We as humans are really a peculiar bunch.
So strange are we that a great deal of us do not make much sense when we speak.
Over the past few years, there have been a lot of talk about conserving nature and protecting what we call the "natural" paradises in this world we live in. Well, but seriously, how do we define "nature" itself? Well, this may not be a problem for many. "Sure! Nature's all that green stuff and other things that should happen and go on without human intervention!" Well, at the very least that is the impression I get from them all... But seriously, are they claiming to not be part of nature? The term all encompassing for almost every other living being on this planet? If so, then what are we? Are we above nature? So much so that it is our duty to maintain it? And to maintain by whose call? Last I checked there is really no written law as to how and when should humanity intefere with, well, everything else.
Sure we wrote our own rules of engagement when dealing with "nature", but seriously, I find a great deal of those rules rather... Well, let's just say they are there not so much for the good of others but our own pride and benefits.
There has been several great outcries regarding the encroachment of alien species in some habitats. Some of us had and still are trying to "combat" such alien invasion. But seruously... Are we not the greatest invasive species on this planet? Such irony.
and wait a minute, is not the ability to adapt and/or migrate one of the fundamentals for survival in the "wild"? Why then are we stopping these species from doing their thing? Isn't change the most natural process that even we the species that contradicts itself adhere and even embrace?
We claim that we are the most superior on this planet, we claim that we are the most rational, but are we really as sensible as we claim? We refute our own creations, our expanding cities as "unnatural" as not part of nature. Yet, the nests and the hives of birds and bees do not face such scrutiny. Aren't they all created from stuff found lying around the place? Did not the birds disturb the ground and the trees for their own nests? Why then are our cities considered an unnatural occurence? Last I checked they are all made of stuff lying around. And surely, pray enlighten me on how to create something, out of nothing...
Seriously, we just do not make sense...
Saturday, June 18, 2011
Thursday, December 9, 2010
Secrets should remain that, Secrets.
Sometimes i wonder how many issues and problems thee are in this world just waiting in the background of all the brouhaha of sensationalised news for their turn in the global spotlight. Furthermore, I fully recognise that whatever I would be writing below would draw much flak, this is something I should do and greatly belief in what I would write.
Sure, there are no World Wars in this day and age, but the age old problems of poverty, hunger and injustice are still prevalent in today's society. Yet, the reason why this issue really gets under my skin is not simply only because it distracts us from the more important issues in life, and even worse, builds walls between the people of power that CAN actually do more than most of us.
Nevertheless, the main reason that it pisses me off, is not so profound as these noble aspirations. I for one am not a man of such noble deeds and aspirations and that the injustice to these aspirations done by these group of self-proclaimed vigilantes have done. No, I for one am infuriated simply because I belief that there are some things that must, and i reiterate, MUST be kept and maintained confidential. The logic is simple. Everyone, regardless of who and what one may be, all have a skeleton or two in the wardrobe, a dirty little secret that should be kept out of the eyes of others. These little secrets don't always have to be incriminating evidence of some heinous crime, but simple things, like a childhood crush, or a hobby *ahem* that one would rather others not know about.
I believe that some things are to be kept confidential. That is why we build walls in our houses and doors and gates to keep others out, so that we can at least keep a few secrets, have confidential conversations in confidence that whatever we say would NOT end up in the newspapers the next morning. On the same note, politicians are human, belief it or not, like anyone of us. Thus, it is inevitable that they, like us, form opinions, first impressions of things and people. It is not in the least surprising that some may hold others in disdain or whatsoever. Afterall, who doesn't?
