MaoKun

Commentary on blog

2007-08-22T23:58:00.000+08:00

Commentary on blog (Aw Mun Khay, 32/07)

Reference: http://theultimatefallacy.blogspot.com/

With reference to Aw Mun Khay’s blog article on “death penalty”, I generally do not agree with his arguments. He has taken an extreme stand that death penalty should not be abolished, given the reasons (as stated in his arguments) that death penalty plays a big part in deterring crime rate.

One of the arguments he made in his article is that “Singapore has the lowest murder rate per capita in the world, according to wikipedia and I am convinced that the death penalty has the ability to deter crime.” I disagree with his claim that based on the fact that Singapore practises death penalty and have the lowest murder rate per capita in the world, it would be sufficient to prove that death penalty has the ability to deter crimes. Statistics has proven to negate his claim, as shown in the online fact sheet about death penalty in US (http://www.deathpenaltyinfo.org/FactSheet.pdf). The fact sheet showed that despite having the highest number of execution, the South has the highest murder rate. On the other hand, the Northeast has the lowest number of executions and also the lowest murder rate. Not only that the use of death penalty is ineffective to deter murderers from committing the crime, the money involved in allowing death penalties is also much higher than sending criminals to life imprisonment, as stated in the fact sheet. Hence, the use of death penalty is ineffective in deterring would-be criminals from committing crimes.

In addition, other conditions besides death penalty in Singapore could have been the reason for the low murder rate. One significant reason could have been the presence of an effective government in Singapore. Singapore’s government is well-known for its effectiveness, bringing Singapore from a small unknown red dot in the world to a country that obtains many “firsts” in just over 40years. This showed Singapore’s government’s pragmatism in its governing of Singapore and could probably be the significant factor that accounts for the low crime rate in Singapore. Since death penalty is not a significant factor in the deterrence of crime, the use of death penalty should not be continued.

Furthermore, we should always remember that the act of execution (death penalty) is an irreversible action. Once it is carried out, it cannot be undone. Should there be any discrepancies in the judge’s judgment passed down after the execution, there is no way to reverse what has been done. Therefore, I am against the use of death penalties.

Can poverty ever be eradicated?

2007-08-19T21:55:00.001+08:00

Poverty has been a problem that bugs countries all over the world and is a problem that seems to be unable to be solved. The issue on poverty is not just restricted to poor countries but is instead a problem worldwide. Even in a country that is seemingly rich, there certainly live people who are poor and are struggling to survive. With the problem of poverty being so large, I do not think that it is a problem that can be solved.

The problem of poverty has existed for years and will continue to exist even if governments, individuals or groups attempt to help them. As stated by The Straits Times’ interview in May 2005 with Jeffrey Sachs (a professor attempting to eradicate poverty), he written in his book that his goal is to have richer countries contribute 0.7% of their income to help poorer nations. However, this is almost impossible as even though the world’s leading countries has pledged in 1970 to contribute 0.7% of their income to help poorer nations, only 5 have succeeded in doing so (The Straits Times, May 2005). This has showed that many richer countries are unwilling to contribute to help the poorer nations. Furthermore, the characteristics of a poor nation made it difficult for it to rid itself of poverty. Some of them include the lack of schools as well as the geographical location of being in mountainous, waterless regions (World Press, March 2007).Though the problem of the lack of schools can be solved by having the government or neighbouring rich nations contribute to build schools, the shortage of teachers will be the next problem that arises. Furthermore, the geographical features of a nation cannot be changed and this is one problem that cannot be solved. With so many limitations to the solving of the problem of poverty, poverty will not be able to be eradicated.

Is teaching less an effective method?

2007-08-19T17:05:00.000+08:00

Article-British move to ‘teach less’ in schools draw protests (The Straits Times, 23/7/2007)

In 1999, Singapore government has adopted the ‘Teach less, learn more” approach, cutting the school syllabus by 30 per cent. This is to allow for teaching of creative thinking, National Education and even computer-based teaching. Similarly, Britain has adopted an approach akin to that of Singapore’s “Teach less, learn more”. Britain is removing traditional subjects in favour of “lightweight” alternatives such as shopping and personal well-being. Officials of Britain said that this approach aimed at producing young adults who are equipped with the complexities of the modern world. Why are more and more countries reducing their syllabuses and teaching less to allow for other things to be taught to students? For me, I think that teaching less to incorporate other skills to be taught to students is a more effective method of teaching as compared to the conventional way of teaching, where purely information with regards to each subject are taught to students.

