Philosophy Should you criticise people or the opinions they have?

Should you criticise people or their opinions?

Criticism is both beneficial and bad to people. The beneficial part is, it gives you chance to improve. Why would there be three people as judges in Singapore or American Idol telling you all your weak points and telling you "you suck" blatantly? These judges have high standards, but also are giving tips to improve (although it seems like insults) . More relevant is RS, where the three judges critisize your work, in order to make it improve, to become the best or at least better. Critisizing people could make them change for the better too. When you get a job, criticism is important. It could even be part of your job. But to put it in way, criticism can give your boss think that you are good.

But also it has its bad points. critisizing people can cause them emotional breakdowns, lose their will to continue and perservere. It depends on how harsh you are. Well also it is wrong to criticise people's opinion as your opinion on that matter may be different but not better. Even if their views are more extremist (government protesters chaining themselves to trees) they may not be wrong (in your opinion) . In their opinion, you may be wrong!

So criticism wins 8 - 5 lines. Criticise away ! (Not on me I dont need useless comments or rants)

Perfect World

Perfect worlds are not possible. firstly, the way perfect is defined, it would be due to perspective anyway. All the itty bitty little details have to be liked by everyone, then everyone would call it perfect. But there are too many likings by different people, like when you ask a bunch of playground kids on their perfect world, one would go "Oh Oh I want the volcanoes to be made of chocolate!" " No! No, chocolate makes me dizzy, Sugar Peanut for mountain please!" "I'm allergic to peanut, what about a sugar mountain?" So we all have different definitions of perfect, and what are the chances of two, with all their choices of things and even position of them. Let alone the entire world, be the same??? Also, human nature is also to be better than the rest, greedy, selfish, caring only about ourselves. These characteristics could soon destroy us, so how would we be able to make a perfect world. Before a perfect world, there need to be perfect people. But I cannot say Im perfect, or anything I do is perfect, and along with perfect, everything has to be the same. I also cannot say others or their characteristics are perfect. There is always room to improve. Another point is, even if there were perfect worlds, can they actually be maintained? If they cant, they are not perfect. In Bhuddism ( I've read books) To become perfect and happy is to successfully detach yourself from any of lifes desires, and care for others before yourself. Even then you are not perfect. Perfection of the world is not possible.

Philosophy Truth and Everything but the truth (lie)

If everybody thought something is true, is it true?

Not always. Lets say an easy example: A popular party (maybe from a certain school in bishan) announces and uses subliminal messaging and propaganda to say "Hwa Chong Sucks" in a way like "HWA CHONG SUCKS???? no way !" ( just look at the capital letters) ok fine away from that and everyone thinks the party is right. Obviously its not right? (HWA CHONG ROCKS) Lets say also about lawyers. Two of them, fighting over some random case: lets say a girl was raped by a man and the woman sues the man. Lawyers are like fighting over a blind case, with only little evidence. There are three scenarios: The usual one being the man did rape the girl, the less surprising one being the girl was raped by someone but not the man and he was framed ( also interesting) and another one being the girl was not raped and was suing the man to get money (who knew women could be this evil) no matter which case, its not what is really right, what did happen that day, it is about which lawyer can convince the judge. No one had saw and could prove that which of the scenarios were the truth. So the better lawyer wins, and gets money even if the client is obviously in the wrong. So the person who wins may not be right, although the public believes it is right. On a side note, lawyers are teased and joked because even if any of the three possibilities happen, the lawyers are the beneficiary. (They get paid no matter what, a lot and to put it into symbols, $$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$)

So in this case, if one lawyer manages to convince the judge, even if that may not be the truth but everyone still thinks the lawyer is right.

Truth can be influenced and distorted easily. If you once thought this but a influential group that you trust and believe thought that, you would also think that so you are not giving what you really think (which is this[boy this is more confusing than I thought]) Usually truth are distorted for a person's gain. A weird truth that is distorted (lie) is a white lie. Its usually harmless and looks something like this.

Wife: Hows this dress?

Husband thinks : *Boy she looks idiotic*

Husband (politically correct answer): Darling you look great in anything!

Distorting truth can also be used to blow up or quieten down incidents removing information that is not wanted, through the media and stuff like television newspapers and the Internet. Then people would get a wrong impression of this.

