3/11/2010
To talk or not to talk
Following the revelation of Pastor Rony Tan in his Youtube testimony I posted this thread in redbeanforum.com and mysingaporenews. A hearty discussion followed but subsequently stopped when the defenders of Rony heeded his call and disengaged.
The sensitive issue of race and religion was raised by Vivian Balakrishnan in Parliament and the question is always about drawing the line to prevent any discussion from getting overheated. Two articles in the ST Editorial today continued with this debate calling for more public discussion instead of just leaving everything to the religious council to deal with behind closed doors.
Could the public handle such discussion sensibly and rationally? Did we? There was some heat as many were emotionally and spiritually attached and empowered to defend their positions against those who would also have very strong feelings about the subject. I think we had done well to keep the discussion under control. Maybe if Rony had not restrained his followers, things may get more heady.
This brings us back to the same question, are we mature enough, sensible enough, to talk about such issues publicly? Or we should pretend that there is no problem or just sweep the problems under the carpet and forever live in blind ignorance, or never grow up?
This is the 21st Century of enlightenment or are we still in the Dark Ages?
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9 comments:
talk(write) lah, no need permission, as long as it is an issue not like TW of Singapore(JNeo) story.
btw southernglory1 is very pc and precise in using "European Americans", he meant white right?, hope it include both the incestry and bastards
There are the European whites and the half whites from the chicken farms, by white slave owners and their slaves. We should respect the half whites as they were the products of the slavery system, forced upon them.
I saw a pimple on my face a week ago. No amount of washing or applying cream would make it go away.
I lanced it this morning and hey presto! it's getting smaller and soon in one or two days it will be gone.
If I had let the pimple fester and grow, half of my face would probably be gone.
To cut a long story short, they will tell you that if you want to discuss religion, just give feedback to the religious council and they will bring up the matter 'behind closed doors'. Open discussion is too sensitive and may lead to riots and overstepping of markers.
And we buy into such arguments. Just like buying the argument that no other political party can ever govern Singapore. Of course they make sure that the opposition do not even have the chance to show what they can do.
Just because a particular subject is "uncomfortable" doesn't mean it can be "hidden" just to preserve sensitivities.
No one has a right to having their "sensitivities" protected. Especially if the claims they make -- e.g. religious claims -- cannot, have not and will never be backed up by evidence.
I'm not waiting for "permission" from anyone -- especially the government of Singapore.
As far as I'm concerned -- go for it.
P.S. Pastor R Tan is a bigot
When a bigot has many blind followers, it is a dangerous sign.
Members of the public should go to the Light House to see and hear what kind of bullshits are being said for themselves. They must be very warm and friendly places since they are light houses. Hope that the owner(s) don't keep them too warm, otherwise they may catch fire.
Have faith my friends, everyone will be alright.
The problem is that few have faith in his repentance and the sincerity of his apology.
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