Interview

Below is the transcript interview with my mother on her views on prejudice and discrimination.

Me: What do you think of discrimination in the society?

Mother: I think that discrimination is applicable to almost every level in the society. Discrimination is caused by fears toward another party, and the insecurity they feel against someone else. It is all in the mind; if they need to get away from someone, they do not do it personally as they are afraid of being ostracised themselves. Instead, they gather in a group and they try to make their victim look bad on others.

Me: And what about prejudice?

Mother: Prejudice is the mindset where people discriminate against others, with no reason to why they do it. For example, not allowing someone to go out to play with others because of their different races and religion. Because of the person's dislike towards a certain subject, he or she should not convince others that the subject they have distaste for is bad too.

Me: You seem to have a rather holistic view on prejudice. What is your take on these two topics?

Mother: I think discrimination is definitely the harsher of the two. Prejudice is merely a mindset, whereby a person has opinions toward others, most probably bad, and deep in their heart reminding themselves that the people or objects are lower in quality or just simply having opinions against them because of the public views. Discrimination is the more concrete procedure, where actions, be it harmful physically or mentally to others, are carried out due to the apparent hatred or dislike towards a certain party, causing physical and emotional stress to the victim.

Me: Do you have anything more to say regarding these topics?

Mother: No, none at all. But I would end with my sympathies for those who are wrongly criticised and ousted from society due to prejudice and discrimination, even till today.

Me: Oh that's food for thought. Thank you for you time.

Diary Entry - To Kill A Mockingbird

Below is a diary entry by Atticus, for the Intrapersonal task, To Kill A Mockingbird.

Diary,

I went to the Court in the County to defend a Negro, Tom Robinson. The trial ended with Robinson convicted of rape, as what I was afraid and dreaded as the outcome. Is the severity of this case so great, it has to be brought to court? Is the social division so immense, I would have fought for Robinson in vain? Was I fighting a losing battle? Had Robinson been convicted even before the trial, because of he is a Negro?

Though Tom Robinson was forced to accept the guilt, my pities are with Mayella Ewell, but I do not condone the fact that her 'innocence' should be at the expense of a human being's life and future. Mayella felt the guilt caused by breaking a rigid code of our society - tempting a black man. I had shown the jury, Judge Taylor, and the citizens that Mayella had been hit by a person's left hand, and that Tom Robinson's left hand was so badly withered, I don't think he could even lift a pencil. The entire case was fueled by the viewpoints of everyone, but is there any concrete medical evidence that Tom Robinson had raped Mayella Ewell? Is there any justifiable proof?

Tom Robinson is a Negro, but does it mean that all Negroes are all suspicious and untrustworthy beings? It is just the discrimination in this sad racist society. When will the equilibrium between the Blacks and Whites exist?

Signing out,
Atticus Finch

Learning Profile

This is my learning profile based on the BGfl Multiple Intelligences test results.

I think that this Multiple Intelligence test is quite accurate as it focuses and directs attention at the key aspects of our intelligence; there were 40 questions, with each question having 6 degrees of agreement with my character and such.

The learning profile test reflects on my personality and multiple intelligences. I found out that I had a liking for pictures, and I can remember things and information by visualising them. I am also able to think logically, do quite well in Mathematics, and can recognise stuff in patterns and designs quickly and accurately. Though the test reflects on my strengths, it also accurately pinpoints my weaknesses too.

I found out that I was a poor Naturalist, and I am average in my Languages. This Learning Proflie test shows me my strengths, so that I can improve and ascend new peaks in those areas; whereas for my weaknesses, I can target them and also try to do better in future.

Eminem - Mosh

Eminem's Mosh is in short a masterpiece of an anti-Bush anarchist rap song by the ingenious rapper. To give a brief synopsis, Mosh is about the citizens of the United States of America under the reign of President George W. Bush, and how his decisions and ways angered and aroused hatred towards him; on the blood he has on his hands and the people who have suffered and toiled through during his 8 years of presidency. Mosh describes the uprising and rebellion of the anti-Bush Americans, and how they pinpoint Bush's apparent failures and how they intend to stage a revolution.

I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America
And to the Republic for which it stands
One nation under God
Indivisible with liberty and justice for all...
It feels so good to be back.

