The Odex saga

What this saga revealed is how frightening Singapore has become after all the years of unthinking pursuit of money and materialism. We have turned ourselves from warm feeling humans to cold calculative and unfeeling machines. And we don't even know or wonder why or how. In the Odex case or in some other cases of violation of the law, Singaporeans are proud and aloof and quick to pronounce that the law is the law. We are a country that runs on the rule of law. So anyone who crosses the line got nicked. Period. Our law is blind. When humans refused to think, refused to use their humaness to differentiate, and apply the law blindly, we are not longer humans. We become part of the matrix. We exist and thinking that that is our real purpose in life. Now Odex. Many of those who infringed on the law on intellectual properties by downloading anime pics are children. They are wrong. Absolutely. But do we need to apply the law blindly on everyone of them? When life were simpler, people were more simple, and people were paid a few dollars to pass their days, applying the law simply might be acceptable. They were not paid to think too much. The money did not justify the tediousity of it all. But today, when the whole system of living is so complicated, and people are paid very generously for what they are doing, we must expect people to think more carefully to justify what they are being paid. We don't have terms like child, children, kids for nothing. They are simply at a stage of life where they are learning to reason, to know right and wrong and to grow up to accept the norms of society. That is why the courts have exceptions for children in many areas. Is it reasonable and healthy to slam children with the whole weight of the law? Threatening and frightening children with the law! Is it a responsible act to demand from children whose pocket money could be only $10 a month, to pay $3000 or $5000 for their childish innocence? Teaching them to learn the hard way? Oh, the parents can afford to pay. What kind of society and values are we evolving into? Do we think anymore? Do we really care anymore? Do we really have compassion? Or everything is just lip service. Or are we programmed to repeat such phrases without feeling for them or with no intention to mean it? Just saying without meaning.