Undergrads Too Docile
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World of WarcraftOriginally posted by Rock^Star:Have you then questioned: what bred this apathy in the very first place?
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What kind of apathy? Political, social, peer?Originally posted by Rock^Star:Have you then questioned: what bred this apathy in the very first place? -
Political apathy.Originally posted by TheGoodEarth:What kind of apathy? Political, social, peer? -
I was there for the talk. There's nothing to rave about.
Seriously, we (including me) just don't care about anything unless it directly affects us. We just enjoy sending complain letters, whine and when it comes to action, we just run away.
Not only do we not care about politics, we just don't care about others as well.
But then again, as Gregory House puts it "If we were to care for everyone, life would cease to function." -
This is the reason why some say that Singapore is a souless and lifeless society.
Not only do we not care about politics, we just don't care about others as well. -
LKY mentioned before in an interview that little opposition and frequent walkovers meant that people were satisfied with the governance.
Joke of the year 2006. -
LKY mentioned before in an interview that little opposition and frequent walkovers meant that people were satisfied with the governance.
In his dreams maybe. -
This is DUMB.. or as DUMB as it could get... I hope...
WHY conduct such question & answer sessions with undergrads who are struggling to make it through university? It is very much like a Black Belt KungFu Master sparring with White Belt beginners!
If LKY wants questions to be asked by the people of Singapore, go out into the Heartlands & let the old folks, the middle-incomers, the low-incomers, bombard him without any hesitations....! -
Why not have a live debate with Chee Soon Juan on TV?
It will be the most anticipated showdown in Singapore history.
Lee Kuan Yew vs Chee Soon Juan. -
It would be TOO RISKY for LKY...Originally posted by Poh Ah Pak:Why not have a live debate with Chee Soon Juan on TV?
It will be the most anticipated showdown in Singapore history.
Lee Kuan Yew vs Chee Soon Juan.
Chee will spill every bean he knows...dig up every skeleton he knows where it is burried... -
Even better, Said Zahari vs Lee Kuan Yew.
Zahari's 17 Years
http://video.google.com/videosearch?q=Martyn+See
Zahari: Prison didn't shut him up
http://www.singapore-window.org/sw01/010705r1.htm -
Originally posted by Poh Ah Pak:
He will 'wall out' any political opponent who has the potential to undermine his credibility...
Even better, Said Zahari vs Lee Kuan Yew.
[b]Zahari's 17 Years
http://video.google.com/videosearch?q=Martyn+See
Zahari: Prison didn't shut him up
http://www.singapore-window.org/sw01/010705r1.htm[/b]
no chance will he take to personal confrontations.... -
If so many opp confront him, I think he will orz orz orz. His son oredi say: "i can't deal with so many troublemakers (opp) in politics, plse spare me."
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Yes, i would say MM Lee is now reaping what he sowed. His educational policies
never encouraged students to think and to question. The practice of meritocracy also reduced education to a frenzied pursuit of passing exams with good grades. Students developed such a fixation with grades that they closed their minds to all other things. -
Yyyupp.. good case in point there...!Originally posted by pearlie27:Yes, i would say MM Lee is now reaping what he sowed. His educational policies
never encouraged students to think and to question. The practice of meritocracy also reduced education to a frenzied pursuit of passing exams with good grades. Students developed such a fixation with grades that they closed their minds to all other things. -
You hit the nail on its head. Beautifully put for Rock_Star to gaze at the causes of APATHY.Originally posted by Misogynist:I was there for the talk. There's nothing to rave about.
Seriously, we (including me) just don't care about anything unless it directly affects us. We just enjoy sending complain letters, whine and when it comes to action, we just run away.
Not only do we not care about politics, we just don't care about others as well.
But then again, as Gregory House puts it "If we were to care for everyone, life would cease to function." -
So what caused apathy among our youths?Originally posted by TheGoodEarth:You hit the nail on its head. Beautifully put for Rock_Star to gaze at the causes of APATHY. -
Nah. It's just that if I have anything I would like to discuss about the politics, LKY would be the last person I would approach for.Originally posted by Poh Ah Pak:This is the sort of attitude instilled into our younger generation by certain actions of Lee Kuan Yew.
Sad.
A serious blow has been dealt to our intellectual climate in Singapore society.
Tan Wah Piow talks about Singapore:
So do you still pin the hope on the younger generation?
I think in every political process, they still need new ideas. The youths seem more distracted and show more concern for materialism than political ideals. Singapore wanted to use, although not overtly, Israel as a model to harden national consensus and the sense of national survival.
But I think that is a different context because Israel is very different from Singapore in terms of ethnicity, religion and so on. You can't copy the whole model, the idealism and the sense of nationalism, The urgency is not there.
The whole justification that Singapore can't have democratic space is that you are surrounded, and thus adopting a kind of 'under siege' mentality. You might get some support in the early period but not in this age. I can always pack up and go, then come back to Singapore as a visitor.
http://singaporerebel.blogspot.com/2006/05/exiled-dissident-tan-wah-piow-on.html -
Ignorance, of course.Originally posted by Rock^Star:So what caused apathy among our youths?
If you were to ask me to list 10 negative stuff about PAP in 10 minutes, I would probably be able to tell you a few, and probably give justification for one of them only - just like a student who did not prepare for his exams. Conversely, Poh Ah Pak would be able to shoot out at least 100 of them like a machine gun and justify each of them with so much evidence and proof that printing them would require the entire Amazon rainforest, right, Ah Pak?
And with ignorance, comes fear. If one doesn't know much about something, he/she will not feel confident discussing about it, because of the fear of the consequences - criticism, labelled as kaypoh and whatsoever.
