Language, Violence, and Coping in the Drug War

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The chapter examines the manipulation of language in the drug war, showcasing how terms like 'salvage' and 'some people need killing' are used to justify violence and control. It also discusses the challenges journalists face in reporting on traumatic events, emphasizing the need for community support in coping with the psychological toll.

Patricia Evangelista is a trauma journalist whose coverage of the drug war in the Philippines has appeared in Rappler, Esquire, and elsewhere. Her recent book is Some People Need Killing: A Memoir of Murder in My Country.

“It is hard to describe the beat I do without saying very often it involves people who have died. And it seemed like an unfair way to frame it. It didn't quite seem right. … Sometimes there's no dead body, or sometimes there's 6,000, but the function is the same: that the people you speak to have gone through enormous painful trauma, and then there's a way to cover it that minimizes that trauma. So … I don't cover the dead. I cover trauma.”

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