I scrutinize every word, memorize every line
I spit it once, refuel, re-energise and rewind
I give sight to the blind, my insight through the mind
I exercise my right to express when I feel it's time
It's just all in your mind, what you interpret it as
I say to fight, you take it as I'ma whip someone's ___
If you don't understand, don't even bother to ask
A father who has grown up with a fatherless past
Who has blown up now to rap phenomenon that has
Or at least shows no difficulty multi-task
And in juggling both perhaps mastered his craft
Slash entrepreneur who has helped launch a few more rap acts
Who's had a few obstacles thrown his way through the last half
Of his career typical manure moving past that
Mr. Kisses ___ _____, he's a class act
Rubber band man, yea he just snaps back

[Chorus:]
Come along follow me as I lead through the darkness
As I provide just enough spark that we need to proceed
Carry on, give me hope, give me strength
Come with me and I won't steer you wrong
Put your faith and your trust as I guide us through the fog
To the light at the end of the tunnel
We gonna fight, we gonna charge, we gonna stomp, we gonna march
Through the swamp, we gonna mosh through the marsh
Take us right through the doors (c'mon)

All the people up top on the side and the middle
Come together lets all bomb and swamp just a little
Just let it gradually build from the front to the back
All you can see is a sea of people some white and some black
Don't matter what colour, all that matters we gathered together
To celebrate for the same cause don't matter the weather
If it rains let it rain, yea the wetter the better
They ain't gonna stop us they can't, we stronger now more than ever
They tell us no we say yeah, they tell us stop we say go
Rebel with a rebel yell, raise hell we gonna let em know
Stomp, push, shove, mush, ____ Bush, until they bring our troops home (c'mon)

[Chorus:]
Come along follow me as I lead through the darkness
As I provide just enough spark that we need to proceed
Carry on, give me hope, give me strength
Come with me and I won't steer you wrong
Put your faith and your trust as I guide us through the fog
To the light at the end of the tunnel
We gonna fight, we gonna charge, we gonna stomp, we gonna march
Through the swamp, we gonna mosh through the marsh
Take us right through the doors (c'mon)

Imagine it pouring, it's raining down on us
Mosh pits outside the oval office
Someone's tryin t' tell us something,
Maybe this is God just sayin' we're responsible
For this monster, this coward,
That we have empowered
This is Bin Laden, look at his head noddin'
How could we allow something like this without pumping our fists
Now this is our final hour
Let me be the voice in your strength and your choice
Let me simplify the rhyme just to amplify the noise
Try to amplify the times it, and multiply by six...
Ten million people, are equal at this high pitch
Maybe we can reach Al-Qaeda through my speech
Let the president answer a higher anarchy
Strap him with an Ak-47, let him go, fight his own war
Let him impress daddy that way
No more blood for oil, we got our own battles to fight on our own soil
No more psychological warfare, to trick us to thinking that we ain't loyal
If we don't serve our own country, we're patronizing a hero
Look in his eyes its all lies
The stars and stripes, they've been swiped, washed out and wiped
And replaced with his own face, mosh now or die
If I get sniped tonight you know why,
'Cause I told you to fight.

[Chorus:]
Come along follow me as I lead through the darkness
As I provide just enough spark that we need to proceed
Carry on, give me hope, give me strength
Come with me and I won't steer you wrong
Put your faith and your trust as I guide us through the fog
To the light at the end of the tunnel
We gonna fight, we gonna charge, we gonna stomp, we gonna march
Through the swamp, we gonna mosh through the marsh
Take us right through the doors (c'mon)

And as we proceed,
To mosh through this desert storm,
In these closing statements, if they should argue
Let us beg to differ
As we set aside our differences
And assemble our own army
To disarm this Weapon of Mass Destruction
That we call our President, for the present
And mosh for the future of our next generation
To speak and be heard
Mr. President, Mr. Senator
Do you guy's hear us...hear us...[laughing] (Hailie)

The song begins ironically with the Pledge of the United States of America. Eminem used the school children's voices to record the first part, to send a message to the President that even children are able to understand the basic requirements and the ideal American; whilst Bush, as the role model and the President, appeared to the Americans that he has ignored "justice for all" by sending soldiers to the Middle East to war by having no purpose of doing so. Bush was robbing the soldiers' lives and dignity. The monochrome section from 0:10 to 0:15 showed the bleak situation then from 2001 to 2008, in stark contrast to the lively souls of the schoolchildren in the classroom. Notice that the teacher in a suit (perhaps Eminem himself) has his book upside down at 0:17; does it suggest that the American has already lost faith in Bush and the US government?

After the scene in the classroom, the video shifts its focus to Eminem's studio apartment, where he sticks newspaper clippings... of Bush's actions? "[S]crutinise every word" shows that the narrator (Eminem) digests and "memorises" every thing the tabloids and newspapers report about the Iraq War at the start of the 21st Century. The narrator highlights the after effects and consequences of the soldiers sent to fight in Iraq; look closely at 0:31 and you can see the soldiers having brain damage and an appalling thousands of deaths when they were in the war. "Exercise my right to express" implies the Freedom of Speech legacy in the United States, whereby anyone has the right to speak up and give his opinions freely, with no implications whatsoever. The narrator expresses his urge to condemn and criticise the Bush government of being unsuitable for their level of authority.

iPad

Apple's much awaited killer gadget has arrived! Steve Job's new groundbreaking invention - the iPad! This runaway slate of perfection from the king of IT Design has finally arrived after year(s) or so of increased hype. This revolutionary beauty of a gadget rocked my heart with its elegant brevity in design, and terrific interface Apple has trademarked.

