ARE WE READY FOR SOCIAL CHANGE?
3 December 2007
Windy Sunday (30 Degree Celsius)
Afternoon @ 1410 (Singapore Time)
Listen: 漂洋过海来看你 by 李宗盛 (too bad…)
Mood: *Reformasi haha… Reform what?*
Actually the essence of communism is a rather good ideology, in theory at least. What corrupt the systems as with most other ideologies is the greed and individualism of mankind. Communism as an institution promotes the establishment of a classless social organization (like Government for instance) based on the common ownership as a means for production; in other words, for the better good of mankind as a whole.
The basic struggle between the Proletariat and the Bourgeoisie is not going to end anytime soon; beside, smarty pants have always coming up with better way to control the sleepy heads (Slaves, Fiefdom and now Maids from elsewhere haha). But Bird believes that there must be some balance in these quest and equation. No, of course not, don’t be silly/naïve. Since early days (depending on your belief), Men has either been subjected to lead or be led by others. Let’s keep the “for the better theory” aside, for simplicity.
Basing on this belief and along line with my previous assessments, Leaders should therefore make good the life of their followers, enriching themselves along the way is not really a moral sins (except at the expense of others). However, there are tons of factors that are beyond the realm of my pathetic blog to even briefly discuss the waywardness of such an assessment. Let’s just pick one; the need for basic social welfare. Firstly, we have to understand the fundamentals of human weakness/strength, the source of our diversity; we are not made equal.
Now that we got the obvious straighten out, herein lies the struggle for class identification. I read a series of Articles in the Strait times today that bemoans the plight of the lower income strata of our citizens. Mind you, it is citizens we are referring here, not some social visits, non residence aliens. These are against a backdrop of economic prosperity and a better than forecast growth by the Trade Ministry. But something is not proper here, never mind that the Government’s hands off approaches to social welfarism (I understand and actually sympathize with them on this aspect) but it seems that the wealth and achievement for the overall economy is/are not moving downwards to the masses (fast enough). And if that is not the worst news, inflation is going to be at 16 year high of 3.6%? Projected inflation estimated at 4.6 next year… oh fuck…
For the lower income family, there is no better timing; median income for low skilled workers (like cleaners for instance) has also fallen from S$860 to S$600 within the last 10 years. So factoring in annual inflation, cost of living, sex and everything, they are in a worst off position than they even begin with. It is like putting money in bank and getting returns that are less than inflation. Oh wait, isn’t that what the banks are doing? Right…
When the Government announces the 2% increment (read my blog on this earlier) that specifically catered for social programs… So err, now… Where’s the program? From the report, apparently there is only like 30 dollars increment (up from a nominal of S$260 per month). Ok, so that’s a good news? It gets better when Ministers are telling the masses something along the line like “What do you want? More Money?” Yup, something like that…
All in all, are we ready for social change? Nah, don’t bother. People still have food on table, roof over their heads, albeit the richer ones having skyroof and abalone for breakfast, still are basics nevertheless. Besides, people are either too chicken hearted to muster their courage for change (whatever that fits the bill) or they prefer cow pehing in coffee shop talks. Either case, the masses are fucked and it is all their fault.
Well, Like I said, Change starts with Bird but I’ll let Mankind keep their Gods too.
Windy Sunday (30 Degree Celsius)
Afternoon @ 1410 (Singapore Time)
Listen: 漂洋过海来看你 by 李宗盛 (too bad…)
Mood: *Reformasi haha… Reform what?*
Actually the essence of communism is a rather good ideology, in theory at least. What corrupt the systems as with most other ideologies is the greed and individualism of mankind. Communism as an institution promotes the establishment of a classless social organization (like Government for instance) based on the common ownership as a means for production; in other words, for the better good of mankind as a whole.
The basic struggle between the Proletariat and the Bourgeoisie is not going to end anytime soon; beside, smarty pants have always coming up with better way to control the sleepy heads (Slaves, Fiefdom and now Maids from elsewhere haha). But Bird believes that there must be some balance in these quest and equation. No, of course not, don’t be silly/naïve. Since early days (depending on your belief), Men has either been subjected to lead or be led by others. Let’s keep the “for the better theory” aside, for simplicity.
Basing on this belief and along line with my previous assessments, Leaders should therefore make good the life of their followers, enriching themselves along the way is not really a moral sins (except at the expense of others). However, there are tons of factors that are beyond the realm of my pathetic blog to even briefly discuss the waywardness of such an assessment. Let’s just pick one; the need for basic social welfare. Firstly, we have to understand the fundamentals of human weakness/strength, the source of our diversity; we are not made equal.
Now that we got the obvious straighten out, herein lies the struggle for class identification. I read a series of Articles in the Strait times today that bemoans the plight of the lower income strata of our citizens. Mind you, it is citizens we are referring here, not some social visits, non residence aliens. These are against a backdrop of economic prosperity and a better than forecast growth by the Trade Ministry. But something is not proper here, never mind that the Government’s hands off approaches to social welfarism (I understand and actually sympathize with them on this aspect) but it seems that the wealth and achievement for the overall economy is/are not moving downwards to the masses (fast enough). And if that is not the worst news, inflation is going to be at 16 year high of 3.6%? Projected inflation estimated at 4.6 next year… oh fuck…
For the lower income family, there is no better timing; median income for low skilled workers (like cleaners for instance) has also fallen from S$860 to S$600 within the last 10 years. So factoring in annual inflation, cost of living, sex and everything, they are in a worst off position than they even begin with. It is like putting money in bank and getting returns that are less than inflation. Oh wait, isn’t that what the banks are doing? Right…
When the Government announces the 2% increment (read my blog on this earlier) that specifically catered for social programs… So err, now… Where’s the program? From the report, apparently there is only like 30 dollars increment (up from a nominal of S$260 per month). Ok, so that’s a good news? It gets better when Ministers are telling the masses something along the line like “What do you want? More Money?” Yup, something like that…
All in all, are we ready for social change? Nah, don’t bother. People still have food on table, roof over their heads, albeit the richer ones having skyroof and abalone for breakfast, still are basics nevertheless. Besides, people are either too chicken hearted to muster their courage for change (whatever that fits the bill) or they prefer cow pehing in coffee shop talks. Either case, the masses are fucked and it is all their fault.
Well, Like I said, Change starts with Bird but I’ll let Mankind keep their Gods too.
No comments:
Post a Comment