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10/22/2006
the brilliance of youth
The Derek Wee's article may not be acceptable for print in the MSM. In cyberspace it has created a storm, at least for a poor rich girl. Her reply to Derek's article was expected given the new philosphy of life in this island. And someone has the good sense of shutting down her blog immediately before the truth gets too frightening to be heard.
Before I proceed further, please forgive her. She is a child. She knows not what she was speaking. I will be really angry if that kind of views come from an adult or someone making policies and decisions affecting the people. What we see in her is the tip of a smelly iceberg. It transcends from the little spoilt brat that demands the maid to do everything for 'it' to the peanut people among the elite. Not all elite are in the same shitty mindset. Thank god.
How would such people view the man who jumped the MRT? No need to guess. To them that man is a burden to society and does not deserve to live. He is simply useless, incapable, and of no talent. Anyone who cannot command an income of a peanut is subhuman, belonging to a specie that better not be around. You are only human, or a talented man if you are successful financially, with all the trappings of the super rich.
It is a different world out there, and the people are a happy lot. To the hardlanders, these are the monsters that our society has created. A self serving group of people who have a lot of problems of their own, grimacing on why the $200 a piece abalone tasted not as good as before, or why the $10k gown did not arrive in time for the next party.
Our society has indeed stratified into two separate worlds, not so much in material wealth, but in the value of life and life philosophy. On one end, money is not enough. On the other, money is never enough. And for the latter, the world owes them a living because of their talents.
I would like to say my two big balls. If the big ATM stops giving out the money, where would they find another ATM to feed them?
Compassion and empathy are only good for printing in the MSM. Are we getting more caring and forgiving?
I read Derek Wee's and then Ms Wee's articles. It is quite obvious the social divide between them. On one side Derek is a commoner while Ms Wee is from the elite class in Singapore.
ReplyDeleteIn my humble opinion people like Ms Wee should get off their high horse and be a little down to earth. I guess she has been pampered all her life and does not know how the others, who are less fortunate than her, have to fight for every necessity in order just to survive. Well, it just goes to show what 45 years of a one party state can produce. The haves and the have nots. If you are reading this Ms Wee, I hope you will not criticise my English.
How dare this little unthinking spoilt brat who may have never earned a dollar in her life comment on the generation who contributed at least half their lives to our country..where are her parents....I hope she reads this too...
ReplyDeletehi fellas,
ReplyDeletein other forums this little rich girl has been blasted by very strong language. lets not be too harsh on her. though she is very brilliant academically, she is still naive in her own ways. everyone has the right to be naive when they are young.
hope she learns from this and grow up wiser. my fear is that within little circles of elite, they really believe in such kinds of thinking and values and joke about them privately. but when talking in public they put on a false front of compassion and empathy for the downtrodden.
While Ms Wee could be forgiven for being young and naive. Her naiveity reveals the frightening reality that this could be a sign of the slow and sure development of real social stratification by class status and income.
ReplyDeleteOur meritocratic system is not flawless. In theory, it seeks to reward the able and hardworking. In practice, it helps to perpetuate the class divisions as the rich with the better resources can give their progeny the best chance of exploiting the system to achieve economic and social progress. However, the poor and middle class struggle to empower their own progeny with the same advantages.
Take an example of govt scholarships, increasingly we find that children of the higher socio-economic strata able to grab many of these in comparison with their less well-off brethren.
Our Brave New World is closer to Aldous Huxley's society where people are classified as Alphas, Betas all the way to Epsilons.
Are we to allow people with Ms. Wee's attitudes to inherit Singapore? I fear for our future.
hi lunatic fringe,
ReplyDeletewelcome to the blog.
i share your concern. in my previous articles i have mentioned that we have created a very brilliant generation of young people. but if these are not tampered with a little kindness and compassion, they could become monsters and very wicked to the less able in our society.
we should not begrudged the rich and able giving the best to their progenies. that is a right they earned for themselves. and you are right to say that a purely meritocratic system is loaded in favour of the rich who can afford the best facilities and tuition money can buy.
those who are unable will have to make the best of whatever cards they are dealt with. we will survive even without tuition. i have never had any tuition. can't afford it. neither have my children had any tuition. in a way uneven competition.
life is tough at the lower rung.
I think there is a vast difference, including in terms of education and income levels, between Mr Wee and Mr Tan. The two cases cannot and should not be equated.
ReplyDeleteWhile Ms Wee perhaps should not have used such strong (or uncaring) words, her thinking is not necessarily flawed.
Mr Wee has the means to look after himself, yet he still feels that the [government] should provide him with a social blanket.
Mr Tan, lacks the means to look after himself and his family. He is probably unable to write a letter to the ST Forum or the relevant govt agencies to seek for help.
Perhaps, just perhaps, it's because of the mentality existing in the former group [of people] that has led to the cautious approach towards social welfare in Singapore. Which has in turn created a vicious cycle of stigatism towards social welfare that has created the tragedy of the latter group.
Ms Wee and her father were featured in the ST today. It is rather sad that the father agreed with her main point, that is Derek Wee should not speak out against the policues of the day and just kept quiet. I find that a sad situation, especially after the MRT incident. Keep quiet, do not rock the boat. Sad
ReplyDeletehi red11,
ReplyDeletewelcome to the blog.
we are a rich country. we can afford to do a lot more for our poorer bros and sisters. we can do a little lesser to feed the already rich and fat in the waist bros and sisters.
we have set aside $500-$600 million in comcare fund to help the less able. and that is a hell of a lot of money. why is this money not reaching those who need them?
derek wee is not talking about himself. he is talking about a big group of people who will be affected. a worker displaced by foreign talent is a breadwinner lost.
we are a country. there are concepts like citizens and govts and loyalty and obligations. when the meaning of these are lost, we will become a hotel. no obligation from any party. no one needs to pay taxes or perform national services anymore. everyone to himself. survival of the fittest.
the rich is always a small minority in any society. without the masses to prop them up, they too will perish or have to find somewhere else to enjoy their riches.
humans are different from animals because we can organise ourselves and survive as a group, taking care of the less able as well. if our elite think that the less able can be abandon to their own device, in no time our society will break down.