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IMPORTANT MESSAGE FOR ALL
The articles are captured from the original writer, MsMarina (with her permission). SambalBelacan is just compiling articles to make easier to find. Any comments received will remain un-respond because it's not mine.Reach her at her very own blog at http://rantingsbymm.blogspot.com/ Please.
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Wednesday July 2, 2008
Toxic shock syndrome
MUSINGS BY MARINA MAHATHIR
Anyone who has an opinion finds a counter-opinion. Neither is necessarily founded on truth.
JUST when we thought the atmosphere in our beloved country was toxic enough, it just got even worse.
I don’t know if anyone finds politics and politicians in our country as tiresome as I do these days.
And I mean those of every stripe and shade. Somehow none of them seem capable of behaving like normal people with normal instincts.
Everything is seen and done through a political lens.
Which is fine except that that’s not the way most normal people think.
The worst thing is that after a while, they start infecting others and even ordinary people start thinking the same way.
So people start looking at things through a distorted lens without even realising it.
For instance, it seems an automatic reaction for politicians to regard everything their opponents do as wrong, regardless of what it is.
So even if it is something good for the people, their opponents will impute some sinister agenda to it.
I would be happy to receive anything that makes my life easier from anyone, and I really don’t care to be told that it really isn’t good for me without a convincing argument why.
But how silly has the situation become that even their supporters start thinking the same way, even when their own lives are affected by what their leaders do.
On the other hand, politicians also are quick to defend whatever their own colleagues do as good, regardless of what it is.
If what their colleagues do is totally unconscionable, at the most they will react slowly and gently.
A case in point would be the bocor case last year, when after a rather long time, a non-apology was offered after much persuasion by their own party mates.
This type of attitude seems to have seeped into other people, too.
Double standards seem to prevail.
For instance, the same people who call
for justice to be blind seem to not want to apply this same standard to those they don’t like.
One would think that to prove that justice is indeed non-discriminatory, one would bend over backwards to insist on justice for those one has no great love for.
Instead there is a scramble to take every little bit of gossip or opinion as true.
Yet, if the same were directed at those they like, the response would be that these were “scurrilous” and “politically motivated.”
What sort of example are we setting for the general public with this?
Nowadays everyone sees so many plots and counterplots in everything that the atmosphere has become truly toxic.
Anyone who has an opinion finds a counter-opinion. Neither is necessarily founded on truth.
So there is no advance towards any sort of resolution.
Everyone seems to find it shameful not to have an opinion, even if it is not founded on anything they actually know.
There is no pausing to reflect and consider. To try and learn more so that one can give a measured response to anything.
Even ministers give knee-jerk personal opinions in unbecoming ways.
Small wonder that everyone else feels that they can make foolish unconsidered statements as well.
Not that the media is of any help. News today is simply a string of sound bites.
You get the impression that reporters ask for only three words of reactions rather than a proper explanation of what anyone thinks of any issue.
Responses do depend on the questions being asked as well, and in my experience many of the questions do not go beyond “What do you say to what so-and-so said?”
Unfortunately, politicians lap up the opportunity to show how glib they are.
Perhaps it goes back again to our general attitude towards information.
We want it quickly and in small bits. We don’t want long studied explanations about anything and then have to think about them.
Rumours, gossip and hearsay are what we want to believe.
Unfortunately there are many purveyors of these.
Maybe we should just boycott politicians and politics for a while. Or demand that they behave like normal people and concentrate on real issues.
People are trying to figure out how to feed their families.
That is the most important issue of all. Hungry people are neither patient nor good-tempered.
Nothing except good policies to manage this issue is going to matter.
Toxic shock syndrome
MUSINGS BY MARINA MAHATHIR
Anyone who has an opinion finds a counter-opinion. Neither is necessarily founded on truth.
JUST when we thought the atmosphere in our beloved country was toxic enough, it just got even worse.
I don’t know if anyone finds politics and politicians in our country as tiresome as I do these days.
And I mean those of every stripe and shade. Somehow none of them seem capable of behaving like normal people with normal instincts.
Everything is seen and done through a political lens.
Which is fine except that that’s not the way most normal people think.
The worst thing is that after a while, they start infecting others and even ordinary people start thinking the same way.
So people start looking at things through a distorted lens without even realising it.
For instance, it seems an automatic reaction for politicians to regard everything their opponents do as wrong, regardless of what it is.
So even if it is something good for the people, their opponents will impute some sinister agenda to it.
I would be happy to receive anything that makes my life easier from anyone, and I really don’t care to be told that it really isn’t good for me without a convincing argument why.
But how silly has the situation become that even their supporters start thinking the same way, even when their own lives are affected by what their leaders do.
On the other hand, politicians also are quick to defend whatever their own colleagues do as good, regardless of what it is.
If what their colleagues do is totally unconscionable, at the most they will react slowly and gently.
A case in point would be the bocor case last year, when after a rather long time, a non-apology was offered after much persuasion by their own party mates.
This type of attitude seems to have seeped into other people, too.
Double standards seem to prevail.
For instance, the same people who call
for justice to be blind seem to not want to apply this same standard to those they don’t like.
One would think that to prove that justice is indeed non-discriminatory, one would bend over backwards to insist on justice for those one has no great love for.
Instead there is a scramble to take every little bit of gossip or opinion as true.
Yet, if the same were directed at those they like, the response would be that these were “scurrilous” and “politically motivated.”
What sort of example are we setting for the general public with this?
Nowadays everyone sees so many plots and counterplots in everything that the atmosphere has become truly toxic.
Anyone who has an opinion finds a counter-opinion. Neither is necessarily founded on truth.
So there is no advance towards any sort of resolution.
Everyone seems to find it shameful not to have an opinion, even if it is not founded on anything they actually know.
There is no pausing to reflect and consider. To try and learn more so that one can give a measured response to anything.
Even ministers give knee-jerk personal opinions in unbecoming ways.
Small wonder that everyone else feels that they can make foolish unconsidered statements as well.
Not that the media is of any help. News today is simply a string of sound bites.
You get the impression that reporters ask for only three words of reactions rather than a proper explanation of what anyone thinks of any issue.
Responses do depend on the questions being asked as well, and in my experience many of the questions do not go beyond “What do you say to what so-and-so said?”
Unfortunately, politicians lap up the opportunity to show how glib they are.
Perhaps it goes back again to our general attitude towards information.
We want it quickly and in small bits. We don’t want long studied explanations about anything and then have to think about them.
Rumours, gossip and hearsay are what we want to believe.
Unfortunately there are many purveyors of these.
Maybe we should just boycott politicians and politics for a while. Or demand that they behave like normal people and concentrate on real issues.
People are trying to figure out how to feed their families.
That is the most important issue of all. Hungry people are neither patient nor good-tempered.
Nothing except good policies to manage this issue is going to matter.
