I thought the Weekend Today had something worthwhile. Ravi Veloo has decided somehow to stick his/her neck out and question the values today. Sorry, a bit of an ignoramus at following the news and the columnists, so can't really know the gender. Anyway, the interesting thing is that the Grand Old Man also features a few pages after that, the usual stuff about our talent, leadership and future challenges - all the usual nonsense about why liberal democracy won't really work, yah dah yah dah...
I'm sure all of these isn't new to you guys at all. In fact, its all old stuff that gets recycled over and over again, depending on the 'national mood'. Anyway, was mulling on such things when it just hit me...
I had this thought that the source of all these nonsense comes from a few things. We tend to think that administrators in Singapore are all-powerful people, and if we talk some sense into them, maybe they will do the right thing and move things in a better direction. I guess I'm slow to this, but I realise that our administrators are just slave to this system that emphasizes ECONOMICS above everything else - ie, GDP growth, manufacturing growth, numbers and more numbers and such. And its not just that - they see only a few set of these numbers, so they probably won't do anything about rise in cost of living, homeless rates, bankruptcy rates, etc. The former we are tired of, and the latter worries us most. Naturally, we tend to think that, if the latter is becoming so poisonous, why isn't the bigshots doing anything about it? It really is simply this - to the administrators, the latter issues are simply irrelevant and inconsequential. To pander to us, they set up committees and pretend to do something, you know, give some million there, give another million here, and pretend the issue is solved. In actual fact, people couldn't give a damn, or forced not to give a damn. Their hands are tied, shackled to the single-mindedness of a constructed 'economic necessity'. Of course, it doesn't help that some Grand Old Man is still alive and his Golden Army of Ancient Warriors are still alive, or reincarnated in various forms. But the keypoint is, because of this single-mindedness, everything else gets pushed to the periphery, even debates about national identity and our future... Think about it - all our social conditioning, all our political restrictions - the prevention of chaos in our society all for the pursuit of 'economic growth'...
The other thing, that GOM is still relying on that narrative of survival since independence. Which means, even though we don't have to worry about economics as an existential angst, deep inside his aging mind, I think he still thinks this way. Maybe his mind got stuck in 1965 and has been in this mindset ever since. Or for some other reasons, he still wants to keep us scared about Singapore's survival so he can still use that teeny-weensy bit of fear in us to condition us and whatever nonsense. I think what we are experiencing right now as a nation, is a national existential angst. We no longer need to think about the fear of non-existence in the economic and political sense, so... what else is there left? Maybe the GOM is still trying to keep us scared so maybe his... progenies can survive or some other vested interest. So maybe the narrative of 'terrorism' and 'leadership' crisis.
If the GOM is truly concerned about the survival of this country, he should be thinking about renewable energy and the feasibility of vertical farms right here. Maybe we can use renewable energy to power desalination processes to increase our water independence, and vertical farming to improve our food independence. Maybe we should be investing more in our education to power next-generation industries in recycling technology. Maybe there are good and powerful reasons for our own survival. We still have good people even if the best stay in the US. Maybe, if we can tell them, that Singapore is an exciting place of opportunities from the stringents of a 'crisis' mentality, maybe good things can happen.
Maybe, if the administration is so heavily influenced by the money side of things, the maybe, the government is the wrong place to go for our grievances. Maybe we should be pressuring the global companies, and maybe that will scare the government into doing something. By pressuring I mean, writing letters harassing them, issue threats of boycott, or maybe even just simply persuading them to pressure the government on issues such as education - it might help them make more money - , housing - so they can cut costs when bringing foreigners over - , any single bit that can help them improve the profit margin over the long run, maybe if we can get that message through, it might persuade the govt to enact legislation in the direction that we want. Why not?Technorati Tags: education, future, change, environment, growth, leadership, values
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I'm sure all of these isn't new to you guys at all. In fact, its all old stuff that gets recycled over and over again, depending on the 'national mood'. Anyway, was mulling on such things when it just hit me...
I had this thought that the source of all these nonsense comes from a few things. We tend to think that administrators in Singapore are all-powerful people, and if we talk some sense into them, maybe they will do the right thing and move things in a better direction. I guess I'm slow to this, but I realise that our administrators are just slave to this system that emphasizes ECONOMICS above everything else - ie, GDP growth, manufacturing growth, numbers and more numbers and such. And its not just that - they see only a few set of these numbers, so they probably won't do anything about rise in cost of living, homeless rates, bankruptcy rates, etc. The former we are tired of, and the latter worries us most. Naturally, we tend to think that, if the latter is becoming so poisonous, why isn't the bigshots doing anything about it? It really is simply this - to the administrators, the latter issues are simply irrelevant and inconsequential. To pander to us, they set up committees and pretend to do something, you know, give some million there, give another million here, and pretend the issue is solved. In actual fact, people couldn't give a damn, or forced not to give a damn. Their hands are tied, shackled to the single-mindedness of a constructed 'economic necessity'. Of course, it doesn't help that some Grand Old Man is still alive and his Golden Army of Ancient Warriors are still alive, or reincarnated in various forms. But the keypoint is, because of this single-mindedness, everything else gets pushed to the periphery, even debates about national identity and our future... Think about it - all our social conditioning, all our political restrictions - the prevention of chaos in our society all for the pursuit of 'economic growth'...
The other thing, that GOM is still relying on that narrative of survival since independence. Which means, even though we don't have to worry about economics as an existential angst, deep inside his aging mind, I think he still thinks this way. Maybe his mind got stuck in 1965 and has been in this mindset ever since. Or for some other reasons, he still wants to keep us scared about Singapore's survival so he can still use that teeny-weensy bit of fear in us to condition us and whatever nonsense. I think what we are experiencing right now as a nation, is a national existential angst. We no longer need to think about the fear of non-existence in the economic and political sense, so... what else is there left? Maybe the GOM is still trying to keep us scared so maybe his... progenies can survive or some other vested interest. So maybe the narrative of 'terrorism' and 'leadership' crisis.
If the GOM is truly concerned about the survival of this country, he should be thinking about renewable energy and the feasibility of vertical farms right here. Maybe we can use renewable energy to power desalination processes to increase our water independence, and vertical farming to improve our food independence. Maybe we should be investing more in our education to power next-generation industries in recycling technology. Maybe there are good and powerful reasons for our own survival. We still have good people even if the best stay in the US. Maybe, if we can tell them, that Singapore is an exciting place of opportunities from the stringents of a 'crisis' mentality, maybe good things can happen.
Maybe, if the administration is so heavily influenced by the money side of things, the maybe, the government is the wrong place to go for our grievances. Maybe we should be pressuring the global companies, and maybe that will scare the government into doing something. By pressuring I mean, writing letters harassing them, issue threats of boycott, or maybe even just simply persuading them to pressure the government on issues such as education - it might help them make more money - , housing - so they can cut costs when bringing foreigners over - , any single bit that can help them improve the profit margin over the long run, maybe if we can get that message through, it might persuade the govt to enact legislation in the direction that we want. Why not?Technorati Tags: education, future, change, environment, growth, leadership, values
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