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

Personally, I think that Szilagyi's view that more focus should be placed on social responsibilty should be adopted. Being a multi-racial society, it is important to have a harmonious society and prevent clashes between religions and races from occuring. If they really do happen, indesireble outcomes like mass demonstrations and even economic boycotts may take place, putting Singapore in a dagerous position. The economy would be adversely affected and also its safety. Being surrounded by many Muslim countries, we cannot afford to provoke the local Muslims and there may be unexpected attacks from the neighbouring countries, casting the previous friendly ties cast aside. Economic boycott is also another activity that would endanger Singapore. As a small country, revenue from all races and religion are essential and especially when port activities are one of our main sources of revenue.

As quoted from Szilagyi, freedom of speech is an essential foundation of any democracy. This closely relates to Singapore, a democratic society, where everyone has equal rights. However, this freedom should be to a certain extent. Any simple comment or remark by the media or any individual provoking the varous races and religions may result in an uproar. Different people have different way of interpreting things and even if the intended meaning was not to provoke people, some people may just insist on their own way of interpreting and thereafter causing problems. Whether you like it or not, we are indeed sensitive to issues relating to race and religion and it is definitely hard to strike a balance between freefom of speech and individual responsibility. There can never be a definite line regarding freedom of speech but it requires one's sense of responsibility in determining. Whether one cares about the feelings and respects the beliefs of others, the extent to the freedom of speech is thereby determined.

As for disagreeing with Singer's view that freedom of speech should not be limited, i think that he failed to put himself into other's people shoes and consider their feelings. As quoted from his article, "Before you accuse me of failing to understand...but my grandparents did not." This simply shows how he disregards his grandparents' suffering during that period of time. If he had really empathise with them , he would not be saying things like the existence of Holocaust should not be denied. The period of Holocaust was a nightmare and terror for many, so it is understandable for those who survived it to want to forget about those terrifying memories. However, by Singer's total freedom of speech, many people's inner fears are being brought out again. This is an irresponsible and totally inconsderate act. Totally oblivious to people's fear and insisting on freedom of expression, many people will and have been hurt deeply by that.

As a conclusion, I gather that there should be a certain limit ther freedom of speech is concerned in singapore.

essay on crime and punishment

Essay question: Criminals are born, not made. Comment.

Nobody is a criminal when they are born. A person commits crime only under forced circumstances like poor family background, external influence like peer pressure and maybe even physcological problems.

Under situations like poor family background, one might be forced to commit crimes like stealing as he/she is desperately in need of money to solve the financial problems faced by the family. In this situation, commiting this crime is not inborn but that they are being forced to do so.

Next, external influence like when the family members are not setting a good example for the children and that is when the child may follow their parents' footsteps into commiting crimes. However, it does not mean that children with good upbringing and even born in a wealthy family will not commit crimes. They may also face peer pressure from the certain friends they make who pressurise them into commiting crimes. Not willing to suffer under their jeering of refusing to commit a crime, they give in and thus, made a mistake that will make them regret.

Also, someone facing psychological problems may be prone to commiting crimes as they may do it as a way of relieving stress. There is a recent case of a female university student who was caught several times for theft and is now under-going counselling.

As seen from the above examples, criminals are not born but that they are either affected by external pressures or facing some problems and thus, resort to commiting crimes.

Find an article on a recent crime and discuss the related issues.

Article title: 32 killed in gun rampage at Virginia university

There were several questons raised regarding this tragedy. One of them was that why didn't the university officials take action during the first shooting. There was a two-hour gap between the first shootings, when two people were killed, and the second, when a gunman stalked through the halls of an engineering building across campus, shooting at professors and students in classrooms and hallways, firing dozens of rounds and killing 30. The university did not send a campus-wide alert until the second attack had begun, even though the gunman in the first had not been apprehended. This is something worth pondering over. If action was taken to track down the gunman right after the first shooting took place, would the 30 lives taken during the second shooting be spared? The university defended by saying that officials believed the first incident was a self-contained event, which the campus police believed was a "domestic" dispute. To them, a shooting can be considered as a "domestic" dispute. Are their mindsets so different from ours that a shooting can be considered something minor that requires no need to evacuate the students. Two lives were costed and yet, no action was taken. Are two lives so insignificant to the university officials that they had to wait till thirty more lives were taken before they are willing to take action?

I'm really dumbfounded at this fact. How can they expect the rest of the students and staff in the university to confidently hand their safety over to the school officials. Like what President Bush said, "Schools should be places of sanctuary and safety and learning. When that sanctuary is violated, the impact is felt in every American classroom and every American community."

Fear and terror must be spreading in every school and community. This incident has certainly a great impact on the society and especially the partes involved. Preventive measures should be taken to prevent similar incidents from happening again.

Another qeustion raised was that how did the gunman manage to get hold of the gun legally. According to the report, the gunamn is an Asian who came to US not long before. If so, how did did he manage to get hold of a gun? Was is due to the carelessness on the US's part or was it due to gunman himself. Therefore, I think the authorties should have stricter control over the legal owning of guns to prevent such tragedies from happening again.

''A Hanging'' comprehension answers

1) The author is very detailed in his description of objects, scenes and processes. The words and phrases he uses make the readers feel involved and get more absorbed in the story as they continue reading. Also, he uses several signposts like "as though"and "but" to guide the readers along his trail of thoughts. Dialouge is another commonly used technique whereby each dialouge is being connected in such a way that it makes readers want to continue reading the plot to know what is happening next.

2) Arguements for capital punishments were that if the punishments were delayed, it means delaying the time the other condemned prisoners have thier breakfast. Arguements against captial punishements were that it is cruel to kill someone who is perfectly alive, feeling and seeing the same thing as you but is going to disappear with a sudden snap. There is an unspeakable wrongness about cutting a life short when it is in full tide.

3)Personally, I think that capital punishment is something that should be avoided. Being condemned after commiting a crime is already a very heavy emotional blow to deal with and furthermore, there is still death waiting for you. I believe that once someone has been through this emotional roller-coaster ride, he/she would not dare to commit any of such crimes in the future. As for some, they might say that he ought to be punished for the crimes he has commited. However, wouldn't it be better if the person realised his mistakes and is willing to turn over a new leaf and do good to the society? Therefore, I think that death penalty should only be carried out after much considerations and with the fact that even after facing the emotional blow, the prisoner would still commit the same crime. If not, I think every individual should be given a chance and not be condemned so quickly.

self introduction

Name... Cheryl Tan Simin aka che che
Secondary School... Anderson Sec
D.O.B... 26 october 1990
Horoscope... Scorpio
Personality... sensitive - patient - unpredictable - weird(maybe) - stubborn - friendly -
Favourite idols... Rainie - Aaron Yan - edison - mike he - evan yo - s.h.e - wang lee hom -
Hangouts... amk central - j8 - home - school(aj) - orchard -
Pastime... daydreaming - watching drama serials(taiwan and korean) - chatting online - shopping -

That's basically all about me. I'm just a happy and blessed girl living on this world. xD
If you want to know more, feel free to ask me.