Comments_Term 3

1) Calvin Mau - Messages offer mother, daughter hope amid carnage

http://calcal1997.blogspot.com/2011/07/messages-offer-mother-daughter-hope.html

2) Chuang Fu Yuan - Shylock: Villain/Victim? T3P2

http://2i305lablog.blogspot.com/2011/07/shylock-villainvictim.html

3) Gaw Ban Siang - Justice - Retributive or Rehabilitative?

http://bansiang2i3.blogspot.com/2011/08/justice-retributive-or-rehabilitative.html

4) Koh Yi Da - Name Calling

http://2i3numbereight.blogspot.com/2011/08/name-calling.html

5) Lee Liak Ghee - Should leaders be judged by their private lives?

http://leeliakghee2i310.blogspot.com/2011/08/should-leaders-be-judged-by-their.html

6) Lee Wei Ren - Home Room system - Pros and Cons

http://lolz-teddy.blogspot.com/2011/08/home-room-system-pros-and-cons.html

7) Lu Wen Hao - Symbolism of the Three Caskets

http://lwh2i3sec2la.blogspot.com/2011/07/symbolism-of-three-caskets.html

8) Jonathan Ng - eBooks vs Traditional Books

http://ispark18.blogspot.com/2011/07/ebooks-vs-traditional-books.html

9) Kervin Tay - Shakespeare's Language & Our Language

http://kervin1i3.blogspot.com/2011/07/shakespeares-language-our-language.html

10) Justin Tay - What makes a gentleman?

http://justinlablog.blogspot.com/2011/06/what-makes-gentleman.html

Plagiarism #10

Plagiarism, to me, is a very serious and should not be condoned at all.

Plagiarism is basically the act of using another person's work and passing it of as yours. An example of a very famous book which had been accused of being plagiarized was the Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire. In this case, Adrian Jacobs claimed that the plot for the Goblet of the Fire was taken from his book, "Willy the Wizard". Of course, Jacob failed to win the case and was later faced with a legal cost of a few million dollars. To me, I believe there are two types of plagiarism.

Type 1: The smart one

This type of plagiarism would be where the plagiarizer would copy extracts from the source before tweaking the words by paraphrasing to make it seem as though it was written by himself. He later does not cite the sources totally. This type of people are those that think that they are smart, but actually fails terribly at it. Even though words are changed, Google can easily sought out the best possible results and most of the time, the first result that come out is the plagiarized source.

Type 2: The blind one

This type of plagiarism is where one would copy and paste entirely from the source and just cite it as a reference at the back. Well, I believe this type of people are those that has totally no knowledge of plagiarism, as I admit to have done the same thing when I was in primary school. Of course, I must say that this is the most innocent type of plagiarism, where to plagiarizer does not know what he is doing most of the time.

Overall, I feel that schools should educate their students properly and allow them to understand the true meaning of plagiarism. In addition, teachers should do as much as they can to ensure that the students who plagiarize would not repeat their fatal mistakes again.

National Pride or Despicable Action? #9

In the recent World Cup Qualifier match between Singapore and Malaysia, it was caught on video footage that a Malaysian had shone a green laser on the Singapore keeper during the match. This action by the Malaysian fan was definitely an inappropriate and wrong one, but can we say that his actions were entirely wrong?

What he is doing here also shows his national pride for his country, Malaysia. In doing this, he worries not that he would be chased out of the stadium, or even face undesirable consequences in his country, but all he was doing was to give Malaysia a chance to win and enter the next round of the World Cup qualifying match. We can see how much he wants Malaysia to win, his urge for Malaysia to gain the wonderful opportunity to enter the World Cup and bring pride to its nation. Of course, I am not approving about his actions, but thinking about it this way, it does show a sense of unity and love Malaysians have for their country, no?

However, from the viewpoint of a typical Singaporean, their actions were definitely uncalled for and absolutely unnecessary. This action, not only brings about an unfair advantage, but would also give Singapore a negative impression on Malaysians. In the society we're in today, people tend to over generalize and stereotype very often. By shining laser on the Singapore's keeper, this despicable action would make most Singaporeans stereotype that Malaysians are cunning and would do anything to win. When matter comes to worse, they might even say that MALAYS are the sly one, which would affect the racial harmony we have in Singapore today.

Overall, I feel that this act by the Malaysian fan is more of a despicable action then an act of national pride. As this case had happened before in Malaysia's match against Indonesia, it was definitely not an accident. In comparison to resorting to this underhand means to win, the Malaysian fans should just allow the Malaysian players to prove their ability in a fair match of football to see who is truly better, who can make it pass the qualifying rounds. I'm sure that even if the Singapore keeper became affected and blinded by this laser to the extend where Malaysia managed to score a goal and win, none of the Malaysian fans would be happy. Thus, I believe football matches should be played by the players and only the players itself, as the fans present in the stadium are only there to provide moral and not physical support.

Was Portia being merciful or driving Shylock to ends? #8

Whether or not Portia was being merciful or was trying to drive Shylock to his wits ends on purpose depends on how you view Portia as a person. If you view her as one who is pretty, rich, generous, kind (the perfect girl in the context), she was definitely being merciful towards Shylock when she was asking him to show mercy towards Antonio. I believe Portia was already prepared beforehand and have already decided to use these reasons to backfire Shylock's bond, and what she was doing was giving him a chance to stop what he's doing for the benefit of both himself and Antonio. Similarly, previously in the novel, we can see Portia trying to help Bassanio when he knew that Antonio was in trouble. Instead of being stingy and unwilling to let him leave, she asked him to give many more times the amount that was borrowed just to save his dear friend. This shows clearly that Portia was a very generous and big-hearted person in nature.

