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Apekjolly

Diverse Topics Eccentric Chatters and Exploring Into Each Other's Minds.

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beautifulgown,

People are influenced by things due to a lot of factors but mostly from peer pressure. The young ones lack the wisdom of the older generations. They have not seen as many things in life and thus may not be aware that some things just look nice on the surface.

Wanting to fit in and be accepted into a group is a very big factor. Young people will go to great lengths to gain acceptance by their peers. Thus they will dress in a similar manner. Act in a certain way and adopt practically everything their peer group does, be it right or wrong. Thus this is why it is crucial for parents to know what kind of friends their children is mixing around with.

Parents need to instill a sense of self confidence and boost a child's self-esteem. A child needs to learn that he/she need not follow blindly what others are doing but to analyse things and determine whether they are in line with their own values and beliefs and act accordingly.

It may be difficult to pry a child away from a certain group but one can always have a child mix with a group that upholds the right values and beliefs and let the child learn from his/her own experience.

The generation gap will always be there as the young one will always lack the experiences of the older ones but we can bridge the gap by understanding a child and guide a child towards the areas of his/her interest and also keeping a close watch on the kind of friends they run around with.

I keep this statement in mind when dealing with people and try to act accordingly : They don't care how much you know until they know how much you care.

So I strive to understand first and lecture later. Some people just go by the mantra - I am your elder and thus I know better and my word is law! I don't think that works very well at all.

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I refer to my earlier discussion under the topic "FREEDOM OF CHOICE?" where at the end of it I said I'd answer my own questions as to whether or not a person is accountable for his own actions; or if it is justified to punish a person who has committed a crime.

But before that, let me share with you two little stories: When I was small, my mother once caned me for playing in a filthy drain during a heavy downpour.

“You are so cruel!”, I wailed while her rattan kept on stinging my buttocks.

“No, I am in fact being kind to you,” she replied and gave me a few more sharp lashes.

The point of her sarcasm only struck home to me years later. By punishing me like that, my mother had prevented me from catching a cold or even from being swept away and drowned. She had to be cruel in order to be kind.

The other story was an incident which also happened when I was small: I, three other little kids, and two big boys who were brothers, were riding in a little boat in a small river. We were having fun paddling it to and fro and laughing at the antics of one of the big boys. The naughty entertainer was the elder brother of the one who was commissioned as the skipper of the boat. At one point, the overloaded boat suddenly tipped and water rushed in. Quickly the skipper pushed the entertainer off the boat and sent him splashing into the river. He swam to the bank and climbed aground all wet and muddy. We, the little kids, who were horrified at the spectacle, scolded the skipper for being cruel to his brother.

His reply to us was: “Listen here kids! If I did not push him off, the boat would sink and you all would drown, you know that? Besides, I knew he could swim and, wasn't he the one who tipped the boat with his foolish dancing?”

So, that younger brother had held his elder brother accountable for his actions and thus threw him off the boat to save others.

Now, my answer to the questions I mentioned at the beginning would therefore be: Yes, we need to make a person accountable for his actions so as to save others from becoming victims. We have to be cruel in order to be kind because in the interest of the majority, the rights of an individual is subdued. That's how the law operates. .

Do I contradict myself? In my earlier argument I said our actions were governed by things beyond our control. So, how could one be punished for a crime that is not committed out of one's own free will?

Unfortunately, that is the ugly truth we have to live with. We just cannot afford to compromise even if a crime is not attributable to any evil root. The thing is, if one is born with a propensity to commit crime, he is thus a dangerous thing. And we don't want dangerous things to be lurking around and be a threat to other members of the society. Anything dangerous should be contained or better still eliminated. A killer should be locked away, or better still, be killed in return, so that he'll not kill more of others. Being born with a killing gene is simply his own misfortune which makes him unsuitable to be fit into the system. And what doesn't fit, has to be emoved. After all, there are plenty of human beings on this planet to spare, and we certainly can do away those malfunctioning individuals whose existence are not helpful to the well-being of others.

Sounds kind of cruel? Human right protagonists may call me “Hitler”. But I have one simple question for them to think about: If a human being takes away the rights of other human beings, should he be given what he takes away from others?

In fact, being cruel to be kind is sanctioned in the law of nature. You see, nature does not discriminate between right and wrong when it comes to ensuring the survival of each species. For example, in the animal kingdom, a fish “gives birth” to millions of “babies” in anticipation for many that would die so as to allow a few to live. A praying mantis, while mating, offers his head to let his female partner much it off as food because he will be of no more use for her after he has done his duty of fertilizing her. As a matter of fact, most wild animals prey upon one another for survival. That is being cruel out of necessity.

