Abstract
This chapter offers an unconventional view of Philippines President Rodrigo Duterte’s rhetoric by contending that his use of abusive language is a symbolic predilection by a president who is fully aware of the political implications of actions and utterances—to preach tough love to protect citizens and maintain law and order. We call this phenomenon paternalistic cussing which serves to reassure a culturally conservative constituency that privileges order, discipline, and social stability. Through a critical reexamination of Duterte’s public pronouncements, we demonstrate that although cussing has become characteristic of his particular brand of speechmaking, it seems to occur more frequently when speaking before economically and politically high-function audiences (e.g., local government officials, law enforcement officers, and overseas Filipinos) whose cooperation and agreement are necessary to legitimize the government’s controversial campaign against illegal drugs. While Duterte’s propensity to swear is intimately akin to a caring parent talking to an unwieldy child to behave in a particular manner, to a great extent this has resonated well with a national political culture that puts a premium on traditional norms of hierarchy, a collectivist mindset, and material values. Ultimately, this chapter provides a more nuanced view of Duterte other than being a vulgar strongman.
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Notes
- 1.
Representing the character of Juan Pusong—a figure in Philippines folk tales “who makes fun of those in power while managing through deceit or humor to gain power himself” (Rafael, 2019, p. 155).
- 2.
Although we could have called this parental cussing, we decided instead to use the term paternalistic cussing as it is more theoretically and empirically consistent with prevailing research. Nevertheless, we acknowledge that the latter term can have a gender dimension given that the focus is on a male i.e., Duterte. This, however, is not to cast aside the prospect of having female leaders exhibiting similar cussing behavior—a task that can be explored in future studies.
- 3.
Although some scholars have voiced opposition to this assumption (de Vries et al., 2018), it has not been fully applied in the context of studying Duterte’s rhetoric.
- 4.
Leche is a Spanish cuss word assimilated into the Cebuano lexicon. According to the UP Diksyunaryo ng Wikang (Almario & Center of the Filipino Language, 2010) “leche” or “letse” literally implies that the person to who it is directed needs more milk. It is akin to saying that the person is infantile, immature or slow. It can also imply that the person at the receiving end has a comprehension similar to a toddler. Cebuano is President Duterte’s mother tongue. The authors speak this local dialect.
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Pernia, R.A., Panao, R.A.L. (2023). The Cuss that Cares? Paternalistic Cussing in Philippine President Rodrigo RoaDuterte’s Rhetoric. In: Feldman, O. (eds) Debasing Political Rhetoric. The Language of Politics. Springer, Singapore. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-99-0894-3_6
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