--- Immanuel Kant, Thoughts on Education
Comments on ST stories read while I was terribly bored in Brunei:
Miss Singapore: "It's as if we're looking for Miss Singapore Ah Lian" - ... but with so many shrill, anorexic blah blah, isn't it inevitable that Miss Singapore would be an Ah Lian?
"They don't have the build, They're all so flat in front" - And one wonders why we have so many bust-enhancement ads.
It was noted that most gave politically correct answers. Perhaps this is because in modern society, not to give politically correct answers is suicide.
Alistair Cooke: "I've noticed that if you retire you keel over." - Maybe he should have taken his own advice
Gen D: Depressed , deviant , disconnected: "Once, I met a good catch from Raffles Institution who really loved me. But after I introduced him to heavy petting, he felt guilty and broke up with me after 12 days. It took me forever to forget him." - RI guys are good catches? LOL.
Homophobia: Randal Mangham, a Georgian Democrat: "I don't appreciate having to explain to my 9-year-old why two big husky guys are kissing"
I suppose he lies to his 9-year-old about the stork. I wonder how he explains inter-racial relationships or the war in Iraq to his 9-year-old.
Suicide: "Another profession I'm monitoring is Army personnel because of the stress of their highly structured and disciplined working environment. My figures show that at least 18 of them have committed suicide since 1995." - Singapore's resident suicideologist.
I wonder about how many aren't included in his figures.
The SAF metes out formal and informal punishment to people who attempt suicide to deter them. However, people who attempt suicide need help, not punishment. Undoubtedly, this punishment deters many from making an attempt, but I can't help but wonder how many are pushed by the deterrent to really kill themselves instead of just making the attempt.
At the same time, word has it that those who declare their intention to kill themselves or otherwise go to see SAF psychiatrists are blacklisted and in future will not be able to find a job or go to a local university. How many people who need help are thus forced to carry on, suffering in silence? And how many are pushed to end their misery, not being able to seek treatment for fear of jeopardising their future education or career, preferring death?
Relationships: "I'm not even going to get a girlfriend. If you have a girlfriend, you have to pay for everything" - some J2 guy. It's no wonder we need Romancing Singapore *g*
Brainwashing: It's frightening how easily Singaporeans were brainwashed in the 80s into supporting the "Stop At Two" campaign, and how they took to jeering and heckling "devaints". Luckily, people today seem more resistant.
God and Insanity: Deanna Laney, the Texan mother acquitted of killing her children, was acquitted on the grounds of insanity as she had believed that God was telling her to kill them. I can't help but be reminded of the story of Isaac and Abraham in Christian Mythology (NB: Since we can call Greek religion mythology, logically we can do the same for others). How is it that at that time, it was laudable to kill your child if your god demanded it but if you try to do so now, you are either considered insane or hanged for coming up with a lousy excuse for murder? It would not be unreasonable, then, to conclude either that Abraham was insane (or did not exist, or did not really try to sacrifice his child) or that the Christian God really told Deanna Laney to kill her childen. Either prospect would be discomforting to Christians.
Knights of the Old Republic is set 4000 before the original Star Wars saga, but somehow the technology used seems as advanced as that in the original Saga. This begs the question - just what were the scientists doing in the intervening four millennia, especially seeing how much our own technology has advanced in the past 50 years?
Going straight
Revered by the religious right and bolstered by a supposedly scientific theory, a new wave of therapist-gurus claim they can 'cure' homosexuality. Their success rate is hotly contested.
The Singhsons