So, although I have implied that it might not be the fault of a person for having done a wrong , he still has to be made accountable regardless. We are part of nature and so we have to follow some of nature's rules.

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My take on apekjolly's hypothesis--

Law of nature? Survival of the fittest? I would agree to that if the playing field was level as it is in the animal kingdom. But the human species have created many things that upsets this balance and thus I do not agree to it as is.

As for a punishement befitting the crime and carried out with no mercy. This system will work on paper but not really practical in real life, I would say.

Why? There's too many factors involved. Life is never as straightforward as we like it to be.

Let's say someone was caught killing another person and this criminal is a known killer and all the facts points to him doing the deed in cold blood. Executing this criminal would be the right thing to do for he has committed a crime and it is only befitting that the punishment befits the crime.

But what if this scenario plays out:

A killer stalks a victim and proceeds to kill the victim. Another persons sees the act and tries to help the victim but alas, he is too late. The killer sees this person and decides that he has to die too and proceeds to attack him. A struggle ensues and in the chaos, the killer gets killed and at this time a fourth person sees the third person killing the killer. Thus a crime has been committed. One of murder as witnessed but the fourth person has no idea what went on before the killer died.

Now, according to the law when the punishment should befit the crime, does it not mean that the third person will also be executed without mercy? But is this justice? He was just trying to stop a crime but ended up a criminal, instead.

How about this scenario :

A woman knows that her husband is two timing her and she goes mad with jealously and in a fit of rage, decides she wants her husband dead.

She gets a gun and goes to confront the philandering husband. Unbeknownst to the lady, her husband's lover's boyfriend has also the same intention and is also looking to kill the philandering man for stealing his girlfriend away.

The lady and the man finds the man at almost the same time. As the two men tussle, the lady comes upon the scene and is horrified to see another man trying to kill her husband.

Instinctively, she screams for the men to stop the fight. The struggle continues and the lady, in panic draws her gun and fires. The jealous boyfriend is shot and killed but they are witnesses around to justify that the boyfriend initiated the attack with intent to murder the husband. Thus the lady is spared punishment as she is now a saviour, having saved her husband from being killed. Again the question - Is this justice? Remember, that the lady also had an intent to kill her husband initially.

No system is perfect as we live in an imperfect world. Too many things can happen and too many factors go undetected and is lost forever once the moment has passed. Under any system, some who are innocent will be implicated while some who are guilty will walk free. Being humans, we are prone to errors but maybe there is a higher power that will pass out the final judgement when the day comes.

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daddyo,

Just to quickly acknowledge that I have briefly read your last post.

But I still don't have the time to study the circumstances of your two scenarios.

There's a phrase you used which aroused my interest which I intend to touch on one of these days. That phrase is "if the playing field is level".

I'll be back in due course. Meanwhile, happy living everyone. Bye.

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My HB always telling me if everyone is GOOD in this world, do we still need justice? do we still need a system to control people from committing crime? But tat's only if everyone is GOOD, and which is unlikely to be happened.

Justice is only favour the party who has evidence (enought evidence) to protect themselves (either right or wrong). Alto you committed a serious crime but you have enought evidence to get yourself free from the case, there's no one can do, as justice rule accordingly, so where was wrong with the justice system?

And talking about the justice, look at Malaysia .. even 1 simple case can also drag for more than a year, what happened to the system here? I read a case somewhere ago, the in-guilt party was free a day after the long court case (if not mistaken 10 years), if you look into this matter, what's wrong with our justice system?? this guy suppose to be jailed for 10 years but he was free all these while, while waiting for the case to be settled and yet he just need to spend a day in the jail and the next day he is a free-man! well well .. speechless :X

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Am back but only for a short while. I thought of some points (see below) and the opposing statement or argument that I frequently receive from people (I just listen and think). Have a go look and tell me what you think ya?

To many people, life is no more about fighting just to survive. After having achieved the survival stage, they proceed to fight on to be the fittest by amassing wealth, power, and fame. And in their pursuit of these goals; the real values of life is either forgotten or trashed. As a result, one of the by-products of such a “kiasu” syndrome is, disrespectful youngsters.

Perhaps it is because our society encourages and even rewards such behaviour? What about the parent's role in educating them to be otherwise?

If a human being takes away the rights of other human beings, should he be given what he takes away from others?