Would it not be the case that teaching less affect the depth of each subject students are learning? To teach less would definitely mean that there is a less in depth learning to each subject but this can be compensated by using the SDL (self directed learning) method, where some topics which requires lesser explanation to be self taught. In this case, the problem of a less in depth learning would be minimised. In addition, there are many other skills that are more important than science and maths. Life skills to deal with complexities in life, which the Britain new education system aims at teaching, is probably one example that is more important than information from books. These are skills that could hardly be learnt, either from parents or from friends. By teaching them in schools, it allows students to better cope with problems that arise in the later part of their life. In Singapore’s “Teach less, learn more” approach, one of its aim is to promote creative thinking and this is as important as, if not more important than, information from textbooks. In our current world where there is global competition in every industry, an innovative and creative mind would definitely give us an edge ahead of our competitors worldwide. This would allow for Singapore’s development to be on par or even stay ahead of other larger and more developed countries.

Are you for or against the death penalty?

2007-08-11T18:22:00.000+08:00

Death penalty, a punishment which some nations take but not others, is still an issue much debated about today. Why should death penalty be allowed? - is it an effective deterrent or does it cost much less than to sentence life imprisonment? Whichever the cause, death penalty is an irreversible action and should be only taken as the last measure.

One possible argument for someone for death penalty could be the deterrence effect that it will have on other would-be criminals. As stated from the article, America’s crime rates has fallen as compared to Europe’s crime rates and the drop is said to be attributed to the greater use of punishment, which includes capital punishment. Hence, this would have concluded the effectiveness of the death penalty. However, statistics has shown otherwise, as shown in the online fact sheet about death penalty in US (http://www.deathpenaltyinfo.org/FactSheet.pdf). The fact sheet showed that despite having the highest number of execution, the South has the highest murder rate and on the other hand, the Northeast has the lowest number of executions and also the lowest murder rate. Not only that the use of death penalty is ineffective to deter murderers from committing the crime, the money involved in allowing death penalties is also much higher than sending criminals to life imprisonment, as stated in the fact sheet. Hence, the use of death penalty is not only ineffective in deterring would-be criminals from committing crimes but is also expensive to maintain.

Furthermore, we should always remember that the act of execution (death penalty) is an irreversible action. Once it is carried out, it cannot be undone. Should there be any discrepancies in the judge’s judgment passed down after the execution, there is no way to reverse what has been done. Therefore, I am against the use of death penalties.

However, for each murderer executed, the number of murder cases would have decreased and this implies that for each murderer not executed, more innocent victims would die. As such, more lives would be taken by not having death penalties and in addition, these are innocent lives that would definitely be worth more than that of a murderer’s life. Thus, implementation of death penalties is also effective to a certain extent.

The problem of ageing population...

2007-08-05T10:00:00.000+08:00

Article- In U.S- GREEN CARD, In EU- 'BLUE CARD' (The Straits Times, 4/8/2007)

In this world of ours, it seems that there is an inevitable problem, and that is the problem of an ageing population. With the increased standard of living and better health of people around the world, people are living longer and yet, lesser babies are being born. As such, the problem of an ageing population arises. This will eventually lead to other problems and one would be labour shortage, where it is estimated that a third of all Europeans will be over 65 years old by 2050.

Consequently, countries are doing their best to vie for as many foreign talents to work in their countries as possible, which leads to the emergence of the recent 'blue card' by the European Union (EU). blue-card holders will be able to work in any EU member state, provided that they work in each country for at least a year before moving on. This is seen as a move to compete with U.S.'s green card to garner as many foreign talents as possible. However, there are many limitations to the effectiveness of the 'blue card', one of which being the exclusion of permanent residence rights. This refusal to view immigration as an opportunity rather than a threat will leave EU with no ability to attract talented migrants. Another limitation is the lack of a universal language as working in some of its member states requires the learning of German or Polish. This is a limitation that can never be removed.