However, it isn't entirely impossible that Portia was doing this to drive Shylock to his ends. In this case, a very possible reason was to stop Shylock from threatening both Bassanio and his dear friend, Antonio. Through her actions, she first tricked Shylock into saying that he would only have the penalty, but later turned the tables around by saying that the penalty cannot be carried out as it's suspected of murder. Similarly, in other parts of the novel, we can see that she wasn't as "kind" as she appears to be, having a different thinking as compared to what she says. Therefore, being a smart and cautious person herself, it was possible for her to do this on purpose.

Ultimately, I believe that she was being merciful towards Shylock, as it is more reasonable to say that she is a generous person than a ruthless person. Given her actions towards Antonio and Bassanio, I'm positive that she wouldn't treat Shylock, another typical human being, any worse.

Euthanasia #7

Euthanasia is basically the act of intentionally ending a life to relieve the pain and suffering he/she is experiencing. In different countries, there are different laws pertaining to this issue, but deep within oneself, is Euthanasia truly correct and should be an act that must be supported?

To view the issue from one who believes that Euthanasia isn't wrong, it should be supported with the basis that Euthanasia is entirely voluntarily. When one decides to undergo Euthanasia, he/she would have to settle paper works as well as the grief to leave their family members. That feeling, which may not be known to others, is a very painful one. One would have to expect his death the next morning, and knowing that it would be his last night living in the world would definitely be a tormenting one. Furthermore, when one makes a choice, it is his choice. One definitely has the right to do whatever he wants with his life, no matter good or bad. In addition, as Euthanasia will only be permitted if the patient is in a severe condition, I see no wrong in helping him end his life peacefully.

However, to view this issue from a moral point of view, Euthanasia would definitely be wrong. Although the patients may agree to the act, no human deserves a right to die more than another. What's more, since everyone is a human being, no one should have the right to take away someone's life without facing the consequences. Imagine, if someone on the street tells you to kill them, are you morally right to "assist" them in killing? Besides, decisions can be changed anytime. When one asks for Euthanasia, he/she may not be in the right state of mind, and it'll be too late should he/she finds the true value of life later on.

Overall, I don't think that this issue is really subjective to different people. As for me, I believe that Euthanasia should not be done as regardless of how much one is pleading for you to end his life, we should never agree to it, as it'll definitely haunt us for the rest of our lives for taking a life.

Why isn't there a Senior or Elderly Day #6

There's no exact reason that is said, but I do have a few ideas for this:

1) Youth Day is one for the youths to reflect.

People often want children to cherish their childhood while they are still at it, and I believe Youth Day is a day specially set for them to reflect. (Although not many actually does that) Adults often reason that when one grows old, they no longer have the ability nor the strength or are having large difficulties trying to learn new things as compared to when they were young. Very often, children refuse to listen and end up saying these to their future children and the cycles repeats again. In contrary wise, they won't have an "Elderly Day" for the elderly to reflect. To the elderly, many of them already feels sad / regretful that they wasted their childhood on pointless activities, and having this Elderly Day might backfire and hurt these elderly instead.

2) Grandparents Day

There is already an official day proclaimed "Grandparents Day", thus there isn't really a need for Elderly Day. For Grandparents Day, children usually return to their parents home to have dinner, chat, and so on. In the busy world we're in today, many children are unable to visit their parents often, leaving them lonely. Thus, having this day allows for these children to return to their parents side and learn to take good care of their parents. This day is especially important to me, as I felt that children nowadays especially should learn to appreciate their parents. Some of these children, due to work, place their parents in the Old Folks Home. Others who are extremely poor tries to get money and inheritance from these parents through CPF, the ungrateful ones.

Overall, I believe the main reason for there to be no Elderly Day is because no one wants to be reminded that they are old. Everyone who experienced aging would always want to return to their days in childhood, regardless of how impossible it is.

Quoted: "How sweet and fitting it is to die for one's country". A Lie? #5

"How sweet and fitting it is to die for one's country", I believe this statement has different viewpoints to it under different circumstances and scenarios.

If someone was to die for a country when it is during a war to defend one's country, I believe it is definitely a very noble and honorable act. In wars, there would definitely be inevitable deaths, hundreds of thousands of them. However, what are this soldiers really fighting for? Why are they sacrificing their lives? Well, it's for the rest of the people in the country; they fight for the land, they fight for peace, they fight to defend. In wars, the country defending is always at loss; they have to protect its people as well. These citizens are their "assets", and losing them would be entirely losing the whole place, and thus, soldiers are tasked to protect the people at all cost, even by dying. Thus, I believe these people who sacrificed for the country is those that's truly noble and of course, should feel honored to do so.

However, although both are soldiers, I feel that one who died trying to attack another country should not feel sweet at all. Not saying that these soldiers are the "evil" ones, since the leaders are the ones who launched the attacks, but it is definitely not something to be proud of to me. When attacking others to gain their land, I believe it's a cruel and inhuman act, especially directed at the leaders. All they want is more land, more power, more money, and in doing so, they kill thousands of people, and they don't even show any signs of regret nor grief for them. Thus, I believe those who tries to gain power, whether under orders or not, won't feel sweet and fitting when dying.

All in all, I believe that no one should be killing another human. This inhuman act, even if for the country, should be avoided at all cost as none of us would feel happy for killing another human being.