Technically, yes BUT the main reason why the law exists is so that people don't start practising a warped sense of justice and decide to go around killing "supposedly" bad guys. At the end of the day, what is right and what is wrong differs from society to society (except for the main values like murder and rape). Still this argument has opened up a can of worms - think the death penalty. And even then, how sure that our justice system is correct when it comes to executing people?

Law of nature? Survival of the fittest? I would agree to that if the playing field was level as it is in the animal kingdom. But the human species have created many things that upsets this balance and thus I do not agree to it as is.

True. Take away just a "simple" thing like money and you'll see a huge difference in the playing field. Move further to education, attitude, government policies and what not. This is one of the arguments people bring forward when discussing the practicality of the NEP. Do these policies serve to level the playing field or are they just upsetting the balance?

Will come back and add more when my brain is more settled. XD

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daddyo,

Let me now refer to your response to my “killing the killer punishment” concept. It seems that I had failed to make myself understood. Anyway, let me clarify: If the context of what I wrote is examined as a whole, one should see that the word “killer” which I used was not meant to refer to a person who has merely killed someone. The killer I mean is a person who has demonstrated himself to have the potential to kill someone regardless of whether or not he has really killed someone. Thus, a person who has killed someone need not necessarily be deemed a killer. That's why we have the court of law to arbitrate on the circumstances which lead to the killing. If a person kills to defend himself or to defend someone else from being unlawfully killed, definitely he should not be deemed a killer and thus should not be penalized for the act.

The two hypothetical scenarios that you have given were actually not quite pertinent to the essence of my deliberation simply because I was not talking about our justice system being perfect or not perfect. I was talking about human beings which were “out-of-order” and these malfunctioning individuals should not be allowed to roam free and be a constant threat to safety of others.

In fact, among the things I was trying to suggest was that we should not be too carried away by what we call “human rights” to the extend that the death penalty was abolished altogether. We need the death penalty simply because of the fact that any human who, in cold blood, takes away the life of another human must also have his life taken away by the law. And how the judges rule a case in the court of law to mete out a capital punishment is a totally different matter. Judges are humans, and humans can make mistakes, be biased, or be corruptible. That is what could make a justice system unjust as what you have pointed out.

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Some time ago, daddyo mentioned “the playing field being not level”. He's right. We are born into a playing field which is very uneven. So, it's not a fair game for us all.

And was it Abraham Lincoln who said “All men are born equal”? Politically he was right because what he actually meant was: “All men should be born equal”. Every citizen of a country should be given equal opportunities to pursue the goodness of life; that is his intended meaning I believe.

But the reality? Not all men are born equal. Some people are born poor, some born rich, some born pretty, and some born ugly, some born stupid and some born clever. We come into this world on unequal terms, grow up on unequal grounds and after that expected to make choices based on unequal platforms. Those of us who are on higher grounds can of course reach for the fruits easier. And,by the way, life isn't a buffet party where we can choose what to eat. Many don't even have a buffet party from which to make a choice.

If you're born rich, pretty, and strong, everything in life would seem to flow according to your wish. You get all the attention and all the pampering you want. Life is so nice; so romantic; and so exciting. Why worry? Why need to cheat, to steal, to rob? You can even give and be worshipped for your generosity.

But if you're born poor, ugly, and weak, everything in life would seem to be against you. You'd be ignored and hated. Life is so bad and so demoralizing, and so you ask, “What have I done to deserve this?” You feel something is not right, like as if you have been robbed of everything. You become frustrated and angry and so you cheat, steal and rob in an attempt to get even, and then, alas, you'd be further cursed and punished for the bad things you do.

Is life fair? Life has never been fair all along and everywhere. You can clearly see it with your very own eyes. Just take one very common scenario as an example: I'm sure you've seen pictures of those starving and dying children in Africa. Is it fair for them to be born into such misery?

And, oh, please don't answer me with one of those stale axioms that says “God has his own reasons which we don't understand.” It makes me want to drop dead right on the spot to hear such a dumb thing coming from yet another person who doesn't seem to have a brain to think, question, and wonder.

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beautifulgown,

Your hubby brought up a very interesting question: If everyone is good, do we still need justice? I will come to that subject one of these days. Meanwhile, stay beautiful. Tata!

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apekjolly,

I agree with your point, myself was a victim (at least 10 years ago, when I looked back my passport photo :o :blink: ishh .. HB was laugh till 'drop').

Fat and ugly is not his/her fault but is sin! why? everyone will ignore you, isolate you and you don't have much friends around you, why? because you are fat and ugly! mind you I was FAT and UGLY before, that was 10 years ago .. ahh .. more than 10 years! Do you think at that time I can have someone who sincerely love me? love a BIG FAT UGLY woman?? no no no .. I bet you NO!