As seen from the actions taken by several governments around the world to garner as many foreign talents as possible, the problem of a global ageing population is a crucial one. However, rather than vying for as many foreign talents as possible, would it not be better if governments from around the world work together to try to increase the birth rates of their respective nations and ultimately solving the ageing population problem?

Nuclear weapons or nuclear power stations?

2007-07-28T21:16:00.000+08:00

Article- Australia may sell uranium to Indian nuclear plant (THE STRAITS TIMES, 27/7/07)

Recently, there are many nuclear issues occurring around the world, with the North Korea's nuclear threat being the most significant one. With North Korea using its nuclear weapon technology as a bargaining chip to get more benefits for itself, there are now more reports of other countries that might be possible threats of nuclear weapon technology.

As stated from the article, "since Australia's decision to supply uranium to China last year, India has been pressuring Australia to sell the nuclear fuel to India as well."
Although both countries claimed to use the uranium to fuel nuclear power stations to meet the soaring demand from thier booming economies, the presence of nuclear weapons in these countries made the statement doubtful. Why is it that these countries cannot use other forms of fuel to provide energy?

However, the trade will most probably continue as this will benefit all the parties, with the uranium used in nuclear power stations to support their booming ecnomy as well as Australia gaining monetary benefit from the trade.

Impacts of demographic changes

2007-07-21T22:52:00.000+08:00

In your view, what are the likely political and socio-economic impacts of the demographic changes we see in the world today?

Demographic changes are occurring in many parts of the world today- in India there is a high population growth due to gender preference and in Japan the opposite is occurring due to low birth rate. But no matter what the demographic changes are, there are negative and positive impacts to such changes.

As stated in the video “World in the Balance” (Channel News Asia, 15/7/07, 7.30pm), Japan’s low birth rate of 1.3 per woman coupled with a large number of unmarried youths due to women pursuing career success has led to the number of elderly in Japan outnumbering the young. What this would lead to is a large decrease in the number of workers, consumers and a need for more immigrants. This would thus lead to a decline in the nation’s economy as a smaller production source and a lack of consumers to purchase the products and services. A possible social impact that could arise from this could be the government providing more encouragement to increase birth rates or even the provision of more incentives to citizens giving birth to more children.

In the case of Kenya, a large number of cases of HIV results in a higher death rate than birth rate, causing a population decline as well. The large number of HIV cases is due to the commonplace scenario of women selling their bodies when they desperately are in need of money, sometimes just to get a meal. Similarly, this could lead to the economy decline as mentioned in the Japan’s issue. One political impact that could arise from the Kenya’s case is the government’s intervention to remove prostitution from the country. Although this measure might be too drastic, it is definitely necessary if the government wants to solve the problems occurring due to the large number of HIV cases in Kenya.

In India’s situation, gender preference is causing high population growth, where the number of young outnumbers the number of elderly. In India, boys are favoured over girls as boys will be able to stay with the family and dowry has to be provided by the girl’s family should there be a marriage. This would also lead to economy decline as there is not enough jobs for the people, leading to extreme poverty in several places. Also, part of the income of the nation is probably used to provide for aid to areas of extreme poverty thus leading to a decline in economy.

Remanufacturing- a feasible way to save environment?

2007-07-16T00:21:00.000+08:00

Article- TIMES, manufacturing(23/7/07)

Remanufacturing is one method to revive machinery, be it vehicles, copiers, compressors or even mobile phones. What it does is to dismantle the unused product and those parts which are salvageable are either cleaned or refurbished. These parts are ready to be reassembled to form the original product with the addition of some new parts. With remanufacturing, the product could have a life extension of many more years. As stated by a University of Bayreuth study, the amount of raw materials saved annually by remanufacturing is 14 million tons. Hence, this technology would look enticing to environmentalist, especially in a world where raw materials are scarce and limited .

However, there are also the problem of profitability for the companies that go into such remanufacturing businesses. As stated from the article, this technology minimised the material costs to 40%, as compared to 70% for a new product and the energy costs is 85% lower than in making new products. In addition, these products can be sold at prices 50-60% cheaper than new products.

