Was Martin Luther daft to nail his Ninety-Five Theses on the Door of All Saints' Church in Wittenberg on 31 October 1517? Was Rosa Parks daft for refusing to surrender her seat in the Montgomery, Alabama, bus on 1 December 1955? More currently, is Daw Aung San Suu Kyi daft for being faithful to Mahatma Gandhi's philosophy of non-violence despite the open oppression and corruption of the generals lording over Burma? Do we need a Norway gunman type shooting rampage before the white horses and their
Morality may be a hard concept to grasp, but it can be quickly acquired. A kindergarten pupil will learn it's improper to eat in the classroom, because the teacher said so. If the rule is lifted and eating is approved, he will happily much to his heart's content. But if the same teacher says it's okay to shove another pupil off a queue, a moral child will hesitate. Some kids will actually shove to get their way and won't feel particularly bad about it - unless he gets caught. See how easy to go down the slippery slope? It is said the deepest foundation on which morality is built is the phenomenon of empathy, the ability to co-experience and relate to the thoughts, emotions, or feelings of another without them being communicated directly by the hurt party. A lack of empathy is manifested by a poor sense of communication that fails to understand the perspective of the audience. The phony Tans, father and son, have a lot to learn.
Even if one is equipped with an iota of moral programming, the software has to be booted up before moral behavior is in action. One powerful community tool for enforcing group morals is the practice of shunning. O.J. Simpson may have thought he got away with murder with his dream team of highly paid lawyers, but society turned its back on him, denying him work, expelling him from his country club, refusing him service in a restaurant. "Human beings were small, defenseless and vulnerable to predators," wrote Babara J.Kings, biological anthropologist at College of William and Mary and author of the book Evolving God. "Avoiding banishment would be important to us." What we don't want is a reprise of the Seng Han Thong incident; paint thinner is a petroleum based product that costs money and attracts GST.
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I wouldn't feel a bit of pity for these people if a Norway gunman shooting were to happen here. In fact, it would bring smiles to the long-suffering law-abiding daft citizens here.
ReplyDeleteLook at the profile of PAP supporters, and you'll see self-serving and selfish social climbers. As long as the PAP has monetary goodies to offer, they'll be there. Light is now being shown on the misdeeds and hypocrisy of the PAP, and what you hear is their teeth gnashing. I can only hope that it is not too late to reverse the moral decline of SIngapore.
ReplyDeleteYour ability to link the past to the present, abstracts to realities and falsehoods to truths is of the highest order. I am truly impressed and humbled by your vast, seemingly limitless, knowledge in all fields. The joy I get from reading your articles is beyond expression!
ReplyDeleteFeels so good to know they can't hide the truth anymore. Thank you INTERNET !
ReplyDeleteThere was a time when the PAP thought that maneouvring the mainstream whatever and however they want to would manipulate the ways in which the Singaporean public thought. However, with increasing literacy among local Singaporeans, it becomes really hard to do so. And what do they do in lieu of these? Convert illiterate and poor immigrants and workers from Third World countries into citizens immediately so that they can get them to vote out of gratitude. But even with the advent of the internet, even a younger generation no longer knows the fear of the past. They simply are the daft ones to assume they will remain in power forever. The winds of change will continue blowing. I think that as much as GE 2011 did not show a change of government, the transition towards the PAP's loss will happen gradually over the next few years. They can try adding new citizens to vote for them as much as they want to, but the question of whether these people will even continue to vote for them and support them will be a double-edged sword. One day, if we end up like Dubai, where the foreigners vacate it after the Great Recession in large numbers, Singapore will bear the brunt.
ReplyDeleteThe PAP has always used this rhetorical technique of 'siam'(avoid answering the question directly) at all costs. Sometimes, their responses are responses with no real depth. Think of an old man who says that foreign talents allow us to punch above our weight. What the heck? Does he imply we are HEAVY and FAT? He has all this hot words coming from his mouth, and that accounts for the whole thing about Singaporeans being so dissatisfied despite his alleged retirement. Please, if he really wants to retire, then he should just enjoy life like former SM who now virtually has not made any more speeches and who is in the shadows. If he does not mean what he say, then what does he mean? Does he still want to hold onto that claim that he will rise from the grave to govern Singapore, should there ever be a need to? Ok, I am waiting to hear and see if there will ever be another person to resurrect from the dead like the religious leaders and founders of the world's great religions who is not a religious leader........right smack in the middle of this red dot.....
ReplyDeleteSpot on, mate! You nailed this one right between the eyes. I love it.
ReplyDeleteActually do we know if this blogger is Sgrean or a kwailoh who continues to colonise our minds? Just a thought!
ReplyDeleteThis is only the tip of the iceburg. I meant the moral decay of the ruling elite in Singapore and their cohorts, like auntielucia.
ReplyDeleteRemember Dr. Allan Ooi who committed suicide because of alleged work-related problems working under SAF. In fact the exact reasons for his suicide still remains a mystery as there has been no attempt by SAF to clear up the mystery to prevent any future unnecessary suicides while serving SAF.
ReplyDeleteNow the obvious question arises now that if he had a PAP Minister like TT, would he have to come to make a kind of life or death decision and suffer such an unnecessary fate ?
They never seems to learn from their mistakes, isn't it ? Only know how to say sorry.
What happens to the Sim Lian and HDB case? Will daft Singaporeans lose track of it? Or, everything is back to normal. Heard there is this AP from NUS is likely involved with conflict of interest. She has been directors of both Sim Lian and HDB. Heard Sim Lian is paying her $250K as director fee. Heard she is also a PAP member. So, TT and PT case is just another tip on an iceberg. More to come if there is total transparency in the government. Do you think our government has good governance? You do not even need to look at the UN definition on good governance. We need to change the government in GE2016 and forever change the political system into a multi-party real democratic system. When I heard LKY said PAP and PRC CCP have similar culture, I LOL and am surprised LKY has said the hard truth himself. Indeed, what Chinese is saying, a person will properly say a true when a person is dying.
ReplyDeleteAnyone also knows that the money for the movie to 'immortalize' the old man is also supposedly sponsored by Singaporeans? Which Singaporeans? Who? Where? I have heard from a friend who married a mainland Chinese wife that in fact the Chinese in China view the old man as a traitor to the mainland Chinese cause in betraying them and their nationalism to the Americans and colonialism. Not sure how true that is, but as he stated, the men in white's perceptions that China is their potential friendly ally up north is not as true as they make it out to be.....
ReplyDeleteThis government is very good in remaining silent and covering up. Perhaps, this is what an unaccountable and opaque government can do best. Sim Lian & HDB case, TT & PT case, City Harvest case, Dr Susan Lim case, etc are just some examples. It seems most cases will just die off by itself and then nothing heard forever. How could the people trust this government anymore if it is so opaque to its people?
ReplyDeleteNice post. ilk not irk though
ReplyDelete