At that time I never put hope that one day I will have someone who will sincerely love me, you cannot imagine up to the extend that my brothers said they need to sponsor the pingkam to get the guy to marry me :blink::ph34r: arrrgggggg :angry:

Is it fair?? everyone fair?? god has it arrangement?? nar .. no no no .. if god has it arrangement then why god wants me to be a BIG FAT UGLY woman?? why?? as what you said, I hate when people said "he has his own reason which we don't understand" then I really don't understand why he wants me to be a BIG FAT UGLY woman! :huh::huh::huh:

How FAT am I? *sweat* <_< I don't wish to show my photo here, because .. it will scare people to death! I'm not joking, I mean it.

So is it FAIR?? FAT people will never has the privilleage as those 'normal' people (HB says I'm an abnormal during those days), FAT people cannot buy ready-made baju, FAT people always attract people attention because FAT, no one wants sit next to a FAT people.

Few weeks ago, I went to a clinic to collect my mum's cream and there is a big fat guy (I pity him), once he entered the clinic, immediately he attracted people attention, when I look at him, I really pity him, I was fat before alto not as fat as him (I should call him obese) he actually move from one point to another point and the clinic is not big, I don't how the rest feel about him, but I can feel that he actually doesn't want to be an obese. I don't think he has friend, I don't even think he has chance to go outting like us, because he is really hard to move around.

Maybe I have gone thru the experience, and it makes me realise that, if you are fat and ugly don't think you can get the same treatment like others, fair? nope ..

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Life is never fair. Never has been and never will be. You all know very well that pretty/handsome people have it easier than the rest of us.

Just walk into a shop and wait for a drop dead gorgeous girl or a dashing macho handsome guy to walk in and try competing for the sales assistant's attention. The guy or girl may not even have any intention to buy and you may have loads of cash to spend but I'll bet that the sales assistants will ignore you. That's how 'fair' it is.

And how about those rich people who can afford to send their children overseas for studies while the poor but brilliant kid have to come out to work and give up his/her dream of furthering their studies? Those rich brats may be squandering the opportunity by partying for all they are worth instead of studying but they can come back with a paper and be in competition for the same job as the poor kid who did not get a chance to study (but more qualified to do the job). Guess who will win and get the job?

One thing that I have learned all these years (Cheh! I sound like I am very old ady! :P ) is that not to compare yourself too much with all these people. Accept the fact that life is not fair. The sooner you get this through your head, the better. Then learn to be happy with what you have. NOT be sad with what you DON'T have.

There will be countless things out there that you DON'T have and WON'T have for all eternity. Why waste so much time & energy over things like that? Learn to be thankful for all the things you do have.

Count your blessings that you have a loving and wonderful spouse/partner. For all you know those rich, beautiful and have-it-all people that you envy so much could not even find a single soul that truly loves them.

Say a prayer for the simple and joyful life that you live. You don't have much but you have more than most by comparison. You get by okay although you can afford to buy big cars and big house and spend money like it does not matter. You may be more blessed than you realise for those drowning in money may not get to enjoy the life you have. They may fear for their lives every time they step outside and cannot function without a whole entourage of bodyguards tagging along.

Be truly thankful that you have true friends by your side. Friends that cherish you for who you are not what you have. The rich and beautiful people that you envy may be surrounded by people all the time but all of them have ulterior motives to be close to them.

That's what I have learned and that's how I stay happy. Life is short and I do not intend to fill my life with sadness over all those HAVE-NOTS and overlook all those that I have. I will bet that if you REALLY know what kind of lives those that you so envy have, you will think twice about trading places with them. But then again, I could be wrong. :rolleyes:

My motto : You have all that you need and most of what you want. So be thankful.

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This is probably a personal opinion but I think people at large are responsible for upsetting the status quo. While yes, it is true that life is never easy, fairness to a certain extent is influenced by people. The poor suffer because of unequal distribution of wealth and food - approximately half of the world's food production is wasted by first world nations, and at least 10% of the world's population controls 90% of its wealth. If people gave more than what they take or at least share what they take, it could be more equal to a certain degree.

I supposed when Abraham Lincoln mentioned that all men are born equal, it was in reference to ethnicity and gender and not so much opportunities like wealth and poverty. This was during the time when slaves and any non-white was thought to be inferior both in physique and brain matter, when he championed the freedom of slaves instead of mastering them as in the South. Equality for him meant equal treatment in the eyes of the law, equal opportunities made to those by sections of the country, eg education, justice and so forth.

