The Chinese And the Malay: A Platoon's Debate on Racism

Haha. Stylo right the title? Machiam the title of a book, right? No? Ok, nevermind. Only if it was written by me? Ok. Thanks. Basically we had a debate about whether or not Man are by nature racists. We first declared that we are not racists; the reverse is exactly the point he wants to make.

So he asks, if there was a Chinese and a Malay with everything identical, be it his qualifications or character etc (everything except their race), and you could only save one of them (both are drowning), which one will you choose? All, except me immediately said the Chinese (we are all Chinese btw). I said there is no answer, I would save either; I would act on instinct, thus by probability, 50% I would save the Chinese, and 50% the Malay. The person who set this question disagreed. He claims that I would save the Chinese too because nature made me such that I would identify him first. Or in his words, 'Its in your blood.' I disagreed, and demanded proof or experiments that concluded in such a manner. He said that I am deceiving myself, everyone agrees with him... Fed up... This is a very good example of committing logical fallacy. And somemore he has absolutely no scientific proof whatsoever that determines Man will react in such a way.

Cannot blame them, they are Poly students. (This is also an example of logical fallacy.)

For your information, those Chinese along with me are in some ways racists in the way they speak about the Malays, so it comes as no surprise when they chose to save Chinese. But I have always maintained that Malays are not inferior to us, nor any races to any other races.

Anyway, if I had time to think about it and shrug off all those biased stares which unreasonably suggests that I was lying to myself, this is what would be my argument:

1) Nature of Question. Firstly, this is a hypothetical problem and thus renders any scientific experiments impossible. Thus, it leads us only to philosophize about it.

2) The Distinction of Will and Instinct. I had logically answered the question when I say I would act 'upon my instinct'. An instinct is apart from the will, like an conditioned reflex of the muscles, and does not involve the use of the mind. Thus if an instinct forces me to choose the Chinese or the Malay, under no grounds would I be under charge of being a racist, as nature has made me so choose. If however, one had answered, 'I will choose the Chinese/Malay' (which is what everyone except me said), then it would be reasonable to label him a 'racist', for he had wilfully and morally chosen that by the use of his mind, that is, apart from natural instinct, to separate the Chinese and Malay, by whatever means or qualities he deemed different, in this case, only the person's race is in question. Thus it leads us to the

3) Conclusion. I am not a racist. You all are.

My Comp Breathed His Last

And so it died. The funny thing is... I am not very bothered about it. Which feels strange. Army has lessened my dependence on computers. I have begun to be increasingly lazy to use the computer. Which is a good thing.

Or maybe its just because I'm always using my Sis laptop, which is faster and has less problems. And it actually produces sound (gasp, gasp), unlike my dying desktop.

I remember when I was young, having a nice computer with a powerful graphics card capable of playing modern 3D games is what I coveted. It was called AGP graphics. 256mb Nvidia Geforce 4 Titanium or something like that (that was years ago). Since then the technology has advanced to using a PCI-express slot and I have not bothered to keep up with it. I always yearned to have one of those giant machines and spend my whole day playing computer games...

...until I realized I could do without them. I should do without them. That is not the way to live life. The funny thing is I have grown to see them (computer games) as becoming more and more meaningless.

Once in my JC years I went forward of the class (we were told to describe ourselves in a civics lesson) and I commented about this issue. I said that I used to love playing games, but I have found them to be more meaningless nowadays. I also said that I am looking for meaning in doing things in life, to have a direction in life. And everyone in my class just listened to me. Because I was giving a very weird speech about meaning in life, when others were like, causally describing their personalities and character. And I was preaching about the meaning of life! I think I might have went on to talk about Jesus Christ if not for the fact that it suddenly dawned upon me that I was in a school, in front of the classroom with 20 people and a teacher listening to my speech about - the meaning of life!?

And so I stopped. Ok, the point is, games are quite meaningless, though sometimes I do spend time playing with friends to catch up abit. Of course there is no catching up during the game, but after, unless you include those in-game messages of

Player #1: n00b!! wahahaha
Player #2: lol!

as catching up.

"You can choose. You can choose..."

So said the Pre-Cog, a sort of half-human, genetically engineered species capable of looking into the future. Thanks to the 3 of them, the city has been murder-free for 6 years, because each time a murder is about to be committed, the police catch them first. And it means they caught would-be murderers who have not yet committed the crime. So are they considered murderers? I'm watching Minority Report (Steven Spielberg), which has a great plot.