To illustrate this better, it's like going to a forum of some unknown field to you, say, soaps and detergents. Then you post something like "PAPA Lemon sux sia - cannot remove this XX stain from plates", and get a reply from the PAPA CEO, "*laughs* I'm afraid you'll need to justify this. Our dishwashing detergent is produced using the latest ABC technology and ingredients like DEF also blah blah blah...". Then "?" shows all over your head about the ABCDEF nomenclature and you feel down-right stupid in front of other forum users. Either that, or you receive a lawyer's letter the next day demanding for a public apology and state that you made up everything; you'll probably go wtf and regret about complaining in the first place.
And I still remember the TV telecast of a conversation between LKY and a group of people. Then one of the participants got pinned down for asking a sensitive question (something about a survey) like a needle through an ant. It's just...scary.
One way to end such ignorance is to make sure the knowledge is "compulsory" aka in textbooks and examinations. The advantage of this is, unless something else in his/her knowledge proves it untrue, it remains true in the learners' mind. Something like an opt-out system; you get what I mean. But of course, it will never happen until MOE privatises some eons later.
Another would be to get the person to generate an interest in the topic, one of which is by proving some "truths" relevant to his/her life untrue, as mentioned above, or by providing alternative viewpoints about it. With the internet, there's technically no limit on what you can find out about anything (yet), confidential stuff aside, if he/she is indeed genuinely interested about it. And just how does it feel like to realize that you have been kept in the dark or been given one-sided views about certain issues, which would probably affect your future, for the past ten-odd years?
But anyway, the challenge here is to spark that interest in the first place, imho. With so much censorship and restriction on freedom, it is no surprise that me and my peers are being apathetic about political issues. Even the local newspapers which the teachers encourage us to read are simply filled with either pro-PAP content or non-politics stuff, mainly trivia. Nothing else. And so much for the impression that our papers are neutral and unbiased which I had until a few months ago. What a charade, or maybe it's just that I was dumb.
Right now, I feel like I'm ban1 men2 nong4 fu3-ing in front of you SC regulars. But anyway, if there is any part of my post which is incorrect or just naive teenager crap, do point them out, but don't flame me - I fear of being flamed. -
Right/wrong depends on which side ur on, doesn't it?Originally posted by ndmmxiaomayi:In the world of politics, every move or non-movement is wrong.
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LatecomerX, simple truths but great insights. Speakers' Corner surely appreciates your effort here, unlike the many who give one liner smart alecky comments.Originally posted by LatecomerX:Ignorance, of course.
If you were to ask me to list 10 negative stuff about PAP in 10 minutes, I would probably be able to tell you a few, and probably give justification for one of them only - just like a student who did not prepare for his exams. Conversely, Poh Ah Pak would be able to shoot out at least 100 of them like a machine gun and justify each of them with so much evidence and proof that printing them would require the entire Amazon rainforest, right, Ah Pak?
And with ignorance, comes fear. If one doesn't know much about something, he/she will not feel confident discussing about it, because of the fear of the consequences - criticism, labelled as kaypoh and whatsoever.
To illustrate this better, it's like going to a forum of some unknown field to you, say, soaps and detergents. Then you post something like "PAPA Lemon sux sia - cannot remove this XX stain from plates", and get a reply from the PAPA CEO, "*laughs* I'm afraid you'll need to justify this. Our dishwashing detergent is produced using the latest ABC technology and ingredients like DEF also blah blah blah...". Then "?" shows all over your head about the ABCDEF nomenclature and you feel down-right stupid in front of other forum users. Either that, or you receive a lawyer's letter the next day demanding for a public apology and state that you made up everything; you'll probably go wtf and regret about complaining in the first place.
And I still remember the TV telecast of a conversation between LKY and a group of people. Then one of the participants got pinned down for asking a sensitive question (something about a survey) like a needle through an ant. It's just...scary.
One way to end such ignorance is to make sure the knowledge is "compulsory" aka in textbooks and examinations. The advantage of this is, unless something else in his/her knowledge proves it untrue, it remains true in the learners' mind. Something like an opt-out system; you get what I mean. But of course, it will never happen until MOE privatises some eons later.
Another would be to get the person to generate an interest in the topic, one of which is by proving some "truths" relevant to his/her life untrue, as mentioned above, or by providing alternative viewpoints about it. With the internet, there's technically no limit on what you can find out about anything (yet), confidential stuff aside, if he/she is indeed genuinely interested about it. And just how does it feel like to realize that you have been kept in the dark or been given one-sided views about certain issues, which would probably affect your future, for the past ten-odd years?
But anyway, the challenge here is to spark that interest in the first place, imho. With so much censorship and restriction on freedom, it is no surprise that me and my peers are being apathetic about political issues. Even the local newspapers which the teachers encourage us to read are simply filled with either pro-PAP content or non-politics stuff, mainly trivia. Nothing else. And so much for the impression that our papers are neutral and unbiased which I had until a few months ago. What a charade, or maybe it's just that I was dumb.
Right now, I feel like I'm ban1 men2 nong4 fu3-ing in front of you SC regulars. But anyway, if there is any part of my post which is incorrect or just naive teenager crap, do point them out, but don't flame me - I fear of being flamed.
Anyway, I agree with you that ignorance breeds fear and therefore apathy as a result.
If LKY was exasperated at the Q & A exchange because intially, no Singaporean had asked questions, then he must be a man of ironies given his tendency to stifle all opposition towards his ideas.
For a man to claim that a lack of opposition and constant walkovers mean good governance, then surely he has no right to lament at the lack of response from Singaporeans that day since he was the engineer of this apathy?
I only became interested in politics during my army years. All those years before were pure apathy due largely to the mundane political scene here. Even with the advent of internet, APATHY is still widely prevalent. Little wonder that PAP boasted recently that they do not fear the internet.