The issue Apek brought up about being marginalized because you were brought up poor is a good one. This is an issue that occurred during the 2006 Parisian riots, when a kid from the bandelieus (sp) (BL) was killed during a clumsy police arrest. It sparked a huge debate on issues regarding the people from the BL. Bear in mind that when you are from the BL, you are usually the son of an immigrant family, poor and living in squalor conditions. These are the suburb that no tourist bus ever passes, a place that looks like a prison - if you're from KL, remember the flats right the fire station along Pudu Prison - and where conditions are crappy, eg cramp places and no regular heating (this is important in a country where people do and can die every winter due to lack of warmth). Youths who apply for jobs using their foreign names and BL addresses get put aside - and this has been proven time and time again. So the riots were a built-up of a lot of years of anger and frustration towards the system as well as towards themselves for having to adjust culturally. Bear in mind that first generation immigrant children have a tougher time adjusting that their future kids because their parents are "fresh off the boat" and expect more of the "old ways" from them. It's a culture shock for these kids.

Two arguments came up - one is that these kids should rise above their situation and adapt. Work hard and etc, etc. The proponent? My dad who has never lived in a BL but has gone through tough times himself.

The other is that the government should step him and do something about the very unequal playing field, or at least get rid of the some stupid employment laws. The proponent? My HB who has lived in the BL when he was a student.

So which is right and which is wrong? Neither actually. Until today, the French government is still trying to settle this issue...and while they do, the kids still have to get on with life...

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meiteoh,

I read with interest on what you posted. Like you have said, most inequality stems from the perception of the people in general.

As for both of the arguments you presented, I think that both will not work unless the general public is educated to change their perception and not to judge people without solid proof.

To the argument that you father champions, that the kids should rise above their environment. Noble cause but hindered by people who will not give you a chance. These kids may have all the sincerity to work hard and become useful contributing members of society but unless the society embrace them and give them a chance, those kids will not go far.

Imagine that you are being ostracised wherever you go. You apply for a job and you know you are qualified to do but no one wants to hire you. How can you show that you are capable?

Imagine that you are enterpising and starts a small business on your own and none but those close to you and from your own background support your business. How big can you grow?

To the argument that your hb champions, that the govt. should step in and introduce laws to help these kids. Also would not do much help because if the society still holds such a big prejudice against these kids, they will still be stifled and sidelined.

There's a lot of loopholes in laws that can be manipulated. Yes, you may be forced not to turn away job applicants or even slam down laws that you must hire a certain percentage of these kids. Truth is the employers can always relegate them to menial jobs or dead end jobs with no future prospects. Or find every ways possible to get them sacked or push them to resign. So we are back to square one.

The only way is to educate the society to have an open mind and accept people for who they are and not judge them based on race or religion or background or anything. Reward base on merits and not on favoritism. Easy to say but hard to practice.

Remember how our parents used to scare us when we were young? I don't know about you but I used to hear statements like these - "If you don't listen, then the 'Ahn Neh Neh' (slang for Indian man) or the 'Ah Baii' (slang for Singh) will come and take you away!" This kind of statement instill irrational fear in young children against the Indian and the Singh men. Is there any basis for that? It is racial how the innocent Indians and Singhs is painted in a bad light.

My parents still uses statements like the above on my one and a half year old daughter. Now she runs towards me or her mother when she sees any dark skinned male around. I find that sad. She fears them just because they are dark skinned. It reminds me that I should not discriminate against anyone and that I should be careful of the way I talk and act when in front of the little tot. I should not be planting seeds of racial or any kind of segregation no matter how subtle they may be. We should all teach the young one to unite rather than encourage segregation. It starts with us.

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Yes, I know of some parents who do that and I was lucky that my parents didn't. Still when I grew up and started dating, my parents forbid me to date Indians and I began to notice that every time there was a crime wave in M'sia, my dad would hit on immigrants the hardest, saying that it was because of that and so forth. These days he's starting to change his tune after realizing that his own daughter is an immigrant and opened to prejudice just like the ones he blame often.

Now, it's unfair and unrealistic to expect people to have no bias or prejudice of their own. Whether we want to admit it or not, we are ALL racists to a certain degree. We have our own opinions of other races based on our exposure and experience with them. But whether we act on them or not is another matter altogether.

