Rodrigo Duterte, the sitting President of the Philippines, is a bloodthirsty psychopath. Specifically, Duterte seeks to spill the blood of illegal drug dealers and users. The Filipino president once bragged about executing drug dealers himself. Duterte also said he’d “be happy” to kill the remaining three million illegal drug dealers and users in his country. He is personally responsible for the killings of over 12,000 people in the past year.
The Google Play Store is hosting games that allow users to play as the prohibitionist maniac Duterte, as he goes on a digital killing spree. A few of apps have Duterte fighting zombies. This is a reference to a quote from the Filipino President, in which he called addicts ‘zombies’: “I will never, never, never rule a country with so many zombies around.”
The top Duterte game has been downloaded by more than 1 million players and has 33,000 reviews. The game’s description is: “Help Duterte fight against the zombies! Get weapons for destruction, earn badges and teach them a lesson to stop the crime!”
In another game, users will “help Duterte eliminate people infected by drugs.” The apps are rated E for everyone.
NORML isn’t having any of it. Recently, they launched a petition campaign to get Google to take down these games.
On top of his on personal drug dealer killing spree, Duterte promised to pardon all police and others who murder in the name of his drug war. More than a million Filipinos have turned themselves in, terrified that they might be one of Duterte’s next victims. If they do manage to survive Duterte’s wrath, they must endure overcrowded and filthy prison conditions.
In August, police in the Philippines killed 32 alleged drug dealers in one day. This pleased Duterte, as he praised the operation and vowed to execute anyone who spoke out against the killings.
“There were 32 killed in Bulacan in a massive raid, that’s good” Duterte said in a speech. “Let’s kill another 32 every day, maybe we can reduce what ails this country.”
“These games violate Google Play’s policy, which says ‘We don’t allow apps that lack reasonable sensitivity towards or capitalize on a natural disaster, atrocity, conflict, death, or other tragic event,’” reports NORML. “In that vein, we are demanding that Google recognize the ongoing atrocity happening in the Philippines and that they remove these apps from their store immediately.”
What do you think? Do these apps have a right to exist due to freedom of speech? Are the Duterte games harmless or should Google remove them from the Google Play store? Let us know in the comments section.
