GP NOTES 2010 (ESSAY)

Content Page

1. Media
a. New vs. Traditional
b. New: narcissistic?
c. Government Censorship
d. Profit-driven Media
e. Advertising
f. Private life of public figures
g. Celebrity as a role model
h. Blame media for our problems
i. Power + Responsibility of Media
j. Media ethics
k. New Media and Democracy

2. Science/Tech
a. Science and Ethics
b. Government and scientist role in science
c. Rely too much on technology?
d. Nuclear technology
e. Genetic modification
f. Right tech for wrong reasons

3. Arts/Culture
a. Arts have a future in Singapore?
b. Why pursue Arts?
c. Arts and technology
d. Uniquely Singapore: Culture

4. Environment
a. Developed vs. Developing
b. Should environment be saved at all costs
c. Are we doing enough to save the environment?
d. Main reasons for environmental problems nowadays

5. Religion
a. Religion divides more than it unites
b. Religion and politics
c. Science and religion

6. Terrorism
a. Can terrorism ever be eradicated?

7. Sports
a. True purpose of sports nowadays
b. Sports and Media

8. Foreign Aid
a. How effective is Foreign Aid?
9. Migration
a. Is migration/having foreigners good?

10. Subjects
a. Literature
b. History
c. Mathematics
d. Universal language

11. Businesses
a. Business morality
b. Charities as businesses

12. Democracy
a. Good vs. Bad

13. Social Issues (only stats provided)

a. Gender
b. Family
c. Equality

14. Governance
a. World Governance

15. Others
a. Cooperation
b. Education
c. Crime
d. Liberty or Security
e. Consumerism
 1. Media
1a. New vs. Traditional

GENERAL
Intro:
 The first quarter of 2043 will be when the last newspapers land on front process all
over America. This is the prediction the author of ‘The Vanishing Newspaper’ …
 Advent of tech has brought a radical change in the media industry
 No longer confined to reading news, watching television
 Click of mouse, people can access instantaneous info and news online
 Proliferation of online blogs and social networking sites such as Twitter threaten to
make mainstream media a thing of the past
 But mainstream media adapting to suit the taste of consumers, still integral part of
their lives

Mainstream BAD: Comparatively slower in its dissemination of news

 Chicago Tribune, official website chicagotribue.com, posts instant news coverage
before newspaper hit the newsstands following morning
 Many different perspectives on important events and issues
 Citizen journalists closer to their subject matter than professional journalists
 Better position to uncover unique on-the-ground perspectives

Mainstream GOOD: Sheer physical authenticity - reliability

 Cost of publishing book acts as a barrier to entry against casual writers
 Hardly any oversight over the quality of material that gets published via new media
channels
 Any work, regardless of its value, can easily get broadcasted to a global audience
 Publishers want to ensure that their books sell *quality check*
 Any hack can put up his dribbling on Fictionpress.net
 Any angst-filled teenager can put up his or her macabre, misspelt poetry online.
 Anyone can masquerade a superstition for scientific truth and create a website to
scare similarly weak-minded netizens

Mainstream BAD: Profit motive and Government-regulated - reliability

 “Don’t let the facts get in the way of a good story” is an instruction often heard in
the newsroom
 Concept of media ethics is conceived to be an oxymoron. Sadly, many aspects of the
modern media are stripped of almost all ethical concerns. In a reality of competition,
ratings and economic considerations, ethics becomes a secondary, sometimes
irritating, issue
 E.g. But consider 2003, New York Times writer Jayson Blair caught for plagiarising
and falsifying elements of his stories … clear to public that newspapers are nowhere
higher on moral grounds than bloggers
 E.g. Irish undergraduate posted a poetic but phoney quote on Wikipedia hours after
Maurice Jarre’s death, Wikipedia quickly removed it for the lack attribution but
journalists
 E.g. Cover page of economist: President Obama at oil spill (cut a lonely figure:
portrays the multitude of problems faced by America and his helplessness in coming
up with solutions): Photoshopped
 Inherent bias/political slants
  E.g. Fox news channel headed by Republican supporters often portray Democrats in
a negative light. Fox’s anchorman compared the logo of the recent nuclear
technology forums, approved by President Obama, with the Muslim crescent,
accusing Obama of having Muslim inclinations. The logo, in fact, was a
representation of the scientific atom and had nothing to do with religion whatsoever.
 Government-regulated
 E.g. With the tight regulations and censorship procedures on media put in place by
the Iranian government in the lead-up to the 2009 Presidential elections, any news
of a manipulated election process would unlikely have reached the larger global
community. It was only with social networking sites like Twitter that Iranian activists
could raise the alert as to possible discrepancies in the re-election of President
Ahmadinejad.
 When the media has so many other motives, it can hardly be relied on to provide
reliable information. The individual, on the other hand, has less hidden agendas.

Mainstream GOOD: Use professional journalists (compared to citizen journalism) – content

quality
 Citizen journalist “on-the ground” reports vs. professional whose sole purpose is to
uncover each and every piece of information related to the news article they are
writing
 Wider and deeper coverage
 Connections to a wider spectrum of professionals  greater insight into issue at
hand
 E.g. 2008 U.S. Presidential Elections (bloggers provide personal opinions about who
was likely to win but New York Times invited experts to do a state-by-state analysis
presenting results in a full-page spread, culminating in a detailed map showing states
Democrats were likely to win)
 Anonymity: given free rein to publish any thought that comes to mind
 E.g. For every worthwhile video present on the site (think Annie Leonard’s “The
Story of Stuff”) there are a multitude of videos featuring otherwise inane and banal
individuals indulgently banging away at their pianos or doing less-than-funny spoofs
of music videos (think the Two Chinese Boys in their dormitory room)
 E.g. Temasek Review: an anti-government news portal
 E.g. Political commentary by a certain Kway Teow Man
 E.g. “Everyone Draw Muhammad Day” Facebook Page. Emphasis need for freedom
of speech and expression that is often curtailed in Muslim communities but ended
up causing much unhappiness amongst Muslims because the central religious figure
in Islam is not supposed to be visually depicted. Easy, convenient, effortlessly reach
the global community without any prior checks
 In-depth and broad coverage not found in new media where no profit motive

Mainstream GOOD: larger spectrum of information (range of content)

 Bloggers tend to report more on celebrity gossip and sports (e.g. perezhilton.com
focuses on reporting entertainment-based news) (hidden agenda of bloggers too?)
 Mainstream cover wide area of fields
 Citizen Journalism offers us multiple perspectives
 Structure of printed page classifies information for the reader according to subject
matter and importance
 Massive amount of (mostly irrelevant) information online, newspaper supply
balanced amount of information
Mainstream + New: Take advantage of the Internet AND integration
 E.g. STOMP, newspaper readers invited to post news and pictures that they have
uncovered, every week myPaper has a column specifically dedicated to STOMP, in
which the column lists the top 10 newsworthy stories posted on the site
 Mainstream media embrace the Internet as an alternative platform to share news
reports with their readers
 Respond to growing demand for less lag time in relaying information by setting up
websites that complement their publications (constantly updated round the clock)
 Shows on television frequently uploaded onto video-sharing websites such as
YouTube and Hulu, showing surging demand for mainstream shows
 Recent nielson index shows that “American Idol” over 50 million viewers in U.S.
alone
 Ryan Seacrest, host of show, frequently urged viewers to log on to
fox.americanidol.com, official site of the show, for “never-before-seen exclusive
content, including behind-the-scenes coverage of contestants”
 American Idol even has a Twitter and YouTube account, post updates and jey
performances

Book vs. Internet

Intro:
 Information lives to be transmitted, books served this purpose, archiving, ‘locking
down’ and then passing it on
 Preserve and disseminate info, enlighten or educate readers
 Rapid advent of internet has shaken the traditional role of the book
 Ability to transmit regularly updated information at the speed of broadband, giving
free access to vast resources, and opening avenues for more people to publish their
commentaries or creative writing … ‘information super-highway’

***Internet more Convenience and Capacity

 For centuries, book was the only tangible repository of knowledge in our world
 Epitome of the writing system, evolved from prehistoric scratches in sand or painting
on walls, more advanced than cumbersome clay and stone tablets
 Challenged by Internet on the same two fronts on which it proved its mastery over
other forms of recording and disseminating information: capacity and accessibility
 Fabled Library of Alexandria contained hundreds of thousands of books, Internet has
billions of websites
 Vast network of information on the Internet readiness and convenience with which
this information is accessed is greater than thumbing through a book with the
advent of search engines such as Google

***Internet presents more possibilities than the book

 Farthest book goes into another dimension is in the form of a pop-up book
 Internet is multi-media, allows for greater range of expression and gives a voice and
virtual page to would-be writers in the world (e.g. weblog, fan-fiction sites, video-
sharing sites)
 As a repository of entertainment, at least, the Internet seems to render the book
insufficient and in many ways, pathetic

Info not the same

 Internet does not include the entire corpus of the written word
  Books are increasingly finding their way onto the Internet, info digitized (google
books)
 Much knowledge residing in books today that have not found their way onto the
Internet (exclusive information)
 But… Gutenberg Project transcribes old literary texts from all eras, posting them
online for free
 Websites such as Questia and JSTOR store full academic journals, books, newspaper,
magazines … (portable too!)
 Also limits imposed by costs of publication, book cannot contain everything. Editors
sometimes forced to truncate minor pieces of information. Internet resources easily
trounce their counterparts as cost is low. E.g. Wikipedia or Instructables offer in-
depth guides and resources over an incredible range of topic
 Easily edited rather than reprinted (e.g. Wikipedia freely create and edit info):
completely dynamic resource, constantly evolving, updating, self-correcting,
improving

Not everyone has access to the Internet to begin with

 Computers, mobile devices such as phones can connect to Internet
 Suggest an increasingly wired world
 Restricted to developed countries, and particularly, those in the middle or upper
classes
 No access to World Wide Web (irony in the name). While Africans (arguably most
underdeveloped continent) have relatively infrequent access to book and illiterate,
but written word has greater penetration there than broadband
 Book is the readily available substitute
 Consider “One Laptop per Child” campaign
 Or cannot afford to establish a dial-up or pre-paid connection to the Internet

Utility
 User-friendly with whole range of in-depth technical guides but serve as a
distraction, hopping from link to link
 Distractions due to sheer variety of content and multimedia can be both especially
tempting and exceptionally deadly
 Clear psychological difference to reading a novel manuscript off a laptop screen and
actually cradling the hardcopy edition in one’s hand (simple sentimentalities?)
 1b. New: narcissistic

Intro:
 Gone were the days when the chance of seeing one’s name in a printed publication
was at the mercies of the publishing house, whose decision on one’s manuscript
determined whether one would achieve international prominence or be reduced to
languishing in nameless obscurity
 The rise of the new media, most notably the Internet, has caused an unprecedented
democratization of the publishing process, with almost everyone and anyone being
entitled to their bit of domain space and broadband to broadcast their thoughts on
the World Wide Web, and consequently to the whole wide world, without being
subject to the scrutiny of an intermediary.
 Promote a culture of self-absorption
 Live in a little bubble of their own with inflated feelings of self-worth and a general
uncaring attitude
 Afford new avenues of self-expression and actualization
 Transcended temporal and geographical boundaries to bring us in greater contact
 Given us so many new perspective on this world and enable us to take such greater
global action

YES: Rise of user-generated content: self-indulgence

YES: Anonymity
 Given free rein to publish any thought, even if insensitive or disparaging towards…
 Empowered to have his views aired without having to consider the potential
repercussions and without having to suffer the ensuing backlash from the discord he
has sowed
 Identity protected by veil of anonymity
 E.g. “Everyone Draw Muhammad Day”

NO: Brought us beyond our self-absorbed perspectives

 Interconnected
 E.g. Iran elections
 Allowing the circumvention of restrictions placed on traditional media
 Allow a plethora of new and alternative perspectives to come through
 Opening our eyes to the larger world beyond what we experience in our everyday
lives
 More attuned to the happenings of our human counterparts

NO: Move beyond ourselves, to take a stance on social issues, enabling us to take up causes
far greater than ourselves by galvanizing and gathering the entire global community into
taking concrete action
 E.g. Avaaz.org
 Making use of the internet and social media to achieve a staggering number of
signatories to protest against the Chinese crackdown on Uyghur minorities in
Xinjiang
 Enabled us to actively take part in the quest for change / social consciousness

Conclusion:
 Enabled the flourishing of individual expression, to the extent of narcissism
 New media is but a neutral tool; how we use it will determine…
 1c. Government Censorship

Govt Regulated (political-BAD):

 Morphs into a powerful tool to influence people’s beliefs and values
 Sends chills down a liberal’s spine
 Magic behind oligarchs’, juntas’, emperors’, authoritarians’ abilities to rally the
support of the people behind them
 Suppress all information that may jeopardize a government’s position
 Devoid of all diversity
 Robert Mugabe: corrupt president of Zimbabwe forced all news broadcasting firms
to close down, allowing only the government-regulated news firm to disseminate
info
 Rwanda: Genocide was propagated through state-backed radio. Extremist Hutu
group took control.
 Circumscribed the variety of information
 Government dedicated to serving the good of the people, unaware of Zimbabwe’s
atrocious human rights record
 Chairman Mao censored any dissenting views criticizing his reign
 Indonesia and Taiwan: demonstrations, riots, and needles bloodshed
 Kills off certain aspects of artistic creativity through selective choice of content and
hence might be said to be an insult to the professional judgement of the producer of
the piece
 Acutely aware of “shock effect” on the public created through grisly images and
shocking, eclectic (free) perspectives on established issues
 Stir up emotions over a humanitarian crisis, one inevitably uses fottage of cadavers,
mutilated and burnt
 Lamabaste an entity or concept, one can choose to adopt and acridly acerbic tone
 Media conveys information conducive to public debate. If government restricts this,
stunt social growth and awareness by limiting information available
 China: government blocks web addresses that contain opinions or sentiments that
are anything short of in praise of them (online criticism is blocked, limits to what
newspapers can print). Still forbids extensive coverage of the Tiananmen Square
protests of 1989 where hundreds of students protesting peacefully were brutally
massacred. In light of its deplorable human rights record, it is not difficult to see why
the Chinese government has so much at stake – it risks sparking off massive public
outcry. Modernising rapidly, still persists with unethical means of suppressing dissent
 Susceptible to influence of lobby-groups.

Govt regulated (political-GOOD):

 Media content that is racially offensive or culturally inflammatory in nature or intent
can spark social outrage
 Give the mass media free rein, and one will invariably find seditious material widely
available on the World Wide Web
 E.g. Danish authorities inflammatory Prophet Mohammed caricatures in the national
newspaper: spark media furore and widespread racial clashes
 As people have varying opinions on the same issue, it is pertinent that an authority
runs through any form of content to minimize clashes
 What is accepting to one person may be derogatory to another
 Given the wide spectrum of racial and religious groups that invariably form any
society, especially important that the fabric of the nation is not torn apart
  Singapore Government has chosen the right approach in this respect, given the
multi-ethnic composition of society
 Charging two young bloggers in 2005 under the Sedition Act
 Will not tolerate malicious acts of racial discrimination
 Censorship is necessary to introduce some modicum of regulation, in the hope of
diverting potential conflicts

Govt regulated (social):

 Increased accessibility of information: greater exposure of undesirable material
(GOOD)
 Demerit goods (ECONS) … In a democratic government where vox populi is the
instrument which elevates a select group to the fore of administration, regimes
argue that they possess the mandate to make normative decisions for the greater
good of society. Paternalism … right and duty.
 Censorship challenges the basic premise of a person’s individual judgement: people
should be allowed to decide for themselves what they want to watch instead (BAD)
 Government censorship is paternalistic and intrinsically ignores the possibility for
personal censorship or censorship by various institutions in society
 Ludicrous in their non-belief of the individual’s intelligence
 Fundamentally, a democracy is predicated on the belief of the general ability of the
public to discern between what is beneficial for them and what is not
 Censorship by and within the mass media itself. E.g. US: news agencies like CNN do
not broadcast pornography and violence on a daily basis; the former perhaps not at
all. Demonstration of their belief that society at large is not fundamentally
concerned with and interested in such material … manifestation of the maturity of
society at large (profit motive: will not publish content that is not of great interest to
all swathes of society)
 Average child watches 8000 television murders by the time he reaches the age of 21
 E.g. Ted Bundy: obsessed with pornography and went on to sexually assault and
murder innovent young women
 E.g. Bandura’s Bobo Doll experiment: children who were exposed to violent scenes
more likely to hit Bobo Doll
 E.g. Columbine Shootings inspired by video game “Doom”
 E.g. Nathan Martinez who shot dead his step-mother and step-sister after watching
the film “Natural Born Killers” ten times
 E.g. The film “Cut” by local film maker Royston Tan was supported by MDA because it
encourages debate on censorship.

