#5. Aristotle says...

***From GyPsyGal.moblog dated 11 Aug 2007, 12:57:41 AM***

"The mother of revolution and crime is poverty" (Aristotle)

Do you agree?

Read two articles on class discriminaton (given out by our beloved GP tutor) and consolidate the information in response to the question above.

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It is ironical that i fully understand every part of the quote but don't know who Aristotle truly is :P

This prompts me to search for this guy by the name of "Aristotle" in Wiki and this is what i got:

Aristotle (Greek: Ἀριστοτέλης Aristotélēs) (384 BC – 322 BC) was a Greek philosopher, a student of Plato and teacher of Alexander the Great.

WOW +)

It seems like Aristotle is someone who is quite respectable by all and poor little me is so ill-informed to the extent that i have never heard of any of his sayings before!!!

Jean, enough of side tracking...

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Personally, i agree to a large extent that Poverty is the root of human's evils such as illegal crimes and many socio-political revolutions. However, it is not the only reason that such acts are resulted as other explanations for revolutions and crimes include: Unhappiness with the government, discriminations of races and religions, lack of education and family upbringing.

For instance, the pressing need to feed its huge peasant population was a leading cause of the French Revolution in the 18th century.¹ It is due to the fact that people are starving and lacking of basic necessities, ie; food and water, clothes and shelter that cause groups of citizens to uprise and challenge the current government that wasn't helping them (enough). At the plight of one's own survival at stake, he/she will stand up to go against the political group of their country; in hope to get rid of the horrible situation and have a much better life then. This is where they take part in strikes and demonstration to out rule the present government.

Similarly, when one is unable to support himself and his loved ones (refering to immediate family members), the dark side of humans run by the 'devils' will surface; in which, illegal acts will be committed. For example, a man in the G21 countries² may resort to cheating or robbing others to obtain the next meal for the empty tummies of his starving members... i believe, in those cases, individuals of the developing nations were really left with no choice but to carry out those unintended crimes. All thanks to "Mr Poverty" that have mercilessly deprived them of the (most)basic necessities-- FOOD.

However, other factors that give rise to various revolutions are Unhappiness with the government and discriminations of race and religion. Revoluions may not be always linked to Poverty or other monetary issues. The demand for a change of the ruling party may also be due to the incapabilty of the present government. Certain policies introduced may not be welcomed by the citizens thus creating dissatisfaction amongst them and the idea of out throwing the government may then become significant. In addition, the racial tensions or even the religious clashes within the country will cause social unrest as well as politcial revolutions. Quoting the classic example religious discrimination between the Protestants and Catholics in Northern Ireland³ (major topic that all of us learnt in our Secondary social studies syllabus :)

As for crimes, the lack of education and family upbringing of individuals play a vital role. In a way, the poorer countries tend to experience more cases of theft and looting. This is not commonly seen in devleoped countries as people are aware of the consequences of committing a crime and will not attempt to get themselves into trouble with the court. Since young, we are educated be morally upright citizens by our parents as well as schooling. So, naturally, those without proper educationwill not know the seriousness of violating the Law and do such crimes that lack Moral integrity!

Nevertheless, Poverty is still the under-lying factor that cause many to be trapped in the vicious cycle. As such, it is true that desperation drives the human soul into commiting harmful and despicable acts of crime which contradicts human nature and values immensely. It does not make sense when ultra-poor individuals just sit there and wait for money to drop from the sky (more than a times, they will just starve to death!) It's human nature to do something to continue our existence in this world; even if it means to steal, rob, snatch or fight...I find this similar to the theory of "Survival of the Fittest" whereby in desperate times, one will have go around using desperate means (*_*)

It is cruel but that's the fact of Life :X

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Refer to links in Footnote for the sites where extra research were taken from:

1. http://www.fordham.edu/halsall/mod/lect/mod10.html
2. G21 ctries=Developing ctries http://www.anarchogeek.com/archives/000207.html

3. NI case-study http://www.flashpoints.info/countries-conflicts/Northern_Ireland-web/n-ireland_briefing.html

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A thoughtfully-written piece showing a fair grasp of the thesis statement. Good work, jean!Grade: B+
Posted by Guest-mdml @ 14 Aug 2007, 12:53:55 PM

it's "Wee Shu Min" not "Goh Si Min"

***From GyPsyGal.moblog dated 7 Aug 2007, 12:35:22 AM***

i happened to find part of this online article interesting:

01/05/2007

Singapore - A Nation Cheated

A Report on Poverty and Labour in Singapore 2007

In fact, it merely mentioned abt the "Elitism" case that has caused such an uproar locally; all because of this minister daughter by the name of "Wee Shu Min" :P

One of his faithful ministers, the late S Rajaratnam, darkly promised: "We want to teach people the government is not a rich uncle. You get what you pay for. We are moving in the direction of making people pay for everything."