These students are not asking for people to have no bias whatsoever; they are merely asking that the government step in and make it a no discrimination policy when it comes to hiring people. Unlike in Malaysia, most of Europe is bound by anti-discrimination rules. Interviewers and companies are not allowed to ask for your marital status or age much or less religion, where you're from or what ethnicity you are. They don't even have application forms where you have to put in your race, religion and age!!!!! So when it comes to singling out certain sounding names and addresses, these students feel that it is against the anti-discrimination laws. That's all, I believe...

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meiteoh & daddyo,

I have read both your latest posts. It's nice to know that there are anti-predjudice people like you around. And it's also nice to read meiteoh's admission that everyone do harbor a certain degree of "racism". Racism is a kind of tribal instinct which, in a sense, is natural, and thus can be said to be unavoidable. It's important to recognise it as such so that we can use human wisdom to fight against a natural instinct which has a detrimental effect if allowed to fluorish in modern cosmopolitan societies.

Prejudice against dark skin? Now that we already have a dark skin guy who has become the most powerful person in the world. And he has been put in that position by millions of white-skinned people. This is a very positive indication that the world is changing.

Yesterday I found myself clapping in the office to hear the breaking news that Obama won as the President of America. I was jubilant at his victory for a number of reasons: First, I personally like his look. He looks like a nice guy (There isn't a trace of evilness at all in his face). Secondly, his victory would show to the world that the most advanced country in the world has defeated racial prejudice. Third, I want Malaysians to see that it is not necessary that only a person who comes from "the original race" of a country can be the ruler. I want Malaysians to see that a person can be a ruler of a country as long as he is fair and good regardless of his race.

I hope the world will become a more peaceful place to live in after Obama. I hope Obama will discard the Bush's confrontational kind of politics and I hope Obama will make those so-called "terrorists" to become his friends. And above all, the most immediate change I hope to see is the speedy recovery of the current global economic crisis.

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Okay, today let's have some lighter stuff for some fun. Sometimes, we like to daydream and lose ourselves in the world of fantasy.

So, let me fantasize on the question which beautifulgown's hubby has asked: DO WE NEED JUSTICE IF EVERYONE IS GOOD? We can answer this question with another question: IF NOBODY DOES ANYTHING BAD, WHO NEEDS TO BE JUDGED FOR A WRONG?

Now, from that question, I'd like to venture further and ask: WHAT WOULD LIFE BE LIKE IF EVERYONE IN THE WORLD IS GOOD?

If we're all good to one another and there's no crime like killing, fighting, robbing, cheating, stealing, hating, etc etc etc, and if my mind roams free, I'd visualize a world as follows: It's a world of paradise. Heaven is here on earth, and there's no need to wait till we die to go to heaven (if there's really such a place as heaven)

First, let me list out the things that we don't need if everyone is good:

We don't need soldiers and weapons because there would be no battles and wars to be fought. This is a huge financial saving as military expenditure is the costliest for a country.

We don't need police or security guards because there're no bad people to catch, and thus neither prisons nor wardens are needed as well. This again is another huge saving.

We don't need lawyers because we don't need to put our dealings in writings to prevent cheating.

We don't need courts and judges because we don't quarrel nor commit crimes, and thus we don't need them to handle such cases.

We don't need politics because politics is about fighting to protect rights, fighting for wants as well as fighting to control and to dominate one another.

We don't need locks and keys, security alarms and security codes, passwords, CCTVs, or any other items, systems, and procedures related to security matters because no one would be dishonest enough to want to intrude into each other's privacy.

We don't need to write so many letters and memos in offices because a lot of things can be done without the need to put them in black and white. This would require so much less documents and files to be kept.

We don't need so many hospitals, clinics, doctors, and nurses because there would be so much less health related problems to handle as people care about the safety of others in everything they do.

We don't need money and banks because we don't need such a system to record the value of things we possess as prevention against cheating. Banking is also a system to exploit money out of one another. If there's no money, then there'd be also no need for accounting works, and therefore no need for any accountants or any other workers related to accounting.

We don't need licences, certificates, testimonials etc because we don't need papers to restrict and define individuals to prevent trespassing into one another's boundaries or bluffing one another of one's own worth. .

Lastly - believe it or not - we don't need religions! Because the actual original purpose of religions is to make humans good.

A question you may now ask is: If there's no need for any soldiers, police, guards, lawyers, judges, accountants, etc etc, where would all these people have been employed?