What media should do:

 Media should be used as a platform not only to entertain, but also inform and
educate the masses
 Must be willing to bear the responsibility of bringing good-quality broadcasting to all
 Commendable brocasting in light of possible political adherence is British
Brodcasting Corporation (BBC)
 Shows like “Hard Talk” present round-table debates and interviews with eminent
leaders from around the world

Who determines what is censored?

 As the Romans eloquently put it: quis custodiet ipsos custodes? Who will guard the
guardians? If censorship has been established as a crucial concept which does not
 threaten the mental capacity of mankind, then who is to ensure that it does not
degrade into a tool for abuse?

Scope of Censorship:
Difficult to determine the scope of censorship boards as well as the extent of censorship,
given the spread of information usually available to us; this line is often hard to draw, hence
the difficulty in drawing up guidelines and establishing what distinguishes an enlightened
government from a deplored one.

Governments of multi-racial societies have the added challenge of keeping the synergy and
harmony of society… numerous interest groups to take into account before … Meet these
challenges and the unique needs of the people, while maintaining a certain amount of
freedom in the press. Hence the differential rates of media freedom in various countries
around the globe.

Government ought not to fear political freedom of speech in the media – transparency and
press freedom, coupled with a nation that is socially stable, usually reflect the confidence of
the people in the given Cabinet.

The media is used for dissemination of useful information while facilitating public discussion
and debate and is therefore an excellent means of raising social and intellectual awareness.

While total freedom certainly has its shortcomings, a trade-off between social welfare and
the freedom of press is not necessarily a bad thing.

Quote:
Benjamin Franklin’s epithet that “any government who seeks to give up a little liberty for a
little security deserves neither and will lose both”.

Censorship has been around for as long as humans had the ability to voice their opinion and
his fellow man has deemed it appropriate to chastise this opinion.
 In Plato’s ideal state outlined in The Republic, official censors would prohibit mothers
and nurses from relating tales deemed bad or evil
 Shi Huang Ti: Penchant for burning books
 Freedom of speech in ancient Rome was restricted to those in positions of authority

Freedom of Speech:
 I disapprove of what you say but I’ll defend to death your right to say it – Voltaire
 Freedom of speech is fundamental to a democracy as it creates educated and
mature individuals that are able to make informed decisions

National Security: prevent enemy from acquiring information of military value

 White House reporters said they were given very limited information regarding the
cost, the length and the possible risks in the military attack on Iraq

Media literacy
 Tools of censorship tend to work as a blunt instrument. Filtering software isn’t
particularly selective. By filtering the words ‘hate’, software will certainly screen out
most hate Web sites but may also block access to valuable and legitimate resources
such as sites dedicated to anti-racism, Jewish culture, war museums etc.
 Forbidden fruit effect
 A critical analysis on the media will inspire youths to question why violence is so
prevalent in our media today
 Help them to realize that media is not a reflection of reality but rather a social
construct
 White House report that media literacy empowers young people, not only to
understand and evaluate the ideas found in popular culture, but also “to be positive
contributors to society, to challenge cynicism and apathy and to serve as agents to
social change”  enhances rather than curtails young people’s intellectual growth
and their development into critically thinking adults
 Censorship cannot achieve this
 1d. Profit-Driven

Intro
 Manifestations of what extremely parochial motives can do to transform a medium
that should serve multiple purposes
 Profit driven: inextricably bound to the economic context and financial imperative of
the media industry
 Govt regulated: devoted to perpetuating specific sets of values and beliefs
 Eventuates in the ending of all variety, choice and vibrancy
 Ludicrously stilted motives

Profit driven: keep using same formula, no creativity

 Modus operandi of mass media is governed by corporate sponsors
 Television shows are produced so that a certain number of audiences watch the
advertisements during commercial breaks
 Corporate sponsors pay broadcasting firms based on number of people they expect
to watch the show
 Trite (commonplace, hackneyed) banality (predictability) and lack of innovation in
media: “cookie-cutter” programmes
 Falling standards and tastes of the broadcasting
 The wildly successful birth of Survivor cemented the place of reality TV in our culture
today
 Spurned many other reality TV shows ranging from Amazing Race to Fear Factor
whose formulaic (rigid), insipid (dull) nature makes the discerning viewer queasy
with its monochromatic excesses of cat-fighting, sex and cheap sentiment
 The Bachelor has spawned Joe Millionaire, Average Joe and Who wants to be a
Millionaire
 Invariable formula, attract millions of viewers
 Bland and utterly unpalatable

Profit driven: target group always the same

 Target largest group of people in society with abundant purchasing power to
maximize revenue
 Cater to tastes of the majority
 Social groups which are deemed unlikely to purchase advertisers’ products are
unfortunately marginalized
 Include disabled and elderly who have limited purchasing power and are deemed to
be less overwhelmed by consumerist desires
 In contrast, teenagers and young adults are the motivation behind shows produced
today
 Firms have long been cognizant of the baffling appeal of violence: proliferation of
violence
 Music lyrics (Eminem “Kill you”), video games (Grand Theft Auto), movies (only one
in five violent movies rated ‘R’).
 Reduced to nothing more than a few painfully ubiquitous themes
 1e. Advertising

General Stats:
 In 1880: Global advertising expenditure was $30million
 In 1910: $600million
 In 2000: $120billion
 By 2006, by the most conservative of estimates, $600billion
 Coca-Cola spent $234 million in advertising in USA alone
 Macdonalds spent $2 billion in advertising

There is nothing inherently wrong with advertising

 Corporations have the right to publicize their product to the public and the public
has the right and desire to know what is out there in the market
 Advertising accounts for 60% of newspaper and magazine production and almost
100% of electronic media production

However, advertising has deviated from its original purpose of informing the public about
new products
 E.g. Use of photoshop
 E.g. ‘Sex sells’ Agent Provocateur lingerie got sexy pop icon Kylie Minogue to ride
wildly on a mechanical bull and challenge the men in the cinema to stand up to
prove to everyone that they were not turned on
 E.g. Terms and Conditions of financial advertisements always printed in small font
 E.g. Use of empty but colourful language such as “new and improved”, or “part of a
complete meal” for fast food when it is actually only healthy when eaten in extreme
moderation
 E.g. Before and after photos for slimming advertisements. In the ‘before’ photos, the
person usually slouches, is pictured in full view and is clad in unsuitable clothing. In
the ‘after’ photos, pictured in half view with more attractive clothing. Increased
attractiveness is thus attributed to weight loss.
 E.g. Fast food usually photographed in warm light so that it looks healthier. Corn
flakes on cereal boxes look permanently golden and crispy because it is held not in
milk but in white glue. Similarly, sesame seeds are super glued on to the burgers for
photoshoots.

Audience themselves have become the product

 The media captures the people’s attention and sells this attention to the firms. Firms
use this attention to advertise their products. Thus, contrary to conventional wisdom
where advertising is all about the firm trying to sell products to the public, the
audience themselves have become a valuable commodity to the advertisers
 E.g. A 30 second advertising slot during Oscar Ceremony costs $US1million as it
promises 60% of American female viewership

Overexposure has caused desensitization and advertising messages work into our conscious
 Almost every physical surface that can be used is exploited for advertising (e.g.
athletes as walking billboards (F1 drivers), surface of products)
 Overexposure is bad insofar that it encroaches into our private life and private space.
This is not supposed to be the case since we need to be able to control what we are
exposed to
  E.g. When televisions were first introduced in public transport systems in Singapore,
it caused an uproar as now people could not sleep, chat or read on the bus without
hearing advertisements in the background
 E.g. American children are exposed to advertising at such a young age that in a
survey, more of them could recognize the Macdonalds logo as compared to the
Christian Cross

Since firms want a constant supply of viewers who want to purchase their products, it is in
the interest of the advertisers to create a sense of inadequacy rather than a sense of self-
satisfaction
 Since one has to be confident before he starts to think of society, advertising causes
selfish mindsets
 E.g. Bust enhancement advertisements link a woman’s confidence solely to the
upkeep of her looks

Stealth advertising has caused us to lower our guard

 E.g. ABS used prime news time to advertise Touchstone Pictures movie Pearl
Harbour as both ABS and Touchstone belonged to Disney
 Product placement
 E.g. The movie “Tomorrow Never Dies” earned a landmark $1million from
advertising with James Bond seemingly preferring to use BMW motorcycles and
Omega watches
 E.g. In the movie “Runaway Bride”, FedEx was featured with the punchline
“wherever she goes, she’ll reach there before 1030am”
 E.g. Reebok sued Tristar pictures for $10million for a movie in which the protagonist
preferred Nike to Reebok

Questionable cultural values being advocated in advertisements

 Narrowing concept of feminine and masculine beauty: Handsome men generalized
to be muscular, athletic, chiseled and toned while beautiful women are seen to have
above average breast size, long legs, long hair and white complexion.
 Consumerism and materialism: Advertisements seem to purport that one can
achieve a happy, satisfactory life by buying the right products.

Advertising has been used intelligently and responsibly in the promotion of important causes
 The Body Shop: Promote female empowerment and environmental awareness.
Printed advertisements about missing children on all her Body Shop trucks to help
the police in their search
 2005 international campaign for Dove: debate about beauty: challenges the
preconceived notions of what makes a woman beautiful

LINK: media literacy

 1f. Private life of public figures

Intro:
 From Princess Diana to Tiger Woods, the headlines on our dailies have consistently
exposed the sordid details of the private lives of public figures
 Such irascible coverage
 Harm public figures / prove to be excessive for even public consumption
 But… upholds the public right to information and potentially promotes better
behaviour among public figures

Define:
 Public figure: individual who achieves prominence and often extracts considerable
benefit from being in the public spotlight (politicians, actors)
 Private lives, which refer to their affairs and lifestyle choices unrelated to their
professional activities
 Subject of immense discussion in publications

Right to privacy of public celebrities is unjustifiably infringed (in principle)

 Every individual deserves a certain amount of dignity
 Actions in public sphere should not be subject to intense criticism based on tastes
and preferences of others in society
 Right to privacy does not cease to exist when an individual is plunged into public
limelight
 Public life should not become something which can be exploited by media
companies to gain profits

Consequences of such coverage often prove to be deleterious (in practice)

 Process of gaining such scoops often involves invading the lives of individuals in their
most private moments
 E.g. Memory of paparazzi cameras chasing stars like Audrey Hepburn on their
summer vacations … most iconic illustration
 More insidiously, damage others whom he or she was linked to in private
 E.g. When sexually-revealing photos of Edison Chen and his multiple partners were
splashed all over the front pages of Hong Kong newspapers such as Apple Daily …
not only Edison Chen’s music career which suffered. Other celebrities, such as Gillian
Cheung, who chose to have private trysts with him but did not consent to having
their reputations significantly smeared, were unfairly compromised by actions which
had nothing whatsoever to do with their professional career
 Psychological stress on public figures when stories of their families and their
romantic relationships are thrust into the public eye
 British Tabloid reports on John Terry and the former girlfriend of his former
teammate, Wayne Bridge heaped much pressure on the already struggling player
and even called into question his ability to continue serving as England captain
 Casts unfair aspersions on their professional careers and produces pernicious
outcomes

Since it would be futile to deny the existence of such negative effects … attempt to debunk
the above arguments by presenting a principle that trumps the right to privacy – the right of
the public to know the truth
 Isolating the fact that unlike the average Joe, who eschews the media spotlight,
individuals become public figures because of the favourable light that the media
 casts upon them, which allows them to achieve widespread recognition and
significant support
 E.g. Without the support of Rupert Murdoch’s widely-read dailies like The Sun, Tony
Blair would unlikely have won by a thumping majority which catapulted him to the
premiership
 Even after individuals become public figures, they rely on the media to connect with
and influence the public
 E.g. The success of David Beckham’s endorsement of Adidas soccer boots depended
heavily on the media reaching out to audiences worldwide
 Thus, public figures benefit from the trust and support that the public places on
them
 By implication, their duty to remain accountable to the public is much higher than
the average person
 Since the media is the primary means through which the public gets to know these
public figures, media coverage on them is justified
 More importantly, since it is important for the public to know whether or not the
image that they portray is a façade that hides deceit and socially-unacceptable
behaviour, the private lives should remain subject to media scrutiny
 Does not mean that the media can lie about their private lives since the media is still
subject to slander and libel suits that celebrities can file if they find the media is
spreading mistruths that sully their reputation

Several benefits accrue when these principles are put into practice
 People can check on public figures, make more informed decisions
 E.g. Senator John Edwards, a Democratic Presidential hopeful in 2008 in United
States, who fell from grace after Washington Post exposed that he had extra-marital
affairs when his wife was undergoing treatment for breast cancer. By exposing the
falsity of the squeaky clean image that his campaign team had tried to preserve, … ,
the people duly rejected him
 Become better role models

Conclusion:
 Regardless of potential harms incurred because outweighed by …
 For those who want to be larger than life, they must live up to the expectations
 1g. Celebrity as a role model

Intro:
 Mass coverage and the media have infiltrated every last nook and cranny, and
children from ____ to ____ know the name Britney Spears, it is hard to question the
pervasive presence of the celebrity
 Rise of the paparazzi and the ubiquity of tabloids have made it nearly impossible for
anyone with a modicum of, or the remotest claim to fame to do anything that does
not end up under public scrutiny and judgement
 Catapulted into the public eye … bear mantle of the “role model”
 What kind of celebrity statue and what they do with their fame. Parents
accountable?

Define “Role Model”

 Depends on one’s individual value system: subjective
 Approve strongly of Christina Aguilera’s talent, conservative person … once-
tumultuous private life negates extent of natural gifts
 Fundamentally, role model = wish to emulate, personification of one’s desired
attainment, upright moral standard

Against 1 + Counter: Celebrity image counter-intuitive to role model

 Idea of the celebrity closely integrated with the idea of the entertainment celebrity
… image it conjures is that of a drunk, vacuous and promiscuous person, preoccupied
with shallow concerns of appearance and prone to making laughable sartorial gaffes.
 E.g. Going around town without undergarments (Britney and Paris), suffering
“wardrobe malfunctions” on national television
 Fall miserably short of the yardsticks of a role model
 Accurate description of many of Tinseltown’s most infamous but does not do justice
to those who are celebrated for genuine talent, dedication and the like
 Celebrities not found exclusively in Beverly Hills; lend their names and fame to good
causes (Angelina Jolie and her work with the UN), diligently working on improving
their God-given abilities to even greater heights (Roger Federer), Arnold
Schwarzeneggar (known for his muscle and starring role in “The Terminator” rode on
wave of popularity and fame to political power as governor of California, dedicated
to environmental cause, implement policies to reduce emissions and vehicle usage)
 Closer to home: Eunice Olsen, former Miss Singapore Universe: active in community
service, advocating various causes eventually becoming Nominated Member of
Parliament. Other important causes championed by many celebrities ranging from
climate change, gender equality to even speaking good Chinese in Singapore

Against 2:
 Well-known song from Disney smash hit “High School Musical “I want it all/The fame
and the fortune and more”
 Self-made celebrities … creating notoriety for themselves by any means possible
 E.g. Multitude of socialites featured in MTV’s “My Super Sweet Sixteen”, who behave
horrendously on television for their half-hour of fame on national television,
condemning every lavish gift they receive for some minor flaw and generally
behaving with a complete lack of gratitude
 E.g. Paris Hilton’s infamous “sex tape” scandal entered public consciousness, copycat
examples in local context: Tammy Ying sex-tape While originally not intended for
public consumption, idea is arguable very exhibitionist – potential of being leaked for
 nothing is private anymore (reinforced by the Edison Chen scandal nude photos of
ex-girlfriends, Madonna having personal contacts made publicly accessible)

