It's really funny how, in Thio Li-Ann's post-377A parliamentary debate article, she makes a very concerted appeal to readers to refrain from "allowing public debate to degenerate into fruitless name-calling and distorting issues by speaking misleading half-truths.", for fruitless name-calling is something that both sides are guilty of. It's also easy to spot. The second part however, is an offence that she seems to be not aware of having committed. Like a well-hidden sniper, the eloquence with which she expresses herself makes her a little harder to spot as an accusing black pot, but it can nevertheless still be done. Here are some choice lines from her most recent essay.
"A central goal of debate must be to lend clarity to the issue, as where PM Lee stated that Singapore law recognises only racial and religious minorities. Thus , the politicised term "sexual minorities" is legally vacuous."
But no less substantive. If not, Thio herself would not have preceded the above with the following:
"While acknowledging "space" for homosexuals to live quiet lives, PM Lee firmly stated that homosexuality activists "push this agenda", that would elicit "push-back" from the morally conservative majority. In other words, don't aggressively push the bedroom into the public square."
Thio curiously reaffirms Lee's mistake in speaking of agendas as if they're dark, evil things that should be feared when they surface and are identified. Come on, everybody has agendas. You do, and I do. Even if Thio is blind to her own fanning of moral alarmism, she very definitely has an agenda with regard to 377A as well, as evidenced by her remark at the end.
"Terms like "dignity" and "tolerance" are empty apart from a theory of human nature, human good and community. To go beyond sound-bites to substance, we must not gloss over the real issue."
Again, what is interesting here is not Thio's accusation of pro-repeal arguments as being a largely empty one, but her implication that anti-repeal arguments have much more substance.
"Furthermore, specific isues should be debated, rather than making emotional and vague apeals to "fairness", "equality", "inclusivity" and "tolerance". The concrete issue is: what should we exclude or include? What should we not tolerate? "Tolerance" must not become the refuge of a person without convictions."
Ahem. So apparently I'm now a vague, emotional person without convictions. Silly, it's easy to tell what should not be tolerated: any behaviour that can be deemed to be morally unethical. If such an argument can be made convincingly in court, then it should be publicly acceptable as well. The truth is, a lot of what Thio's said recently wouldn't hold water in court, simply because it lacks the spine that only evidence can provide, which so far, is largely on the pro-repeal side. The most revealing quote however, was early in the essay, when she wrote the following:
"To say the law should ignore moral questions is to impose a "hidden" morality by default. Hedonism, a recipe for societal suicide, is the philosophy underlying the argument that the law should not interfere with private sexual behaviour. As philosophy affects law, we need wisdom to know what the law should encourage or hinder."
Ah yes. Only gays are hedonistic, because they have anal sex. What Thio needed to add there, was proof that only gays are hedonistic, for I don't think any of us could survive life for long if we did not catch a movie every now and then, or go for an ice-cream at the nearest Swensens. You get the idea. By her definition, we should already be in the throes of societal suicide.
There's something that I think isn't being said here, and that is the assumption that gays will kill us all, just like in that largely misunderstood biblical tale about Sodom and Gomorrah. It's therefore justifiable to criminalise anal sex, because these men and women are walking, talking, fornicating WMDs hell-bent on societal suicide. Yes, I'm putting words in her mouth here, but how unreasonable is it to assume? Anyone holding such beliefs, not just Thio, would be justified in reaching the conclusion above. Assuming that this is true, what then needs to be highlighted is that Thio's logic is at least partially informed by religion. Aren't church and state supposed to be separated?
Evidently, it is not so easy for some. At the very least, we can take consolation in the fact that the reality many gays contend with has very little to do with 377A. The tug-of-war that has ensued over the signpost that it is though, has been instructive. At least we're on the moon now.
Saturday, October 27, 2007
Thursday, October 11, 2007
Knocking On Nature's Door
They're here! Agagooga has sounded the alarm, and the creationists have gotten their allegedly God-made foot in the door. But if the events unfolding overseas are anything to go by, I don't think that rubbishing them is going to matter one bit to these people.
The reasons are extensive, and they all stem from the fact that humans are prone to magical thinking, or non-scientific causal reasoning. Magical thinking is very much like science, except that it does not distinguish causation from correlation. This leads to interesting religious concepts such as karma, or magic. If I stand under a wooden porch, and it then promptly collapses on me, there is a scientific explanation that can be pointed to, i.e. termites have chewed out the pillars that support the roof, but people who believe in karma would instead ask why the roof happened to collapse on me at exactly the moment I stood under it. Believers in magic might attribute this to someone having cast a spell on me, or say that I was jinxed. Although there are independent chains of logic at work here, it is magical thinking that causes these independent chains to intersect. What is worth noting is that synchronicity, a Jungian concept that is frequently used by people of the TAR(thoughts affecting reality) persuasion, is also very securely fastened to in the magical thinking boat as well. The power of thought's ability to influence reality is great indeed, but it does not literally mean that anything is possible.
I do believe that curing people of magical thinking would be easiest if they were taught to be logical while still young, but this places the onus entirely in the hands of the parents, and if that's not what they're for, then their irrationality will only be perpetuated in their kids. It's helped by the fact that children have demonstrated a strong tendency to undergo a phase of magical thinking when they are very young...for example they might attribute rainy weather to their depression. If starting young is difficult, it doesn't get any easier during adulthood, because of confirmation bias. People tend to look for evidence which supports their beliefs, instead of seeking refutation, as stipulated in the scientific method. The reluctance is understandable, since to shatter one's beliefs can result in cognitive dissonance. I can personally attest to that, for during my third year as a philosophy major, something clicked into place, and I then saw and was haunted by a now completed jigsaw puzzle that I fond truly horrific. It took me about six months to adjust to the ramifications involved, and renounce a religion that I had previously been a devout follower of. This personal experience of how unpleasant it can be is also what keeps me from becoming too testy with my folks when discussing religion.