And one of the most intriguing issue is that it touches upon the paradoxical 'free will' versus 'predestination' issue. In John Anderton's 'murder', it seems that there is no contradiction between free will and predestination. Knowing full well what is going to happen as predicted by the Pre-Cog Agartha ('There is no minority report'), John retains his free will not to kill Leo, though the result is still the murder sequence as exactly predicted by the Pre-Cog. When she said, 'You can choose', John chose not to murder, but the 'murder' as seen in Agartha's vision still came true. It is as though predestination has forced the sequence of events to ultimately happen, though each individual believes he had the free will to change the course of the future.

Cheem? No worries, there are definitely some loopholes which I am not bothered to nitpick. I am just going to enjoy this great movie.

In the last part of the movie, though, free will is shown to triumph over predestination. John was supposed to die as predicted by the Pre-Cogs, yet when the familiar phrase 'You can choose' appears, the murderer chose to shoot himself instead of John, thus making the prediction invalid.

The most interesting part is when the Pre-Cog who had the power to see the future led John to escape through very clever means. I am very impressed. Truly a good sci-fi cum thriller film.

There are only two logical ways to live life.

One, to live as if God exists. And if He does, you must submit to His commandments and live a life pleasing to Him.

Two, to live as if God does not exist. And if He does not, you must live like an animal, amorally, purposelessly and meaninglessly.

There is no in between.

The Banquet

I have no idea how to rate this opera-movie. Some parts of the show I like, like the colour and imagery and plot of the show, but others, like the pace, leaves much to be desired. In any case, I do not agree that it warrants a 4.5/5 rating from 8 Days. Too overrated.

So someone dies in the end in a symbolic murder with no murderer around (you'll know why). I suggested that the enunch did it. Haha. Kai Yuan suggested that the poisonseller did it. Wahahaha.

I don't know, but this film gives me the feeling that the director is trying too hard to be artistic, but using songs, dances and spilling blood does not win me over...But the part where the Imperial Guards committed suicide in a synchronized manner is cool...I always believed suicide is very disorderly :X

Superficiality

I had wanted to say this long ago, but forgot about it. Now that I recall...doesn't anyone find recent charity shows so superficial? I caught the last part of President Star Charity during my guard rest and I was disgusted. I don't presume to be very charitable, nor do I donate a much larger sum of money than most people...

But... I cannot help it but feel uneasy when they started publicizing those people who donated, like, 200k or 600k or 1.5 million dollars. I am jealous because I can never donate such amounts of money in my life. Bullsh*t. Isn't charity supposed to be anonymous? Look at the hosts' faces. Andrea de Cruz is beaming with joy that somebody is so generous. Maybe she feels inspired that such a generous man exist.

I don't buy it.

The truly generous are those who donate anonymously, regardless of the amount. Maybe I'm complaining too much when someone is actually doing a good deed. Or maybe it's because of the culture I live in. But nobody disagrees that generosity comes from the heart and not from the cheques.

And as if it wasn't enough, the show reached an end. They reached their monetary target. Everyone rejoices and dances around. Did everyone suddenly forget about those patients? An hour ago they were crying and begging for phone calls and sharing in their misery. Now they are.... dancing. Has charity ended? Yes it (the show) has. But I hope charity (the virtue) did not end together with it.

If the next time they do charity is next year's President Star Charity...you get what I mean. The same bloody thing happens. Cry, beg for phone calls, and when the target is reached, you dance with joy.

Superficial.


-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Other superficial things to take note (pardon the irony):

1. Derrick Hoh Wei Jian, the 3rd best in Project Superstar is currently serving NS in 3 SIG BN, where I am. Saw him a few times in cookhouse. Platoon mate suggest we sing Wei Lian's songs to make him go mad.

2. Obtained IPPT Silver! +$100 to bank account, and +1 Day Off. Woohooo!

3. Saw a "27 No. 1 Beatles hits in one CD" album at $20. Amazing...except that it lacks my favourite song 'While My Guitar Gently Weeps'. Still contemplating whether to buy this, or another 2-disc album which has that song plus a few more, but costs a whooping $40.

4. My cupboard key can be used to switch on engines of any UNIMOG in 3 SIG BN, although they are of different size.

5. I am tempted to buy Band of Brothers DVD, especially with my $100 bonus coming up.

International Philosophy

Wahaha. Oh my goodness...