For 1:
 Behaviour we often condemn as morally degrading is part of their private lives
 All-invasive nature of reporters and photographers eager for the next big scoop, be it
Zhang Ziyi frolicking topless with her Israeli fiancé or Amy Winehouse’s latest
entrance into rehab, have rendered this demarcation between the public and the
private impossible for celebrity
 E.g. Vanessa Anne Hudgens scandal: Declared as befits her image as a wholesome,
Disney-endorsed starlet, that she wishes to be a “role model” for girls. Nude photos
scandal. Parents whose children are ardent fans of the High School Musical franchise
dismayed and condemn her BUT Hardly her intention & human and fallible
 Celebrities, by virtue of the other privileges they enjoy, should bear greater social
responsibility as equal exchange
 Media just as culpable (for seeking attention-grabbing story to ensure wider
readership) for deliberately sensationalizing these negative behaviours

Parents play a role

 Not to advocate a kind of “Big Brother” mentality
 Immediate influence of the surrounding moral environment probably has the most
impact on a child or teen’s behaviours
 What are “right” values and how or why they should be espoused

Compare political figures

 Commit illegal acts or influence youths in extreme ideology
 Exceptional qualities of leadership, advocacy or enlightenment on various social
issues
 E.g. Mao Zedong stir youths in 1960s Cultural Revolution: lasting damage especially
to the cultural and societal fabric of China
 Amount of negative influence politicians could wield is much greater than celebrities
as they are the ones ultimately charting the progress of a state
 Stirring fervent youths in the wrong direction, such as acts of terrorism or violence
could cause lasting damage to generations of youths and even their societies

Proliferation of celebrity publicity, and therefore the influence they exert, is fuelled by our
own inherent impulse to judge – we may in fact relish it when the celebrities do wrong, that
we may judge them accordingly; but we must take care not to let impressionable youth,
unaware of moral standards, be unduly influenced
 1h. Blame media for our problems

Media responsible for problems faced by young people today

Intro:
 Most convenient scapegoat
 Blamed for anything from underage alcoholism to promiscuous lifestyles among
teenagers, or accused of acts ranging from perpetuating the myth of the ideal body
to promoting moral perversion
 Some basis of these allegations, naïve to hold media fully responsible

For 1:
 Moral norms are often threatened by salacious television programmes such as the
infamous Desperate Housewives, or by sensationalist news reports about the sexual
exploits of students
 Mislead youths into morally questionable behaviour
 Glamorisation of smoking and alcohol consumption  undesirable influence on
impressionable teenagers
 Ad for slimming or proliferation of television programmes in which perfectly-
proportioned actors are the protagonists  contribute to teenage insecurity and
self-esteem issues (during their formative years)
 Cannot absolve media of all responsibility

Against 1:
 Distinguish between correlation and causality
 Even staunchest advocate of media censorship …
 Hormones, not television drams, are responsible for teenage sexual misdemeanours
 Peer Pressure, not Seventeen, is directly responsible for creating perception that one
must conform

Against 2: Other factors

 Peer pressure, a subtler and more insidious force than media influence
 If one’s social circle finds smoking ‘uncool’, unlikely to take up smoking just because
lead singer of famous rock band does so
 Conversely, if one is brought up on a strict diet of only the most wholesome
television programming and educational publications, yet associates with peers who
consider copious alcohol consumption the ultimate rite of passage … end up heading
down road of teenage alcoholism
 Banning Cosmopolitan or FHM will not lead to a drastic drop in teenage pregnancies;
impressionable girls will not be cured of anorexia just because they are no longer
exposed to beauty pageants
 But media does play a role in shaping teenage attitudes and hence contributing to
peer pressure

Against 3: Viewer’s responsibility

 Giving young people too little credit to suggest that they are the helpless victims of a
media onslaught, able only to succumb to media influence without any resistance
 Today’s youths do not have to accept the stereotypes reinforced by pop songs or
movies; free to challenge the value systems and morally-suspect messages presented
to them
 Like all other industries, media industry ruled by forces of supply and demand
  If youths choose to buy magazines that promote materialistic superficiality or decide
to watch reality shows that glorify violence …

Against 4: Generalization
 “The media” encompasses everything from The Asian Wall Street Journal to Teenage
Magazine and includes both documentaries and mindless sitcoms alike
 Only a section of the media responsible
 Also problems other than those commonly cited by critics of the media: academic
stress, social politics, a dysfunctional family situation or even financial difficulties
 Hardly blame depraved television programmes
 Range of problems faced by young people is vast and media only implicated in a
small portion of those problems

Media’s role one of influence rather than causation

Putting aside question of the media’s culpability, if we still hold it fully responsible, against all
logic, inevitably attempt to tackle problems by merely censoring and diluting the media. Root
of problem remains unacknowledged.
The media remains a convenient scapegoat; but to persecute a scapegoat is to remain
unaware of the truth
 1i. Power + Responsibility of Media

Power:
 We live in a world where the money dedicated to advertising by multinational
companies is equivalent to half of the money channeled to education across all
countries
 Uncle Ben: With great power comes great responsibility
 Nature of the media is such that the tiniest error is magnified when it is processed by
the media
 Whether it is through hyped-up reports or the fact that millions of people are
watching, the media opens up a black hole of possibilities of tension and strife to
occur

Power can be useful!

 At a time when the American government was trying to cover up the fact that scores
of American soldiers were dying by the day in the Vietnam war, the media became
the voice of truth, bringing reports from the front and showing the American people
what was really going on in Vietnam
 Resulting public uproar forced government to relook its futile efforts
 Bowed to public pressure

Can media ever be responsible?

 Government regulated
 Profit-motive

Why need to be responsible?

 Social effects of media
 Political effects of media

Effects of new media?

 Less control + anonymity = less responsibility?

1j. Can media be relied on to tell the truth?

Intro: Purpose of media = important to convey the truth (power of media)

Consequences of not telling the truth = less reliable = less people buy = less profits
(individual too!) (therefore tell the truth)

Profit motive = sensationalize stories (link media ethics)

Government regulated = censor the truth

New media = more truth? Not necessarily! – problems with new media (anonymity)

News is never a mere recording or reporting of the world out there but a synthetic, value-
laden account which carries within it dominant assumptions and ideas of the society within
which it is produced

Conclusion: individual needs to be discerning

 1k. Media ethics

Need for accuracy:

 Joseph Pulitzer “three rules for reporters: accuracy, accuracy and accuracy”
 ‘Don’t let the facts get in the way of a good story’ is an instruction often heard in the
newsroom
 Hard to resists executive pressure to push stories further than the facts justify, often
by the use of anonymous quotes
 The concept of media ethics is conceived to be an oxymoron. Sadly, many aspects of
the modern media are stripped of almost all ethical concerns. In a reality of
competition, ratings and economic considerations, ethics becomes a secondary,
sometimes irritating issue.

Objective nature of the media:

 News is never a mere recording or reporting of the world out there but a synthetic,
value-laden account which carries within it dominant assumptions and ideas of the
society within which it is provided
 Government-regulated?
 Profit-driven: modus operandi controlled by firms
 E.g. Investigating reporters discovered that the milk produced by Monsanto in the US
could be adulterated with bovine growth hormone. Forced to change the story (83
drafts) because Monsanto threatened that there would be “dire consequences for
Fox news if the programme airs in Florida”. scared of losing advertising dollars
 1l. New Media and democracy

Intro:
 New media arise through technological advancements (e.g. internet) to make our
world increasingly globalised and inter-connected
 Democracy whose main ideal is enshrined in our power to vote, requires political
leaders to reach out to the masses so that the masses can make informed choices in
electing leaders
 Sharing of knowledge and ideas: push towards democratic process

Reach out to one another in a way that is revolutionary and which can never be achieved
through door-to-door canvassing of votes and support
 US presidential election, set up political websites
 Monetary funds for political campaigns raised through internet
 Allow citizens to voice their opinions whether in dissent or in support of political
candidates
 BUT… British general election (most memorable online moments pale by
comparison: first political suicide by Twitter when a Labour candidate posted some
crude comments) (moment that changed the campaign was a live televised debate
where in a 90-minute contest, the Liberal Democrat leader, Nick Clegg, ended in
clear victory and whose support surged by an unprecedented 50 percent afterward:
TV invented in 1925) (most memorable incident came when Prime Minister Gordon
Brown was campaigning in Rochdale when a widow came over to give the prime
minister a piece of her mind. Brown dealt with the encounter well but when he got
back into his car, forgot to disconnect the radio and called the woman “bigoted”:
radio microphone invented in 1949)
 Poll conducted by Opinion Matters: 9% get information from Web sites, 5% from
emails sent by politicians, 63% from TV, 47% from newspapers, 27% from radio

Resulted in degradation of political process

 General trend has been in the formation of very cloistered and segregated
communities
 E.g. proponents of abortion have their own website and community forum and same
can be said for pro-life camp
 E.g. supporters of Obama segregated themselves on the internet from supporters of
Mccain
 Development of discussions that are one-sided and narrow in focus
 Prevent people from making more informed choices about their political candidates
 Newspaper better medium for exchange and synergy of contrasting ideas and
viewpoints as they make objective reports presenting hard and discerning facts to
citizens without much bias

Propaganda
 Noam Chomsky “Propaganda is to democracy what the bludgeon is to
totalitarianism”
 Spread false information about themselves and their rival political opponents
 E.g. Change their entries on Wikipedia to improve own image
 E.g. Spreading of false claims that Iraq had weapons of mass destruction by the
George W. Bush government (YouTube)

Spread of idea of democracy

  Activists set up watchdog groups criticise governments for not being wholly
democratic
 Amnesty International scrutinizes countries worldwide to determine whether they
are democratic, often posting critiques and evaluations online
 Public scrutiny and criticism often stir leaders towards greater democracy by placing
pressure on governments to reform (proliferation of tenets of democracy)
 Also sole medium that has truly allowed freedom of expression (key tenet of
democracy) (censorship of viewpoints largely impossible given internet rapidly
changing and expanding)
 BUT limited access… E.g. Twitter fueling protests that could bring regime change to
Iran (only 1% have Twitter accounts) Censorship (Great China Firewall)
 Closer to home, 3 bloggers detained for inciting social tension through insensitive
comments on blogs.

Conclusion: Internet has given spread and actual practice of democracy a much needed
boost in recent years but limitations… Just because a tool is new and cool doesn’t mean it
will have a great impact…
 2. Science & Tech
2a. Science and Ethics

Define:
 Science: systematic and organized pursuit of knowledge
 Purpose of science: explain and manipulate the physical world
 Einstein has 3 motives: enjoyment of intellectual power and accomplishment,
satisfaction of practical purposes, and a sort of religious following
 Science provided mankind with a language which transcends cultural boundaries and
connects us in a highly satisfying way
 Ethics: study of what is right and what is wrong (morality)
 Melamine scandal in China which killed several young children rekindled the debate
on whether or not ethics has a part to play in Science

Science without ethics

 Science is very much a career-driven discipline. Thus, scientists rely very much on
their reputation for ongoing funding and support and such reputations only come
when they publish high-profile scientific papers. This “publish or perish” concept has
caused many scientists to fabricate data.
 If scientists are given free reign, they are as likely as anyone else to cross lines
 E.g. South Korean scientist Hwang Woo Suk faked stem cell research. In an interview
later, he claimed that he was “blinded by work and his drive for achievement”.
 E.g. In 1980s, two chemists claimed they had performed controlled nuclear fusion in
a test tube. (energy woes solved?) But they had not performed the tests properly.
 E.g. Simon Shorvon (National Neuroscience Institute Chief) putting Parkinson’s
disease patients through tests without informing them
 E.g. Tuskegee experiment (1932-1972) African American men given syphilis
intentionally and monitored. Penicillin discovered then but not administered
 VS. Science with ethics! Genetically-modified food (very tightly regulated)
‘antifreeze’ gene in tomatoes. ETHICS: blasphemy against life of divine origin and
potential emergence of strange and new varieties of harmful organisms

Science potent!
 Means to acquiring knowledge should be subject to common ethical codes
 Due to its potency, like the analogy of a child with a gun, science must be balanced
with social responsibility
 Study of science must be balanced with social responsibility
 Science cannot shrink away from the moral implications that are implicit in all forms
of learning
 Esp. because science now increasingly corporate-led, no more obligation to
humanity, scientists self-serving
 Research funding skewed towards those which can bring about financial benefit
(armies sponsor)

Science is hindered by ethics

 Science itself has no conscience
 Inquisitive, creative mind hindered if need to keep thinking about moral issues
 President Bush veto of legislation to fund stem cell research saying that “crossing the
line would needlessly encourage a conflict between science and ethics that can do
damage to both”
Science cannot be ‘undiscovered’ ‘irreversible’
 Scientific improvements are “pandora’s boxes”
 E.g. Albert Einstein said that if he knew his work in nuclear physics would lead to the
invention of the nuclear bomb, he would never have studied physics
 E.g. Leader of the Manhattan Project, Oppenheimer, who had earlier chastised
scientists in his team for opposing the use of the bomb for ethical reasons, was later
overwhelmed by guilt and championed the stopping of development of nuclear
weapons later on
 E.g. In an attempt to develop a stronger pesticide, scientists developed sarin gas. It
was later used by Germans during WWII and even by terrorists in the 1995 Tokyo
Subway attacks
 Declaration reiterates the notion that science is irreversible
 Environmental problems nowadays due to scientific inventions in the past (industrial
revolution)
 Thomas Watson “I think there’s a world market for about five computers”

Nature of ethics subjective vs. Nature of science objective

 Animals: rights or soul?
 No unified system of ethics
 Diversified views and varying moral stands
 E.g. embryonic stem cell research: varying models of ‘ensoulment’  rights of foetus
(US embryo older than 14 days)
 Debate alone could put scientific research and all the benefits coming from it, on
hold
 Denying patients therapeutic stem cell treatment because of dissent in the religious
and moral arenas is undoubtedly more unethical than the act of embryonic stem cell
research itself.
 E.g. Louis Pasteur shot to fame after testing his vaccine in a boy who had small pox
 E.g. Penicillin, the sacrifice of the ‘rights’ of a few laboratory guinea pigs has led
countless lives to be saved by the invention of this medicine

Conclusion: Albert Einstein: Science is the study of what is and not what should be. Outside
the domains of science, all forms of value judgement are still required.

Late Pope John Paul II “Science purifies religion of error and superstition. Religion purifies
science of evil and false absolutes”. This is what we must strive towards. Science must be
guided by ethics, and ethics, similarly, must also be guided by science.

Risk-conscious scientific research is the best option available

E.g. GM food may one day help Third World countries produce highly nutritious, hardy and
cheap crops. Nanotechnology may one day help us create our wants from rubbish. Genetic
engineering may one day help us cure genetic diseases such as Parkinson’s disease.
E.g. Human enhancement technology can help cure illnesses like cancer but can be abused in
sports as well
E.g. Clonaid claimed that they had cloned the first human baby, Eve, even though they could
not prove it. They received large amounts of funding from people who were desperate to
have clones despite the suspicions surrounding the validity of this claim.
 2b. Government and scientist role in science

E.g. In Soviet Union, Lysenko, an agricultural scientist, claimed that he had found a cultivation
technique that could quadruple agricultural yield. The media and propaganda machine
showered praise on him. With Lysenko’s advice and Stalin’s blessings, many geneticists,
whom Lysenko denounced, were executed or sent to labour camps. Lysenkoism caused long-
term harm to Soviet biology. Lysenkoism continued in China for several more years even after
it was denounced by the Soviets in 1960s

E.g. From 1997 to 2002, California had a 5 year cloning moratorium to allow lawyers,
ethicists and religious leaders to debate and catch up on the issue of cloning
 2c. Rely too much on technology?

