Tuesday, July 10, 2007
@4:34 AM
Assignment 1: Blogging task in response to 2 articlesSingapore has always been a multi racial and cultural country where racial disharmony can easily be started. Therefore, I think that Szilagyi’s view should be adopted in Singapore. I personally think that freedom of speech is necessary as it is seen as the citizen’s rights but if this is allowed in Singapore, internal conflicts between races might lead to big problems in the country. Hence, Szilagyi’s view about social responsibility is much more relevant in the context of Singapore.
With reference to the article by Peter Singer, “freedom of speech is essential to democratic regimes, and it must include the freedom to say what everyone else believes to be false, and even what many people find offensive”. It is indeed important to have freedom of speech to ensure that certain truths are let known to everybody and not restricted by the government or anyone. However, having such freedom will cause many people to feel offensive and lead to something disastrous. Therefore, I think that freedom of speech should be restricted to a certain extent and more importantly, having people to practise social responsibility.
With reference to the article by Zsofia Szilagyi, there is a main issue on “What is more important for the democratic advancement of a society – to ensure the freedom of expression of all its citizens or to protect the collective interests of society?” I feel that both are equally important. Citizens’ view on the political system is important to allow cooperation between the government and citizen, leading to democratic advancement. Protecting the interests of the citizens will foster social cohesion and make the country politically stable and be able to develop well. However, both cases cannot be done at the same time. So, in the context of Singapore, I will think that protecting the collective interests of society by having social responsibility will be more important as the only way for Singapore to prosper is having the citizens to work hand in hand.
In conclusion, freedom of speech should be limited to the extent where social cohesion will not be affected. Everyone should possess the social responsibility of not criticizing others openly to maintain the peace and harmony within the country.
Saturday, April 21, 2007
@10:11 PM
A Hanging
Q1. George Orwell’s “ A Hanging” has been described as a powerful condemnation of capital punishment. What techniques does Orwell use to draw from his readers the desired inference, as his condemnation is delivered indirectly rather than by more explicit means?
Ans: George Orwell used a process of hanging a criminal to show his condemnation of capital punishment. During the process, a dog came out and tried to lick the face of the criminal, shocking the people there. This may be seen that even an animal values the life of a criminal but not us, humans. He also felt that is was wrong to end the life of a human as the person is also as alive as the rest of the people. At the point of the death of the criminal, everybody there felt very uncomfortable and wanted the process to end quickly. This shows that there are still many people who feel the misery of seeing somebody being executed. All these show his condemnation of capital punishment.
Q2. What are some of the arguments for and against capital punishment?
Ans: Capital punishment should be implemented to punish the people who did heinous crimes. It is also to reduce the crime rate and maintain order in the country, as capital punishment will serve as a reminder to people who thought of doing a crime. However, people will argue against capital punishment as no matter what, the criminals are still human beings and it does not give the rights to others to take their lives.
Q3. What are your own views on capital punishment? In what circumstances (if any) can the death penalty be justified?
Ans: Capital punishment can never be taken out of the many ways to punish criminals or the world will have increased crime rates, as criminals know that they would not get the death penalty. But capital punishment should only be limited to serious crimes. I think that capital punishment should only be carried out for cases where someone kills other people. Killing others is totally immoral and the criminal should get the death penalty as a punishment.
Friday, March 23, 2007
@11:39 PM
Yo everybody! Welcome to my gp blog. I am Lim Sihao from class 0207. I was previously from Zhonghua Secondary School and was in Anderson Junior College for the 1st intake. My current CCA is Air Rifle because I find this CCA very interesting and new to me. Although I don’t really shoot that well, I still find it very fun. Hope that I will become better after more time and training.
As for what I like to do, I love to slack, play computer games, watch television and sleep. I also quite like to eat. Though I am not a very big size guy, I have a big appetite and can eat a lot for a meal. So, basically, I love to eat, sleep and play.
My studies are jus so-so. My favourite subject is Maths. Hope that I will be able to improve my studies in this next 2 years and score good results for all my subjects, especially my lousiest subject—economics. These 2 years of studies will be tough for me but I will try my best to cope with it.
Finally, I hope to make more new friends in ajc and that 0207 will be a wonderful class for the next 2 years. =)