Very often, we can be swept away by routine and become oblivious to what is happening around us. An enquiring mind is so vital to help us to understand what is happening within us and around us, in particular, our own country. Sometimes, we may feel that it is not appropriate for us to think so much about governments because it is all too complicated and way beyond our abilities to make any difference. But guess what? Even Greeks who lived hundreds of years ago gave much thought to their government.
Now wouldn't it be terrific if you were to discover that you share opinions with great thinkers?
Let's consider Plato.
If you were to read about his life and the society in which he lived, you would be surprised as to how little has changed in politics. After more than 2000 years, one would think there would be a little more enlightenment in our leadership but that is not the case.
It might surprise you to know that Plato made some observations regarding politics that are amazingly relevant today. In fact, many political columnists are simply rehashing the same ideas Plato discussed with his cronies in Athens.
Plato, born in 427 B.C., was a Classical Greek philosopher, mathematician, writer of philosophical dialogues, and founder of the Academy in Athens, the first institution of higher learning in the Western world. Along with his mentor, Socrates, and his student, Aristotle, Plato helped to lay the foundations of natural philosophy, science, and Western philosophy. Plato was originally a student of Socrates, and was as much influenced by his thinking as by what he saw as his teacher's unjust death.
This morning, let's consider some of his thoughts. I am sure the truth of his statements is likely to shock you till your eyes are wide open without that shot of coffee that you so desperately need! :-)
1. "One of the penalties for refusing to participate in politics is that you end up being governed by your inferiors."
In my last post called SO WHAT IF I DON'T MAKE A STAND? I AM MALAYSIAN!! , I argued that each of us has the responsibility to be engaged in the political climate. One might say the smartest people take one look at political office and run the other way. Well, that may be smart, but it doesn't do much good when it comes to changing our country!! And why so? Would you want to end up with leaders who have the power and money and ego but not the leadership caliber or moral values required to win an election? To put it simply, that's way too similar to running for student body president in high school, if you ask me. In reality, we need to figure out how to get our best thinkers in leadership positions in our government and to do that, we need to develop a system that rewards integrity. And is this possible in Malaysia??
2. "The curse of me and my nation is that we always think things can be bettered by immediate action of some sort, any sort rather than no sort."
This has become an acceptable norm. If you were to consider virtually every paper in the world, chances are you'll find an editorial bashing the "Act now, think later" approach.
What we need today in Malaysia would be truly wise and thoughtful leaders, those who refrain from knee-jerk reactions and take the time to think about the manner in which they plan, execute and communicate their messages. We have to realize that it is thinking and not rash decision-making processes that will change the course of mankind and launch us into an era of consciousness. Plato had the same idea, which brings us to the next point.
3. "There will be no end to the troubles of states, or of humanity itself, until philosophers become kings in this world, or until those we now call kings and rulers really and truly become philosophers, and political power and philosophy thus come into the same hands."
To grow as a nation, complicated as it may sound, we have to realize that philosophy needs to become an integral part of our culture--in politics, business, art and entertainment.
What will it take for us to value thinking?
THINK!
More and more each day!!!
4. "Good people do not need laws to tell them to act responsibly, while bad people will find a way around the laws."
We see the truth of this statement every time a new measure is proposed. So much time is spent on legislation aimed at a tiny percentage of people who are bound and determined to get around the system.
We see it in our country where those on the wrong side of the political divide get into trouble for the smallest matter while others get away with bizarre acts (the Teoh Beng Hock issue and the multi-million dollar palatial home of someone are good examples.)
While we witness the declining standards of morality, don't we realize that if we spent our time and money on building better people, the country could be a better place?
THINK...COGITATE!
5. "When the tyrant has disposed of foreign enemies by conquest or treaty, and there is nothing more to fear from them, then he is always stirring up some war or other in order that the people may require a leader."
Sound familiar? If not, you haven't seen the movie, "Wag The Dog". We must come to the realization that in life, real, choreographed or simply imagined, conflicts tend to stir up a hornet's nest of controversy.
This idea is the foundation for all conspiracy theorists.