Neuroscience has also shown that the human mind has been demonstrated to have a great capacity for pattern identification, but is ill-equipped to differentiate between meaningful patterns and perceived ones. From an evolutionary perspective, magical thinking actually makes sense. If I spot something in the grass that looks like orange and black stripes, it's better to play safe and get lost, instead of venturing closer to confirm that it's a tiger.
In other words, magical thinking is here to stay. If there's anything about Singapore that prevents evangelistic creationist Christians from going amok as seen elsewhere, it's that we're multi-cultural to a point where no one religious denomination is so dominant that it can bully its way around the courthouse, parliament house, or classroom without other groups voicing objections equally loudly. At least, that's what I hope things'll be. Others have expressed worries to me that we're on the verge of becoming a Christian theocracy, but my fingers remain crossed for now.
The reasons are extensive, and they all stem from the fact that humans are prone to magical thinking, or non-scientific causal reasoning. Magical thinking is very much like science, except that it does not distinguish causation from correlation. This leads to interesting religious concepts such as karma, or magic. If I stand under a wooden porch, and it then promptly collapses on me, there is a scientific explanation that can be pointed to, i.e. termites have chewed out the pillars that support the roof, but people who believe in karma would instead ask why the roof happened to collapse on me at exactly the moment I stood under it. Believers in magic might attribute this to someone having cast a spell on me, or say that I was jinxed. Although there are independent chains of logic at work here, it is magical thinking that causes these independent chains to intersect. What is worth noting is that synchronicity, a Jungian concept that is frequently used by people of the TAR(thoughts affecting reality) persuasion, is also very securely fastened to in the magical thinking boat as well. The power of thought's ability to influence reality is great indeed, but it does not literally mean that anything is possible.
I do believe that curing people of magical thinking would be easiest if they were taught to be logical while still young, but this places the onus entirely in the hands of the parents, and if that's not what they're for, then their irrationality will only be perpetuated in their kids. It's helped by the fact that children have demonstrated a strong tendency to undergo a phase of magical thinking when they are very young...for example they might attribute rainy weather to their depression. If starting young is difficult, it doesn't get any easier during adulthood, because of confirmation bias. People tend to look for evidence which supports their beliefs, instead of seeking refutation, as stipulated in the scientific method. The reluctance is understandable, since to shatter one's beliefs can result in cognitive dissonance. I can personally attest to that, for during my third year as a philosophy major, something clicked into place, and I then saw and was haunted by a now completed jigsaw puzzle that I fond truly horrific. It took me about six months to adjust to the ramifications involved, and renounce a religion that I had previously been a devout follower of. This personal experience of how unpleasant it can be is also what keeps me from becoming too testy with my folks when discussing religion.
Neuroscience has also shown that the human mind has been demonstrated to have a great capacity for pattern identification, but is ill-equipped to differentiate between meaningful patterns and perceived ones. From an evolutionary perspective, magical thinking actually makes sense. If I spot something in the grass that looks like orange and black stripes, it's better to play safe and get lost, instead of venturing closer to confirm that it's a tiger.
In other words, magical thinking is here to stay. If there's anything about Singapore that prevents evangelistic creationist Christians from going amok as seen elsewhere, it's that we're multi-cultural to a point where no one religious denomination is so dominant that it can bully its way around the courthouse, parliament house, or classroom without other groups voicing objections equally loudly. At least, that's what I hope things'll be. Others have expressed worries to me that we're on the verge of becoming a Christian theocracy, but my fingers remain crossed for now.
Wednesday, October 10, 2007
Left Words
Growing Gracefully
Much is talked about anti-aging, the truth is we can't stop aging but we can certainly grow gracefully. Come find out how this can be done, a workshop not to be missed. Your detailed body composition measuring body fat, body water percentage, visceral fat level, muscle mass, BMR/metabolic age, bone mass will be carried out individually. With these information you can therefore fine-tune your fitness programme, improve your dietary intake, using natural nutraceutical means to ensure your body function the way it should be.
____________________________________________________________________
The above is an excerpt I found in a newsletter recently sent by the staff recreation club management. Is "old" such a taboo word that it warrants cutting its usage even when the occasion is simply screaming for it? You'd think that, being addressed to a small community of professors, the SRC management would be able to avoid restraining itself unnecessarily like this when organising and publicising events that run counter to the predominant ageism in Singapore.
Much is talked about anti-aging, the truth is we can't stop aging but we can certainly grow gracefully. Come find out how this can be done, a workshop not to be missed. Your detailed body composition measuring body fat, body water percentage, visceral fat level, muscle mass, BMR/metabolic age, bone mass will be carried out individually. With these information you can therefore fine-tune your fitness programme, improve your dietary intake, using natural nutraceutical means to ensure your body function the way it should be.
____________________________________________________________________
The above is an excerpt I found in a newsletter recently sent by the staff recreation club management. Is "old" such a taboo word that it warrants cutting its usage even when the occasion is simply screaming for it? You'd think that, being addressed to a small community of professors, the SRC management would be able to avoid restraining itself unnecessarily like this when organising and publicising events that run counter to the predominant ageism in Singapore.
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