Hence, with the environmental and economic advantages of remanufacturing as well as the cheaper price for consumers, which guarantee a demand for such products, remanufacturing is definitely one feasible way to save the environment.

'China-Free' food for better health?

2007-07-08T17:29:00.001+08:00

Article- Promoting 'Chine-Free food for better health(8/7/2007)

This article I read is about a US health food company labelling its products as 'China-Free' and emphasising that none of its ingredients come from China to ease concerns about contamination. This 'discrimination' against China food products is probably due to the many issues regarding food contamination on China products. One of these issues is on a US couple filing a lawsuit saying their son suffered "severe, bloody diarrhoea" after eating a snack with its seasoning made from imported Chinese ingredients tested to be positive for bacteria. With so many issues pinpointing China for the problem of food contamination, it is not surprising that the US health company made such an act.

However, it might not be fair to China as well. It might be true that some China food producers disregarded the safety of consumers when they are producing their products but not all the companies in China are doing it and the labelling of products as "China-Free" would be unfair to the companies who are not disregarding consumers' safety. In addition, China's food and drug watchdog are making an effort to solve this problem and has pulled off production licenses of five drug makers and penalising 128 others in the past year. Since China has made significant effort to solve this problem and only a minority is contributing to food contamination, should it not be the case that other countries give China a chance to prove itself?

In conclusion, I feel that the"China-Free" products is a move that is too extreme to ease concerns about contamination problems.

Crime and Punishment

2007-07-03T22:33:00.000+08:00

Effective law and order requires effective punishment. Do you agree?

It is important that effective law and effective punishment comes hand in hand. Without effective punishments, laws would not be as useful as it should have been. A law without any punishments included is as if to tell the criminal to commit more crimes and not get any consequences for his doings. Similarly, when ineffective punishments are imposed for laws, the criminals would still continue to commit the same crimes as the punishments will not deter them from committing more crimes. Hence, effective laws will ensure the effectiveness of the law and order in a country. A good example would be Singapore, where the effective laws, coupled with effective punishments, ensured law and order in the country. This could be shown by the extremely low crime rate in Singapore. However, some countries, usually the less developed ones, have ineffective punishments. One example would the use of boiling oil to test the integrity of the suspects. Though this might be useful for some criminals that has no courage to retrieve the ring in the boiling oil, it might not be useful for others as this is merely a test of courage and endurance of pain. Hence, in this case, effective law and order is not ensured as there is ineffective punishment.

Any form of punishment that is effective in maintaining law and order is justified. Do you agree?

I do not agree that any form of punishment that is effective in maintaining law and order is justified. Examples of such punishments which I do not agree should be used would be inhumane as well as sadistic punishments. Such punishments might be able to deter many others from committing the crime which a criminal that received the punishment has done, but it will also result in many who resent such a government that uses such punishment on criminals. What could eventually result might be the overthrowing of the government. Ultimately, this would disrupt the law and order in the country as well. However, most effective punishments will be able to maintain long term law and order without creating resentment in the people. Such punishments should be justified.

Should corporal punishment be allowed? (commentary)

2007-06-17T13:45:00.000+08:00

Link- http://oct0pus.blogspot.com/ (Should corporal punishment be allowed?)

Regarding the topic you have written on, I do not agree with your opinion that corporal punishment should not be allowed in schools.

Corporal punishment refers to the forced pain intended to change a person's behaviour or to punish them, as defined by wikipedia. Now, let me explain why I feel that corporal punishment should be allowed. Many parents might feel that corporal punishment should not be used in schools the pain from the corporal punishment is not necessary and that talking sense into students would suffice. However, I feel that it is because of the pain that makes the corporal punishment useful and is the reason why it should be implemented in schools. On many occasions, talking sense into students does not work and these are times when other forms of punishments should be used, including corporal punishment. Corporal punishment deters students from committing the same crime and at some instances, they also deter others from doing the crime. One instance is the implementation of public caning in schools for serious offences. The public caning of one student would cause pain and embarrassment to that student, deterring him or her from committing the same offence. Concurrently, the public caning also deters other students from committing the same offence, for fear of having to go through public caning. Hence, the use of corporal punishment should be allowed in schools.

