In the context of Singapore's multi-racial society, where there is cultural and religious pluralism, which author's view do u think should be adopted?

In order for a society to function effectively without any flaws, everybody belonging to that society should live in harmony; regardless of race, language and religion. This is definitely possible if the government is able to open up to the people's views and accept and analyse them; taking into account every person's importance of his/her role in the society.

Peter Singer's article showed a great deal of persistence in standing up for him/herself. In his article, he thinks that "freedom of spech is essential to democratic regimes, and it must include the freedom to say what everybody else believes to be false, and even what many people find offensive." He was trying to drive at the point that in a country, every single person plays a very important role, and that personal views should be brought up in view for the society to place a judgement. And that "without that freedom, human progess will always run up against a basic roadblock." However, there is a flipside to his view. If everyone else was to be so insensitive to others, and speak up at his own whim and fancy, wouldn't the world be a difficult place to be in? This brings me to another important section of my discussion.

Zsofia Szilagyi's viewpoint was far off from what Singer had perceived. Szilagyi had asked for a society where everybody practises social responsibility. Due to the western media's overlooking, the Danish and Norwegian newspapers had published provocative cartoons of Prophet Muhammad, thus "setting off mass demonstrations, diplomatic rows and economic boycotts.. in the Middle East." Had the press learnt to be more sensitive, these unpleasant happenings would not have taken place at all. It was all because the media did not weigh out the possible consequences that would have taken place if these articles were published. Everybody is part of the society, and that "whether we like it or not, now we all effectively live next door to one another." This further proves that responsibility is more important than freedom in a democratic society like Singapore. Singapore will have to learn "how to strike a balance between individual and collective press freedom rights." The presence of many races in Singapore enhances the importance of this virtue; being respectful to anothers, and being responsible to yourself.

Undeniably, freedom of speech is and will still be an essential foundation of any democracy, but we have to understand that responsibility comes with freedom. Only with this understanding, Singapore would be able to progress further socially.

"Prejudice is a disease we can never get rid off." Discuss.

Prejudice is an opinion formed without taking the time or care to judge fairly. Such an opinion may be favourable or unfavourable and is held without regard to the available evidence. Prejudiced individuals tend to twist, distort, misinterpret, or even ignore facts that conflict with their predetermined opinions. For example, a prejudiced person might believe that all individuals of a certain age, national origin, race, religion, sex, or region of a country are lazy, violent, stupid, emotionally unstable or greedy.
Because of prejudice, millions of people have been denied equal chances for jobs, housing, education, and participation in government. In Nazi Germany, extreme prejudice led tot he killing of millions of Jews, Gypsies, and other members of minority groups during World War II (1939-1945).
Prejudice may develop when one group fears that competition from another group will deprive them if prestige, priviliege, politicla power, or economic opportunities.
Prejudice is truly something we can never get rid of. It may be passed from generation to generation. Many children learn prejudice from their parents and teachers. Institutions, laws, customs that discriminate against certain groups of people sustain prejudice. However, not all people accept the prejudices of their communities. Social scientists have learned that some people are more likely to form prejudices than other people are. This difference depends on variations in individual experiences and background.
Education, certain types of contact between groups, and instituitional change may help reduce prejudice. Education helps correct false generalisations that form the basis of prejudice. Contact between groups is most likely to reduce prejudice when the groups gather together for a common cause. Changes in instituitions, laws, and customs to reduce discrimination might eliminate some prejudice.

“YouTube has no ethics; it's been created for the sole purpose of entertainment and money.” Do you agree?

I agree to the above statement.
YouTube is a popular video sharing website where users can upload, view, and share video clips. In its short time on the web, YouTube has grown quickly and received much attention.
If one logs on to YouTube, he will realise that majority of the videos there are for entertainment purposes - music videos, movies, cartoons etc.
The World Wide Web is invented for a purpose, to educate the public by enabling fast transmission of data conveniently. Today, it has become an avenue for the public to transmit whatever kind of information they have, sadly to say, information that are harmful to the human's soul.
Following the Virginia Tech massacre, where the South Korean student posted videos of himself on Youtube. His purpose was clear -- to terrorise the world. He knew that Youtube would be the best choice, as it is undeniably the most popular video-sharing website online.
YouTube has been created just to entertain the people mass. Many videos on YouTube have actually infringed copyrighted issues of various industries. People have conveniently ripped the videos off from somewhere, and reposted it on YouTube for entertainment purposes. Is this fair to the person who produced the video? Much effort has been placed in the production of the video -- it is an intellectual property. But people fail to realise it, being unable to appreciate the efforts of the producers. This obviously shows the absence of ethics on YouTube. Some also see YouTube as a platform to earn money -- by posting advertisements online, to appeal to the people. These people have fallen into one of the seven deadly sins -- greed. Being so desperate to earn that bit of money, they resort to any means they can. Even if it means breaking the law.
When the World Wide Web takes over the world (as it is almost going to), Greed will take over Man.

Introduction

I lost my password and username for my previous blog so here's my new blog :/

Hello! I'm Jennifer from 20/07, currently in AJ hockey.

YAY I have finally finished setting up my blog for General Paper, hopefully I will have the time to post up entries frequently! (:
A ew start in a new school, I think I'm adapting pretty fine in AJC.. People in there are just awesome. My class (20/07), my hockey team mates, my old friends.. everybody plays a part!Its a bit of irony, when I was back in NJC, I was also in 20/07.. Hmm, but well, everything happens for a reason. And to add, AJ is so much nearer compared to NJ.. The pros and cons, I'm actually guided to think that AJ is better than NJ, well, but more of an illusion? In terms of facilities.. NJ overtakes AJ so much more.
Shouldn't lament on useless things - things not worth mentioning since nothing will change now...Trainings up more intensively now, I guess we will be training at the pitches next coming week.. Gotta make FULL use of my time at home to loosen up, sheesh.

I like this song.

Back me down from backing up
Hold your breath now it's stacking up
Etched with marks, but I can deal
And you're the problem and you can't feel
Try this on, straitjacket feeling
so maybe I won't be alone
Take back now, my life you're stealing
Yesterday was hell