A famous saying goes; you
cannot put value into life. No monetary, nor superficial currency shall be put upon the head of
an individuals’ life; their worth. But what if we can? What if we can put a monetary value
upon someone’s totality? Would you sell it? Would you keep it? Or would you even want to
know just how much value you amount to? This is exactly the premise of a life changing
piece of literature I’ve read explored. Entitled “Three Days of Happiness”, this Japanese
comic explored the heaviest topic there is to explore on the value of existence. The premise
of the said literature is simple; a young man named Kusonoki was unable to make ends meet
resulting to him selling almost all of his possession. After visiting a library to sell books, the
clerk tells Kusonoki of a place where he can sell his lifespan for actual money. Everything
between how impactful someone is to the world and how many people you have affected is
taken into consideration for your lifespan. After a complicated path towards this fabled place,
zhe enters the store and meets a mysterious girl named Miyagi. After a couple hours for his
evaluation, Kusonoki is informed his lifespan is only worth about $3000, abysmally lower
than the universal average. Realizing that his future is worthless, he decides to sell it keeping
only 3 months so he may enjoy the money. Beyond the simple premise, of the literature, lies
a deep and profound meaning of the value of existence. It presents the value of existence in a
bleak and uncomfortable manner but the show uses it to explore the wondrous world of
fulfillment, happiness, and the life’s value. A reason why I hold this show to a high regard
when it comes to the value of existence is that it really doesn’t explicitly answer how one is
to determine the value of life’s worth, but instead delves into why the question exist in the
first place, which leads to the most beautiful life story I’ve ever seen or read on media and
literature. It’s not just a story of the characters self-reflection; it’s also a story of your own.
After thoroughly consuming what there is to digest on the media, I’ve been left with a single
message; the only one who can determine the value of your life, is you. You are the
determining factor of how much value goes in to your life, monetary or not, tangible or
intangible. You are the only person able to increase that value, starting from today, no matter
how valueless you think the life you’ve lived so far may be. For no matter how you think
how little value your life has right now, has no bearing to what it well given ten years, five
years, two months from now, or even tomorrow.

The life I’ve lived so far is far from perfect. It’s filled with struggles, pains, hardships,
and questions left unanswered. I grew up in a relatively poor household, barely able to feed
ourselves. Life wasn’t really ideal, but it wasn’t that bad in retrospect. Working has always
been a part of me, may it be at home or on jobs. Things weren’t that easy to say the least but
it wasn’t the hardest I could’ve lived. As I am examining, how existence has been for me.
Has it been happy? Was it meaningful? Was it a calm or exciting life? I struggle to find the
answer, for the canvas I have painted at this moment depicts yin and yang. It’s been a careful
balance between joy and sadness, equilibrium of two worlds. Thus, I have concluded, that the
answer can’t be seen in the past. Whether it may be in my present or in my future the only
thing left is to find out.

I tried to look for it in the present, a picture of a university student appeared, striving
to gain it all in life; a career, a job, a family, a passion, my path. If I theoretically put a value,
in the life I currently have. I wouldn’t be so sure if I’m worth anything, for my current self is
a work in progress; its value can only be revealed through time. Is my current life worth
existing? I’ll say the future the measure. For my present is like a sailing ship, facing bigger
and stronger tides. With the future in the horizon, I set my sail up high. Navigating through
chaotic storm, the ship is pushing firmly through the horrendous waves. Hoping one day, the
value of its existence shall be realized.

Is my existence worth existing? I ask myself once again. Does my life have any value,
if the past can’t put price on my name? I continued to ponder upon this very question, while
looking at the reflection of my current self. I wondered what could there be within me, worth
cultivating, worth polishing, worth… living. I saw a glimmer of hope, a shining array far
from the distance, it’s a picture of me in the future, the me I aspire, the me I desire. It is the
not what I am in the present that dictates my worth, it is who I am going to become, my worth
is up to me, up to the last moment, I can be as worth as expensive, or as cheap, as abundant,
or as scarce as I desire to be. I am the one holding my own future, hence, my worth is within
me.

