Can a leader be great without ideas? Not exactly that they are dumb otherwise they would not be great leaders. They have ideas but their ideas may not work at all. They could be great being just a leader, to be able to move the masses with him through their oratory skills and leadership. Mao Tse Tung was a great leader in unifying China. His developmental and economic ideas or non ideas were simply disastrous. China was lucky that there were so many other able leaders to do the right things and chart the right course for the country. If China was to follow Mao’s economic development ideas, China would still be a poor third world country.
So was Winton Churchill. He was a leader at the right time to provide the motivation to a Britain at war. The British saw a hope through him. He rallied the people to fight the Germans. He appeared bigger than life. Once the war was over, he faded away like a pedestrian. There was no idea for the rebuilding of Britain coming from him in a way. He was there for a moment, for a purpose.
Many big personalities, including dictators, have lived through history but were bankrupt of ideas to bring a better life for country and people and eventually led to their own downfall, a breakdown of the country and law and order. The only good ideas they had were self preservation, preservation of power and wealth for their families.
The citizens, especially in a democracy, must be able to decipher the ideas of their leaders. Some leaders were fortunate to have good lieutenants to provide them the ideas to carry through. And their apparent emptiness in good ideas could have gone unnoticed or concealed for years without the people knowing. As long as the good lieutenants are around to run the show and the leaders continue to talk, motivate and lead, things can look really good, because the ideas were really good.
The lack of good lieutenants will surface eventually like seeing the rock when the tide subsided. But this takes time and sometimes it seems to be forever. The people can put in some effort to revise their history and look at the ideas that really originated from the leaders and not from their lieutenants and compare their results. Without doing a little homework, many of the good works and ideas of the lieutenants could be mistakenly seen as the ideas of the leaders that really have no good ideas. And it can be worst, some only had bad ideas, ideas that have been proven wrong time and time again.
The people must not be daft but be critical and discriminating of the ideas from their leaders. Do not be misled or misguided by leaders with no ideas or no good ideas, or only bad ideas. Only time will tell the truth.
2/06/2012
2/05/2012
Sinkies lack drive, are daft
Sinkies are daft and lack drive. Foreigners are hungry and willing to slog. Foreigners are better. These are the sweeping statements that were made by intelligent people in high offices. How real are they?
Sinkies put their children into nurseries at the young age of 3 and many studied till the age of 21, ie 18 years of formal education and spending several hundred thousands of dollars, only to become taxi drivers. That is definitely daft but not lacking drive. The nursery or kindergarten fees for the good ones which Sinkies are willing to queue overnight or involve in community work, cost a bomb. This is not drive?
And the children grew up fighting for places in the best schools to score straight As. Getting 6As and above is now quite normal. They got these grades without drive, like buying from the street vendors? Heard of private tuition from pre school? And they will continue to pursue their degrees in local and overseas universities. And they are found wanting, lacking in skill sets and experience, and are replaced by foreigners from the third world who spent lesser time in make shift huts called schools, half baked teachers and teaching system, and some probably bought their degrees from the streets. Many have questionable academic papers and work experience printed in their CVs. This is extremely daft but Sinkies got no drive?
And they worked so hard, always stayed late in the office, delayed getting married, and if married, delayed in child bearing, to concentrate in their careers only to see some foreigners walking in to be their bosses, in their own country. This not daft, but plain stupid driven.
And they saved for a life time only to see their money in monthly statements, without any right to touch them unless the authority says so. This is not daft, but silly. Their hard earned money and other people control and decide how to spend them. Yes, no drive to get it back.
And they are expected to live a life in one of the most expensive countries in the world with a couple of thousands of dollars a month as salary and think they have a life when people are complaining that anything less than $55k pm will affect the quality of their lives. And the Sinkies still think they have a damn good life, even the poor daft Sinkies are the envy of the world. Or at least that is what they were told. And the daft Sinkies believed. Yes daft indeed.
And because they lacked drive, they will have to work till they die, be it 70, 80 or 90 years old. And because they are so daft, they believe that this is the way to live their lives, to work and work and work, with money in their savings only to feel good but cannot spend. The 70 or 80 year old uncles and aunties working as cleaners in food courts lacked drive!