However, I do agree with you that “Better parenting and education would be the way to help our young learn the right things. We should try to understand them, and talk to them.” The use of corporal punishment should be restricted and only used when no other methods work. This is because the purpose of school is to educate students and not to punish students. Educating students and talking sense into students would be better choices than using corporal punishments on students when students commit crimes. The deterrence on the students by the corporal punishments is not very useful as they are “forced” to not commit the same offence, for the fear of the corporal punishment. On the other hand, if students are educated on why they should not commit the crime and understands the reasons behind it, they will not commit the same offence again.

On conclusion, I feel that corporal punishment should be allowed in schools but should only be used when no other methods work.

Freedom of expression or social responsibility?

2007-06-12T14:13:00.000+08:00

Singer believes that freedom of expression is essential to any democracy and therefore should not be limited. On the other hand, Szilagyi believes that more focus should be placed on social responsibility. In the context of Singapore’s multi-racial society, where there is cultural and religious pluralism, which author’s view do you think should be adopted?

I think that in Singapore, a balance should be stroke between social responsibility and the freedom of expression. This is due to the fact that Singapore is a democratic country as well as a multiracial country, where there is cultural and religious pluralism.

Article 10 of the European Convention on Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms states: “Everyone has the right to freedom of expression. This right shall include freedom to hold opinions and to receive and impart information and ideas without interference by public authority and regardless of frontiers.” This should be the freedom of expression which is enjoyed by everyone in the world. No government should have the authority to restrict what its citizens are going to say. Should a government restrict what its citizens are going to say, it only shows that the views expressed cannot be refuted by evidence and argument alone and that the views expressed are true.

However, in the case of racist remarks, they should not be tolerated. This is where the social responsibility comes in. This is especially for Singapore as well as other multiracial countries as any racial remark could lead to impending racial riots. A racial riot could have a worldwide effect as well, where a remark by anyone could lead to disastrous result worldwide. A racist remark on any religions could have led to the buildup of discontentment against the religion of the person who made the remark. This could eventually lead to clashes between people of the two religions in other parts of the world as well as in the country where the racist remark came from.

Hence, social responsibility should be coupled with freedom of expression in a country like Singapore. Freedom of expression should be something enjoyed by everyone and anyone but people should exercise social responsibility as a lack of social responsibility could lead to disastrous consequences.

Will people be deterred from piracy activities through conviction of one person?

2007-05-19T20:02:00.000+08:00

Article- The Straits Times(19/5/07)
-HK man loses Internet piracy appeal

My stand on this issue is that the deterrence effect will only be a short term one for most people and people will resume to the use of Internet as a medium of sharing files thereafter.

Nowadays, the main medium at which people receive media files are either through downloading from the Internet, burning of CDs or through sharing of files with friends, while some people still buy the original CDs. Through these trends, we can see that there is a high usage of the Internet to obtain media files. This is probably due to several factors, such as the cost, the accessibility to such media files, the range of media files available, the rate at which the more recent media files are uploaded on the Internet and the most important factor being that no governments are acting against such acts of piracy. All these factors tend to cause people to prefer the obtaining of files through the Internet.

Back to the article, one HK man has recently been sentenced to a three-month prison term for infringement of copyright as he uploaded movie files on the Internet and this is the first case of people in the world being convicted of distributing movies over the popular online BitTorrent network. Thus, this issue would have led to much commotion amongst the public for a while and probably, this might lead to people stopping their uploading and downloading of media files through the Internet.
However, I feel that this effect is going to be short term. From the reasons I have stated above, people are accustomed to obtaining of media files from the Internet due to the high accessibility and the low cost of doing so. With the many benefits of the Internet in the aspect of obtaining media files, piracy will tend to continue. In addition, with not many governments are acting on people violating the issue of copyright in this aspect, general public will tend to continue to obtain media files through use of Internet.

What has the sand ban issue affected Singapore?