Plato isn't the only political guru. Few realize that there are plenty of great thinkers whose opinions are shared by news-makers and news-watchers today.
Albert Einstein said, "Nationalism is an infantile disease. It is the measles of mankind."
You don't have to be a genius to see that rabid patriotism leads to conflict.
Even Socrates agreed. He said, "I am not an Athenian or a Greek, but a citizen of the world."
So dear readers, as we begin a new day, let us wake up to the realization that we need more effort to adopt that Big Picture thinking and develop the ability to think beyond ourselves, our backyards, and our nation's political borders.
Honestly, we simply need to think. We cannot just accept anything that we read, see or hear. We see leaders campaigning for the 'ketuanan jaguh kampung' and deceive the rakyat into thinking that they are better than what they are and this makes them complacent and stagnant and then they suffer from bitter shock when they become heroes to zeroes internationally. But what can we do? We have a vile nest of morons, goons and worse - a solid fan base to cheer them on. Good heavens!
Here's one quotation that may stop you in your tracks:
"What luck for rulers that men do not think."
Who said it? Adolf Hitler.
Enough said.
Have a great day!
13 comments to ARE YOU THINKING HARD ENOUGH ABOUT YOUR COUNTRY?
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nick "What luck for rulers that men do not think."
Who said it? Adolf Hitler.
At first I thought it was Mahathir who said it! After all he was ruling the country for 22 years. (Adolf Hitler's rule of Germans didn't even come close). But then we know that Mahathir is a student of Machiavelli and logic follows that he would also learn from Napoleon and other vicious dictator the likes of Hitler! Till this day his legacy ( UMNO) still plague our nation and until the populace start growing a brain, things will remain the same. Is it any wonder why our education system is in such a shamble? The best idea the education ministry can come up with, is 1TOILET? Make you wish you can transfer some of your IQ to your own children and save them from experiencing the horror of Malaysian education system. It makes you wonder too if the ruling elite is ruining our education system on purpose. A docile and unquestioning populace is the easiest to manipulate.
Hamba
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Unknown Dear Uncle John,
I wrote this post at 4 a.m this morning, in the inspiring stillness of a beautiful new morn in my life. I had spent the weekend reading Rousseau, Voltaire, Plato etc and thought lots about many things - which is why there is this philosophical slant that was never that obvious in my other posts.
Indeed, not many want to think, preferring to vegetate and may I add, ferment! My students used to tell me that my lectures were most tiring to their brains because of the manner in which I compelled them to use their neurons.
From the trends, it is obvious that man has NOT learnt from their mistakes and worse still, others who are less influential - allow these blunders to be perpetuated! Such folly that breeds folly!
Yes, idealistic as I may be, I too dream and hope that one day, not too far in the future, Malaysia will enjoy a fertile social and political environment where citizens of all backgrounds can and are allowed to think.
Have a great week!
Warmest wishes
Paula
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Unknown Dear Nick,
Wise observations you have share with us, thanks!
I believe the state of our education system is the result of ONE MAN'S evil plan to destroy the thinking faculties of young people so that when they grow up to be voters or citizens, they will never be able to:
a) know what is right from wrong
b) kow-tow to the balderdash being churned out daily by certain quarters and MSM
c)recognize the need to see beyond their noses to realize that there complacency about their false sense of security will be their downfall
d) be fluent in English so that they have no choice but to depend on certain quarters for their bread and butter
etc etc etc
I was in the education sector for over 20 yrs and have seen the sharp decline from the mid-1990's and the situation is getting worse instead of better.
*sighs* That is 1Malaysia for you.
Take care and have a great week!
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Nameless Fool Hehe, I found this in the 'From Around The Blogs' section on Malaysia Today.
Brilliant stuff. Makes me wonder why I don't learn cool things like these in school, but then again, I could imagine a number of reasons.
Philosophy subjects aren't even offered in the Malaysian Monash University campus... but at least there are slight mentions of the Greek philosophers in Psychology and International Studies classes.
I love points #3 and #4, and I'm familiar with talks of #5.