Intro:
 A glimpse into human civilization a century ago will reveal stark differences in the
way we lived then and now
 Less reliant on tech automated
 Governed by technology in so many aspects and spheres of our lives
 Fear the loss of a personal, human touch and human independence
 Spawned copious science fiction movies and books that imagine a world dominated
by machines and robots, relegating Man to the backseat

Evidence 1: Immense faith on technology is the main driving force that keeps R&D industry
thriving
 E.g. Food shortage: increase crop yield through better irrigation methods, fertilizers
and GM crops
 Alleviates the problem but brings with a new host of problems
 Perhaps if technology were not perceived to be the best way out for any problem,
political bodies could have worked on improving the food distribution in the world
 Starvation and hunger in Nigeria and Somalia: not dearth of food but problem of
wealth: gargantuan amounts of food wastage
 Many ways of addressing a problem but modern world is presumptuous in pursuing
the best technology to mitigate their woes, overlook better solutions

Evidence 2: Characteristic laziness of modern Man

 Communication extremely easy
 Overlook other more personal communication channels
 Handwritten letters are uncommon and few are willing to travel a long distance to
have a face-to-face conversation
 Youth in Singapore overly reliant on short message service (SMS) find it particularly
crippling and difficult to connect with friends and family
 Lost a sense of independence from technology

Evidence 3: Impossible to cut down on our energy consumption

 Kyoto protocol: carbon emissions and energy quota was unfulfillable, unreasonable,
unfair
 Industrializing and industrialized countries need energy to fuel their machines…
 Cannot perform manual jobs on our own, uphill task to reverse people’s way of living
 Reluctant to break out of their familiar lifestyles
 Energy conservation is an unfeasible solution to our problem of depleting fossil fuels
 Tech used to find alternative sources of energy
 Blackouts in the USA, electricity completely cut off for merely a few hours: numerous
complaints, activity seemingly ceased, normal activity cam to a halt

Yet to infiltrate certain aspects of our lives

 Human touch: developing love and emotions is only within the power of humans
 Essence of Man that technology cannot aid, intervene or replace
 Retain a certain sense of independence and autonomy
 Human emotion and interpersonal relationships still highly valued
 2d. Nuclear technology

Intro
 Pilot of Enola Gay “My God, what have we done?”
 Advent and pursuit of nuclear technology  key defining feature of the 20th century
 Possession of nuclear energy facilities and nuclear weapons  aspired to dominance
 Concerns over nuclear research and its applications have multiplied in recent
decades

For 1: applications to the energy industry

 As oil and gas prices soar due to depleting stocks, war scares and a falling US dollar
 Pursuit of alternative sources of cheap energy
 Renewable energy sources remain largely unproven and unviable due to prohibitive
costs  nuclear power immensely effective in alleviating the energy woes of the
developed world
 More efficient and expedient methods of producing enriched uranium desirable
 Medical applications: treatment of cancers

Against 1 / For 2: Waste disposal

 Although in much less danger of running out than oil
 Uranium not a renewable resource
 More nuclear waste piles up from spent uranium fuel rods: harmful and lethal
consequences of nuclear waste disposal (remains radioactive and dangerous for long
periods of time)
 “de-enriching” uranium fuel rods?

Against 2: Highly dangerous

 Potentially devastating impacts on human populations and the surrounding areas
 Increasing population figures have compounded the challenges to the pursuit of
nuclear technology
 Disastrous reactor failures at Chernobyl and Three Mile Island: physical and
environmental damage (pictures of deformed Russian children and cracking Geiger
counters in Scandinavia and central Europe: necessary evil?)

For 3: Dangers largely unfounded  nuclear technology remains one of the most highly
regulated fields of research
 E.g. Stats from US Department of Energy and Nuclear Physics (1 in 15 proposals for
nuclear research approved VS. 1 in 10 for genetic engineering, another field widely
known to have strict regulations)
 Even in mega-institutes such as CERN, where nuclear research are highly funded and
encouraged, close watch on experiments, ensuring proper protocol followed
 Number of safety nets imposed: minimal concerns over safety

Against 3:
 Eclipsed by recent breakthroughs in the energy industry: utilization of new
renewable energy sources (safe, clean, limitless sources of wind, water, solar power)
OR improvements to existing technology (Germany’s decision to take all nuclear
reactors offline by 2025 and replace them with a new type of highly-efficient,
reduced-pollution coal-fired plant shows that ultimately the safety of population
centres must take precedence even in the pursuit of reducing pollution)
For 4:
 Effectiveness of energy sources: nuclear energy 80%, wind and micro-algae
production only provide energy at efficiency levels of 20% and 40% respectively
 Marry the concepts of environmental conservation and continued economic
development

Against 4: Nuclear weaponisation is severely detrimental to global stability and highly

undesirable given ethical concerns and political risks involved
 Cold War: tens of thousands of nuclear warheads instilled worldwide fear for four
decades
 End of Cold War in 1989: sign of hope for humanity BUT also brought about notion
that any further pursuit of nuclear technology was an attempt to ruin newly-founded
state of global stability
 E.g. Pyongyang’s 2007 nuclear test & Tehran’s insistence on pursuing ‘peaceful’
nuclear research  embargoes, threats of war, UN sanctions, political isolation
 Nuclear weaponisation now seen as bordering on a belligerent action against the
rest of the world
2e. Genetic modification
 2f. Right tech for wrong reasons

Intro:
 General Omar Bradley, Commander of the US forces, once ominously declared, “Ours
is a world of nuclear giants and ethical infants”. (double-edged sword)

Wrong reason 1: Cursory examination of topic … indubitably draw one’s attention … race
between countries to boost military right
 Cognizant of the need to maintain a powerful arsenal of weapons to deter potential
aggressors
 Threaten other countries w=or serve as form of deterrence against potential
aggressors
 Build stronger tanks, faster aircraft, more precise missiles
 E.g. atomic bomb
 Today many countries retain thousands of warheads to sustain the concept of
mutually assured destruction

Wrong reason 2: Private economic gain

 Motivation that is parochial and self-centred
 E.g. pharmaceuticals industry. Drug companies race to find new and better cures,
just so that they can be the first to apply for the patent, and reap the full benefits of
monopolizing a drug line which is licensed exclusively to them
 Grossly overpriced drugs… poor find it hard to gain access to cure their ailments
 Concomitantly, practice of pursuing research just to secure a patent and reap the
corollary economic benefits has extended to the biotechnology sector has extended
to biotech sector, where research institutes have been patenting cell-lines and even
parts of the human genome

Wrong reason 3: fraught with ethical considerations

 E.g. Gene therapy, whilst opening door to possibly curing many debilitating diseases
caused by genetic defects, is still an ethical minefield as it involves changing one’s
DNA … abuse for eugenics
 E.g. GM food boost yield but ‘play God’ and temper with life itself

Correct reason 1: Altruistic reasons

 Large bulk attained for benefiting humanity as a whole
 Tech comes in response to human problems or to overcome human limitations
 E.g. Wright brothers, empower mankind with the ability to fly: aeroplane
 E.g. Mr Hoover, vacuum cleaner
 E.g. smallpox vaccine
 E.g. Internet, started as a military project, saw its greatest growth when
programmers saw its potential in connecting people around the world and
contributed to its development (BUT used as a means of spreading pornographic
content as well as terrorism-related ideology)

Correct reason 2: aid humanity

 During outbreak of bird flu, research labs banded together and posted resources to
develop a cure
 Tamiflu instantly available to every country to enable them to stave off the pestilence
 Surge in green tech
3. Arts/Culture
 3a. Arts have a future in Singapore?

Intro:
 As a disclaimer to his appearance in the beloved classic “Much Ado About Nothing”,
well-known local thespian Adrian Pang implored his audience to not judge him by his
television work
 This dismissive, almost shame-faced attitude, lamentably depicts the general
consensus regarding Singapore’s fledging arts scene
 Tide of common perception changing slowly but surely
 Government active encouragement + growing receptiveness of people towards arts

Singapore arts scene increasingly influential

 Last few decades … determinedly striven towards making its presence felt
 From interviews with popular stage actress Emma Yong enjoying a full page coverage
in local newspapers to the construction and renovation of iconic buildings such as
the Esplanade and the National Arts Museum that have irrevocably altered the local
landscape … healthier than a decade ago
 Private sector and government, under the auspices of the substantially-subsidized
National Arts Council, have in no minor part helped to lure international acts from
overseas. The British staging of The Tempest and the Indian remaking of Hamlet: The
Prince of Clowns

Common perception and prevailing majority mindset casts a shadow on this lofty prospects
 As Adrian Pang’s disclaimer illustrated, the arts in Singapore are still very much
limited to the filtered-air domain of the affluent and Western educated
 In contrast, the stereotypical local heartlander is expected to enjoy his lower-rung
fare – Jack Neo movies and Channel 8 Dramas – instead
 Pander to majority appetites and do art that is not necessarily challenging to his craft

Common perception is doggedly fixed against the arts as a viable career choice, advocating
instead professions such as engineering and science to put food on the table
 Distressing trend of local artists moving overseas to further their passions after
finding it impossible to ply their trade in Singapore
 Fashion designer Andrew Gn decided to move overseas to find success and the
open-armed receptions in the Parisan catwalks that are not available in Singapore
 Small market: local artists such as By2 moving to Taiwan to develop their music
career
 Limited development of true-blue Singaporean artists as opposed to international
offerings

Government has realized this problem and has expanded its art promotion policy to funding
and supporting local talents, especially budding ones
 Newly-minted School of The Arts, proudly occupying eleven storeys of building at the
heart of the business district
 Generous funding from the Arts Council (Piano virtuoso Abigail Tan’s piano classes
are fully subsidized)

Increasingly receptive to the Arts

 Democratisation of the Arts through HeARTbeat, bringing the arts to the public
  Increasing instances of people collecting Asian Art, which are priced from a
reasonable few hundred dollars, is so dramatic that it has led to the construction of
the Tanjong Pagar Distripark to keep this burgeoning collection
 Ashley Isham turned his back on European acclaim to re-establish his headquarters
in native soil, speaks volumes of the growing receptiveness towards the arts in
Singapore, something that the sold-out status of acts such as Cats and Phantom of
the Opera can certainly attest to

History has shown that there has been a strong correlation between growing affluence and a
thriving arts scene
 E.g. Emma Yong credited her freedom to pursue her passions to her parents ability to
support her financially
 Not pressurized to choose bread-and-butter professions should their calling lie
elsewhere

Conclusion:
 Important to recognize the presence of local artists and artworks that Singaporeans
can genuinely be proud of – bands like Electrico, acts like the ever-charming Dim
Sum Dollies and films like Glenn Goei’s The Blue Mansion – as improvements on
stereotypically substandard Mediacorp broadcasting
 SM Goh Chok Tong once declined labeling Singapore as a First World Nation because
she lacked the artistic and cultural developments
3b. Why pursue Arts?
 3c. Arts and technology

Intro:
 As early as 1932, art critic Walter Benjamin voiced concerns that technological
advancement encroached upon the artistic endeavour
 The impact of technological advancement has spared very few aspects of modern life
and the arts are no exception
 Technological wonders like the printing press, the computer and its attendant digital
graphic software and musical equipment such as synthesizers
 Allows art to expand and stay relevant

Technology does not help

 The ability of … to strike our fancy lies more squarely in its composition and the
message(s) relayed, than simply its form. Unsustainable without substance.
 Synthesisers: ‘electronica’ genre of music emerged but it is often derided for its
synthetic unemotional quality

Technology submits the arts to crude commercialism at the hands of advertisers

 Reduces the value of a piece to the lowest common denominator as people purchase
such reproductions to hang in their rooms purely for aesthetic pleasure and
disregard the value of the arts as a means for expressing a mood or idea

Art needs to be unique

 Walter Benjamin argued that what gave art its “mystical aura”, its most sacred and
revered quality, was its singularity – desecration o f art
 Technology and art are not always complementary, two are antagonistic to some
degree
 Mass reproduction of Edvard Munch’s “The Scream” has desensitized modern
audiences to much of the raw, unbridled power of the original
 To see angry reds and oranges glaring at you every day as you take the train to work
may consign Munch’s masterpiece to the blur of the mundane and the routine
 Desensitisation is harmful insofar as it encourages careless and cursory treatment of
artwork in general – few of us can claim to have looked upon a work of art and
immersed ourselves completely in a wholly beautiful and transcendental experience
 Originality tends to be compromised as everyone uses similar software. Without
education, not innovative, simply learn from manual

Copyright issues
 Proliferation of file-sharing services such as Kazaa, Limewire and Toreentsearcher
 More avenues are open for copyright breach, and this removes incentive for artists
to continue the creative effort
 If sales revenue from the sale of CDs plummet because the public opts for the
cheaper alternative of free downloads, then the artist is deprived of both the will
and the resources to make a new album
 Malaysian artists, for example, frequently allege this as the reason why domestic
music industry cannot take off
 BUT… in response to growing concerns of copyright breach, a matrix of intellectual
property law has arisen to preserve artists’ incentive to create, in tandem with the
recording industry of America’s crackdown of illegal file-sharing services

Preservation of classics
  Restoration and reconstruction of damaged prints from the Italian Renaissance,
currently exhibited in America’s National Gallery of Art. Impossible without the
precise tools and substances that technological advances have given us
 Development of colour fixatives has been a godsend for colour-pencil artists.
Absence of such fixatives, pencil pigment flakes off easily diminishing the vibrancy of
even the most meticulously coloured masterpieces within months

Birth of some new forms of art

 Digital art: Adobe Photoshop
 Provide fertile ground for artistic inspiration: the Bauhaus movement and the
doctrine of new internationalism in twentieth-century architecture argued for a
consideration of houses as functional “living machines” and drew inspiration from
the construction of multi-storey flats, carparks and state buildings
 Marcel Duchamp’s masterpiece – the urinal, which embodied a rejection of the
aesthetic process – would have been impossible…
 From a Marxist perspective, developments in the technological “base” led to the
artistic “superstructure” growing even richer and more interesting

Communication revolution and accessibility of ‘e-texts’ have benefited the literary tradition
 Allowed writers access to other writers’ works and ideas with a click of the mouse
 Allows meeting of many minds and the literary movement is surely richer with such
dense interaction
 Post-structuralist Julie Kristeva maintains that all literary texts are “tissues of past
citation”, allowing authors access to other works is absolutely essential

Technology has influenced Art’s content

 We already know that computer technology has enabled the diversification of art
forms, but in terms of actually permeating the concerns of artists, technology has
also played a key role
 Exemplified in the proliferation of art dealing with the issue of scientific progress and
whether this bodes well or ill for the future of mankind

Helped paralysed or otherwise physically disenfranchised artists who regain the ability to
express themselves creatively. Artists who survive road accidents lose certain motor
functions and are unable to produce art in traditional forms of sculpture or painting
 3d. Uniquely Singapore: Culture

Intro:
 Singapore is a strange little society. Situated at the crossroads of numerous shipping
and transport routes, it has, over the years, under the confluence of external and
internal societal forces, moulded what I believe is an extremely idiosyncratic and
distinctive culture
 But is it unique culture? – Casts a shadow upon the originality of our culture
 Culture: set of beliefs, practices and lifestyles that is embraced by, and entrenched
in, a common group of people. Ideology and value system that characterize us.

Singaporeans have cultivated themselves a global image which is synonymous with the
infamous Singaporean trait of ‘Kiasuism’ (afraid to lose out)
 Pragmatism, political apathy, prudence and the desire to pursue material objectives
 Display the distinctive ethos of competitiveness
 Tracing its origins to the hard life that our migrant ancestors had to lead, the political
system and the general Chinese desire for material gain and social status
 Engendered this spirit of ‘die die must win’
 Satirized by the international media and local commentators … calculative and self-
preserving ways
 Ridiculed for packing food into napkins at buffets to get max value for our dollar
 Rebuffed for our conservative attitudes to seemingly frivolous things such as casinos
 Conservative, self-centred view that resembles that of Victorian England where
social status, wealth and propriety were celebrated
 Still firmly rooted in tradition and exacerbated by the island’s competitive economy,
such a distinctive Singaporean attitude will persist long into the future

Aside from attitudes and mindsets, Singapore also has a unique cultural scene that brims
with the vigour of its Asian flavour
 E.g. Sumptuous spread of Asian hawker fare
 Thanks to diverse ethnicity of Singaporean’s population, local cuisine here is ruled by
a gamut of influences
 Aromatic spices, the opulent cream sauces of Western society, traditional and
modern cooking methods have manifested themselves in a gastronomic delight
 Characteristically Singaporean dishes touted as ‘must-trys’ for tourists include
Hainanese Chicken Rice and roti prata. The list extends into infinity.
 Attributed to Singapore’s role in a converging point for the region’s different cultures.
 Vast variety of influences manifests themselves in our local culture

Exemplifies the mingling of the Eastern and Western worlds

 Colonial roots and increasing penetration of globalization forces
 Culture has evolved into a cross-cultural fusion of East meets West
 E.g. Singlish effectively infuse their Asian roots into a Western language
 Influence of local dialects which stem from the ancestral roots of our migrant
forefathers, Colonial English has been transformed into a unique Singaporean form
 Words like ‘lah, ‘lor’ and other popular dialect terms have become part and parcel of
the Singaporean diction.
 Singlish is the idiosyncratic lingua franca of Singaporeans
 Demonstrates uniqueness of Singaporean culture and the ability of Singaporean
society to assimilate modern influences into its tradition to produce its own unique
lifestyle
Caught effectively between the past and present
 Retain and preserve its traditional heritage and keep up with the rapidly modernizing
world
 Variety of cultures interact to adapt to the traditional and yet modern Singaporean
mindset
 Produced the aforementioned complex and varied culture

Singapore’s unique culture is not a direct product of our population’s actions. Indigenous
culture has played a significantly smaller role in shaping our way of life. The predominantly
migrant population has generated our unique culture, more so than any other cultural force
in Singapore
 Largely attributed to its location
 Situated along the world’s most vital trading routes, since colonial times …
commercial hub of activities
 Cultural forces that have since shaped and moulded our culture originate from these
external agents who were drawn to Singapore due to commercial interests. This
stream of commercial activity has been the driving force of Singapore’s cultural
evolution
 Although our culture based on the premise of a dozen other cultures, is this not
typical of the rapidly globalizing society?
 Can no longer remain immune to external cultural forces … move along to a
homogenous culture dominated by Western traditions and norms … comforting to
see that Singapore has managed to hold on staunchly to her traditional roots

Conclusion: The fact that our distinct culture is not entirely our own and the embracement of
this fact, has in fact created a laudable culture which differentiates itself from others in the
world’s cultural landscape
 4. Environment
4a. Developed vs. Developing
4b. Should environment be saved at all costs?

