1/26/2006
the road to mediocrity
for many years we have been relentless in the pursuit of excellence. that is the drive that pushes this little pimple ahead of many countries. today it seems that this zeal to excel is seen as wrong. the champions must not be champions. the road is too tough. slow down, compromise, take the easy way out. or try not to work so hard, play more.
this kind of mentality is best seen in khoo swee chiow's personal quest. the mount everest climb. no body would argue, is a tall order. then the antartic etc. but when he dipped inside a bath tub, that was very disturbing. is singapore heading in the same direction?
the next national goal shall be 'fly the biggest kite.' not try to outdo bill gate or be an einstein. at least we get mentioned in the guinness book of records.
on the other hand the poor country called china is producing nobel prize winners. all their students in our local universities are tops in their cohorts and are 100% nerds. no time to play or even leave their dormitories. maybe this is a bad thing in singapore. we have arrived and can afford to go slow.
it is all a matter of choice and personal sacrifices. you want to be good in anything, you pay the price to be good. you want to be mediocre, you pay the price to be mediocre. if one chooses to be a jack of all trades, and be happy with it, good. if one chooses to be a champion gymnast and start to train at 3 and ended up stunted in growth, that is a decision to be made.
why complain about individual choices? just because some people wanted to play football and enjoy themselves others must also be forced to play ball with him?
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6 comments:
Government edicted meritocracy invokes mediocrity.
Why? Because they protect their own, and bullshit themselves and the rest of the population about meritocracy.
I love to see people's delusions. It brings validity to my own :-)
just maybe a few decades ago, the small circle of elite in any society could actually ram down their limited wisdom on the populace.
today, it is a different story. everything one does or say is subject to questioning even by the cleaners and roadsweepers. so trying to pull wool over people's eyes cannot do now.
No lah. Still can, and it still happens.
Intense conditioning by social constructs - over 2 generations, reinforced on a daily basis.
WOW!
Entertainment!
reading the posting by the guy teoh chin leong this morning, it is the best proof that, well, it can. the conditioning can be so serious that it becomes second nature. when the govt said it is done for your own good. or whatever reasonings, no question ask.
but the cynical group is getting larger and larger. people don't buy their reasons so easily and in fact questions a lot. how can they not question when things are so contorted that you don't need anything to see through the falsehood.
The "reasons" (logic) doesn't matter that much. It is the internal hard-wiring that is hard to break.
Such is the effectiveness of constant "campaigns" thrust upon a non-critically thinking, state educated population, who are "punished" WHEN THEY DISAGREE WITH AUTHORITY.
MATILAH SINGAPURA!
some segments of the society will be hardwired, no doubt about that. but segments will not get wired no matter how hard you try.
the seductive power of politics is so strong that once safely embedded one feels so good and comfortable that staying and preserving that position is everything. and the masses will forever be the masses until something gets too out of hand to shock them to life, and thinking what's this?
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