Sinkies are really daft, aren’t they? Got drive or not? This foolishness of branding Sinkies as daft and got no drive reflects badly on those bloopers who spoke without thinking. They are all parroting the words of god like blind believers. God is unquestionable. Bunch of unthinking idiots. No wonder they need to recruit foreigners to fill the top management positions. And with the million dollar salaries, they need to pay jokers earning less than ten per cent of what they are getting to solve their problems with kindergarten recommendations.
Sinkies put their children into nurseries at the young age of 3 and many studied till the age of 21, ie 18 years of formal education and spending several hundred thousands of dollars, only to become taxi drivers. That is definitely daft but not lacking drive. The nursery or kindergarten fees for the good ones which Sinkies are willing to queue overnight or involve in community work, cost a bomb. This is not drive?
And the children grew up fighting for places in the best schools to score straight As. Getting 6As and above is now quite normal. They got these grades without drive, like buying from the street vendors? Heard of private tuition from pre school? And they will continue to pursue their degrees in local and overseas universities. And they are found wanting, lacking in skill sets and experience, and are replaced by foreigners from the third world who spent lesser time in make shift huts called schools, half baked teachers and teaching system, and some probably bought their degrees from the streets. Many have questionable academic papers and work experience printed in their CVs. This is extremely daft but Sinkies got no drive?
And they worked so hard, always stayed late in the office, delayed getting married, and if married, delayed in child bearing, to concentrate in their careers only to see some foreigners walking in to be their bosses, in their own country. This not daft, but plain stupid driven.
And they saved for a life time only to see their money in monthly statements, without any right to touch them unless the authority says so. This is not daft, but silly. Their hard earned money and other people control and decide how to spend them. Yes, no drive to get it back.
And they are expected to live a life in one of the most expensive countries in the world with a couple of thousands of dollars a month as salary and think they have a life when people are complaining that anything less than $55k pm will affect the quality of their lives. And the Sinkies still think they have a damn good life, even the poor daft Sinkies are the envy of the world. Or at least that is what they were told. And the daft Sinkies believed. Yes daft indeed.
And because they lacked drive, they will have to work till they die, be it 70, 80 or 90 years old. And because they are so daft, they believe that this is the way to live their lives, to work and work and work, with money in their savings only to feel good but cannot spend. The 70 or 80 year old uncles and aunties working as cleaners in food courts lacked drive!
Sinkies are really daft, aren’t they? Got drive or not? This foolishness of branding Sinkies as daft and got no drive reflects badly on those bloopers who spoke without thinking. They are all parroting the words of god like blind believers. God is unquestionable. Bunch of unthinking idiots. No wonder they need to recruit foreigners to fill the top management positions. And with the million dollar salaries, they need to pay jokers earning less than ten per cent of what they are getting to solve their problems with kindergarten recommendations.
2/04/2012
Living hypocrisies
Singaporeans are all reading the life of Dr Toh Chin Chye, one of the founding father of modern Singapore and the PAP. Chua Mui Hoong has a half page article of Toh Chin Chye in the ST today describing his tenacity and fearless fight for equality, press freedom, the politicising of the young Singaporeans and advocating more space for political freedom when he became a back bencher.
In the same breath it also described the irony of Dr Toh’s image as a repressive vice chancellor of the University of Singapore and his role as an integral part of the PAP machinery of oppression against dissenting voices and political opposition.
It seems that Dr Toh would be best remembered as a tough critic of the PAP during his last term as a back bencher, and for understanding and championing the plight of the powerless. The dying years of Dr Toh must be full of regrets that he did not do more for the powerless when he could. And when he was not in a position to do much, he fought hard but in vain, as a back bencher.
The moral of the story is that when a politician is in power, he is with the establishment, heart and soul. It was not a time to really think for the oppressed and the losers. It was all might and glory and fame. It is only when one is cast away from the pinnacle of power that one starts to understand what it is like at the receiving end or at the wrong end of the stick.
