Like whoa

Random thought of the day:

Are cities predisposed towards pro-colonialism sentiment? This urban experience is framed in binary with the anti-colonialist rural experience. Ref: Singapore, circa 1945.

(Probably not)

Read more!

Confucius and the state | tempus fugit

Confucius he say, woman ok!

You learn something everyday. Confucius's family tree has been maintained all this while in his hometown of Qufu, eastern Shandong province. However, the construction of the family tree, and therefore, family history, has been influenced by Confucius's uncomplimentary views on women. As a result, the women were excluded from the family tree, and of the dubious prestige of being a descendant of Kong Tze.

Seems that they're rethinking things, and moving with the times.

However Mr Kong, speaking at a festival marking Confucius' 2,557th birthday in the philosopher's home town of Qufu in eastern Shandong province, said equality now had to be observed.

Mr Kong is planning to reveal the fifth family tree update in 2009 and believes there could now be more than three million descendants - about 2.5m of whom live in China.

He said: "Even if a woman has to leave the family when she gets married to live with her husband, that doesn't change the fact that she is descended from Confucius."

From the BBC

Confucius believed in a great many things, including a strict social hierarchy, with a specific emphasis on the maintenence of proper relations and respect, with service to the state being the utmost virtue. (I'm sure there's more to it than that, but I had to learn Chinese as a child so as to imbue a sense of rootedness to Chinese culture, so now I hate the damn thing.)

The emphasis on the stratification of society and the fossilisation of social development made Confucianism unacceptable during the Cultural Revolution. Of late, it's come into favour because China, like well, Singapore, is worried about the effects of globalisation and the erosion of the Chinese identity. Well, theoratically concerned - they're more concerned about what the erosion of the Chinese identity would do rather than the id itself. If they could find an implant that instilled "Asian deference" and "loyalty to the motherland", their concern about erosion wouldn't just erode, it would vanish faster than half price abalone on CNY eve.

Of course, this is when I take a moment to brag and point out that the touting of Asian/Confuscian values as a form of identity to foster nation-state cohesion - we beat them to it. LKY was doing it around 1997. Didn't work, but hey, maybe it will for the Chinese. Probably not.

These Chinese, always copying someone else.

[but yay, daughters of confucius! The times, they change.]

Read more!

National education, the ST and moderates | all about meeeeee

There are times when I hate the Straits Times. Then there are times that I hate the people who hate the Straits Times.

And then I realise that what I actually hate is this whole pressure-cooker society of Singapore, where people seem to believe that we're the worst/best city in the world. All these polar opposites - I swear, declaring that Singapore is Worst Country Ever is just our old friend exceptionalism, coming from the other side. We're Winthrop's City on the Hill, except when I say "hill", I mean "cesspit". It's the same idea, from the other side - we're either the best, or the worst.

I suspect that my stand on this is what also makes me a very boring person. Take the whole National Education/varying perspectives on history-teaching debate. I know that the syllabus is undergoing revision - well, part of it is. Aside from the issues of National Education is not history - and that is a very huge issue - I went through some of the NE analysis on the teachability of varying perspectives, especially the period that everyone loves to talk about. And the conclusion was this: if you could somehow arrange 30 hours to the day, with corresponding increases to history/SS periods... then yeah, you might be able to do it. Because of that, I'm a little worried about what's going to happen on the ground or rather in the schools - the teachers are going to be forced to teach more content while at the same time, throw in more analysis, with the result that the subject's going to get a very superficial treatment overall.

Anyway - the point of that anecdote was that I take a very heuristic approach to things, stand subject to mutatis mutandis, and as a result, stand somewhere between the iconoclasts and the conservatives. And a result, nowhere in the debate. Is that what's called being a moderate?

However, back to the ST. People say that the ST is biased? Sure. Only one? Only if by "only", you mean "every other paper in the world."

(except the BBC. BBC is God. Yes, I've just said this during Ramadan, God help me. )

The link that inspired it all: Why the American Media Sucks

Read more!