As I contemplated deeper, diving into what I aspire. What personally gives me

motivation, what is the purpose of my existence? Maybe it’s to achieve my dreams, being
successful in all assets of life. Maybe it’s to find happiness, through a life of contentment and
harmony, or maybe it is to provide, for my partner and my family. Maybe it’s all of these
things that give life its meaning, I asked myself as I struggle to find my life’s motivation, my
life goal. This is where a certain passage in the literature above hit me, much like and
epiphany, something in my brain clicked, as if there was an invisible switch. I realized my
life’s meaning. The meaning of live is just to be alive, I know it might sound plain, obvious,
and rather simplistic, and yet, everybody rushes around in a great panic as if it were necessary
to achieve something beyond themselves. The meaning of life is just to live, to feel, to
experience, to hear, to see, to see the value of every minute, every second, and every future
thereafter. I sat calmly and let the realization sink in. What gives life its meaning, is you, and
how you had been living, is living, and will be living your life

As I go through this moment, there are few things I want to solidify, to live on your
own mind, to drown in an existential crisis, is not how we should live our lives. For the
essence of existence is not to find its meaning, but feel and experience every single second of
it. Time and time again, we fail to ask the right questions. “What is the meaning of life, or
existence worth existing”, are questions we should not ponder upon. For existence has no
general meaning, there is no distinction between what is the right and wrong. To exist is
simply to live, experiencing every single moment.

Is my life worth living? Now I know what the answer is. My existence is as worthy as
I deem it is. As of the moment, I think I can assure, no one can assign life to a single value, or
monetary nature. As life goes on, struggles and pains will come, but that’s the beauty of
existing, to be able to feel, to be able to experience emotion, along with the uncertainties
they’ll come. Is my existence worth existing? There surely is one definite answer. I am here, I
am alive, and therefore my existence is worth dying for.
Morality is a Fixed Virtue

Submitted by:

Jhon Ace T. Durico

ETH-K1

Submitted to:

Johnny Bolangaita
 Ever since the first man and woman walked this earth, the universal language of
science spoke to them, in a rather indirect manner, nonetheless, science has been affecting the
lives, decisions, actions, and thinking, practically everything a man has or had been doing
since the beginning of life itself. Science is the universal truth, the fundamental fixed thing in
the universe, one who cannot be argued upon, one that is firm, or rather, one that is solidified.
This is the strongest feature of science, the determination of the approximate truths of the
universe. But is that always the case? Can the ultimate reasoning of the universe be defined,
unchanging, and unyielding? That is what I’ve been asking myself since my first exposure to
the topic of ethics, specially, morality. Morality can come with various difference
interpretations and derivations when it comes to its meaning but in general, morality is the
distinction between the right and the wrong. As a sub branch of philosophy, morality deals
with the set of standards that enable people to live cooperatively in groups. It's what societies
determine to be “right” and “acceptable.” With a rational mind, we often entail morality as to
this black and white, these highly contrasting areas of “good” and “bad”, but is the really the
case? Can we really paint morality in one single shade? Is morality a fixed universal pattern?
I also think that morality is objective, with rigid determinants and outliers. Morality unlike
science can subjective, to each and every single nation, culture, or even individual, but it can
also be objective.

An argument made on why morality is a fixed virtue is that morality must therefore be
objectively derived, meaning there’s no outlying influence in its determination. That in order
to be able to determine if something is immoral or moral, one must conform to the universal
reasoning. An example of this is how humans tend to generally agree upon the general
premise of fairness and justice. It is to argue that the human mind fundamentally is driven to
make a decision that would benefit them, as such; the morality of individualism is innate in
us. From our bow hunting ancestors, to the current modern man earning a living in the office,
we are guided by our universal human moral instinct of survival, and reproduction. An
interesting case I’ve watched on video lecture about behavioral psychology given by Harvard
on YouTube is how behavioral patterns of humans has been innately passed down from
generations to generations. It was stated that humans are innately triggered to see human life
above anything else, which I agree upon, not minding the special cases. Thus, I understand
and somewhat agree with the sentiment that the human morality is fundamentally cater to his
own, to humans, and to those who he/she forms connections to.
 Another argument that I would like to agree to is that morality, as in the good things
we all stand upon, is objective for a morally subjective radical world is rather chaotic which
has been shown time and time again in history to cause inhumanity and complete and utter
chaos as evident of the wars our historic predecessors had. The argument to be had in this is
that whatever the ‘subjective’ cultural differences, the same objective moral principle applies
which I don’t necessarily agree upon. Some cultural differences are innately or vastly
different when it comes to their fundamental moral objective. This is highly evident in
cannibalistic tribes, where the fundamental moral principle of not harming humans is non-
existent.