55 fiction- random tries again/computer games

Getting together:

You could call it a party. Foreigners, strangers, does not matter. We are chatting about events in our lives.

I see my colleague. Wincing with pain, I grip her arm. She smiles.

Only if everyone could keep quiet, they would hear me shouting. After all, buried alive by debris is a bad way to die.

_____________________________________________________________________

On to the real stuff:

"Teenagers should not be allowed to play computer games"

The probable answer is NO WAY. I mean a teenager not liking to play computer games, what are the chances. Altough computer games have their bad points, but the term responsibility is very important. I play computer games too, but not everyday. You must have self discipline, even during the freer holidays and stop yourself from playing hours on and on. Having this statement is like this argument:

"Want to go to place A?"

"Yes, but going there is difficult, you see... blah blah blah... are you sure you have the time?"

"fine, then we dont go."

" But I want to go to place A."

"Then we'll go."

"But its so difficult."

"Then we wont go altogether."

Computer games may be similar to this. As computer games have many bad points (which adults always LOVE to emphasize) it would be better to just not play them altogether. Like I said, responsibility is important. You have responsibility to stop playing at a certain time (eg midnight) then your parents will definitely allow you to play.

Well to my opinion, not all teenagers do not have self discipline or responsibility (double negatives) so not all teenagers should not be stopped from playing computer games. I believe I have enough responsibility to play computer games (teehee) and unlike somebody, do not spam videos like Arby n the ch33f (ignore that).

Gah. Blocked. Continued if possible.

My first semester as a secondary school student

do not mind, but this mEssage is so Not written in CODE. got that ? Do not try to tell me hat this message is in code. ( all right you should be still able to read this )

Few mnthos sncie my PSLE, and I am porgsesirng wlel. I am sifetaisd wtih my rlusets.

Fine I have to hand this up during before the end of the period so i will REALLY start writing. (inay igpay atinlay)

Summary

1. Plus side
2. Minus side
3. "Interesting" points
4. Future plans

1. Fine. I am satisfied with my school, consortium (GEP), class(not), and CCA. I am in the school band, not one of the choices I once had in mind (actually air rifle). I play the horn, which is a difficult instrument, but band is a fun CCA, there are competitions/ performances and you get to enjoy the music (except the screwed up notes) Even though CCAs in Hwa Chong have HUGE commitment,(we have to go back in the holidays) there are outings/ many, many tours overseas, but we do not have any currently ( because of a particular swine flu *ahem*)

On to the next point. I like the lessons, especially IS (infocomm studies) We get to learn basic skills in whatever, flash, photoshop, DevC++ (this isnt really a english word), movie maker or HTML (computer language, please ignore) And the lessons are very useful, instead of spamming Homework (unlike a certain school in Bishan) Hwa Chong is more projects based. This is more practical as you would not get homework when you grow up to work. So the point of all this is: I like projects where teamates do not slack.

Another plus is blogging. Looking back at P4 (horrible memories of another philmann like person) I realise that there is not much to stuff on a blog, but with hwa chong there is much rewards for your thinking (eg ace points) for topics, usually on interesting things around the world and a bit of current knowledge. And it takes up more time than homework, but I like these as there is usually no time limit. There is also alot of competitons or ace stuff (like tours in history), which demand time but are really fun .

Minus

2. This is not a rant. How I wish it was, So It would be So much easier. A boy from hwa chong is more stressed than most from a neighbourhood school - there is Rarely Any chance to No, not rant, To rest. (codes are difficult to write)

School is more demanding now. Obvious, but now we are progressing into the third term, where it will be the most demanding time, to max out our ACE. Problems may start to crop up, like Philmann (yet again) in another saga of behavior problems. Hwa Chong really pushes you to your limit. That means higher stress levels. But I go along, taking everything as it comes. Now, homework and projects are much more than during P6. Exam results are also important, CCA is a lot of commitment and my holidays are filled up with events. The End of year exams will pose a biger challenge. But for now, I am more slack. Also, troublemakers are also my hates, those who disrupt the class. There are not really many minuses about this school though.

Interesting facts:

3. This is a whole list of facts that encompasses what interesting points there may be.

Firstly, ispark as GEP ers are usually looked down, teased on but this year, the rivalry seems to the extent the consortiums are booing each other now.

