An MDL Analysis of Comments on President Duterte's Common-Law Wife Honeylet Avanceña's Invitation to the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA)

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Message Design Logic (MDL), proposed by Barbara O'Keefe, is a communication theory which seeks to categorize the messages, or the so-called "sets of logics," that individuals generate and interpret. These categories are: 1) expressive MDL; 2) conventional MDL; and 3) rhetorical MDL.

The expressive message design logic is aimed for an individual to express himself or herself. Through this, there will be an honest and open communication. However, it is also because of this that people who use this type of MDL might be 'too honest,' as everything they say blurts out straight from their mouth without filtering them. As a result, individuals who communicate with them may perceive the message negatively and generate negative reactions, therefore, affecting the effectivity of communication between them.

The conventional message design logic, on the other hand, is concerned at achieving effective communication through appropriateness and cooperation, according to pre-existing conventions. For people who use this type of MDL, their messages are shaped according to what is appropriate under a given circumstance so as to avoid disputes with individuals they communicate with.

The last type is the rhetorical message design logic, which "operates on the premise that communication is the creation and negotiation of social selves and situations" (O'Keefe 1988). People who use this type of MDL aims to achieve a sophisticated communication, and in order to achieve this goal, they have to formulate a message which would benefit all the parties involved in the said communication. In addition, they may either use the expressive MDL if they believe that using it will achieve their goals, or the conventional MDL to adapt to customs, avoid conflicts and eventually achieve their goals.

These types of message design logic would be used in analyzing the comments on a news published by Manila Bulletin on their official Facebook page, about Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte's common-law wife, Honeylet Avanceña, being invited to the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) in New York. The news gained mixed reactions from the netizens.
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(Author's Note: Only the top 40 comments were gathered and analyzed)
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According to our analysis, 2 of the 40 comments used the conventional MDL, only 1 used the rhetorical MDL and the rest used the expressive MDL (The numbers? It's for you to find out!).

 Three general themes emerged in our analysis:
1) Attacks against Avanceña - some comments say that Avanceña is not qualified to attend the UNGA.
2) Defending Avanceña - some comments defend Avanceña by saying that she is a good person and that it's nobody's business if she is there. They also attacked those who attacked Avanceña by saying that they were just commenting out of jealousy.
3) Attacks against 'Dilawans' - some of the comments attacked the so-called 'dilawans,' a term used by netizens to generalize all individuals who oppose the President.

 We also commented on the post based on the rhetorical message design logic.
Our comment generated two likes and one heart or love reaction. What may be inferred from this is that these users agree with the sentiments and content of our comment. However, their reaction is represented merely by a few pixels. No words, just symbols. Hence, it does not provide room to determine their communicative complexity nor does it concretely put them in any of the three categories of the MDL. The MDL requires words -- may it be verbal or written -- to categorize a person's cognitive and logical capacity. Likes and other reactions may convey the user's feelings towards a post or article, but it is merely surface level. It is less inviting of discourse compared to when users comment in words. There is not much to look into when all the users can convey is a symbol of an emotion. In constructing our comment, we looked through the rhetorical lens, meaning, we constructed our comment to be forward-looking, not focusing on the topic as it is in the past, nor as it is in the present, but what aspect of it can be used for improvement of the future. We first stated an observation about the unclear purpose of the invitation to establish a point. This could potentially rouse curiosities of users who would read the comment. To focus on the effect of our reaction rather than merely reacting, we included a suggestion that the government should be more transparent. We backed this suggestion by stating an observation that the government expects the people to be passively receptive of whatever information they release. This is the solution we offered based on the context at hand, still applying the rhetorical MDL, which is all about using communication in problem-solving. Another reaction to our comment is a reply from a netizen who talked about credibility, Ms. Avanceña being Duterte's wife, and Duterte's choice of women -- all of which were not discussed nor mentioned in our comment. The reply was of no relevance to the comment. Based on this, we categorize the reply as an example of an expressive MDL. Expressive MDL deals with simple, uncomplex expressions. This type of logic is only reactive in purpose, which is evident in the user's reply.


Sources:
Caughlin, John P. 2015. "The International Encyclopedia of Interpersonal Communication." Wiley Online Library. December 1. Accessed September 23, 2017. http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/9781118540190.wbeic026/abstract.
O'Keefe, Barbara J. 1988. "The Logic of Message Design: Individual Differences in Reasoning about Communication." Communication Monographs 80-103.

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