The iPad looks like an oversized and overcharged iPhone, without the call functions, of course. It certainly is a head-turner, with its great looks. iPad, for your information, was not the first of its type to be invented. In 2001, Microsoft collaborated with Hewlett-Packard Inc. to make tablet PCs, but they were niche and bulky. A trait about consumers is that we have a soft spot for products that ooze emotional appeal, that is the ones that are slim and sexy. Though it has a high cost, the iPad will still sell like hot cakes due to this.

Another selling point for the iPad is that it has awesome battery life. At 10 hours of battery life and one month of standby stamina, the iPad is a monster. Imagine 10 hours of battery life for this beauty; it has greater battery stamina than most laptops!

Though the iPad is seemingly perfect, I do have some gripes about it, and so do the rest of the critics. The model with the most memory only has a limit of 64GB; most laptops triple that now. An iPad with such a meagre memory? Apple must be joking. My iPod Classic has almost twice that - 160GB worth of songs and videos. For this iPad, we can download books, do work and stuff, so proportionately, the memory of the iPad should be greater, by logic. Another complaint is that the iPad is too slim to squeeze in USB ports and SD Card Drives, which is quite a trouble considering I want to use it as a photo album. Plus, I cannot multitask, which means no Safari when at Word. And don't think of using Flash to play your videos as iPad lets us watch YouTube with an App already installed. So much for the hype.

Anyway, Steve has hinted about an iPad 2.0, with killer functions that will completely override the iPad 1.0.

Here are the specs for the iPad:

• 13.4mm thick
  
• 600g
• 9.7 inch LED-backlit screen
• 3 speakers
• Headphone jack
• 801.11n Wi-Fi and 3G
• No USB or SD slots
• Battery life 10 hours

This post is a review on the latest cool gadget up in the market. What do you think about the iPad? Like it or bin it, have your say.

Stolen bike

I refer to the case of the stolen bicycle of a globe-trotter in broad daylight, Singapore, last month. To have a little introduction, this Brit (or Aussie I'm not really sure) called Greg Browning had this ancient green Condor bicycle that had enabled him to travel the world on two wheels, through the searing Sahara Desert and the Middle East. He claimed to have parked his worn Condor outside Ngee Ann City, and when he returned, his beloved dinosaur was gone.

Magic.

No, it was a pervert thief who could not resist the titillation of old bikes, and had to steal this old boy to satiate his hunger. I mean who in the right mind would nick something right in the middle of daylight Orchard Road? What more a huge object like a bicycle? A seemingly WORTHLESS chunk of scrap metal?

This incident is really disturbing. Greg must be thinking "Hey Singapore is Johannesburg? No way! The law would crush any foolish attempt to go against the grain here!" And what happened? No one bothered to shout or try to stop the thief. Is the integrity and moral courage of Singaporeans depreciating due to our utter complacency of our law and order? Is the public too afraid to face up to the people dabbling in the dark side of the law?

Britain is going to cash in on this incident. Or the Australians. Anyway, Greg is a phenomenal person; having cycled half the globe, he must have mentionable fame. The world will condemn this shameful act of a supposed Singaporean. What a disgrace, thief. You have let your nation down. The nation wishes to punish you for blatantly scoring a demerit to our nation's clean sheet.

Singapore should not tolerate this. The Law shall prevail and may its nexus spread its command and eradicate law-breakers.

How should the Law take action against these obnoxious criminals? How can we deter them from continuing their dastardly acts? Have your say.

Introduction

This is the first post on thetalkingguru.blogspot.com. As far as possible, I would strive to jot down any thoughts on just about everything, from 'amateur' political commentaries, to reviews on theatrical movies and books, to interesting snippets of life worth commenting (at least I hope it is) . Other than that I would like to say that, this is a more than just a Language Arts blog; it may be a source of information, be it biased or impartial, I leave it up to you readers.

This blog would not be effective as a blog, if you do not give me your opinions and such. No criticisms, no change.

So I strongly urge you to tell me what you think about my posts, and leave them in the tagboard on the right side of the page. It would be nice to give constructive comments, and I think you would be sensible enough to omit any phrase that is prone to cause hurt or offense to any party whatsoever. This blog is not a platform for you to air your angers and certainly not a dictionary of vulgarities.

Other than that, go with the flow and enjoy thetalkingguru.com!