Intro:
 Several events have brought the issue of environmental conservation to the forefront
 Documentary “An Inconvenient Truth” by Al Gore brought the issue to the masses
 UN commissioned a study on climate change that concluded, rather worryingly, that
climate change is affecting the environment more than the wildest of projections
from barely a few years ago and is set to accelerate in the foreseeable future
 BUT with current economic crisis, voters no longer consider global warming a
priority. 42% of Germans now worry about climate change, down from 62% in 2006.
Australia, 53 percent still consider it a pressing issue, compared to 75% in 2007.
Americans rank climate change dead last of 21 problems that concern them most,
according to a January Pew poll.
 2010, Canada’s Prime Minister Stephen Harper, blasted climate change as a
“sideshow” to global economic issues, canceled the meeting of environment
ministers that has preceded the G8 or G20 summit for every year but one since
1994.
 Merkel slashed green-development aid, Obama cooled on his plan to cap emissions

Economic Costs
 Slower economic growth due to the need to phase out environmentally unfriendly
but economically-useful tools employed by the economy such as coal-powered
power plants
 Added costs needed to increase the energy efficiency of machines and tools
 Need to treat harmful economic by-products
 Profits decrease, economic growth suffers, job losses as they become less
competitive.
 Leads to social costs (crime rates, SOL, breakdown of family unit, increasing poverty)

Political cost:
 Main factor why economic preservation not widespread today
 1 In today’s mostly capitalistic world, politicians often ride into their office on a ticket
sponsored by large corporations with vested interests
 Profit-seeking firms often hope that politicians they sponsor will implement policies
that allow them to make more profits
 Bid to conserve environment by increasing operating costs certainly will not go down
well with corporate sponsors
 “You do not bite the hand that feeds you”, ruin political career
 E.g. US presidents have well-publicised links with large firms, hence hesitation in
implementing policies to save environment
 2 Green policies can be popular when they mean subsidizing renewable fuels but can
quickly hit a wall when they force lifestyle change, such as less driving
 Politicians aim to remain in office for as long as possible
 3 Preoccupied with other matters such as foreign policy. Leave such matter
neglected will risk letting the state degenerate into chaos

Is the environment really saved?

  Germany’s solar subsidies, perhaps the most wasteful green scheme on earth,
produce a mere 0.25 percent of the country’s energy and cost consumers as much as
$125 billion.
 November’s “climategate” affair over irregularities in the report of the
Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), the United Nations body whose
findings are the basis of all climate policy. Though a review panel has since cleared
the researchers of most allegations, the lingering controversy could further
undermine the IPCC’s longstanding push for massive carbon emission reduction
targets as the only viable option to deal with global warming

Conclusion: Sir Winston Churchill “The era of procrastination is drawing to a close and in its
place is a period of consequences” … act now but ensure overall positive results

4c. Are we doing enough to save the environment?

4d. Main reasons for environmental problems nowadays

 5. Religion
5a. Religion divides more than it unites

Intro:
 “God might not be dead, but God sure leaves a lot of people dead.” This was one
social science professor’s response to Nietzsche’s famous proclaimation that ‘God is
dead’
 Face value … more peaceful withour religion
 Perhaps Crusades might not have happened. Perhaps six million Jews might not have
been gassed to death by Hitler. Perhaps the Israel-Palestinian conflict would have
been resolved in 1967 – or better, need not be carved out of Palestine and artifially
instituted as a state

Religion leads to genocide against one another

 By its very nature, religion can make people disagree
 Quintessence of religion is faith in something that can neither be seen nor proven,
cannot be debunked as well
 Religion is very diverse: some feel that religion is a social construct “opium of the
masses”, some feel that there is only “one true religion”: Islam, Christianity, while
others feel that there will be a “Great Awakening” in the sense that all religions are
working towards and adapting to the final truth
 Often no plausible way for people of different religions to see eye-to-eye
 When one’s religious beliefs constitute the meaning of one’s life, and is a
tremendous source of strength, coupled with the natural tendency for members of a
particular faith to identify with one another, a stray attack on one member is easily
interpreted as a challenge to all who share that faith
 E.g. Danish newspaper publish cartoons depicting Prophet Mohammed in
unflattering light, shockwaves of disgust and resentment against Western Civilisation
reverberated through Muslim communities
 In absence of common sense, a Hobbesian nightmare of ‘war of all against all’ does
not seem far away. E.g. Holocaust and Crusades exemplify how desensitizing feelings
of hatred can hypnotise individuals and blind them to common sense

Engenders the nation/state conflict

 Nation: group of people who identify with one another, for instance, members of a
particular religion
 State: political entity that seeks to represent the people of one country
 State often includes multiple nations, exacerbated by religion
 Duty of state often hijacked by the selfish interests of a nation within it
 Tyranny of the majority where minority religious group is excluded from society and
marginalized
 E.g. Muslim minorities in Europe have little political power, interests seldom
represented, tend to live in inner-city ghettos, receive unequal share of
socioeconomic opportunities
 E.g. Sectarian violence hampering the rebuilding of Iraq as Sunni, Shiite and Kurdish
denominations in Iraq (diff interpretation of Islam), never seem to be able to forge a
political consensus

Misinterpretation of religion which divides

 No reasonable reading of Christian Bible  condone senseless killings sanctioned
during the Crusades
  No reasonable reading of the Q’uran  commit ‘jihad’
 That the Taliban and Al-Qaeda wield religion as a blood-stained sword is no foreign
face to us. The convenient use of Islam as an excuse to free them from ‘the
opposition of the West’, a justification for the mass-murders, brutal killings and
savage beheadings is but a warped and sick distortion of holy text. While Islam itself
means peace, terrorists have used its teachings in an unprescribed and
unprecedented manner – they have most assuredly used religion to sow the seeds of
hatred and ostensibly, conflict.
 Scapegoat for conflicts of the world

Religion is often politicized

 E.g. Iran’s president together with many politicians in the Middle East engage in
vicious Israel-bashing arguably not for the sake of representing their people but
rather to distract voters from domestic problems and incompetencies of governance
by uniting them against the mirage of a common enemy. Same goes for Olmert and
his gang of merciless Israeli hardliners

Oft-referenced Samuel Huntington’s prediction of a world defined by a clash between the

Judeo-Christian West and the Islamic world will not happen
 Globalisation and modern progress, “unity in diversity”
 Cultures become less homogenous and more of a melting-pot, differences in religion
looks to be cast aside
 German govt. Muslim: German first, Muslim second 70%
 Religion does not define people to a full stop but rather serves to supplement
existing cultures and national identities

Common morality
 Most believers across the globe belong to one of a few major religions
 1.3 billion Muslims, roughly a billion each of Christians and Catholics, hundreds of
millions of Hindus and Buddhists, a significant number of people who belong to
offshoots of these last two
 Share a common credo, a common way of doing things, a common set of customs
associated with their religions
 Arguably one people in mind, if not in body
 Religion does, therefore, provide a linking force between peoples of the world,
perhaps giving the world a greater cohesion and identity
 While sometimes divide like on issues of homosexuality
 Plethora of religions have an amazingly similar set of moral values (Golden Rule)
 Universal values like no harm, encouraging love and kindness …
 Even secularized and codified these values as a formal constitution
 Religion is basis for law, basis for which individuals may feel morally compelled to
uphold the law, and by extension, their own religion
 Also unite nations against a common injustice
 E.g. Whites in US realize discrimination against blacks was an insult to their own
faith. Today, religion, transcending race, still holds them together
 E.g. The saffron revolution, in which Burmese monks protested against their
tyrannical government, gained extra moral force thanks to religion
 Religious leaders often become voices for justice and morality
 E.g. Archbishop Desmond Tutu in South Africa fight against apartheid and later crime
 E.g. the Dalai Lama preaches understanding, recipient of Nobel Peace Prize
Religion creates bonds within societies
 Multi-religious societies as well
 Inter-faith dialogues and exchanges
 Inter-Religion Organisation established in Singapore, leaders of various religious
communities come together to promote understanding
 Mirrored on global stage, where we saw the Vatican host a conference of the world’s
religious leaders in 2007
 Dr. Yaacob Ibrahim: Singapore is one country in which relation between Muslim
community and the rest of society did not worsen after 911 (Muslim extremists’
terrorist attacks on the World Trade Centre in New York City) in no small part due to
the excellent inter-faith dialogue that we have instituted
 Religion is not the sole focus of most people’s beliefs. In addition to subscribing to a
religion, most people will also be part of other societal groups, such as… Champion
democracy and human rights… inalienable powers of their monarch or state. These
beliefs are intrinsically linked to religious ones in that religion does help shape their
moral guidelines. Agnostic, these divides remain. Differences always exist and
religious group them together into easily recognizable general groups. In recent
AWARE saga, much debate centred on issue of homosexuality, in which objectors to
its acceptance largely belonged to the Christian religion. Presence of inter-faith
dialogue… bring viewpoints together in a conciliatory manner

Conclusion: Religion intrinsically unites society in tolerance and in morality. But when
misinterpreted or hijacked for political interests … Given religion is so intrinsic to human life
and human calculus of meaning and value, religion is here to say. Religion can be both the
light of the world and a scourge of this planet

E.g. High-ranked Buddhist monks caught visiting prostitutes

E.g. Doomsday Cults: Solar Temple Cults inspired 74 people to burn themselves to death so
that they could travel to the planet Siruis. 40 Heaven Gate followers poisoned themselves so
that they could take the UFO to heaven before the gates of heaven closed
E.g. President George Bush uses Christian rhetoric to garner support for his policies so does
Osama Bin Laden
E.g. In 1600s, Christian Church grew so powerful that people started paying money to church
to buy their way to heaven
E.g. Some Christian fundamentalists believe that technology is disrespectful to God and thus
refuse to get any treatment for their illnesses
 5b. Religion and politics

Intro:
 The idea of religion and the state being closely linked goes back to ancient,
unenlightened times
 Recent surge in enthusiasm for various religious fundamentalisms
 Should religion play a part in politics
 Very fundamentals of religion and politics are so far removed from one another that
the combination of the two can only lead to corruption of the grand ideals embodied
in them
 History has seen a move towards political secularism

Religion acts as a “moral compass”

 Desire to rectify the evils that liberalism has brought about
 Secular state is deemed decadent and morally loose
 Religious state would be governed by a strict moral code
 Modern theocracies, such as Iran, see the state as an actor of divine religious will,
teaching the people how to behave morally, and if need be, ensuring that they do so
through the force of law
 Modern world of excess and decadence, religious state seen as the only force left
that can ensure that people remember discipline, self-control and spiritual purity

With the ‘divine will’ of God behind them, religious states can justify almost any kind of
extremist behaviour
 Claiming it part of a religious mission to cleanse the world of the excesses of the
liberal world
 Self-righteous ‘crusade’ attitude: rise of state-sponsored terrorism
 “jihad” war against the non-Islamic world based on divine command
 In Lebanon, Hezbollah, which means “Party of God” is not only a state recognized
organization but also a terrorist organization that has launched multiple attacks on
Israel as a response to the ‘anomaly’ that is the jewish state
 Religion: based on faith: easy justification. Dissenters labeled as non-believers and
enemies of the ‘will of God’

Religion acting as a perfect defense for states engaging in all sort of extremist behaviour has
led to many international conflicts and made many such conflicts harder to resolve
 Religion gives the state the right, even the encouragement, to stand so firm that all
compromise seems impossible
 E.g. Arab-Israeli conflict: purely secular conflict: resolution through the two-state
solution. Yet, with the insertion of religion into the mix, Israel now sees the land it
occupies as its Holy Land and hence absolutely fundamental to its existence. No
longer willing to compromise with the Palestinians for the religious justification for
holding the territories is far too strong
 Ability of religion to polarize politics and encourage inter-state rivalry is not new:
harkens back to the twelfth and thirteenth centuries or perhaps even earlier
 Irrational political rivalry between England and Spain is a complex one, but
fundamental divide springs from the fact that Spain was a Catholic nation and
England a Protestant one (exacerbated political rivalry)
 Conflict between India and Pakistan because Pakistan, a Muslim nation, lays claim to
the majority Muslim Kashmir
  In land of politics, where diplomacy and compromise are essential in order to survive
alongside other states, religion only leads to irrational rivalries and drawn out
conflicts
 International stage: no room for such polarize and unchangeable views

Domestically too religious states have proven to be a hazard to the very people it seeks to
protect
 Self-righteous attitude of the religious state gives it the right to ignore anything that
is incongruous with the religious teachings it follows
 Right to dole out punishments that often deny the individual all forms of human
rights
 Right to free speech completely ignored, speaking out against the state may lead to
death often by inhumane methods such as public stoning
 Since law is the ‘word of God’ no room for compromise
 Breaking law is akin to defying word of God
 State can clamp down on all dissent in order to retain political power
 E.g. Middle Ages; roman Catholic Church could claim to focus only on religion,
ignoring the general state of dissolution in the country
 Religion: based so much on faith and so little on logic that it can be used by the state
to instantly silence all dissent, even if dissenting voices are raising perfectly valid
points that could lead to the betterment of the nation

Fundamental incongruity of religion and politics

 Vastly different entities with different functions
 Overlap can only corrupt the purity of both
 Social contract between those who govern and those who are governed only stands
if the rulers are accountable to the people, which, in the case of religious states, they
are not
 Discouraged from listening to the corrupt, selfish voice of the people

Conclusion:
 Seperation of state and religion will not solve all the problems
 Communists in Soviet Union and the Nazis in Hitler’s Germany were fundamentally
opposed to the very concept of religion
 Combination, while a grand ideal on the surface, presents too many problems
 5c. Science and religion

Intro:
 Religion: age-old endeavour of mankind to become clearly and completely conscious
of superpersonal values and goals
 History of mankind has been marked by both spiritual and material progress
 Two radically different philosophical worldviews have emerged as catalysts and
products of such progress” the empirical method of science and the more spiritual
one of religion
 Diametrically opposite at their deepest levels: science is an objective, empirical
interpretation of the universe while religion seeks a moral, spiritual understanding of
the world we live in

According to definitions: science and religion do not conflict

 Science determines what is and not what should be, and outside of its domain, value
judgements of all kinds remain necessary
 Religion deals only with evaluations of human thought and action: it cannot
justifiably speak of facts and relationships between facts
 Well-known conflicts between religion and science ascribed to a misapprehension of
the situation
 Conflict usually arises when religious community insists on the absolute truthfulness
of all statements recorded in the Bible: intervention on the part of religion into the
sphere of science (e.g. struggle of church against doctrines of Galileo and Darwin)
Religion attempts to use accessible thoughts and narratives to teach certain morals.
It is this mythical, or rather symbolic, content that is likely to conflict with science. Of
vital importance for the preservation of true religion that such conflicts are avoided
which are not really essential to the pursuance of religious aims
 Representatives of science often make and attempt to arrive at fundamental
judgments with respect to values and ends on the basis of scientific method

Religion helps science

 Realms of religion and science clearly marked off from each other, but there exists
between the two strong reciprocal relationships and dependencies
 Science can only be created by those who are thoroughly imbued with the aspiration
toward truth and understanding
 This source of feeling, springs from the sphere of religion

Science helps religion

 One of religion’s goals is to liberate mankind as far as possible from the bondage of
egocentric cravings, desires and fears
 Whoever has undergone the intense experience of successful scientific advances is
moved by profound reverence for the rationality made manifest in existence. By way
of the understanding, he achieves a far-reaching emancipation from the shackles of
personal hopes and desires, and thereby attains that humble attitude of mind
through the grandeur of reason

Science and religion do overlap, most notably in shaping our attributes to the unknown, but
they are not necessarily in conflict…

Science cannot explain everything

 Big Bang Theory: what happened before Big Bang
  Science does not claim to offer a full or complete understanding of the universe, but
merely hopes to move closer to the truth
 E.g. Galileo and Copernicus
 E.g. Alfred Wagner’s theory of continental drift
 E.g. Alexander Fleming’s theory of germs

Religion offers an explanation for creation and existence

 Theories of creation range from that of a primordial cosmic egg to the belief that
everything about us is the manifestation of a consciousness
 Symbolic (cosmic egg symbolizes vitality and abundance). No way to confirm any of
these claims

Religion offers salvation

 Afterlife. Which God is real?

