Racial harmony blog entry

In Singapore’s context of cultural and religious pluralism, more focus should be placed in social responsibility, adopting Szilagyi’s point of view.

If we were to allow freedom of expression, as it is “essential to any democracy” according to Singer, there is a tendency that in the long run the people would take it for granted and bluntly cause much unnecessary conflicts. Cultural and religious beliefs are personal, and something that is sensitive. One is proud of their own culture, knowingly or unknowingly. Though we don’t profess it, but deep down in us we know it. For example, we affirm our racial and ethnic identity by gathering our own ethnic communities. In schools, there is always a tendency for all the respective racial groups to gather in their own groups, away from the rest. Not saying that they are hostile and ostracize each other, but they together in their racial groups, and as a group they unknowingly show forth their pride in their own culture by merely gathering together. The Chinese groups would speak in Mandarin, the Malays in Malay, and the Indians in Tamil – in their own unique tongue, about their own cultures, religion and etc. As one might take pride in their culture and religion, when another without any ill-intentions bluntly makes a comment about one’s pride, misunderstandings form and conflict arises.

Therefore there should be always a healthy amount of censorship, taking after Szilagyi’s stand. Just like how you would not immediate state the flaws and unhappiness in a newly formed group to increase disunity, but wait till an opportune time to use it to build the group up. We must censor what we say with responsibility, and only at opportune and strategic timings do we unveil the issues to discuss and deal with them.

1. “YouTube has no ethics, it's been created for the sole purpose of entertainment and money.” Do you agree?

YouTube is one of the greatest hits on the internet, as people get to be their own directors, plotting their own stories and movies. It is increasingly becoming a strong source of entertainment as people upload hilarious videos such as self-created parodies, comedies and other various genres. And the creators of YouTube have been able to sell YouTube for USD$1.65 billion to Google. And it also contains many miscellaneous videos, some which may be offensive to a particular country or group of people. For example, the Thai government has banned access to the YouTube video-uploading website after it broadcast material critical of the country's king. So it seems that YouTube is a mere innovation which purpose is to tickle, fund and in the process, infringe upon the issue of ethics.

But YouTube is becoming a place with a wealth of information, becoming another 'google', as you can search for almost anything and source out videos that teache you what you want. It goes from dealing with attention deficit disorder to effective condom use. It provides help people who are unable to afford real proffesional help. For example, Richard Walters, a doctor at the clinic who produced the videos, says the clips are meant to help people master medical tasks. A government funded clinic in Builth in Wales, UK, has posted videos on YouTube with nurses demonstrating how to sample blood sugar levels and use an inhaler.

Hence, it is actually a mix of good and bad, in which I feel that the users of YouTube have abused YouTube, making it unethical. YouTube in my opinion, is still a great invention and innovation, that just needs to be used balancedly. Hence I do not agree that its sole purpose is merely to entertain and for monetary purposes.

"Prejudice is a disease we can never get red of." Discuss (CJCPromo03)

Prejudice is an unfavourable opinion of someone or something formed beforehand without knowledge, thought or any reason whatsoever. So prejudice is a self-centered thought formed in the thinker's own world. People tend to form judgement of someone, something or a particular group of people, basing it on the facade and first impression that they get. It is carnal, a judgemental behaviour, that people set what they see on a score board, scrutinizing and evaluating them thoroughly. And when such process happens in the minds of people, more often than not, they tend to share about their thoughts to people around them, as the bible puts it aptly, "for out of the overflow of the heart the mouth speaks."

I agree that prejudice can be like of a "disease", pesky, infectious and without any doubt that it can be extremely harmful. The prejudice often leads to discrimination, whether shown obviously or through subtle means. It hurts the discriminated's feelings, emotions and diminishes them to a 'lower-class' human being. Just like how fast gossips often spread, that the person of the topic is usually the last few to know about it, with the majority of the cohort knowing it. Thus prejudice is similar to that of a disease, being widespread easily.

Getting rid of prejudice requires the co-operation of everyone involved, that everyone is considerate enough to check their facts before jumping to conclusion upon hearing the latest scandal or hearsay. Given a community where people are kind, and people are full of love for one another. A place where people would lovingly state their 'opinions', with the intention of overcoming that mindset within them. Only then, prejudice could probably be shown, but resolved and thus contained, and over time eradicated. However, this is probably only probable in a perfect world. With humans still being carnal and imperfect, it is tedious and difficult to treat the problem of prejudice comepletely. Even for one person, one has to be completely objective and morally perfect to discern between right and wrong and tactfully counsel the person to the right mindset. Even so, the person may or may not heed the counsel. Prejudice, i believe, a disease that we can never get rid of in human beings as of current, as they are flawed.

Here's the General Paper's blog.

Will post again when reguired. :/