My answer is: Don't worry. There are lots and lots of other things to do in the world - things which can make the world a better place for everyone to live in. For example, instead of spending so much energy and resources on military defense and weapons, we can direct our energy and resources to build more roads, more buildings, more bridges, and more recreational parks and recreational facilities. We can provide better healthcare to make everyone healthy and live longer. We can tidy up, clean, and beautify our villages, towns and cities; plant flowers everywhere and do landscaping in every nook and corner of our surrounding; rear animals, birds, and insects and train them to live among humans. We can direct our energy towards scientific research on anything which benefits humankind including devising ways and means to protect the environment and overcome bad weathers and natural disasters.

Well, the possibilities are endless if you keep on thinking about what we can do with all the extra resources that we would have available for use if they have not been squandered away to be used in other countless ways just to combat human evils.

By the way, you may wonder how would business be conducted if we don't use money. Answer: there would be no commercial business. But there would be industries and factories making everything we need for living and comfort, and all these products would be put in collection centers for anyone to take free of charge. Of course nobody would take away more than he or she requires because, remember, everyone is good and no one would waste anything. If you need a service at home, just make a phone call and someone will come to do it free for you. If you want to eat outside, just go to a restaurant, order, eat, say “thank you”, and leave.

And who pays for all the things and services you use? Answer: You pay for them by contributing your share of time, energy, and skill to others who also get them free from you. In other words, you serve others free and others serve you free. Everyone would be only allowed to work for 3 to 4 hours per day, and the rest of the time is for luxury and fun. If you want to work longer hours, you'd have to ask for it and explain why.

“Hah hah! This Apekjolly has gone mad!”, you may exclaim. “How can such a world is possible?”

You're right. Such an utopian world is not possible simply because not everyone is good. But if someone can just pluck out the evil element from humankind, can you explain why any one of those scenarios I visualized is not possible?

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Apekjolly,

That would be the day! Imagine! No serious work! Everybody will be contributing what he or she is naturally good at and your word is really worth its weight in gold!!

That would be the perfect world where people are not segregated by anything at all! All are equal under heaven and the world would be at peace. Imagine what the human race could achieve if that were all possible! When we band together and work as one race - the human race and work for one objective - the betterment of the human race!

It would not be too out of reach to say that we could possibly invent something that could traverse the universe. Space - the final frontier. To boldly go where no man has gone before! But not on a conquest mission but on a friendly mission - to discover and make friends with other sentient beings!

But then again what would happen if we meet an aggressor? Would we not have the capability to defend ourselves as we are incapable of fighting back or killling others even if they are killing us?

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"But then again what would happen if we meet an aggressor? Would we not have the capability to defend ourselves as we are incapable of fighting back or killling others even if they are killing us?"

daddyo,

You've brought up a very important point (above) which I've never thought of before. It makes me begin to wonder if that is the reason why humankind needs to have an evil element in their hearts. Put simply, perhaps we have to be bad inorder to be able to defend ourselves against a possible aggressor. But then that seems to be indeed a very high price to pay. Which is to say we need to cause suffering to ourselves in order to go on living. What an irony. isn't it? That reminds me of an answer a buddhist monk gave to a person who asked him what the meaning of life was. He curtly replied: "Life is suffering".

Anyway, daddyo, that issue would be food for thought for me for quite a while to come.

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Hm, just a quick food for thought - if everyone was good, if everything was perfect, how would we know something evil or bad or wrong when we see it? It's too Utopian for a world filled with imperfection, IMHO.

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meiteoh,

Sometime ago, you brought up a thought-provoking subject on the unequal distribution of wealth around the world. Kind of, too little people have too many and too many have too little. As you said, about 90% of the world's wealth is in the hands of only10% of the world's population. Nobody can argue with you on that.

I believe you must be wondering if something is wrong somewhere. Could it be due to how things are organized in this world? I suspect one of the areas from which the scourge originates is the economic system. You see, our economic system does overwhelmingly favor those who have money, but is viciously hostile towards those who don't have money.

Economics is, however, too complicated for most people (including myself) to understand. It is the very sophisticated and mysterious nature of the economics mechanism which helps it to camouflage its ruthlessness. But I believe, at the bottom all that complexity, is a very simple truth.

Economics has evolved into a tool used by the 10% advantaged group to exploit and enslave the 90% group. Its mechanism is quite clear: Money is used to make money. But if you don't already have money, you have to use a lot of your energy to make a little money. And you'll never seem to make enough extra money for yourself to use as a tool to make more money. Reason? Normally, based on the time and energy you put into your work, you ought to be making quite a great deal more money than you actually need. But then, any extra which you have made is being surreptitiously siphoned off by the 10% group through the economic system.

