Pragmatism the guiding principle to go forward

Singapore Perspective 2015, did not follow what it was but saw a few clips of it on TV with all the luminaries and intellectual who’s who in the gathering talking about Singapore and its future. Happened to watch a small exchange between Assoc Prof Eugene Tan in an intellectual exchange with Prof Kishore Mahbubani on the topic on pragmatism. Eugene Tan was on the side saying that pragmatism as a guiding principle must be moderated or it would be too harsh and lacking soul and values when applied with no exception. Kishore was on the side arguing that pragmatism must be the guiding principle of our policies and we cannot afford to compromise on this great cornerstone of functionality. As a little island we would perish if we are soft and not pragmatic. There was no choice, but Eugene was saying that they were choices.
 
The audience of intellectuals, top civil servants and academics and many more, were put to a vote and more than 60% agreed with Kishore’s passionate plea that pragmatism is our only tool and pillar to survive. I believe, being a bunch or gathering of the brightest minds, they were indulging in a purely academic exercise and though they voted for pragmatism, it was just for the moment, a debate. I believe that they would not apply pragmatism in their policies or in the conduct of their lives and making decisions that affect other human beans.
 
Put it very simply, pragmatism in its extreme form, in black and white, is about functionality and usefulness. Anything that does not work, not practical, not useful, should be abandoned, rejected and threw away. In another word, if one is no longer contributing, ‘jiat liao bee’, one must be put away, culled or put to sleep. When a person is no longer useful to himself or society, he lost his reason or right to exist.
Using this pragmatic logic, all Singaporeans must be replaced by more talented and capable foreigners. No but’s and no if’s. Not good enough, you don’t deserve a place here. By the same logic, when one is no longer productive or useful to society, handicapped, sick, weak, with no relevant skills to contribute to the betterment of people, society and country, that person must be put to sleep.
 
Very likely not many people would be allowed to live past 60 years if pragmatism is the guiding principle for the right to live in this world class city. But then again we must congratulate ourselves that pragmatism would not be practiced to such an extreme and there are many other things that are of value to being human, kinship, family, compassion, love, caring, kindness, mercy, heart, emotion, feelings etc to temper the sharp edges of the ruthless and emotionless concept of pragmatism.
 
The thought is quite frightening if a society or country is run or operates under the principles of being useful and functional or not and with its elite talking about them emotionlessly as the right way forward. If our top talents and intellectuals were to rule using pragmatism and survival as the only basis, where would we be heading to? We would probably keep a population that is young, healthy and clever. Anything else would be deleted.