Religion promises to develop society morally according to universal principles

 Many people worldwide cite a religious upbringing as the reason for their morality
and sense of right and wrong
 Many acts of benevolence are performed in the name of religion
 Moral dilemmas? Religion has been used as a political tool to subjugate and
discriminate and to kill. Many examples of this have been chronicled – the Crusades
in Europe, the invasion of Persians in North India; the ongoing friction between India
and Pakistan

Conclusion: Science without religion is lame, religion without science is blind

Late Pope John Paul II “Science purifies religion from error and superstition. Religion purifies
science from evil and false absolutes”

A dependence of science on the religious attitude, a relation which, in our predominantly

materialistic age, is only too easily overlooked … scientific results entirely independent from
religious or moral considerations … individuals to whom we owe the greatest creative
achievements were all imbued with the truly religious conviction that this universe of ours is
something perfect and susceptible to the rational striving for knowledge
 6. Terrorism
6a. Can terrorism ever be eradicated?

Intro:
 September 11 2001 was indubitably an epochal day in the lives of our generation.
People all around the globe were glued to their television screens, shaking with fear
as they watched the tragic fates of the World Trade Centre and thousands of
innocent people unfold before their very eyes
 Merely marked the start of a series of similarly unforgiving attacks
 Terrorism greatest threats plaguing the international community
 Brutal, relentless form of political violence that uses fear as a key weapon
 Asymmetrical warfare often born out of political aims that have been constantly
suppressed or denied by governments, forcing many disillusioned citizens to take up
arms and seek to deliberately create violence and fear, disrupting the delicate
harmony and social fabric of society so that their demands will be heard
 Counter-terrorist measures effective at quelling terrorists, double-edged sword that
fuel and further radicalize many to become terrorists

Counter-terrorist measures crack down on terrorists and terrorist organizations

 Increase in information sharing and intelligence both within and between countries
 Patriot Act in USA: government passed legislation allowing wire tapping on phone
conversations
 UN member countries agreed to freeze the bank accounts of suspected terrorists in
their country to deny these terrorists a safehaven
 Success of mutual cooperation is exemplified in the way the multi-intelligence
sharing among Singapore, Malaysia and Indonesia enabled the Indonesian
government to find and arrest key leaders of the Jemaah Islamiyah (JI)

Overpower using military might

 Hillary Clinton: imperative that we “refuse to legimitise terrorists”
 Obama’s support for General McChrystal’s counterinsurgency measures in
Afghanistan: reinforce domestic security force, employ state-of-the-art military
weapons and air drones
 Taliban and Al Qaeda key leaders have been killed

To “jaw-jaw is always better than to war-war”

 Negotiations between the government and terrorist groups are instrumental in
successfully weeding out terrorism
 Terrorist groups, such as the Irish Republican Army in Northern Ireland, are
disenfranchised groups that seek political freedoms of equality in treatment or an
autonomous region and have only resorted to terrorism because the government
has constantly refused to acceded to their requests and marginalized them
 Grant political consensus … less need to adopt violence

ONLY CURB ORGANIZED TERRORISM, not self-radicalised terrorists and state-sponsored

terrorism by rogue states or autocratic dictators

Terrorism is about “wining the hearts and minds of the people”

 Harsh counter-terrorist measures often serve to create breeding grounds for further
radicalization
  Nietzsche “in dealing with a monster, be careful lest you turn into a monster
yourself”
 Patriot Act: Highly contentious as it infringes upon a person’s right to privacy which is
enshrined in the American Constitution
 Atrocities committed in Guantanamo Bay and the Abu Graib prison in Iraq go against
Geneva Conventions, provide further fuel for terrorist groups such as Al Qaeda to
characterize the USA as a power-hungry and hypocritical. Shifting moderate Muslims
towards radicalization

Fail to address the political grievances and aims of terrorist organizations

 Creating situations termed “negative peace”
 Simmering tensions still brew and threaten to erupt, destroying the fragile peace
 Sri Lanka” government’s vicious destruction of the LTTE not only violated
international human rights, but led to growing discontent and protest from the Tamil
diaspora worldwide that would provide a fertile ground for the LTTE to regroup and
re-emerge.
 Rajapaksa’s government refuse to acknowledge the political marginalization and
deprivations of these groups

Some are politically-driven, others are purely terror driven

 Rise of Islamic fundamentalist terrorist groups such as the Jammu Kashmir Liberation
Front (JKLF)in Kashmir and Hamas in the Palestinian Israeli conflict
 Fundamental nature: fervently believe they are fighting a holy war, or Jihad, against
foreign influences in their land, based on a distorted interpretation of the Quran

State-sponsored terrorism
 While most countries have recognized international cooperation as paramount to
achieving their political self-interest
 Some radical dictators continually fund militant terrorist groups in fulfillment of
realism
 Al Qaeda, product of Saudi Arabia and the USA’s funding of the mujahideen during
the Soviet-Afghanistan War
 Pakistan funds the Laksha-e-Tobia (LeT) responsible for the Mumbai bombings in Nov
2008

Proliferation of new media:

 New platforms for terrorist groups to send their message to other users
 Inciting many to be influenced by such subversive messages and self-radicalising
 Easy instructions on creating bombs
 Few thousand Americans perished in Sept 11 attacks, effects of attacks were
transmitted globally by media coverage of the events, inciting fear in the entire
global community
 Death count not biggest weapon. Rather, harrowing and dramatic images of
destruction
 Use fear and propaganda as main weapon: presence and influence even more
pervasive than before

Conclusion:
 Terrorists are a multifaceted, complex group of people supported by states or
groundswells of disenfranchised people and cannot be viewed simplistically as
homogenous groups.
 7. Sports
7a. True purpose of sports nowadays

Intro:
 “Citius, altius, fortius” are the three famous words which encapsulate the spirit and
soul of the world’s greatest games – the Olympics
 The Olympics was born to one man’s dream of recreating the sporting intensity and
passion of ancient Greece and creating a platform for countries to interact and
exhibit their abilities, … creating a sort of ‘universal brotherhood’
 Myriad issues ranging from doping to profit-seeking … belied the ideals that are the
foundation of sports

Sport is heralded as a test of human strength and character

 Athletes push beyond perceived boundaries of human anatomy to achieve the
impossible
 E.g. Beijing Olympics: ten-second barrier for the hundred metres sprint was smashed
 Athletes like Michael Phelps, a multiple Olympic gold medalist for swimming, has
inspired many to test boundaries and has given us a temporary reprieve from the
harsh realities of the world, and for one magical moment, encapsulated the audience
within a bubble where human strength and mankind’s greatest abilities are exalted
 Beauty of sports lies in it ability to merge both strength and grace … legendary
performances
 Michelle Kwan: artistry on ice moved even the judges to tears

Universal brotherhood
 Wildcard feature
 Eric Moussambani, affectionately called ‘Eric the eel’ by the media, won the hearts
of millions of supporters even though he finished last in his race
 Developed countries usually have better facilities to develop sporting talents
 While compromising on excellence, it has enabled people from all over the world to
compete together, regardless of their athletic ability
 Helped to enforce spirit of “universal brotherhood”

George Orwell “Sport on the international level is frankly mimic warfare”. Darker issues have
tarnished the polished surface of sports

Chiefly concerned about profits

 It is not the honour of being able to hold the Games, nor the desire to spread the
sporting ideals that cause countries to zealously bid for the right to hold the Games.
Neither do organizers envision great triumphs or grandiose falls during the Games
that would make a mark on history.
 While it is not wrong to make profit from sports since this is essential for the
continuation of sports … compromise sporting ideals
 Recent FIFA World Cup, FIFA doubled the fees they typically charge for the rights to
broadcast the World Cup. Did not take into consideration the ideals of the universal
sharing of sport and global participation
 Sports have also served as a backdrop for companies to advertise their products
 Wimbledon: Maria Sharapova and Nike criticized when shots of Sharapova’s
underwear, which revealed the infamous Nike Swoosh logo when her skirt lifted
during the tennis match, were posted on the internet
Cooperation and friendship are compromised
 “mimic warfare”
 Canada won a record 14 titles in the Vancouver Winter Olympics but created the
“Own the Podium” programme that cost US$115 million. Also restricted training
facilities to athletes from other countries
 Sports is an avenue through which countries show their athletic abilities, and, by
extension, their political and economic might
 During Vancouver Olympics, the heated rivalry between Kim Yu-Na of South Korea
and Mao Asada of Japan extended beyond the private spheres to a nation-wide
magnitude
 Celebrating Yu-Na’s eventual victory, South Korea was also celebrating a victory over
Japan
 No longer the pursuit of athletic abilities that matter, it is the gold medal that
matters and it is even more sweet when it is a victory over traditional rivals

Celebration of super-human abilities

 Increasing number of cases of doping
 Great records negated the very next day
 Fallen heroes include Marion Jones, the once golden girl of America who was
stripped of all her titles
 Tour de France was marred by allegations that the Chinese team had ridden behind
the American team to avoid the effects of wind on their stamina

Conclusion:
 Why then do we still – almost religiously – follow World Cups, the Olympics and the
World Championships?
 Engaged by the flamboyant fashion of Serena Williams
 Rabid competition: Greater draw for many to catch the clash of the titans
 Guilty enjoyment of off the court drama
 Fuelled the movement of sports away from original goals
 It is not the games that have to change; it is our attitudes.
 7b. Sports and Media

Intro:
 Sport, in today’s increasingly commercialized world, has been arguable diverted from
its Olympic ideals – uniting people with the same love for the enjoyment of sport
 Athletes no longer train immeasurable hours for pure adrenaline rush of a good
sprint, or a well-played tennis match
 The amount of media coverage on sporting events is immense, esp. if one compares
it to news on events with greater brevity
 One might even be inclined to argue that media coverage has overstated the value of
sport in today’s world
 While sport is indeed newsworthy and does aid in promoting good values such as
sportsmanship, commercialism of sport … THESIS

Reason behind overexposure of sport in the media today:

 Commercialism and sponsorship have made sport a lucrative billion-dollar industry
with MNCs splurging sky-high figures in order to advertise at major sporting events
or sponsor athletes as their spokespeople
 E.g. Recent Olympics where Coca-Cola and McDonalds’ were unhappy with the
organizers for restricting no. of spectators in stadium … forked out millions to place
advertisements in prominent areas within and outside stadium
 E.g. Sports brands like Adidas and Nike also sign on celebrity athletes to use their
sporting products in their matches
 This is where the media comes in …
 Newspaper coverage of events such as Wimbledon ensures that the champion’s
photos are splashed across the front page of every newspaper, complete with his or
her championship trophy and decked out in Nike gear from head to toe
 Television coverage of soccer matches ensure top-dollar firms pay for neon
advertisements, billions of people see advertisements as they sit at home watching
the EPL matches
 Media and MNCs share a symbiotic relationship. Firms require media coverage for
the sporting events they sponsor, media require these firms to create celebrity
athletes for their reports to be newsworthy

Against 1: Sporting victories and defeats have become far more public today with media
coverage
 Sport … outlet for nationalist consciousness
 Victories and defeats are perceived by sport-crazed fans to be akin to triumphs and
losses on the battlefield (traditional arch-rivals?)
 E.g. Cricket between India and Pakistan, Rugby between the Springbok South African
team, the Australians and the British
 Media coverage … plays up the significance of the outcomes of these matches …
publish incendiary headlines … national pride
 E.g. China’s gold medal tally exceeding US’s for the first time in Olympic history
 US media countered: overall medal tally US still leads, Chinese gymnastics team
under-aged should be stripped of their gold medals
 E.g. World Cup: Spain winning World Cup giving elated Spaniards a break from
months of economic gloom and political squabbling VS. France

Against 2: Extension of politics into sports

 Well-established before advent of extensive media coverage
  E.g. Black American sprinter Jesse Owens jeered by German spectators in the Berlin
Olympics under Nazi Germany
 E.g. Soviet team boycotted Olympics held in US during height of Cold War
 BUT… Media make both inseparable, further entrenched mindsets of people that
sport must be publicized
 E.g. Sporting boycott of apartheid South Africa: given boost by media. Media reports
particularly from the West, played up instances of athletes who defied the boycott
and played in South Africa, inciting furore in home countries of these athletes
(including former Wimbledon Champion Pat Cash)
 Beijing Olympics? Spotty human rights record. International Olympic Committee
(IOC) criticized. Reports criticizing Beijing’s heavy-handedness regarding the Tibet
issue

For 1: Given sport and sporting ideals the coverage they duly deserve
 Disclose hard work and determination behind the making of a sports champion,
publicise strength of these athletes in the face of adversity
 E.g. Ian Thorpe overcome chlorine allergy swim with head above water until 12 /
David Villa
 E.g. Kenyan marathon runners escape poverty cycle due to their gift. Dr William Tan’s
record-breaking feats continue to inspire the poor, the disabled and the disillusioned
that they too can overcome their challenges
 Win-win situation: generate hype and bring news agencies revenue

For 2:
 Harsh media criticism of athletes who use performance-enhancing drugs
 Makes an example out of athletes who resort to cheating to attain victory
 Emphasising the need for integrity in sport
 E.g. Media furore over former USA sprint queen Marion Jones: stripped of medals
and former sporting glory
 Strong impediment for young sportsman (impressionable?) to use steroids or other
drugs

Conclusion:
While media has exaggerated sport’s importance in today’s world, it is perhaps just a
necessary outcome in our increasingly commercialized world where the media are no longer
a complement but a prerequisite, and sport is merely one domain which the media have
capitalized on.
 8. Foreign Aid
8a. How effective is Foreign Aid?