Such attitude has produced a society with individuals like TT Durai with his avarice, Mrs Goh Chok Tong with her "peanuts" comment, Wee Shu Min with her repugnant diatribe against Derek Wee (and her father’s defence of her comments), and Lee Hsien Loong with his petulance that he and his ministers should not be expected to make "unnecessary financial sacrifices."

A Nation Cheated pieces together an unmistakable picture of PAP's failure. It tells the real story of how our enormous reserves have been accumulated through forced savings under the CPF scheme as well as through the sale of HDB flats. The slew of taxes and fees designed to maximise the extraction of funds from the people is another avenue.

More recently, however, economic growth has been sustained from illicit money laundered from foreigners. The explosive influx of migrants has also contributed much to the fattening of state coffers.

The question is: Is this kind of growth sustainable and how much damage is it inflicting on our society?

Sadly speaking, this is the National Day week yet i have to hightlight the 'dirty secrets' of our country. However, i just feel very strongly towards this case as she is someone who just graduated from RJC... She is of my age group and i am particularly irritated by her comments @ the beginning of this year! What's more with the fact that over 30% of scholarships goes to ppl lyk her (family income more than $10 000) annually :X

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haha that was a funny read...now maybe you want to get crackin on the blog task at hand, jean?!
Posted by Guest-mdml @ 12 Aug 2007, 10:40:07 PM

Other Forms of Discrimination!

***From GyPsyGal.moblog dated 6 Aug 2007, 11:59:23 AM***

In class 2dae, our GP tutor mentioned to us that there are actually other forms of Discrimination... These include:

1. Lookism is discrimination against or prejudice towards others based on their appearance.

"This type of discrimination, termed lookism is also a factor in areas other than employment."

http://www.geocities.com/s_cullars/lookism.htm

2. Ageism is stereotyping and prejudice against individuals or groups because of their age.

"We're ageist because the society we live in is permeated with ageism. "

http://www.graypanthersmetrodetroit.org/Ageism.html

3. Disablism is the discrimination or prejudice against people with disabilities, especially physical disabilities.

"Stop discriminating against the blind, cause with proper training and opportunity, blindness can be reduced to the level of a physical nuisance, and the average blind person can do the average job in the same time that the average sighted person can."

http://astridvanwoerkom.wordpress.com/2007/05/01/freedom-from-disablism-what-does-it-mean/

4. Xenophobia is a fear or contempt of foreigners or strangers.

"I have experienced locals getting up and looking for other seats on a train or in a restaurant because I had sat beside them. have been refused service because I couldn't speak the host language. "

http://www.tefl.net/esl-articles/xenophobia.htm

Did the criminal get his just desserts?

***From GyPsyGal.moblog dated 6 Jul 2007, 4:32:28 PM***

Recently, there is this local case where an offender received the wrong number of strokes (unfortunately MORE) for Caning. He then proceeded to sue Singapore's Prison to demand a large sum $$ compensation but to no avail. PAP govt all insisted that the poor prisoner victim had no less than 3 chances to check that he was issued 8 strokes (but in actual fact only 5)...

How foolish +)

Similar to something that happened in Prison as well, but not in our beloved Singapore, Pedophile priest John Geoghan was murdered by fellow prisoners!!!

Geoghan's 34-year career as a serial child molester in the guise of friendly parish priest ruined many young lives... As such, do you agree to the point that he should deserve to DIE instead of serving various 10 years ( Note that he was sentenced to 9/10 years for one of the 147 cases which he was accused for) behind bars?!?

Is it really true that even prsioners themselves view very lowly of Pedophile? Looks lyk it is true when they even transform the hatred to murder of the 'priest' before he managed to serve 1 year of the jail term :p

However, his death has yet left many feeling 天理何在？again :X All in all, the vigilance death sentence that cut short Geoghan's atonement violated both his victims' and the nation's sense of Justice.

#4. Holiday Blogging on RH

***From GyPsyGal.moblog dated 2 Jun 2007, 2:54:03 PM***

Blogging task

Singer believes that freedom of expression is essential to any democracy and therefore should not be limited. On the other hand, Szilagyi believes that more focus should be placed on social responsibility.

In the context of Singapore’s multi-racial society, where there is cultural and religious pluralism, which author’s view do you think should be adopted?

Write a response of at least 300 words and 2 content paragraphs, and include materials from both articles as well as your own knowledge and experience.

For full-length article, please view:
http://www.freewebs.com/vivloh/juneblogtask.htm

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Since Primary school, we have been learning about the 5 aspects of Singapore's <Total Defence> of which one is Social Defence, whereby all Singaporeans should understand and be sensitive to the cultures and traditions of one another, in order to build strong bonds across different ethnic groups. Only then can we strengthen Social cohesion; so I feel that Singapore should adopt Szilagyi's view of everyone practising social responsibility instead of Singer's view of having unlimited Freedom of Speech for all.