An argument that I don’t completely agree upon is that the subjectivity of an unfixed
morality enables a person to decide for themselves what is moral and what is not, which is
equivalent to having no universal morality at all. This argues that there subjective morality is
fundamentally flawed and wrong, for it counteracts the purpose of morality, to adhere to the
socially acceptable and righteous.

The idea that morality is a fixed virtue has its fair share of arguments but the one the
resonates to me the most is that though it is clear that each and every single human in
existence has moral principles, the objectivity of morality correlates to every single one of us,
our species, must share a fix moral value system. This is evidently incorrect as it is a
universal patent that not every single one of us shares the same moral agenda. Let’s take for
instance the issue of abortion, euthanasia, or animal rights. We all each stand on a different
side of the “agree or disagree” spectrum on these issues. The determination of morality has a
lot of factors to take into consideration. Thus, it is outright incorrect to put someone’s
morality in a fix box of what is moral and what is not. The evaluation of morality takes into
account things such as culture, emotions, intentions, intuitions, traditions, practices, the
consequences, dilemmas, among others. The combination of answers to these factors that an
individual has can relativize the morality of the action he/she has committed, is committing,
or is going to commit.

An important factor that is often overlooked when it comes to judging the morality of
an action is context. Context put’s the justification of the action into the forefront; I believe
that judgment without context is an act in vain. To provide context to a moral decision is like
providing the the solutions to your final answer, it put’s things into perspective the reasoning
behind the action done, diving into the moral standard and psyche of the person doing the
action.

An important driving force of why morality cannot and will never be a fixed virtue is
that the subjectivity of culture and tradition is heavily tied to a person’s moral standpoint and
moral standard. Culture, as well all know, is relative, as societies progressed, given the
geographical distinction of the regions, we developed a cultural trait unique and different of
that different societies. This is why I think that acknowledging cultural relativism is a good
starting ground into depicting and understanding morality as a virtue. To give example, we
can look into the cultural traits and traditional inclinations of the Filipino people as opposed
to let’s say people in United States of America or USA. Filipinos tend to have a rather
“traditional or conservative” standpoint in America political terms. We value life among
others, as rooted to our tradition and religion. A huge majority of Filipinos prefer to date a
member of the similar sex, and quite evidently, we are rather avoidant of sex educational
related talks. Whilst in the US, people tend to view those aforementioned societal arguments
rather liberally, where they emphasize more on the feelings, rather than keeping an uptight
attitude towards tradition. I think that due to these various socio-political and geographical
differences, the morality of individuals coming from these two opposing places are going to
be fundamentally different.

Another thing is that the impact of beliefs and religion as somewhat discussed above.
Religion, along with culture, is a relative aspect of human nature that as well all know,
directly or indirectly impacts someone’s moral compass. Religion, can be highly relative, a
lot of people adhere to various religious beliefs and teachings, creating a relative religious
moral standpoint. This is highly evident on Islam for example where their morals are
aggressive. This gave rise to the radicalization of their teachings, a prominent example of
which is ISIS. This is also true to what happened with Nazi Germany, where Hitler’s
propaganda led to immoral actions.

With that being said, while there are some moral decisions that are innate to humanity
and are considered fixed, the relativity of morality runs at an individual level, creating a
unique moral compass to each and every one. I would like to of morality as a tree, with deep
branching roots and luscious top branches, each different root being different things that
influences morality, culture, tradition, and such. The stem represents society, which holds the
branches up high, and the leaves being an individual’s morality, uniquely different, unfixed.