Such an enlightening experience seems to be repeated every time a politician falls from grace without fail. Several have stood up openly to speak for the oppressed people and even against the bad policies and culture of the power of the day.
Must such hypocrisies be repeated over and over again? Would those still in power reflect on this and stand up for the oppressed while they are still in power, still able to do something right, to live with their conscience of righteousness? Or would we see them crawling back, regretting that they should have done this and that when they could?
Would the living hypocrisies be repeated, be recycled all over again? Would more of such ironies be rewritten in the media as each leader hits the dust? May the living hypocrisies learn from the past masters and live a life of little or lesser regrets while there is still time for them to do something before they end up in the same boat?
The experience and regrets of our founding fathers are wisdom that is not taught in the textbooks. They are living examples and lessons to be learned to make one a better man. Future generations will be less forgiving of the failings of political leaders who could have done otherwise but chose not to do so in their heydays of power and glory.
Don’t come crying and wanting to defend the weak when they should have done so when they could. A spade shall be called a spade and hypocrisies should be called hypocrisies and nothing less.
In the same breath it also described the irony of Dr Toh’s image as a repressive vice chancellor of the University of Singapore and his role as an integral part of the PAP machinery of oppression against dissenting voices and political opposition.
It seems that Dr Toh would be best remembered as a tough critic of the PAP during his last term as a back bencher, and for understanding and championing the plight of the powerless. The dying years of Dr Toh must be full of regrets that he did not do more for the powerless when he could. And when he was not in a position to do much, he fought hard but in vain, as a back bencher.
The moral of the story is that when a politician is in power, he is with the establishment, heart and soul. It was not a time to really think for the oppressed and the losers. It was all might and glory and fame. It is only when one is cast away from the pinnacle of power that one starts to understand what it is like at the receiving end or at the wrong end of the stick.
Such an enlightening experience seems to be repeated every time a politician falls from grace without fail. Several have stood up openly to speak for the oppressed people and even against the bad policies and culture of the power of the day.
Must such hypocrisies be repeated over and over again? Would those still in power reflect on this and stand up for the oppressed while they are still in power, still able to do something right, to live with their conscience of righteousness? Or would we see them crawling back, regretting that they should have done this and that when they could?
Would the living hypocrisies be repeated, be recycled all over again? Would more of such ironies be rewritten in the media as each leader hits the dust? May the living hypocrisies learn from the past masters and live a life of little or lesser regrets while there is still time for them to do something before they end up in the same boat?
The experience and regrets of our founding fathers are wisdom that is not taught in the textbooks. They are living examples and lessons to be learned to make one a better man. Future generations will be less forgiving of the failings of political leaders who could have done otherwise but chose not to do so in their heydays of power and glory.
Don’t come crying and wanting to defend the weak when they should have done so when they could. A spade shall be called a spade and hypocrisies should be called hypocrisies and nothing less.
2/03/2012
Programming minds without the victims knowing
If you are those who hate North Korea, Iran and any country the US hates, you may want to read the full article by Stephen Lendman in World Affairs column under the thread 'Wake up or sleep with the curse of the evil West/US forever in www.redbeanforum.com. Below are some extracts from his article on Weapons of Mass Deception.
Selling War: "You Furnish the Pictures, and I'll Furnish the War."
By Stephen Lendman
Global Research, January 27, 2012
Throughout its history, America glorified wars in the name of peace. From inception, they're perpetuated against one or more domestic or foreign adversaries.
They include mass killing, assaults and abuse. Pacifism's called sissy or unpatriotic. Propaganda insists America's peace-loving. In fact, more than ever today, it's addicted to permanent war and violence....
In April 2007, Washington Post writer Tom Shales headlined, "A Media Role in Selling the War? No Question," saying:
"It's always depressing to learn that you've been had, but incalculably more so when the deception has resulted in thousands of Americans dying in the Iraq war effort" based on lies.
As in all wars, the more people rely on television for news, the less they know, and more susceptible they become to government and media propaganda.
In their book, "Weapons of Mass Deception: The Uses of Propaganda in Bush's War on Iraq," Sheldon Rampton and John Stauber showed how manipulative propaganda sold the public on war.