No doubt it's true that freedom of speech is essential to democratic regimes, and it must include the freedom to say what everyone else believes to be false, and even what many people find offensive (extracted from article 1 by Singer). I disagree with the point that all issues, including those which will threaten National security, to be made public for any Tom, Dick and Harry to appraise! Have we not forgotten about the 1964 racial/communal riots between Malays and Chinese over two five-day periods beginning on 21 July and 2 September respectively?

Therefore, there must be some forms of Censorship by local media companies to prevent the incident like the provocative nature of cartoons depicting the Prophet Muhammad, which is condemned by many all over the world. As discussed in one of our GP lessons for Term 2, the values of Cartoons and Comics may not be just that simple... They may include: Economy, Humour (Satire), Accessibility, Attention, Subtlety, Implicitness, Impression/ Impact.

As I have mentioned before in Blog entry #2, "Race and religion are potential fault-lines for social division", it is just not practical to allow firms to republished (the cartoons) and mass production, knowing very well that this may cause chaos in Singapore (-_-)

It is stated in Article 2 by Szilagyi that, "In our networked world, existing societal and political tensions can be inflamed instantly through the transfer of messages from one cultural context to another." This is very true as due to the concept of a SHRINKING WORLD with advancement of technology, now we all effectively live next door to one another :p Learning lessons from real-life examples that happen in other countries, Singapore must be careful as to not step on the list of Social Taboos and destroy her own future.

Bearing in mind that Humans is the only resource that Singapore has, we can't afford to have any outbreak of internal conflicts as it will hampers her development in this ever-competitive century. Given so, the system to protect the collective interests of society is preferred.

I am glad that Singapore does value Freedom of Expression and Individual Rights to a certain extent: Singaporeans are free to comment on anything as long as they don't pass any eg racial opinions which intentionally or unintentionally to create unrest in Singapore; for our government will not tolerate anyone regardless of what their social status is!

The million dollar question is none other than-- " How to strike a balance between both!?!"

Thank god that the beloved country that I am born in has the capability to do so and managed to keep Social Tension to the minimum; or should I say almost none =) 21st July marks Racial Harmony Day for Singapore annually. Other than having the luxury to be clad in beautiful traditional costumes to school, we students should not forget the rationale behind celebrating this day, don't you agree with me?

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Able to disinguish the differing views of the authors and relate them to own experiences. Nicely, jean!Grade: B
Posted by Guest-mdml @ 9 Jul 2007, 08:30:38 AM

Revision Lecture=)

***From GyPsyGal.moblog dated 22 May 2007, 11:39:51 PM***

Good!

I was really happy that the dept organised a GP revision lecture on this last week of Term 2 to help students consolidate what we have been learning over the weeks and better prepare us for the Mid-Year on first day of Term 3 :X

ASPA is something that we should always bear in mind while doing Paper 2.

So... do Analyse, Select relevant text, Paraphrase (Plan for summary) and Structure your answers accordingly :)

Thinking of it as a boring lecture where many will dose-off?

NO way, it's pretty interesting and 100% insightful...

Lecturer was effective and clear in delivering the entire lecture! Although, i have never been taught by him nor know him beforehand, i'm extremely grateful for his lecture which conveys lots (",) It focused on Compre, Vocab and even Summary skills with good time management for each section respectively in that 1 very hour (*_*)

We students get very irritated when lecturer dash thru' slides and disallows us to copy down the answers and main points :p None of this happened for Lt1's GP lecture this week. Hopefully, other students will find this particular lecture useful! Afterall, GP lecture is like diamond-- rare and precious +)

Be a Vigilante!

***From GyPsyGal.moblog dated 16 May 2007, 12:18:40 AM***

During this week's GP lesson, my class have an active discussion over issues of Vigilanism and Pro-Life etc. while we were accompanied by "Devil L" for a visit to HELL :p

We were divided into 5 groups and different situations were given to each group; requiring one member to take the HOT seat and justify "Why you should not end up in Hell"...

My group's task is MRT HERO: this guy who took a knife and killed a terrorist suspect that plan to plant a bomb in Orchard station (but never succeed in the end, All thanks to me :X).

Question: Am i considered a murder and are my actions justified???

Representing my group, i mentioned the reasons which caused me to act on my own, on the spot, to prevent a disaster from happening. Imagine a bomb out-brust in our crowded Orchard station!?! It's only right for me to stop such a tragedy from taking place!

It's like cause one to die instead of having many innocents dead as a results (*_*)

There were too enthu debates for other 'convicts' such as the Dad-killer that decided to stop his life-supposrting machines and the cold-blooded mother wanting to abort her 5 months old baby!!!

Interesting activity, isn't it?

Basically, A vigilante is someone who takes the enforcement of law or moral code into his or her own. If you feel that such practice should not be allowed in a civilised nation where Laws applies then what explains the latest Movie Blockbuster-- Spiderman3?

Do you know that he is considered a vigilante too? What about the ever-famous Tomb-rider and Charles Angels? They also attempt to bring Justice to the world via their own means!

" With great power comes great responsibility" Hopefully, these heros will be responsible for conveying the set of wrong ideas to the next generations (-_-)