Intro:
 All men are equal. That the value of a human life does not diminish across borders is
a principle that has achieved universal consensus today
 BUT very few of the world’s most developed nations meet the clear requirement of
the UN on committing at least 0.7% of their GNP to foreign aid.
 As of 2008, most generous is Norway – 0.9%. US, shining beacon of democracy and
guardian of human freedom – a meagre 0.1% to the desolate and impoverished lives
in the Third World
 Due to great degree of interdependence and also stemming from moral obligation,
there has been a rising sentiment that external bodies should deliver foreign aid

Stats:
 1.4 billion of global population is mired in poverty today
 Jeffrey Sachs mentioned in his book The End of Poverty that given sufficient
international aid, poverty can end by 2025

Against 1:
 Resources donated are squandered away by corrupt and ruthless dictators, and
nothing, it seems, can be done to prevent the rapacious folly of such regimes due to
the politically tricky issue of national sovereignty.
 E.g. Food and financial relief provided to Myanmar, North Korea, Somalia, Zimbabwe
and other oppressive regimes scarcely reach the starving and the sick
 E.g. Emperor Jean-Bédel Bokassa of the Central African Republic used Western aid to
buy a gold-plated bed, and Zaire's dictator, Mobutu Sese Seko, spent it on personal
jaunts on the Concorde.
 Money frequently ends up lining the dirty pockets of immoral rulers
 Former Nigerian President once estimated that of every dollar in foreign aid given by
external bodies to African governments, a whopping eighty cents is siphoned off by
corrupt government officials and used to line their pockets
 Aid may be deliberately withheld from the population as defiant leaders see it as a
form of political leverage
 N. Korea: threaten to stop delivery of aid in response to the international diplomatic
pressure exerted on it regarding its nuclear programme
 Efforts in remedying the state of deprivation … futile … resistance from crackpot
leaders who spare no concern for the welfare of their own people

For 1:
 Should not completely deter nations from providing foreign relief
 Even if an unreasonably huge proportion of all humanitarian aid ends up wasted,
some good must have been done in getting basic necessities to the masses
 Precisely because the pitiless rulers of failed states have evidently decided to neglect
their people that it becomes all the more compelling that we do not leave these
people to their own damned fates when we are empowered to help them with the
wealth that we possess

Against 2:
 Foreign aid is merely a short-term measure that ultimately falls flat.
  Years of channelling money into the African continent has seen little success in
poverty alleviation
 Foreign aid seems to be ineffectual and does not deserve to be continued
 Over-reliance on foreign aid
 Most Latin American and African economies remain unsustainable and are likely to
collapse should foreign money suddenly be withdrawn from them
 Age-old maxim: Give a man a fish, and he is full for a day. Teach a man how to fish,
and he is full for life
 Foreign aid that is not accompanied by social reform initiatives and economic
restructuring guidance … futile

For 2:
 But this only proves that we need to make aid more effective
 Aid has been instrumental in countries like Kenya and Nigeria where funds have been
allocated to fuelling the growth of small-scale cottage industries, such as providing
better heating and cooking stores or installing better systems to harness the energy
from rivers
 Developed nations possess the technical expertise and capital for these ‘start-up
technologies’

For 3:
 Short-term aid is important too in times of war or natural disasters: providing basic
sustenance definitely needs to be met before we can talk about long-term solutions
 E.g. provision of medicine in curing gonorrhea, syphilis or even potentially fatal cases
of flu has a definite and quantifiable effect in protecting human lives V.S. long-term
measures of education and ensuring sanitation
 Lacks the resources and political will necessary to relieve the dire state of its people
 E.g. Myanmar in the trail of Cyclone Nargis
 E.g. WWII Reconstruction of economies of Germany and Japan

Against 3:
 Other policies counteract the effects of aid (jeopardize the interests of the receiving
nations that further exacerbate poverty and intensify their domestic problems,
directly and indirectly)
 Protectionist policies imposed hand-in-hand with aid
 Import tariffs and subsidies to local farmers by US and EU  cannot compete fairly
 farmers lose their jobs and continue to be trapped in poverty
 E.g. Aid is given by EU to the developing world to develop their agricultural sector
but double that amount is given to the farm enterprises in EU itself.
 E.g. the textile and clothing sector. Despite the obvious importance of these sectors
in terms of development opportunities poorer countries, the Multi-Fibre
Arrangement (MFA) sets bilateral quotas on textile and clothing trade.
 Such barriers to trade that protect the richer countries are estimated to cost the
developing world around $50 billion a year, which is more or less equivalent to the
total amount of annual development aid provided to the Third World.

Against 4:
 Not all countries have altruistic motives when providing aid
 Donor country also hopes to have something in return
 E.g. Japan: Aid heavily skewed towards those in East Asian countries, which they
have extensive commercial ties with
  US: direct aid to regions where it has concerns related to national security (Middle
East) (Israel three billion dollars in aid: nearly all goes to military credits)
 Osbourne “if aid is not particularly given with the intention to foster economic
growth, it is perhaps not surprising that it does not achieve it”
 Purchase products from donors: recipient have to use these precious
uncompetitively priced imports
 Inter Press Service: Cut value of aid by 25 to 40 percent
 E.g. Aid for Africa to fight AIDS. Insist that anti-drugs from US are bought when
money could be better spent on cheaper generic medicine for common flu
 15000 dollars on anti-AIDS drugs, 350 dollars on generic drugs annually
 Some clauses that come tied with the aid are even more sinister
 African Growth and Opportunity Act: Clause which states that if a country is eligible
for this aid, has to refrain from any actions that may conflict with the US’s strategic
interests
 Used this clause to garner support from the UN security council for the invasion of
Iraq
 Message was clear: either you vote for us or you lose your aid

Conclusion

To end off, let us consider this. United States provides the largest absolute amount of aid in
the world. This supposedly huge amount, however, is a mere 0.39% of US’s GDP. Of this
0.39%, more than half goes to the middle-east countries to buy weapons. And of this minute
amount of money that actually comes to your country, some of it is wasted due to the
inefficiencies of tied aid, some of it goes to the pocket of the dictator in power and even
more goes back to the donor herself. And whatever the amount left, that is if there is any
left, will have to be divided amongst the millions of people who are the ones who really
require this aid.

At the end of the day, we have to admit that aid is sometimes not as effective as it seems.
People often argue over how some countries have yet to make the 0.7% of GNP mark for
foreign aid. The problem, however, lies deeper. Aid and politics just don’t go hand in hand. As
Cornelio Sommaruga, President of the ICRC remarks, “humanitarian endeavour and political
action must go their separate ways if the neutrality and impartiality of humanitarian work
are not to be jeopardized”. If foreign aid is to become effective, it needs to be free of politics.
Yet, without politics there will never be any significant foreign aid.
 9. Migration
9a. Is migration/having foreigners good?

Intro:
 Thorny issue
 Define: flow of people across borders
 Singapore: status as a nation founded by immigrants in search of a better life
 Singapore’s unique context as an open, multi-racial society with proud ambitions

Singapore’s unique identity

 Beginnings as a floundering colonial port-of-call, attracted many in the Asian region
to traverse the high seas to seek their riches here
 Multi-ethnic, multi-cultural society established through peaceful co-habitation of
early settlers from a wide spectrum of countries
 If close doors on immigrants, tantamount to rejecting our own heritage, and by
extension, our identity

Against 1: Jobs
 Oft-heard lament that foreigners steal job opportunities, competition drives down
wages
 If influx of immigrants threatens the ability of locals to remain gainfully employed
and even decreases SOL, no surprise that knee-jerk reaction would be to denounce
these immigrants
 E.g. When news leaked than Las Vegas Sands (Marina Bay IR) promised Philippines
president job vacancies for Filipinos, uproar! – provide much needed employment in
a time of financial crisis

Against 2: Incompatibility of cultures

 Difficult for immigrants to assimilate into local society
 Result being immigrants end up being the focus of much discontent
 Due to cultural differences, conflicts may arise when some practices of immigrants,
such as spitting in public, are viewed with distaste by locals
 Esp. when immigrants from backward nations accustomed to rural life, do not
comprehend the unspoken rules of living in dense neighbourhoods in S’pore
 Loitering of immigrants at void decks, radios blasting Hindi music, beer-drinking
 E.g. Resurfaced most prominently when residents of Serangoon Gardens signed
petition protesting against the siting of a dormitory for foreign workers for the
aforementioned reasons

But these problems are not insurmountable; long term interests

For 1: Expand local talent base

 Bring in skills and expertise, expediting our economic advancement
 E.g. welcoming Indian IT professionals to join our ranks
 E.g. many positions in our local universities are also helmed by ex-China and Indian
nationals  impart knowledge and experience to our youth
 Add to the marketplace of ideas and spark further innovation

For 2: Add colour to our social fabric

 Influx of immigrants from neighbouring Asian countries … contribute towards the
exciting diversity in Singapore’s society, reinforcing our international reputation as an
 accommodating nation that offers visitors a chance to immerse themselves in a
myriad of cultural experiences
 E.g. Indian immigrants head to local ethic quarters that is Little India, spice up the
area
 E.g. Gathering of Thai and Myanmar immigrants at Golden Mile Complex on
weekends “Little Thailand” with shops springing up to cater to their needs
 Precisely basis behind STB’s “Uniquely Singapore” slogan – the mix and match of the
kaleidoscope of cultures into a unique heritage enjoyed by all

For 3: Embracing immigrants and shaping a harmonious society demonstrates our

commitment towards being a true representative of the Asian region
 Welcoming immigrants show that we are a hub with regional connections
 Singapore  small market size  imperative for us to look beyond our borders and
capitalize on opportunities in the region  done by promoting ASEAN identity so
that Singapore, as part of the regional bloc, has an enhanced international standing
 E.g. Roll out the Meetings, Incentives, Conventions and Exhibitions (MICE_
programme to attract exhibitions or events like AYG to Singapore by positioning itself
as a gateway to the region

Policies:
 Judicious in terms of who we allow to enter our borders
 Weight of terrorism rests heavily on the world’s shoulders, Singapore must be on the
alert for unsavoury characters with malicious intent
 Weed out those who might rend our society asunder
 Regional terrorist group Jemaah Islamiyah (JI) cause for concern

Conclusion: … potential for amalgamation of skills, talents and experiences that would
benefit … Unwise to be parochial and reject all contact with immigrants just because of a few
unpleasant experiences. History as guide, Singapore’s road to development was not without
teething problems as 1960s racial riots showed, but conscious effort by all parties to resolve
differences and live peaceably together … attain prosperity today. Present should be no
different
 10. Subjects
10a. Literature

Intro:
 Incessant nagging of parents to “read more, read widely”
 Why should I, wanting nothing to do with writing in my future career, immerse
myself in the writings of Milton and Shakespeare if I am not to produce any novel of
that calibre in my lifetime?
 Lit, encompassing fine writing in the forms of literary novels, plays and poetry, has a
lot to teach to readers.
 Do not judge a book by its cover – humble novel can…

For 1:
 Purpose of lit: like other art forms: try to communicate
 Author, playwright, poet: ideas, opinions or thoughts to share or has something
about their culture or a fraction of history to …
 From other people: learn things, expand our horizons beyond the shadows of our
Plato’s caves, assimilating various ideas to gain maturity of thought ourselves

For 2:
 Intrinsic in every piece of lit is human nature
 Characters, their emotions, their thoughts … form the very basis of a piece of writing
 Even in writings that do not involve human characters – animal forms, for instance –
we find human thought processes, along with our cultures, being imposed on these
non-human characters
 Think about what the human psyche really is about, glean particular insights about
the human character
 Shakespeare’s Othello: fallibility of man thanks to his innate sense of pride, greatest
strength, if in excess, can be one’s greatest weakness
 Character-building: step back, examine ourselves, bettering ourselves
 Holistic education: strength of character
 Othello: warning about man’s pride: be more wary and strive towards humility

For 3:
 Expansion of one’s knowledge
 Representative of the cultural backdrop of the novel
 2007’s bestselling novel, The Kite Runner, while engaging us in a poignant story of
two child characters, exposes us to a part of Afghan culture … cannot learn in other
lessons
 Give us a bird’s eye view of our world … allowing us to zoom in on any particular
country and be immersed in their culture
 Don’t live behind closed doors of his residence

For 4:
 Lit inevitably gives us insight into the particular niche area that a story belongs to, be
it history, current affairs and even science
 E.g. Victor Hugo’s Les Miserables, French Revolution … French history. Knowledge
not in-depth, but act as springboard for readers to get interested
 E.g. Singapore’s latest play by Jean Tay, entitled BOOM, details story of old lady
whose home is being sold ‘en bloc’ AND corpse that refuses to eb exhumed 
 insight to frenzy of ‘en bloc’ sales in Singapore and obsession with progress and
limited land and its implications
 Pool of knowledge

For 5:
 Develop emotionally
 Evoke a myriad of emotions in its readers, from shock to surprise to empathy
 E.g. War poet, Wilfred Owen, written from variety of voices but most commonly
from common soldier. Allow us to step into the shoes of British soldiers who fought
in First World War. Experience suffering outrage disillusionment
 Sensitive to the feelings of others, enable us to empathise with the plights of others

For 6: Develop socially

Lit invites readers to get in touch with the story, with the characters, culture and history that
are intertwined with and embedded in the writing, and ultimately, lit invites us tog et in
touch with ourselves
 10b. History

Should we study?

Intro:
 Question arises fundamentally because of society’s preoccupation with
advancement and the betterment of the human condition
 Social undercurrent that seems to approve of progress and invention, underlying
perception that looking into the future and ... infinitely more relevant
 Thesis: Abandon our myopic views

For 1: Unlocks the secrets to our roots, our heritage and our culture
 Progress in our journey of self-discovery and our search for identity – a journey that
is quintessentially human
 Insight into what takes place before our existence, what trials and tribulations our
forefathers faced, … overcome … present
 Humans, we face the perennial question of “Who am I?”
 E.g. SEA understand why our culture is very much influenced by the West, be it attire
or architecture  colonialism in pre-war years
 E.g. Singapore strive to be democratic and socially stable  Reaction to autocratic
colonial rule and rigid totalitarian impositions of the Japanese during the Occupation
 America concerned with liberating countries such as Iraq and Afghanistan that are
perceived to enslave their people to unreasonable demands due to the Civil War in
the past

For 2: Not only contextualize the present but also foreshadow what is to come in the future
 Past has a knack for repeating itself
 E.g. American Revolution mirrors French Revolution (decades before)
 E.g. Modernist movement at dawn of 20th century  Industrial Revolution of 19th
century: city population was diluted by an influx of peasants and ‘country-folk’
 Colonialism  ‘neo-colonialism’
 Substantial empirical evidence: uncanny similarities
 E.g. Politicians recognize that grievances such as social inequality and a lack of rights
led to numerous revolutions  strive to be democratic, liberal, fair
 Pivotal to the process of civilization, years of progress and social evolution not
wasted and we are not catapulted back into the vestiges of time
 E.g. Xiao He, a high-ranking official in the Han dynasty, refused to destroy the
historical records of the despotic Qin dynasty when the Han came in power

For 3: Exposing us to ideas and abstract notions (impractical but of paramount impt)
 History is fundamentally about a clash of ideologies (democracy vs. fascism,
communism vs. capitalism etc.)
 Determine the best way to organize humanity socially … fair and effective framework
for civilization
 Much like Sci and tech: aims to elevate the human condition and advance civilisation

Against 1: Remembering the past does not change it

 Philosophical theory of consequentialism
 Reminiscing about the past = “crying over spilt milk”
 Better to anticipate what is to come based on concrete evidence or signs from the
present, instead of heeding on ‘prophetic revelations’ from the past
  Present: more relevant and realistic starting point for our projections and
predictions, better prepare ourselves for what is to come
 Case resonates most in econs …

Against 2: History is fundamentally subjective, impractical to study views and perceptions

that are biased and tainted by regional loyalties or political affiliations
 Past can be written and re-written in almost any shape or form
 E.g. Reagan Victory school proposes that it is Reagan’s first term assertiveness that
led to end of Cold War but traditional historians tend to think that it is Gorbachev, a
new change in mentality and a paradigm shift in the USSR resulted in the thawing of
the Cold War
 History can be broken into “his story”, however clichéd it might seem, encapsulates
why many believe history has no tangible value
 BUT… it is this inherent bias that makes it such an interesting study. E.g. studying
Vietnam War in the 1960s, one may come across an American text which will most
probably attempt to downplay the disastrous loss of the Americans to the
Vietnamese guerrillas. Through analyzing the writer’s stand and tone in the account,
a learned historian will probably be able to discern the American’s motive for the
war, the type of propaganda and reasons for their defeat.
 It is only in sifting through the mass of judgemental accounts, sieving out the facts
and further understanding them … human nature better understood
 Only through such tedium can one’s mental finesse be honed … become more
shrewd in thought and clearer in perception (blessing in disguise)
 Nationalistic pride that causes Japan today to deny the atrocities that the country
committed during WWII, choosing instead to glorify the past, or the cultural
influences that may contribute to a distinctive way of portraying history
 China’s downplaying of the devastation caused during Mao’s reign

Conclusion:
Remembering the past and looking into future not mutually exclusive. Function in tandem to
lead to progress.