Secondly, table tennis is played alot in school this year (wonder if last year was the same)

Thirdly, Music is looked on as a joy, or fear, because of a certain teacher...

Also, for this semester, Monday is the best day for 1i1ans. (arent you supposed to HATE mondays)

And to add on, the stuff in a classroom spoil unbelievably quickly

Amazingly, there are so many reports of lost things in Hwa Chong.

Also, on some days, everybody stays in class to rush homework

eight (darn ran out of stuff), it is nice to sit in your class as the wind just blows, and it is very cooling

nine when we have to make trips to eg. the computer lab or to the science/ art block and to music class, we rely on Matthew as a marker (to get there before him)

ten, it is tradition to stay in class on certain days because of long queue at the canteen

eleven, we give a stare or keep away from people at the end of the term who get an MSG of more than 4.0 in 1i1

twelve, the computer always needs fixing

Future plans:

4. I believe I have a few goals to achieve

• To get into icouncil
• get an MSG of below 1.5 (currently not)
• to beat xianda at playing the horn
• To get a new horn/ mouthpiece

But with these I probably have to work harder (be more enthusiastic in lessons and Band) and then get into CSE in sec 3.

to be continued??

55 fiction- random tries

Just some random tries:

Target down

I zigzag around the area, scanning for a target to steal.

Aha! The queen!

Security looks tight. I think:

The crown? Jewellery? No. It’s something more important

Waiting, I aim. She's walking near the crowd.

With precision, I strike. A perfect hit and run!

Her Majesty restrains.

A glorious steal! Pity I’m just a mosquito.

H1N1- Influenza A

Recently there have been cases of H1N1 in the world and the flu is quickly spreading. It aims to give the entire world a fever (Even global warming is doing that). So here are some quick facts about the flu, hope to clear up doubts:

H1N1 for the Completely clueless:

1- The flu once called swine flu, DOES NOT come from pigs. Yes it does not come from Mexicans either. If you do think that, you don't catch up on your newspapers. And yes there is such a flu. If you don't even know that there is a coming pandemic, or if there is even such a flu, there is a chance that you are slightly retarded. Technically it is a mix of avian, swine and human flu. It is spread from human to human, (by sneezing and coughing, not by smooching or hugging!) No, the human flu does NOT come from Mexicans either. Just think it like this. A virus infects someone and turns him/her into a zombie (Resident Evil much) and then the zombie goes around infecting people. This goes on slowly until... maybe not such a good analogy. No, you wont get turned into zombies either.

2- Since the flu does not come from pigs, you must be asking,"Then where does it come from?" Well the answer is , it comes out of nowhere! Just that the Mexicans were unlucky. A person may show no symptoms even when infected (Well thats clever of a flu virus) but H1N1 may be difficult to detect because of this characteristic. Batches of sesonal flu may also be mixed up, just like H3N2. No, you cannot go on holiday if you are infected. No, the virus is not shooed away if you eat lots of garlic. It sure drives your friends away though. Have you seen this game called Pandemic? you control the virus/ bacteria/ parasite. To win, you have to devastate the world leaving NOTHING left. Either that or kill as much as possible. So the easiest strategy is to make sure the micro-organism as a high infection rate and practically no symptoms, support it with resistances, then when the world is infected, increase lethality rate. The world will come up with a vaccine, but if everyone is infected, there will be noone to cure. This seems to be what the H1N1 virus is doing, it has a low mortality rate of 6-7%. No, computer viruses do not originate from the flu.

3- Singapore is supposedly more prepared then in the period of SARS. SARS also came out of nowhere, but at that time, we did not know what it was, so there was a high mortality rate. We werent prepared for SARS, but even though we are prepared for H1N1, the fight wont be over in a short while like SARS. No, not because SARS came from the Mexicans (sheesh) but because infectious diseases come in waves, one after another, getting more lethal every time. We know what the flu is (unlike somebody) so Tamiflu and Relenza can be used. Quoted form Health Minister Khaw Boon Wan, "For healthy Singaporeans or those who have not been overseas recently, get on with your life. Go out , exercise, cycle, brisk walk, go dancing, whatever. We all know when you are active and have enough sleep, you are in top form, you are less likely to get the flu." It is just a matter of time before the flu hits.