2007-05-12T19:44:00.000+08:00

Articles: The Straits Times(12 May 2007)
-Contractors hit sand ban to get help

Not too long ago, Indonesia imposed a sand ban on Singapore, claiming that the exportation of sand to Singapore has indirectly affected its environment. This sand ban on Singapore has caused much problems for Singapore as alternative sources for sand, such as China, Vietnam and Myanmar, has to be found and the costs of importing sand from other areas are more costly as well. However, this issue has also showcased Singapore’s side of being able to deal with problems efficiently and pragmatically.

New sources of sand have been founded and even a new form of concrete, the NewConcrete, has been invented as a more cost-efficient substitute for sand and granite, hence reducing the reliance of Singapore on these natural resources. Through the usage of the NewConcrete, a solution could be found faster should another similar issue occur.

The sand ban has also caused the cost of development projects to rise greatly as much sand and granite are used in construction. The government has also acted on this area, calling for contractors and developers to share the costs of the rising prices. These steps the government had taken has allowed for the construction industry in Singapore to carry on without much impact and hence accounting for the pragmatism and efficiency for Singapore’s government.

This issue has also taught me one thing- being a small country and having little natural resources, Singapore is easily affected by external factors (sand ban being one of them). Therefore, a strong and reliable government is necessary for handling such issues efficiently and pragmatically. Without a strong government, Singapore’s construction industry could have already succumbed to the effects of the sand ban.

Global Warming- How has it affected us?

2007-05-05T19:29:00.000+08:00

Articles- from THE STRAITS TIME(5/5/07)
- Road map on climate change accepted
- Hot in Beijing
- Dry in France

The phenomenon of global warming had been present for a long period of time and this is a phenomenon that can never be resolved. The rapid improvement in technology worldwide has caused a higher usage of fossil fuels used to power many of the electrical appliances and vehicles. This usage of fossil fuels is possibly unable to be stopped until another form of viable energy source is found.

Many problems have arose from this phenomenon of global warming and some of the more significant ones are the changes in temperature, sea levels, as well as the natural disasters occurring. From “Hot in Beijing”, it is said that temperature in Beijing soared to 31.9 deg C, a record high in forty years. This has even caused a forest fire in a Western Beijing nature reserve and “the skies of the capital turned a smoggy grey due to the inferno which was still smouldering.” From “Dry in France”, another problem is arising from global warming and that is the lack of rain, which could lead to a summer drought. The Farm Ministry stated that “Successive drought periods over the last few years, combined with above-normal temperatures, require vigilance and anticipation.” All these evidence showed that the problems due to global warming require our attention or the worsening of the situation could prove detrimental to our environment.

However, it is heartening to see that governments worldwide are getting together to discuss solutions to this problem. As stated from “Road map on climate change accepted,” governments are even willing to give up a percentage of their GDP to control the rise in temperature. However, the willingness to give up a percentage of the governments’ GDP is not without a cause. As stated from the article, “Global greenhouse gas emissions have grown by 70 per cent between 1970 and 2004. For carbon dioxide alone, the increase was 80per cent in the same time period.” This showed the anxiousness of governments worldwide in tackling the problems arising from global warming.

In my opinion, the phenomenon of global warming is definitely a cause for concern. Temperature has been rising due to the effects of global warming and this is leading to many more problems. Should the phenomenon of global warming be allowed to continue, the consequences could be unimaginable in years to come. Hence, the problem of global warming should be dealt with as soon as possible and the governments’ anxiousness to deal with this problem is understandable.

Is the poblem of declining birth rate, which is happening in many countries worldwide, an inevitable problem?

2007-04-28T19:45:00.000+08:00

Articles- THE STRAITS TIMES, WORLD (April 28 2007)
- BABY BLUES
- BABY BOOM

First of all, I do not agree that the problem of declining birth rate, which is a common scenario in many countries, is an inevitable problem. However, there are some causes to this problem that is more or less not within control of the government. One is the increase in highly educated women. This is a cause as according to a study, “40 per cent of highly educated women are still childless by the time they are 35.” This is out of the control of governments as a continual supply of educated people is required for maintenance of a booming economy in many countries. Another cause of a drop in birth rate in many countries worldwide is the high standard of living in many developed countries. The high standard of living gives people a feeling of economic instability and hence, inability to raise children when they cannot even provide for their own needs.