From another angle, the concept looks like this: The majority of the working people in the world are actually made to earn just enough money to be able keep themselves alive so that they can go on working to make the rich people richer.

Let's look at another scenario: In the law of nature, every living creature has to hunt for its own food if it wants to be alive. This basically means that everyone has to work to earn a living and not depend on others like a parasite.

But when it comes to human society, that natural law breaks down: It is possible for a person to not having to lift a finger to do any work at all and yet he can live luxuriously all his life. Worse still, he can even do things which waste resources which otherwise are extremely valuable to others. How can such a scenario exist? Where do all the things that the person squanders and consumes come from? Why do those things want to automatically go to him without he having to chase after them? The answer lies in none other than what we call “money”. It's all because somehow he already has a sum of money, and that money is the thing he can use as a tool of manipulation to make others work for him. And that is possible only because of how our economic system is designed.

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Apekjolly,

You've got that spot on! It is true that the current economic systems favour those who have money. Why? The answer is simple. The system was created by those who has money in the first place.

Just go back in time where money was not invented yet. To the barter system. That was a more or less fair system. You have what I want and I have what you want and we agree on a amount to trade. Then some smart aleck invents the concept of money. Now the whole system is screwed! The very reason being that the money concept will inevitably favor the one who invented it! Wouldn't you do the same? Heck, if I was the one who invented the concept of money, I would make it favor me rather than make it fair. I am no saint and I will readily admit to that.

From the money concept grew all the other economy concepts and who are the people behind it? Of course those who have lots of money and want to make more. So can it ever be fair?

Now, the one thing is that, the secret is not so difficult to grasp! You too can cross over to the other side of the money equation. It just needs a little time to work. How? Simple - understand the power of the 8th wonder of the world --> compounding interest.

Most of the time, we have interest working against us rather than for us. Look at the banks - they offer us really low interest rates for our deposits (around 4% pa) but charge us the sky for our loans! Thus we have interest working against us.

So the wise thing to do is not let interest work against us. Let's say we want to buy a car that costs RM30k and we have RM20k in the bank. What do we normally do? Take out RM10k for deposit and borrow the rest, right? That's the wrong move. That's the move the banks want you to take. You should actually use all your Rm20k as deposit for the car and borrow only RM10k. You would say then you would lose the interest on the RM10k in the bank had you not withdrew it. My dear, the interest you earn is not even enough to cover your car loan's interest that's being charged by the bank. So you are actually losing money. So use all the money you have and borrow the amount that you don't or don't buy that car. Easy to say but quite hard to practise especially if you are not the risk taking type.

Materialism is also a concept created by the rich to trap us mere mortals. They make you want so many things. Things that are beyond your means and they introduce the concept of credit to you. Credit cards - charges about 18% pa for your credit. You don't see the banks offering you any deposits for 18% interest pa, now do you? So what do you do? Live within or below your means! Save what you can, not spend it!

Then, there is investing. A concept that can enrich those who know how to properly utilise it. I always say this - you must INVEST not GAMBLE! If you are using money that you need for something else to invest, then you are actually GAMBLING, not investing. There is a proverb in Chinese that says '10 gamble, 9 will lose' and those are not the odds you want on your side. When investing, the money that you use for investing must be free from any other commitment. Then you can invest with a straight head and not be sabotaged by your emotions.

So in a nutshell :

1. Live below your means and save what you can.

2. Do not incur bad debts (like buying cars and other depreciating stuff). Incur only good debts but you must still adhere to rule no. 1 above while incurring good debts.

3. Invest your savings and aim long term. Let the compounding interest work FOR you.

4. Do not be GREEDY.

Over time, the 8th wonder of the world will propel you to the other side of the money equation. It is proven. It is simple but you need a lot of discipline to achieve it.

Take heart! All is not lost. There no law man-made or otherwise to say that if you are not born rich, then you are screwed. You can work your way to riches. Those who are born rich will also not always stay rich. Another Chinese proverb says, 'You cannot stay rich for more than 3 generations' ('Fu But Gor 3 Thoi' in Cantonese) and it is more or less true. The first generation can be born poor but they learn the concept of money and they become rich. The second generation are born rich and they enjoy the spoils but they may not really understand the concept their like their father did. The 3 generation are mostly the ones who would squander all the wealth as they are the least knowledgeable about the concept of money but are spoiled by all the good things that they have. They cannot tolerate anything other than first class but will fall from their high and mighty position cause all they know is how to spend but do not know how to make money.

So now that you know, go forth and be rich! :P

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