On the same issue, my Dad posed an intriguing question. Why? What is the true motive behind the release of the several hundred thousand previously confidential cables? Pause for a minute and think about it, would you, even having access by some miraculous means, voluntarily surrender thousands of such documents to some random guy with a website, for all to see? Documents that could potentially jeopardise YOUR governments efforts from diplomacy to a protracted war? Especially when YOUR PAYROLL comes from the very same people you would potentially harm by releasing these cables? From where I come from, that would be a one-way ticket to Unemployment Land and Bankruptcy Paradise. Whoo hoo~~
But seriously, every other day I read about these issues and it really gets me wondering, how many out there can see beyond the Utopian dream of, and I qoute, "Keep Governments Open"? How many are rational enough to be grounded in this harsh and cruel world that unrestrained "Free Press" would only lead to more chaos, that we are all so getting tired of.
Thus, the model of an unrestrained "Free Press" is not for me. Afterall, there is no such thing as complete freedom for any individual. Thus, it only seems rational that models like Singapore's "responsible journalism" is the one for me. Sure one risks getting sued in court for publishing some articles, but isn't it the same as telling someone off in the face? For one, you risk getting sued, the other you risk getting a knuckle-sandwich in your face, or the other guy may declare a blood-feud...
Thus, enlighten me please the defenders of such an outrageous idea, how whatever you are doing can, as a certain Jackson once sang, "make it a better place, for you and for me and the entire human race".
Sure, there are no World Wars in this day and age, but the age old problems of poverty, hunger and injustice are still prevalent in today's society. Yet, the reason why this issue really gets under my skin is not simply only because it distracts us from the more important issues in life, and even worse, builds walls between the people of power that CAN actually do more than most of us.
Nevertheless, the main reason that it pisses me off, is not so profound as these noble aspirations. I for one am not a man of such noble deeds and aspirations and that the injustice to these aspirations done by these group of self-proclaimed vigilantes have done. No, I for one am infuriated simply because I belief that there are some things that must, and i reiterate, MUST be kept and maintained confidential. The logic is simple. Everyone, regardless of who and what one may be, all have a skeleton or two in the wardrobe, a dirty little secret that should be kept out of the eyes of others. These little secrets don't always have to be incriminating evidence of some heinous crime, but simple things, like a childhood crush, or a hobby *ahem* that one would rather others not know about.
I believe that some things are to be kept confidential. That is why we build walls in our houses and doors and gates to keep others out, so that we can at least keep a few secrets, have confidential conversations in confidence that whatever we say would NOT end up in the newspapers the next morning. On the same note, politicians are human, belief it or not, like anyone of us. Thus, it is inevitable that they, like us, form opinions, first impressions of things and people. It is not in the least surprising that some may hold others in disdain or whatsoever. Afterall, who doesn't?
On the same issue, my Dad posed an intriguing question. Why? What is the true motive behind the release of the several hundred thousand previously confidential cables? Pause for a minute and think about it, would you, even having access by some miraculous means, voluntarily surrender thousands of such documents to some random guy with a website, for all to see? Documents that could potentially jeopardise YOUR governments efforts from diplomacy to a protracted war? Especially when YOUR PAYROLL comes from the very same people you would potentially harm by releasing these cables? From where I come from, that would be a one-way ticket to Unemployment Land and Bankruptcy Paradise. Whoo hoo~~
But seriously, every other day I read about these issues and it really gets me wondering, how many out there can see beyond the Utopian dream of, and I qoute, "Keep Governments Open"? How many are rational enough to be grounded in this harsh and cruel world that unrestrained "Free Press" would only lead to more chaos, that we are all so getting tired of.
Thus, the model of an unrestrained "Free Press" is not for me. Afterall, there is no such thing as complete freedom for any individual. Thus, it only seems rational that models like Singapore's "responsible journalism" is the one for me. Sure one risks getting sued in court for publishing some articles, but isn't it the same as telling someone off in the face? For one, you risk getting sued, the other you risk getting a knuckle-sandwich in your face, or the other guy may declare a blood-feud...
Thus, enlighten me please the defenders of such an outrageous idea, how whatever you are doing can, as a certain Jackson once sang, "make it a better place, for you and for me and the entire human race".
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