#2... sometimes there's action without thinking, and sometimes there's talk without action.
The thought just popped up.
As for talks of the education system, my big brother and I had gotten out of the worst so far. At least I know at the moment that my brothers, parents and I are all better at logic subjects than read-and-memorize ones.
Meanwhile, I'll keep hoping that my fellow classmates won't flee off to the nearest comfy country once they graduate. Me, I'm... cheap. I'd stay.
Fishfoot. :)
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Unknown Hi dear Nerdcore,
How I've missed you! Exams must be round the corner and I appreciate the time taken for you to read my post and to share your thoughts with us here. Thanks for your encouraging comment, dear girl! How I truly wish you had been in my class for A-levels! I would have loved to pick your brains and to banter such stuff and more with you. Intellectual exchange is the best stimulus for minds both young and old.
I am sure glad you have achieved much success in critical thinking skills and I know it is largely because of your reading habit and your parents!
Honestly, many students weave their way round the system scoring A's not because they can ace a subject but because their answers matched the template of examiners. And so what will happen? When they move on to the next level, particularly overseas, they are less likely to compete on fair ground and the crushing blow will be quite debilitating for some who were cocooned in a false sense of seurity, thinking that they are excellent students when they were only good in regurgitating facts.
How many students would sigh up for a philosophy class in college? Probably about five. When I used to lecture, only the brave-hearted took my classes and till this day, I am still in touch with those whom I taught in the 1980's.
The current sterile climate is largely due to the void in the education system and what has happened is that the malaise has spread to the political arena thus few, especially the youth (and I predict the next generation of youth as well), are likely to have the guts to question whatever that is rammed down their throats.
So Malaysians had better do something to really THINK!
Have a great day and all the best to you for your exams.
hugs
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Malaysia180 My comments:
Malaysians are standing in the ruins of their past apathy to political involvement. All the institutions that the British bequeathed this country which would have allowed it to become a civilised nation have been eroded in the face of Malaysians who chose greed instead of principles. Problem was their greed achieved them nothing either.
You dont need to be smart to be a politician, but you do need to have the welfare of your fellow men and women and the welfare of your country at heart... and an outlook to the future. Normally, the brains would be provided by the public service. But in Malaysia the public service is a repository for otherwise unemployable Malays and its been left to the politicans to come up with the bright ideas. Ha ha ha
2.Malaysia is the home of ad hoc-ism because no political parties have any long term goals. For the answer to that you should look back at my previous posting; 'planning for the future' skills are one of the things lost in the process of childhood repression so widespread in Malaysia.
Be wary of the term 'wisdom' its an invention of the elderly designed so that they can keep young imaginative people repressed. Better to use the term common sense... that beautiful marriage of knowledge and the ability to think analytically
PS as a 70+ yo I know that the so-called wisdom of most of my peers is a cover for the fact that they are senile old f**ts
3. Philosophising in politics. To my mind governance is the manipulation of facts for the optimum welfare of the nation and its people. There is no place for philosophising in the governance of a third world nation, especially philosophising of the religious kind.
4. Absolute nonsense! Good people DO need to respect laws. The chaos that is Malaysia is because so few people have any respect for any of the institutions that make for a civilised society. They are good people but you are right... they dont think .. of anything but themselves
5. In Malaysia the tyrant didnt dispose of all his enemies he created enemies and fed Malaysians a diet of fear to imprison them under his regime. Einstein was right when he said "Nationalism is an infantile disease. It is the measles of mankind." And Mahathir was the evil doctor who spread the disease across the nation... and its still in pandemic mode..
Yeah, THINK Malaysia! But where got? When you lost the skill years ago
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Unknown Dear Dense,
Once again, it is a pleasure for me to read your deep comments coming from one who has truly lived and seen much happening in Malaysia.
Your opening paragraph aptly summarizes the tragic political setting which we face. The reason why greed surpassed the necessity of abiding by principles is largely due to the racial divide that was manipulated by those who felt that was the only way to keep the citizens 'under control'. And how tragic! In their greed to get a bigger piece of the cake, they stunted their own growth and mutated into a soulless race.
