catherine lim wrote a long article today in the straits times on the perennial issue of freedom of speech. i must say i fully agree with her. just recall the white elephants at buangkok and the sale of white elephant t-shirt issues are enough to tell a very enlightening story.
i buy you kopi, catherine.
I have no ST here, so I will not know what she has written.
ReplyDeleteCan you enlighten me with a summary?
Thanks
ah, click on my link to littlespeck.com. it is there.
ReplyDeleteWOW !!!
ReplyDeleteMust write to her and maybe buy her a Starbucks frap !!
Not bad. But far from good either.
ReplyDeleteI wish she'd take a stand on individualism and property rights. she's always doing this "democracy" thing - ok, I'm biased because I'm a classical liberal as opposed to Catherine and her ilk e.g. CSJ, JBJ, James Gomez et al (they are progressive liberals)
But I can tell you, her arguments are not strong. The govt will ignore them or we'll get the same-o same-o weak-as-piss reasons ala Dictator-el-Supremo Lee Cane You.
Singaporeans will never "get it" until there is an individual realisation of their each unique and special individual selves, and after that they will understand the nature and necessity of private property.
I have a suspicion that some people actually know about this, and are even self-actualised, but they are either too scared or too lazy to assert their individuality.
Catherine (and LKY, and CSJ and JBJ etc etc) have no problem getting up as individuals to make their case and stick by their opinions with ATTITUDE, it is a shame that NONE OF THESE "ruggend individuals" encourage even the children to be that way.
I mean, who in the society (with the exception of a few parents) ever tells a child that he or she is special and unique, and that he has a right to his happiness, and has absolutely no duty to anything or anyone other than what he volitionally chooses? Who in this culture encourages a young person to have fantastic self-esteem, and that his life is his own and he can do as he pleases with it?
No one. Everyone is told, from young, to be the same - to serve the mother fucking cuntry before considering his own self-interest. The mass hypnosis is deep and in inter-generational.
It is so deep, that even Catherine can't see that she's (at some level) affected by it.
Sorry Catherine, I like you. Best of luck!
P.S. After you've had coffee with these two cheap skates, let me buy you dinner, with nice wine, music and the gift of my presence.
matilah, you are upping your bribe huh? that's free enterprise. and very effective in our materialistic country. who ever pays better gets the catch.
ReplyDeletei will discuss with speedwing on our next offer to catherine. maybe coffee with peanuts and butter and an english rose specially flown in from uk.
you wrote as if you were still in the 60s where free spirits roamed the earth. there is a time and place for everything. not everyone wants to be revolutionary. early revolutionaries are destined to be martyrs. you need the front soldiers to take the full onslaught of the firepower.
but who knows, the call for freedom is in the air. catherine lim and many people are just talking, like what we are doing. the fighters are in the arenas. to punch and strike or be knocked down.
redbean, mate,
ReplyDeleteFreedom isn't "still" in the air, it is everywhere - it is the Tao (sorry for sounding New Age here)
As for the 60's type of freedom - those hippies whanted to replace repressive imperialsm, conservatism and fascism with communitarianism, egalitarianism and left-wing socialism. Instead of building bombs and raping the planet, their "answer to life" was to sit around all day smoking pot, having "free love", eating tofu and playing Bob Dylan records. :-)
No wonder it failed. It failed to such an extent that yesterday's "freedom loving" hippies are today's imperialist and repressive baby-boomer, hung-up, materialistic, anal-retentive asshole.
Of course there is no such thing as "perfect freedom" - we are mortals and therefore bound by the nature of our physical existence. But we can have a greater degree of freedom from political interference - notably - The Government and The State. without the idea of private property, this will always be the case. We still are bound by territorial political structures, along with the cultural and social conditioning which goes with the politics.
So long as governments exist, there will never be "perfect" freedom. HOWEVER it is possible to reverse the present state of affairs and make the govt the people's servant - i.e. return the power to the people.
The ONLY REASON for the debate on freedom of speech or Open society or democracy in Singapore is because the people are subjects of the state and serfs of the government.
If the situation was reversed, we wouldn't even be having this discussion.
I'll up the bribe even more: she can have my body - for a night. The champagne's on me :-)
Your's truly,
A free spirit, who is roaming the earth.
is freedom in the air? good question. maybe you need to ask, whose freedom? your freedom, my freedom or someone else freedom?
ReplyDeletenow don't you overbid yourself on catherine. there are two of us. what you can offer we can offer twice.
i think for a nice lady like catherine, a cup of english tea will be well appreciated.
Wah. democracy ah... out voted two to one.
ReplyDeletePui, pui, pui... let the customer (Catherine) be the judge ;-)
three cheers for democracy. we out voted you : )
ReplyDeletei haven't met catherine. would be nice to have a cup of tea with her.
The first person to present to the other two an article of her clothing wins?
ReplyDelete;-)
she use to go to the gym. pinching her sweat towel won't be that difficult : )
ReplyDelete