RA's Classes 2010

Interesting that the Vatican has moderated its position homosexuality. Useful evidence. Read carefully though. Their position is nuanced.

The reason why the human race has survived throughout thousands of years is simply due to reproduction. One of the key arguments against homosexuality is that the relationship is incapable of producing children, this mean lead to the extinction of the human race ( with some exaggeration of cos ) . Let's put moral issues aside and consider the reason why humans have been able to survive on Earth for such a long time.

I'm with Louis on this. The main two objectives of living on this Earth as a human being is to survive and pass on your genes. Survival without replication would indeed lead to the extinction of the human race.

The leson learnt is that it is foolhardy to think you can opress and marginalise the ethnic aspirations and culture of a sizeable minority, especially one that has economic clout such as the Tamils in Sri Lanka. The Sri Lankan govt has a chance to make a lasting peace or blow it and plant the seeds of a new generation of Tigers. A must-read for those interested in racial politics.

Rich poor divide. Nice one. Use as example.

Are we an ungracious society?

All around the world, people are talking about slowing down the movement of labour due to the social costs.

Climate change sceptics have a field-day.

The accusation is that Sgp is buying sand from thieves and expanding its coastline though reclaimation.

Singapore is becoming more densely populated with the influx of foreigners coming over to work. With shortage of land having always been an issue, it becomes even more so and forces the government to expand its coastline as far as possible to prevent overcrowding. However, this shouldn't be done at the expense of the environment. Detrimental effects to the environment does not only affect one country but globally in the long run. The loss of those islands could upset the eco-system in that specific region and from there, spread. I think it is necessary to figure out where that sand has gone as I don't think it all went to Singapore. Singapore should also be clear about where they get their sand from so as to avoid taking the sole blame.

Singapore is a small country with no natural resources. We have no choice but to buy them from other countries. Singapore is highly dependent on other countries. Hence, we must make sure that such accusation do not happen again as we need to keep a peaceful relationship with other countries, especially our neighbors. With such high demand in natural resources such as sand, smuggling is inevitable. Therefore we need to be on high alert and make sure that Singapore success is not based of such illegal activities.

A consequence of the 'Allah' dispute

Singaporeans must not be affected by what happened in Malaysia. It takes one irresponsible rascal to stir up trouble in Singapore. We are lucky to have a majority of Malay Muslims in Singapore and hence what happened in Malaysia will be kept to the minimum.

We should examine the assumption that Singapore is a harmonious multi-racial state. Is it really?

Many Singaporeans take the current calm for granted, not recognising the tempest that threatens to erupt at the slightest misstep. The myopic, naive youth of Singapore are convinced that the abundance of racial jokes is not an indicator of a vein threatening to pop. I do agree that it is not the sole indicator of racial tensions, but the appallingly limited knowledge the youth have of the other cultures, coupled with this jesting clearly surfaces a strong undercurrent of disrespect and apathy. What is most worrying is how youth are convinced that there is no need to do anything, nor any value in appreciating the culture of other races. This insensitivity to the intricacies of our society, I feel, will ultimately be the death of us. The fact is that racial education in Singapore is not sufficient. What we require is to instil in the community a desire and a passion to genuinely know, accept and respect the other races, and it is then that even racial jokes will bear no hostility, as people know that they are truly accepted already. This is why I find our approach to racial coexistence nonsensical. Tolerance only represses hostility, bottling it up and building up pressure. What we really need is acceptance and understanding.

I must say I agree with Ben's very insightful comments. For too long I have been quiety offended by the notion of tolerance as opposed to appreciation and understanding of other races. To tolerate is to imply that you don't actually like something or worse still to imply that you are racially superior. There is an underlying chauvism in this very open advocacy of tolerance. We should always strive to learn and appreciate other languages and cultures. It adds colour to our country and to our notion of what being a Singaporean is.

We worship youth. See the consequences?

So how much dissent is too much? Where do we draw the line?

Diigo is so inactive now lol

haha who says?? we are just taking a break after MYEs.:)

Freedom of media is a major issue. Pay attention to it.

Brilliant comments revealing a few ugly open secrets.

Who said meeting aliens could be fun?

I read this on Yahoo! News an hour back. Interesting how the existence of aliens is actually a possibility (I mean it has to be right? Hawking's revered mind said so.) Not much of a comment from me but I just have to say thank god for The Beatles.

O.o Why 'beam' an English song to make peace with our half brothers? Why should we assume that they even understand the English language? lols ii noe i tink beri far.

You must read this. Last bit on free press is noteworthy. There was a lot of nonsense at the YOG and Beijing Olympics, you just never found out about it.

The Chinese govt is trying to clamp down on corruption, which has become a way of life in China. Why?

If the Chinese govt does not clamp it down, it gives investor the impression that in order to have a smooth business operation in China, just corrupt your way through. In addition, young entrepreneurs would have lower incentive to strive out a new market as they would have known that they require more funds to "buy" their way through govt officers and this increase their cost of investment. Moreover, it strengthen the effect of rich-poor divides. The rich get past govt officials easily and get their business operation through with ease. While the poorer businessman have a hard time getting pass the officials.

If it's an error, we should question the paper's credibility. If it deliberate, we should question the ST's motive. What national role doe sthe ST see for itself?