Your second paragraph is such an appropriate description and I have seen NONE in cyberspace written as succinctly as you have here. Thanks!
I concur with you re the death of planning procedures of some political parties. What they seem to be interested in would be short-term gains instead of long-term goals. And why so?
Short-term goals are easy to achieve whilst long term goals require detailed planning, execution and assessement of the program and are they willing to sacrifice so much? I think not. And so on a merry-go-round they go, pulling us along, expecting us to be happy with the miserable handouts thrown in our faces!
In my other post on "Do we have capable leaders who can lead us?", I did talk about the importance of common sense.
Sir, I can vouch that the system has put to death very maliciously, critical thinking skills. This is the best and most subtle way to control the masses, to keep them subjugated without questioning authorities, to paralyze them to such an extent that they cannot do anything else but the bidding of the puppet masters. It has been most frustrating for me to teach and to see how students cannot and refuse to think and that is the reason why an idealist like me was compelled to take an early retirement - it was just too painful to see the effects of that insidious plan! Worse still, it has spilled over to adults! Why? The handouts numbed the minds - who cares as long as the calf is fattened!
I am deeply delighted that we share the same view and stand re the tyrant! Nazism in its vilest form in a very subtle fashion.
Indeed - thinking to many is so passe but think we MUST.
For your very sharp, sincere and insightful comments, I want to say thank you.
If ever you visit Penang, sir, it would be a pleasure for me to meet you over a cup of coffee and have a lively exchange of ideas.
Thanks for visiting and may God bless you.
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NotImportant Socrates never liked politicians nor politics. He offended many prominent athenians after he decided to test the oracle's prediction that the wise are never really wise. And by asking some pointed questions many were found wanting. Socrates wisdom came from his own honest admission of ignorance. Only in genuine acknowledgement of one's ignorance can there be space in one's heart and mind to consider and examine all that is before us. Wisdom can only arise when the intellect is silenced by the humility of ignorance. The noisy assertion of the intellect often drown out clarity and wisdom. We think we know and understand but in truth we don't.
Socrates was a moral and social critic and as such was a threat to the ruling party. He was never interested in power but believe that the greatest good in human society came from the ability of each person to question oneself and others.
Insights and wisdom do not arise from answers but from deep penetrating questions. Contradictions and paradoxes are not to be shunned or dismissed but to be understood so that it could illuminate the way forward. His negative logic is not unlike the spiritual technique of nagarjuna at arriving at and realising the truth of emptiness.
Answers - canned and rhetorical - tended to stultify the masses into believing that they are thinking. But real insightful thinking can only come from questions ; uncomfortable and inconvenient questions.
Socrates chose poison rather than not to be able to speak the truth.
A thinking community and an enlightened one is one that can ask uncomfortable questions and not one that has all the answers.
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Unknown Dear NotImportant,
How splendid that you are quite a learned person who is familiar with Socrates. I was mesmerized by Greek mythology and philosophers at a very young age.
Your take on Socrates reflects a deep understanding of his philosophy and also Buddhism.
Basically, the little that we know about Socrates, an enigmatic figure, is from the classical accounts of his students, particularly Plato's dialogues.
The following, extracted from Wikipedia, can teach us many lessons of life and to help us to cope with the moral and political degeneration that we see before us:
Socrates has become renowned for his contribution to the field of ethics, and it is this Platonic Socrates who also lends his name to the concepts of Socratic irony and the Socratic method, or elenchus. The latter remains a commonly used tool in a wide range of discussions, and is a type of pedagogy in which a series of questions are asked not only to draw individual answers, but to encourage fundamental insight into the issue at hand. It is Plato's Socrates that also made important and lasting contributions to the fields of epistemology and logic, and the influence of his ideas and approach remains strong in providing a foundation for much western philosophy that followed.
Socrates lived during the time of the transition from the height of the Athenian hegemony to its decline with the defeat by Sparta and its allies in the Peloponnesian War. At a time when Athens sought to stabilize and recover from its humiliating defeat, the Athenian public may have been entertaining doubts about democracy as an efficient form of government. Socrates appears to have been a critic of democracy, and some scholars interpret his trial as an expression of political infighting.
