Powerful Family Is Accused in More Killings, Essay Example

The creation of human civilization influenced social relationships in such a way that there appeared various forms of human relationships. Newspapers give many bright examples of relationships where one can examine human interrelations within a family, a group of people or a whole country. The newspaper’s article with the horrible criminal issue was chosen to demonstrate such social phenomenon. The New York Time’s article “The Philippines: Powerful Family Is Accused in More Killings” informs briefly about the massacre of 57 people by the Ampatuan clan.

The crucial point of the article is the accusation of Andal Ampatuan – son of Manguindanao Province’s governor Esmael Mangudadatu. He is a quite powerful and authoritative political leader and the family patriarch; his son is his alter ago and thinks the same way. The relationships between the son and his father can give a bright example of a one-to-one relationship.

Another form of social relationships is a one-to-many relationship, where “one” can be referred either to Andal or the Ampatuans. To illustrate it with the example one can read in the article about the following:

“Andal Ampatuan Jr., son of the family patriarch, is on trial for the Nov. 23, 2009, killings in Maguindanao, whose 57 victims included about 30 journalists and media support staff members who were with a group of people on their way to file candidacy papers for a political rival of Mr. Ampatuan” (Conde, 2010).

In addition, one can see a many-to-many relationship here. There is an open political conflict on the Philippines that can affect dangerously on the local population. The violent confrontation between the Ampatuan clan and innocent voters of another political group resulted in the massacre.

Criminal chronicles make many people shudder with fear. This article is a bright example of one-to-one, one-to-many and many-to-many relationships within the society. Such relationships may result both in virtuous deeds and the vicious ones, but the one thing is obvious: such forms of social relationships need to be further examined and analyzed by sociologists and other researchers. The data of such social observation may be useful for all fields of human activity.

References

Conde, Carlos H. (2010, November 17). The Philippines: Powerful Family Is Accused in More Killings. The New York Times. Retrieved November 18, 2010, from http://www.nytimes.com/2010/11/17/world/asia/17briefs-PHILIPPINES.html