"The Greeks are going mad, the Greeks are going mad. Socrates scores, got a beautiful cross from Archimedes. The Germans are disputing it. Hegel is arguing that the reality is merely an a priori adjunct of non-naturalistic ethics, Kant via the categorical imperative is holding that ontologically it exists only in the imagination, and Marx is claiming it was offside. But Confucius has answered them with the final whistle! It's all over!"

Pride And Prejudice

Nice film! The English is super cheem. But thanks to DVD, I have subtitles! I can't imagine sitting through the whole movie not knowing what Keira Knightley is talking about. Although she speaks...like, English, but its English English, not English.

And I went back to camp.

Me: Thanks ah, Ivan, for the DVD.
Ivan: Nice right?
Me: Yeah...Nice!
Ivan: Do you feel high now?
Me: Huh, high? What you mean by 'high'?
Ivan: Like, woah, in love liddat lah...
Me: *laughs*
Ivan: You mean you don't feel high meh?
Me: .....

I think I am like Mr Darcy. Man of few words. Quiet. 'Dao'. Misunderstood. Wahaha. No lah, just trying to make myself sound more complicated than I really am.

And why is it that everytime I said I am confined in camp everyone automatically thinks I did something wrong? Why...why...why? That is the kind of impression I give eh? I am a very obedient soldier of the SAF, ok? Yes, Sir! No problem, Sir! Thank you, Sir! And I somehow think that everytime I am late for something everyone automatically assumes I overslept.

The kind of impression I give...

Listened to first few songs of Jay Chou's new album.

Am I the only one who thinks he has run out of ideas? Is his new album called November Chopin Part II?

Boring.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------

11092001. What madness and depseration gave these people courage to jump off those buildings?

Sian

How come I always kenna guard duty on Saturdays? Makes me unable to attend church, and have less than 24 hours of book out time. Cannot sleep at home. Cannot lie on my bed. Cannot watch TV. Super tired. Sian...

Wanted to buy a mp3 player. Could make use of it during those 2-hour long ride from camp to home and home to camp to listen to some online sermons, rather than sleep or stare into space. But 3 SIG don't allow, so I'm not buying. Sian...

Next weekend likely to get confinement again. Clean and paint vehicles. Miss church again. Sian...

3 SIG wants a parade of guard mounting personnel to perform in front of newly selected Duty Officers and BOSes. I am one of them. Sian...

Monday IPPT test. Sian...


----------------------------------------------------------------------------------
From 3 Sig's Battalion routine order:

Safety Message: Smokers are more likely to suffer from depression and regrets.
Message of the Day: Smokers should stop indulging themselves in this lifesucking habit.

Inside Man

4/5 stars.

Finally bought the vcd after raving reviews from platoon mates. Plus a 88% rating from RottenTomatoes. Simply had to see it. Plus, one of the genres I like most - suspense thriller. I love movies that keep you guessing til the very end. But again I would have preferred DVD (because of subtitles), but, alas, it's too expensive. I was supposed to convince my friends to catch this movie a few months ago, but they always prefer movies that make them laugh.

Halfway through the movie, I was half-expecting a re-enactment of the entire crime scene again, since I could hardly catch what was really happening, since they happened with cut scenes of police and suspect interviews in between. They swopped real robbers with innocent civilians. Wonderful, but it never came. I guess I need to see the whole movie again, especially the beginning. But it was great, how the robbers always outwit the policemen, and in the end, none of the cops could identify the robbers because it was too well-planned. And as promised, the main robber (Clive Owen) simply walked out of the bank through the front door, unnoticed.

"Here is the why. Apart from the obvious financial motivation, I did it... Because I can."

It is also interesting how the movie seemed to "side" with the robbers, portraying them as "good" robbers aiming to right a wrong. The robbers carried fake Ak-47s and did not harm any civilians, neither did they steal a nickel from the bank. At one point, the cop (Denzel Washington) dared the robber to shoot him, for he 'has nothing to lose'. The robber (Clive) declined. The real "immoral people" is portrayed as, really, the bank owner, and not the robbers.


----------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Bad things happen in the army. I will be confined in camp for at least one weekend, up to two weekends. Because our vehicles need to be repainted, and radio equipment to be maintained at tip top condition before they are sent overseas to Australia. Sian... I am also back to wearing my recruit glasses. Mine broke during exercise. They say I look very 'gay' now. Double sian.