Despite claiming death-defying loyalty to his city, Socrates' pursuit of virtue and his strict adherence to truth clashed with the current course of Athenian politics and society. He praises Sparta, archrival to Athens, directly and indirectly in various dialogues. But perhaps the most historically accurate of Socrates' offenses to the city was his position as a social and moral critic. Rather than upholding a status quo and accepting the development of immorality within his region, Socrates worked to undermine the collective notion of "might makes right" so common to Greece during this period. Plato refers to Socrates as the "gadfly" of the state (as the gadfly stings the horse into action, so Socrates stung Athens), insofar as he irritated the establishment with considerations of justice and the pursuit of goodness. His attempts to improve the Athenians' sense of justice may have been the source of his execution.
How many of us would choose to die like he did? We can also see how his death affected Plato.
In many ways, we may have advanced. Sadly, in the process, we have also lost that human part of us which is capable of feeling and feeling deeply.
Hopefully, Malaysians will one day be bleeding from the heart when they see how we have been robbed in broad daylight by unscrupulous and ruthless selfish goons. I just hope they see it now, rather than later which will be far too late.
Thanks for sharing.
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NotImportant In today's society knowledge is very much over-rated. We believe that we have progressed by the measure of the amount of knowledge that we held within our head and in our hard-disks. But socrates demonstrated a point of view that very much departed from conventional wisdom. His wisdom do not lie in the evaluation of the ignorant but in the way in which the practitioner of his ways gained insights into truth and reality. While many thought of socratic questioning as pedagogical and being a teacher for .... far too many years..and had often used his approach I realised one day that his approach was never meant to be pedagogical but epistemological. We arrive at truth of reality by a careful progression of elimination of negative logic.
It is perhaps strange that the bible spoke of how sin came into the world when adam and eve were to eat from the "fruit of knowledge". Why did God equate knowledge with sin ? By implication then insights and discerning of truth can only be arrived at by negative logic of eliminating the knowledge - a false reality created by the mind - from our "tainted knowing" .
So do we really know ? Does the information that we gathered with our 5 senses and fabricated by our mind the truth of reality ? Does the information and rumour that we imbibed not tainted by evil intentions and ignorance ?
After eliminating all that is to be eliminated , what is left ?
If you know the answer to this you have found the path 8-)
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Unknown Dear NotImportant
You are really a very deep thinker and a philosophical one! In fact, your brilliant comment reminds me of my philosophy and critical thinking lecturer who used to wax lyrical about Socrates, Plato, Homer, Rousseau and a few other famous philosophers.
In today's society, the pursuit of knowledge is only instrumental to monetary gain and not for knowledge per se. As such, I do not think mankind is progressing but regressing quite drastically despite whatever inroads in technology and other fields.
Very often, when we read theories, concepts and other philosophies, the tendency to misinterpret is caused by our narrowmindedness and the competitive desire to excel but at what expense? Thinking power has been retarded by the trappings of modern day society. Man seems to have forgotten the reason for their existence and instead, seek to define a reality according to their own criterion.
You have brought up a very thought provoking observation about the Garden of Eden scene. Very interesting....cos I never looked at it that way although I have always thought there is a deeper meaning to the knowledge=evil equation but it seems to be clearer now with your explanation.
The last sentence seems to point to nirvana...does it?
Do enlighten me, NotImportant. Sorry to impose on you but I truly appreciate our exchange and the fact that you took the time and made the effort to share your deep thoughts here.
Have a pleasant evening...
jonno1951 Very thought provoking. For many, thinking is hard work and they prefer to vegetate and let others do the "hard work". This apathy coupled with arrogance and decadence are what have brought down many civilizations. As the saying goes "those who don't learn from history are bound to repeat it".
I am glad I live in a country where although the political environment is not perfect but I know I have a voice that cannot be disregarded. Maybe one day, Malaysians will enjoy this state.
Have a great week.
Cheers
John