However, there are ways in which governments can cope with the problem of declining birth rate and several countries have achieved it. Two of the countries are France and Australia. One way is to change the thinking of educated women so that they are willing to consider motherhood. Another is the monetary benefit, which both France and Australia uses. France provide parents of newborns with up to six months off from work with nearly full pay and a guarantee of reclaiming their old jobs while Australia gives a baby bonus of A$4000 to mothers for each child born in Australia. Other incentives such as reduction in tax and discounts on necessities (e.g. public transportation, food, clothing etc) also appeal to mothers.

While there are certain causes to the problem of declining birth rate that are not within control of governments, governments can work on other areas to improve on the birth rate for their country. Hence, the problem of declining birthrate is not an inevitable problem for countries worldwide.

Is the use of torture ever justified in dealing with criminals and terrorists?

2007-04-21T18:53:00.000+08:00

I do not think that the use of torture is justified, even if it is used in dealing with criminals or terrorists. As stated in the article, the use of torture as a method to obtain more information is not only morally prohibited but also against the international laws. Hence, how could some police force or peacekeeping force use torture on criminals.

An example was also stated in the article, where a prominent character in a terrorist organisation, Abu Zubaydah, was captured, brutality was used on him but the result was insignificant. In addition, torture removed the platform for the opportunity to develop a captor-captive relationship and hence, a loss in opportunity to uncover more secrets about the respective terrorist organisation.

In another example stated in the article, "the interrogators presented a tough but very human face, the detainees were confused. Small amenities... were the kinds of things that eventually turned them. " This once again proved that torture is not the only way to obtain information but is in fact less effective than many other ways.

The article also showed some comments that implies that torture should be justified. "There was a fear of a second-wave attack" and "harsh interrogation methods were not illegal, were often productive and were something he had reserved the right to order again" both showed that use of torture on criminals and terrorists is justified. However, it has been proven by several examples in the article that use of torture is not really as effective as what it seems and in fact, there are better methods to obtain information from criminals and terrorists.

One phrase in the article states that "to pull out a fingernail of a terrorist in order to save a couple of million lives" was morally right". I do not agree with this statement at all. First of all, it has been shown that use of torture on terrorists is ineffective to a certain extent. Secondly, even if we get to know of the terrorists next operation from the mouth of the detained terrorist, it is not definite that the operation could be effectively prevented and the information from the terrorist have might been a trick. However, at the instance torture is used on the terrorist, immeasurable pain is felt by the terrorist and such inhumane punishment should not be a method for obtaining information from the terrorists.

New Media – Power to the people or threat to stability?

2007-04-14T09:48:00.000+08:00

I believe that the new media is more of a threat to stability than power to the people.

The new media has provided a new platform for terrorist organisations to terrorise the public with their effective usage of the the various means of media sources to intimidate and affect the will of the public. As stated from the article, the terrorists tend to use attacks to create headline-grabbing news and through this method, it impacted the will of the public, hence threatening the stability of society.

Another issue stated in the article is that many media sources around the world do not at all times provide the accurate and exact facts on an event, but rather distort and change the facts. An example is the desecration of a Koran, which could have incited deadly anti-American riots in Afghanistan and Pakistan.

While the earlier example showed how terrorists could utilise the global reach and immediacy of the media to intimidate the public and affecting the collective will of free people, the second example showed a direct effect of media on the violence it can cause. Both of these examples have illustrated the danger and the immense threat that the media can have on the stability of our society.

Although the media have caused a threat to the stability of the society we live in, it also brought power to the people.

One such example is blog. With the rapid increase in usage of blogs worldwide, media have brought power to the people. It changed the way people view news stories and also provided a platform for people to discuss and debate about the various events that are boradcasted or published by the media and press respectively. Blogs has also allowed bloggers(people who blog) to reach out to people worldwide and form their own opinions on the various events. Blogs have created such a large impact on the society that now, even the mainstream media has been put in the unusual position of reacting to news that bloggers generate. Not only that, many mainstream news organisations have also launched their own blogs. All these examples showed how blog, as a means of media, has brought power to the people.