Combining PR and media deception, Operation: Iraqi Freedom was created. Deconstructing the process, they showed how top Bush officials planned war prior to his election, but waited until September 2002 for "product launch" to inform the public.
Using 'big lie" tactics, they associated Saddam with 9/11, forged documents to allege WMDs, and worked secretly to create the opposition Iraqi National Congress (INC). The PR Rendon Group coined the term. It got millions in funding and worked closely with CIA operatives. It became a driving force for war....
A Final Comment
Things remain the same. Deceptive reports manipulate the public mind on Syria and Iran. "There is no doubt that the mainstream media are crucial in this idea of selling that the US is going to be in a perpetual war."
They're key in making Americans believe military intervention is vital. Robert Parry said:
"I've worked at Newsweek as well (as AP) and other major US news organizations. And what I saw, especially at places like Newsweek, was this idea that the media was actually part of the establishment. It was that the American people were to be guided more than informed."
In fact, "political solutions" are alien to America's vocabulary. War profiteers demand jingoism. A century ago people were manipulated to accept war with Cuba. William Randolph Hearst hyped the big lie about Spain sinking the battleship Maine when, in fact, a coal bunker explosion did it.
Hearst, however, told his Havana illustrator: "You furnish the pictures, and I'll furnish the war." To this day, lies launch them. They're all based on lies to get people to go along with what wouldn't be possible otherwise.
Selling War: "You Furnish the Pictures, and I'll Furnish the War."
By Stephen Lendman
Global Research, January 27, 2012
Throughout its history, America glorified wars in the name of peace. From inception, they're perpetuated against one or more domestic or foreign adversaries.
They include mass killing, assaults and abuse. Pacifism's called sissy or unpatriotic. Propaganda insists America's peace-loving. In fact, more than ever today, it's addicted to permanent war and violence....
In April 2007, Washington Post writer Tom Shales headlined, "A Media Role in Selling the War? No Question," saying:
"It's always depressing to learn that you've been had, but incalculably more so when the deception has resulted in thousands of Americans dying in the Iraq war effort" based on lies.
As in all wars, the more people rely on television for news, the less they know, and more susceptible they become to government and media propaganda.
In their book, "Weapons of Mass Deception: The Uses of Propaganda in Bush's War on Iraq," Sheldon Rampton and John Stauber showed how manipulative propaganda sold the public on war.
Combining PR and media deception, Operation: Iraqi Freedom was created. Deconstructing the process, they showed how top Bush officials planned war prior to his election, but waited until September 2002 for "product launch" to inform the public.
Using 'big lie" tactics, they associated Saddam with 9/11, forged documents to allege WMDs, and worked secretly to create the opposition Iraqi National Congress (INC). The PR Rendon Group coined the term. It got millions in funding and worked closely with CIA operatives. It became a driving force for war....
A Final Comment
Things remain the same. Deceptive reports manipulate the public mind on Syria and Iran. "There is no doubt that the mainstream media are crucial in this idea of selling that the US is going to be in a perpetual war."
They're key in making Americans believe military intervention is vital. Robert Parry said:
"I've worked at Newsweek as well (as AP) and other major US news organizations. And what I saw, especially at places like Newsweek, was this idea that the media was actually part of the establishment. It was that the American people were to be guided more than informed."
In fact, "political solutions" are alien to America's vocabulary. War profiteers demand jingoism. A century ago people were manipulated to accept war with Cuba. William Randolph Hearst hyped the big lie about Spain sinking the battleship Maine when, in fact, a coal bunker explosion did it.
Hearst, however, told his Havana illustrator: "You furnish the pictures, and I'll furnish the war." To this day, lies launch them. They're all based on lies to get people to go along with what wouldn't be possible otherwise.
Dr Toh Chin Chye passed away
Toh Chin Chye passed away this morning at the age of 90. He was one of the founding father of PAP and modern Singapore. He was also a Deputy Prime Minister and Chairman of the PAP then.
Another historical figure that has turned to ash. Another chapter of Singapore's history comes to an end.
Another historical figure that has turned to ash. Another chapter of Singapore's history comes to an end.
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