Does studying make us more pessimistic about future of human race

Intro:
 Account of a world shaped by mankind’s aggression, power and moral decay – all
suggestive of a bleak future entailing more conflict and strife
 Mankind’s capacity to develop and espouse ideals that respect and uphold the worth
of life lend some optimism to the picture

Conflicts!
 Change only constant but contention is just as worthy of being branded as a
constant, or at least consistent, feature
 From ancient Greece, military might was deemed central to the empire, which
warred against other states to build up its empire
 Chinese empire unified under Emperor Qin only via numerous wars
 NOW: Current generation holds two world wars within span of past century alone
 Bloodshed and destruction – and most poignantly futile aggression, as bemoaned by
numerous war poets of the First World War like Owen and Sassoon – seem to attest
to the Hobbesian idea that humans are innately aggressive creatures, prone to
conflict and inflation of harm
  Impossibility of greater peace – continue finding areas of contention to extrapolate
into long-drawn conflicts (NOW: ascension of religious fundamentalist groups such
as Hamas attests to this trend)

Salient characteristic of mankind is a will to power

 Power corrupts and absolute power corrupts absolutely
 Hitler’s Third Reich commanded the elimination of the Jewish race, gas chambers…
 In a similar fashion, Stalin’s rule was characterized by repeated purging of dissenters
so as to entrench his totalitarian rule
 Willingness of men to exercise violence or annihilate them
 Such acts of cruelty speak strongly against an innately moral human fabric
 NOW: N. Korea and Myanmar similarly intransigent in their brutality

Fundamental self-interested behaviour of humans!

 Contradicts the imperative for humans to act in a more moral and altruistic manner
 E.g. Foreign policy: guided by national interest (Cold War: rich collection of
engagement with states for strategic interests in their respective spheres of
influence, but what is morally revolting is the irresponsible disengagement after no
strategic needs are served any longer) – US, after training militants like the Al-Qaeda
in Afghanistan, promptly disengaged, budding terrorist group
 Economic history: Colonisation of Africa and import of African slaves
 Tendency for mankind to compromise on the well-being, natural rights and peace of
…, speaks volumes about continuation of similar actions that defy our sense of what
is honourable
 NOW: economic crisis: selfish nature of humans. Betrayal of trust by financial
advisors that irresponsibly packaged sub-prime loans as promising investments has
undermined the moral fabric of the financial system

Events and trends in history that point towards greater, more promising human development
 E.g. Slavery was abolished after a long-drawn battle that advocated the equalization
of rights between Whites and African-Americans
 Gender bias dramatically eradicated or reduced
 Exert pressure for change

Global cohesion
 Limited understanding characterized relations between great powers in the past
 NOW: Formation of the League of Nations and then the United Nations: strong
symbols of a cooperative world order

**NOTE: History of country not = History as a subject. History of country includes

culture/architecture…**
 10c. Mathematics

Intro:
 Mathematics is a discipline whose utility is seldom questioned in the modern world,
given its ostensible impact on our lifestyles

Intellectually satisfying
 Tap the left brain, which focuses on logical thinking, reasoning and problem solving
 Think actively using numbers, symbols and formulae to express things rather than
basic emotions
 Active harnessing of the human mind to solve mathematical problems: satisfaction
 Challenge, which one has to tackle using his intellect and thinking skills
 E.g. Sudoku, Rubik cube, well-known mathematical ‘conundrums’
 Intellectual growth over the years too
 Mathematics is usually studied through a long period of schooling years: possible to
compare a student’s level of growth at a nascent stage with the more mature phase
 Deepening in thinking skills like deduction and reasoning

Wide range of applications

 Beyond the temporal comparison of abilities or the satisfaction of solving a
mathematical problem
 Transcendence from the paper world of Cartesian planes and random triangles to
the actual application of concepts
 E.g. Golden ratio, considered the ‘formula’ for aesthetic beauty. Used in many forms
of art, from the Egyptian pyramids to paintings like Da Vinci’s Mona Lisa
 Some even try to link the structure of the Petrarchan sonnet, a popular poetic form,
to the golden ratio
 Science: Math dictates the proportionate manner in which the world operates. E.g.
derivation of Newton’s law of motion greatly assisted by his study and founding of
calculus
 Softer sciences: econometrics, the study of economics using concrete mathematical
figures in preference to baseless hypothesizing

But are these mere impractical applications?

 Study of Quantum Physics, the works of La Grange and La place, even Schrodinger,
serve to explain how minute particles of the earth operate and little application
 Astronomy and positioning of planets seem to afford little practical application
 But this serves to broaden our minds, exposing them to events that cannot be
fathomed through life’s experiences while unlocking both gargantuan and Lilliputian
alternative universes that we strive to master

But if we do not do applied math, is math of little practical use?

 Especially true for students who simply cannot understand how the many graphs,
equations and geometrical figures they encounter can possibly help them in their
lives
 Most immediate part of life which involves mathematics is in counting money and
spending it, cannot be classified as a ‘study’
 The mathematical applications for the solutions of daily problems are oftentimes not
observed because average person lives and behaves by instincts and approximations
 E.g. running late, David Beckham, Carly Patterson times her fall whilst somersaulting
in mid-air, Michael Jordan
But isn’t every subject of little practical use?
 In-depth knowledge of science not needed
 No need to know about acid and bases to be qualified to use toothpaste
 Intricate knowledge about procreation not a prerequisite to doing the act itself
 Arts disciplines useless too
 Average person has better things to do on a rainy day than attempting to understand
the water cycle
 People usually buy things on a whim rather than leaving it to the ‘rationality’
economists assume we need in order to calculate the value of what we purchase
 Nobody, if anybody ever, converses in iambic pentameter in real life
 Mark Twain: I never let my schooling get in the way of my education

There is more to life than simply fulfilling the demands that mundane and ‘practical’ life gives
us. Life is more than physical actions and monetary calculations, but more abstractly, a
journey towards discussing and understanding, not just of the self, but of the world around
us, natural or human.
 10d. Universal language

Intro:
 Globalisation: phenomenon in which communications and flow of goods and
services cross national or continental boundaries with increasing ease and
effectiveness
 Increasing ‘borderlessness’ of the world
 Artificial languages (notably Esperanto)
 Need for lingua franca to communicate with each other

Benefits: Convenience of communication

 Indispensable within certain circles
 E.g. Scientific community uses exclusively English as its language of publication and
discussion, researchers expected to publish in English or risk being ignored by much
of the world
 Scientific communities separated and isolated by language barriers simply cannot
reap benefits from synergy of collective international effort
 E.g. Human Genome Project, the greatest collective scientific undertaking by
mankind so far, use English. With such endeavours becoming more commonplace…
 E.g. Global business community
 Growing integration of trade in regional trading blocs and bilateral trade agreements
across regional boundaries, multinational companies dominate scene
 Despite importance of learning local languages and customs in order to conduct
business, businessmen face a growing necessity of communicating effectively with
counterparts across the globe
 Impossible, impractical, inconvenient, not cost-efficient: interpreters, learn
 E.g. In EU, 23 languages recognized as ‘official’ by EU, most turn to English when
conduct business (even in Switzerland where German, French and Italian hold official
status)

Detrimental to existence and survival of unique culture

 Common language is unusually seductive, prompting many to forego learning their
mother tongues in favour of new language
 E.g. Spanish Conquistadores imposed language on natives of the Americas and now
some Native American tongues once widely spoken are now almost extinct, along
with the pre-Columbian way of life
 Closer to home, minority of Singaporeans in the past chose to send their children to
English-medium schools … acquire linguistic skills. Many people forsook or even
neglected to learn their mother tongues and lose their roots
 Loss of valuable cultural heritage
 Language is culture. Language derives its meaning from culture. Every culture is
embodied in the language it speaks. Every language is rooted in the culture that
speaks it.
 Japanese/Chinese/English: ways of saying thank you, calling relatives…
 Singlish: invokes a different feeling, informal
 11. Businesses
11a. Business morality
11b. Charities as businesses
 12. Democracy
12a. Good vs. Bad

We live in a world today where three-quarters of the countries in the world adopt democracy
(or so they claim) as the dominant political system. Indeed, democracy has its allure and it is
understandable why countries like Thailand have ‘progressed’ from a powerful monarchy in
the 1900s to a democratic state. For the first time in history, the populace of numerous
countries find themselves equipped and empowered by newfound authority to evoke change
and play a part in the decisions of the state.

Yet, has democracy truly succeeded in bringing good to people? Detractors of democracy
claim that democracy fails on two counts. Firstly, democracy is too idealistic a political system
and can therefore never be truly implemented. Secondly, even if democracy can be put into
practice, there are still some fundamental failures of democracy when it is applied to our
daily life due to the various examples of ‘failures of democracy’ that we have seen over the
years. However, to me, these supposed failures in practice cannot be attributed to
democracy per se. Instead, I believe that though there are flaws in the principles of
democracy at the end of the day, democracy is still a lesser evil and is, therefore, not a total
failure in practice.

FAILURE IN PRACTICE?

Anti Thesis 1: Failure in practice (Can never be truly implemented)

 E.g. Singapore: democracy but restrict freedom of speech (media censorship,
suppression of opposition)
 E.g. Even US cannot be said to be truly democratic (Guantanamo Bay: violates basic
human rights): torture detainees to extract information and induce cooperation

Counter 1/thesis: No political system can ever be truly implemented and therefore it is not
right to say that democracy fails merely because it can never be truly implemented
 Other systems, when ‘truly implemented’, fail! E.g. Communism (China, USSR)
 Monarchy, on the other hand, is too simplistic and concentrates power in the hands
of few people. While benevolent dictatorships may be beneficial, most do not turn
out that way

Thesis 2: Failure in practice (Fails in certain situations)

 It does seem to be beneficial to some societies like US
 But is democracy necessarily the modus operandi of all countries?
 Democracy assumes that people are rational, want freedom, are not apathetic… (are
these assumptions true?)
 E.g. Iraq (US coerced Iraq to radically adopt democracy. They have constitutions in
flowery language that purport to guarantee many of the rights taken for granted in
Western democracies. Yet their leaders survive by control and repression. Sunni
minority refuse to acknowledge elections…)
 E.g. Egypt, Jordan, Morocco, Algeria and Kuwait might be described as “liberalized
autocracies” even though they claim to be democratic

Counter 2/thesis: Fine in principle and fine in practice for most situations
 In these cases, democracy was forced. People need to embrace the ideals of
democracy before democracy can work. If Sunni minority refuse to acknowledge
 elections, it is not democracy which fails but the people which failed in
implementing it.
 Different cultural and political contexts: Asian democracies are, by necessity, a
different model from western democracies

FINE IN PRINCIPLE?

Thesis 1: Fine in principle (good, fair, practical) but too simplistic/idealistic

 Good: Respects and walks hand in hand with openness, freedom and capitalism –
values which are
 Fair: Upholds justice, promotes equality, maintains a system of checks and balances
and recognizes the mutual symbiosis of state and people
 Practical: Not overwhelmingly complex as in Marxist society
 America usually used as benchmark in measure how ‘free’ a state is but there are
limitations to this.
 Therefore, fine in principle

Antithesis 1: Propoganda
 Noam Chomsky, “Propoganda is to democracy what the bludgeon is to the
totalitarian state”
 Just like how totalitarian regimes use force, violence and oppression to prevent
people from revolting against harsh and unfair treatment, democracies often use
propaganda to convince the people that the government is doing a good job,
hoodwinking the public into believing what the government wants them to believe
 E.g. US
 In principle, democracy assumes that people are well-informed and are not
apathetic
 But this is a false assumption!
 Winston Churchill, “the best argument against democracy is a five-minute
conversation with the average voter”

Antithesis 2: Tyranny of the majority, interests of minority groups are often neglected
 Voting system results in the will of the majority being imposed on the unwilling and
often oppressed minority
 E.g. In France, African immigrants who are a minority are often discriminated against
and are forced to work long hours with low wages and to live in appalling conditions
 In principle, democracy talks about ‘people power’ but it is actually only about
power of the majority of the people

Antithesis 3: Small vocal group is often able to express its options best and thus will of the
majority is not respected
 E.g. Thailand, Thaksin Shinawatra was forced to step down as Prime Minister even
though he was re-elected as the urban population in Bangkok launched huge
demonstrations that threatened to cause immense disruption. Even though the
majority of Thailand’s rural population supported Thaksin, they were unable to
express their support
 In theory, democracy demonstrates equality by allowing each person to have one
and only one vote
 But is it really true that each person gets one and only one vote?
Is it possible for us to reconcile these failures in the principles of democracy when we apply
it in reality?
 Propaganda: transparency, free media, technology, internet
 Tyranny of the majority: GRCs (Singapore)
 Will of majority not respected: Strict controls

Conclusion:
In conclusion, democracy, like almost any other political system or theory, makes several
grave assumptions that can easily be proven wrong. Yet, democracy does provide us with a
set of values and ideals which we can aim to achieve. Moreover, the shortcomings of
democracy can be mediated in real life. While it is true that democracy may not be the best
policy for all countries, we do need to concede that democracy is definitely a lesser evil than
the other popular political systems of our day – communism and despotism. Perhaps it is too
much of a generalization to call democracy a failure due to some instances in which
democracy has been abused by a small minority. Therefore, I feel that it is spurious to say
that democracy is fine in principle but a failure in practice, for the converse is in fact more
accurate.
 13. Social Issues (only stats provided)
13a. Gender

13b. Family

13c. Equality

 14. Governance
14a. World Governance
 15. Others
15a. Cooperation
 15b. Education

Intro:
 Define: Education is about imparting and acquiring skills, knowledge and beliefs
through teaching and learning
 Many Singaporeans feel that education is all about securing a good job and a good
lifestyle in the future. However, education has much broader socio-political,
economic and humanistic purposes.
 2006: Singapore spent $5.2 billion on education, 19.3% of budget and 3.9% of GDP

From a purely pragmatic perspective, education helps an individual make a living and makes
the individual more useful and more relevant in society
 Basic education is essential education and is crucial especially in developing
countries. Benefits include reduced diseases as people learn about hygiene and
nutrition, reduced unwanted pregnancies and reduced violence as people learn to
use non-violent ways to resolve conflicts
 Beyond basic education, education promises to give people the power to reason, the
capacity to make informed judgments, the ability to solve problems and the vision to
think clearly and imaginatively: various academic disciplines teach us frameworks to
understand the world
 A man who has basic literacy can probably get a job, order food and open a bank
account. Someone with a higher educational level can probably get a better job,
order more decadent food and have a fuller bank account
 The speed at which countries like Singapore, Hong Kong, Malaysia and South Korea
have developed from their previous Third World economies as compared to their
African and Latin American counterparts is in no minor part due to the regimented
way in which basic literacy and basic education are enforced.
 Even in ancient China, the Imperial examination system was implemented in the Han
dynasty to evaluate and choose officials to rule the country
 Singapore is increasingly moving towards an education that focuses on technology,
lateral thinking and creativity to meet the new demands of the unpredictable and
complex modern day economy

Education also socializes individuals to establish social order

 Conformity to a common socio-political value
 America uses education to inculcate respect for individual freedoms which is the
basis of American democracy. Similarly, Singapore uses education to inculcate hard
work which is intrinsic in Singapore’s meritocratic society
 In order to create a gracious society that respects the collective rights to everyone, it
must teach its people to be socially responsible and conform to basic social norms.
For instance, in Singapore, moral education is taught from young which teachers
youths that spitting in public is a health hazard and that discrimination of any sort is
absolutely intolerable
 However, education can be abused too. Rulers have used education as a way of
controlling society in order to retain power or credibility. Instead of meaningful
values and knowledge, education systems can be used to promote meaningless
propaganda to indoctrinate citizens
 E.g. Japanese leaders feel that the atrocities committed in World War II and the Rape
of Nanjing were too much an insult to the royal family and have deliberately left out
any such references in their textbooks
  E.g. In 1999, School Board of the state of Kansas caused controversy when it decided
to eliminate testing of evolution in its state assessment tests

Education inculcates values in us

 The enterprise of civil society depends on educating young people to become
responsible, thoughtful and enterprising citizens. This is an intricate, challenging task
requiring deep understanding of ethical principles, moral values, political theory,
aesthetics and economics.
 The goal is aiding the growth of students so that they become productive members
of society. An imparting of culture from generation to generation promotes a greater
awareness and responsiveness through social maturity to the needs of an
increasingly diversified global society.
 Schools in the past were heavily linked to religious instruction (e.g. Oxford and
Harvard began as seminaries to train ministers in “godly knowledge” like medicine
and law)
 Although schools have become increasingly secular, it still teaches us to realize the
better and higher aspects o

15c. Crime

15d. Liberty or Security

15e. Consumerism