However, these blogs could also be a threat to the stability in the society. Several terrorist organisations could set up blogs whenever they want and publish videos showing an impending terrorist attack and this could cause the public to panic. Hence, the new media is more of a threat to stability than being a power to the people.

Can the media ever be relied upon to convey the truth?

2007-04-06T17:04:00.000+08:00

Can the media ever be relied upon to convey the truth? Discuss this in the light of the arguments raised in this article and substantiate your arguments with your own examples.

From the article, it seems as though that media should never be trusted to convey the truth. However, I think this is only true to a certain extent.

In the article, it is stated that the media publish articles according to the 3 'P's, Popularity, Prejudice and Profit, with Profit being the most important. It also provided several examples such as the exaggeration of facts by corporate-controlled news media on the Iraqi war to boost profits. Another instance is that interviews carried out by reporters are usually edited before publishing, unless the interviews are aired live. All these showed that medias are willing to publish articles as long as it is advantageous to them, such as giving them higher profit or higher popularity. Also from the article, it also showed the presence of bribery in the cases of Armstrong Williams being paid $240,000 and Maggie Gallagher being paid $21,500 for publishing articles that aided in the actions of the briber. All of the above illustrate the inability to rely on the media to convey the truth. Not only these, the article even showed the lack of truthfulness in the media by stating that “ in today’s America, people who want real news or honest criticism are better served by not watching “news” programs at all.”

However, I think that the media can be relied on to convey the truth to a certain extent.

One instance would be that if a media source keeps on portraying unreliable information about news, people can compare the news with other sources of information. When it is eventually shown that the media source has a poor reputation of providing false information to the public, this will in fact reduce the number of subscribers to that source of news, hence reducing profit. Thus, news provider is unlikely to provide untruthful news. Ultimately, what media sources are demanding for is higher profit.

Contributions by Alexander Fleming

2007-03-30T20:53:00.000+08:00

Alexander Fleming was a bacteriologist at St Mary's Hospital in London, where he discovered Penicilin. This is one of the most important contributions in the history of medicine and is also his greatest contribution to medical science.

The invention of the drug 'penicilin' came at the right moment for the world and was seen at that time(and even today) as a miraculous drug and also the greatest contribution to the history of medicine. One great contribution made through the invention of penicilin was the large number of lives saved during world war 2.With penicilin, many lives were saved, especially during World War 2 when the drug was invented at that time.Though the initial intention was to utilise the drug for war purposes, penicilin was eventually made available worldwide for anyone to use.

Another contribution Alexander Fleming made through the invention of the penicilin was the many diseases that could be treated with penicilin. Penicilin could be used to treat various infections such as urinary tract infections, meningitis, gonorrhea, syphilis, respiratory infections and even peumonia. The invention of peniclin was what that made it possible for all these diseases to be treated. In addition, penicilin is also used in surgeries, where it is used to prevent bacterial contamination of wounds before, during and after any surgeries.

All About Me

2007-03-23T18:22:00.000+08:00

Alright, I'm making this blog not because i want to but because my school(Anderson Junior College) wants me to do it.

Now, some information about myself...
I am a guy currently studying in Anderson Junior College and is previously in Ang Mo Kio Secondary School and Chong Li Primary School for my secondary and primary school years respectively. My family includes my parents, my elder brother and me. Some of my hobbies are playing computer games and sports. In both my primary and secondary schools, i joined the badminton club and after i got into Anderson Junior College, i decided to have a change and joined the Squash club instead.

Now for some information about my experience in joining Anderson Junior College...
I joined Anderson Junior College in both the first and second intake and made quite a number of friends there. I remembered that during my first intake, I was so disappointed that I could not get into the Science stream but fortunately, I got into the Science stream in the second intake. Nevertheless, I did not quite regret getting into the Art stream initially as i made several good friends who are also in the same class as me in the second intake. In addition, it is thanks to the two bonus points that I got from joining Anderson Junior College in the first intake that made it possible for me to get into the Science stream. So, maybe i should be glad that i stayed to my decision of getting into Anderson Junior College in the first three months despite not being able to get into the stream that I want to.Alright then, this shall be all for my first post...