From Shushu's blog:
maintain balan!
there is wisdom in the (not-so) age-old singlish saying
i attended a talk yesterday about institutions and development. and while the talk got a little messy towards the end because the speaker had to rush through 19 slides in the last 15 minutes, i appreciated the little reminders and insights he eloquently gave.
the so-called east asian tigers or east asian miracle isn't really a miracle. rather, we've been caught up with identifying good institutions as being those that promote negative liberty, that secure property rights and have constrained governments so that self-interest via the invisible hand can do its work. yet singapore & south korea certainly did not begin with very democratic institutions and its governments were, in essence, dictatorial. they've defied the ideal of constrained governments and yet secured economic success. so hallellujah, it must be a miracle.
well, i guess if you want, you can really call it that. but maybe the truth is we've just identified good institutions wrongly. as much as negative liberty is hailed and demanded for by many human rights groups, we should also look at positive liberty which requires governments to facilitate and enable its people to participate.
ok, so as far as political participation and speaking out against the lee family, that's not available in singapore. but in terms of security in contracting, in being able to make your own living and not having to worry that the government is going to expropriate your assets, i think i can safely say that singapore has that. and this little facet of positive liberty: to be secure in your investments, to be able to trust your trading partner and have confidence in contracting with others, its tremendous to social capital. you'll able to participate in your society without distrust of the other.
so it's not perfect. i don't think its a miracle and there's a long way to go really. and maybe i'm not really saying anything new.
but because economists in trying to make things testable, have to make alot of assumptions; these assumptions lead to narrowly defined concepts and variables. and it is almost necessary sometimes that some things are narrow in thoughts as the simple things often lead us to understand greater mechanics. nonetheless, there must always be the presence of mind that we've started out with but a narrow view.
in short, seriously, maintain balan.
My Reponse:
Amen Amen!!
Can i Copy and paste this on my blog? Anyway, I was at Zouk last night, and I think it can only be me: I go for a free night of clubbing, and end up at 2 am, outside the club at the winebar, without having stepped inside Zouk, Phuture or Velvet. I had spent the last 4 hours sitting outside at a table with a few Law-enforcers (from like, high up on the law-enforcing echelons) jabbing about societal differences between the east and the west. Long story, how I ended up at that table watching the shiny leggy people drift in and out. And being kept up to date on the fight that broke out, and the molest case that just occurred.
And at 3 am, the 7th day adventist taxi uncle drives me home telling me about how he went bankrupt a year ago, from the height of 20 million. "But everything that I do, I do it for God. So it's ok." And just before that, the conversation was (naturally) about, the societal differences between the east and the west.
"You know ahhh... I actually don't really like ang mohs."A hint of caution, since he knows that I've studied *there*. "They all think that they know it all and are the best. But they are quite stupid for thinking this way."
"yah, I've seen a lot of that."
"And then hor, they all talk 'Free Speech! Free Speech!' But wah lau eh, free speech must also got some substance right?! Anyhow whack want to say this say that, also for what! just makes things messy only." The climax of passion. He goes on, i forget what he talks about exactly, but it ranges from health care to government concern for the people. And from a taxi diver lor!!
"Oh absolutely uncle!! I agree!" Obviously, the last 4 hours was just the beginning; where The guy from the MHA laughed at me, my political baggage and called me LKY's cultural ambassador. "Be careful!" He tells the other guy at the table, who trains law enforcers, "don't taint her image on how the administration works!". Heh, "aiyah", i semi-say to him, but more to myself, "I've been tossed around by them already, I know the administration is not all that rosy.... but it's ok".
Back in the cab, a pregnant pause. I felt seized up. "You sure anot Miss, you sure you agree with me? With what I say" Sigh, demonized in and out, I think my anger does me no good. My unfortunate perfect english and the hint of angmoh slang sets me apart, EH?
"Aiyah I tell you ahh.. the west hor, should stop being so kaypoh!! If people want to live in kumpungs.. and I don't want to say... but be backward hor, then let them lah! Wah lau everything also want to do. See ah, 18th century was ruled by europe, 19th century by the Americans. Now the 21st already? Shouldn't we have a chance??".
Oh democratic world, this is what your citizen wants. If you're not going to care for his heart's desire, then don't pretend that you do.
"Miss, you sound like you're a christian. Are you one?" He says in response to my passionate stand on indigenous rights in the west, and my comparison on the first nations and tibet and the olympics.
"Yes!"
Sorry, I got carried away there. But yeah balls. I totally agree. There are other ways! But I can understand lah, I mean the west grew up in a difficult era: the cold war. And as much as they think that they have the capacity to form independent thoughts as free-thinking individuals, that's just a myth too. We're all brain washed by our political discourses. So all that the west can see are 2 systems: The Liberal democratic way with all the fancy schmancy charters of rights and freedoms, and The commie way of red evil. No third. So when Singapore and Korea humbly do their thing, struggling, unnoticed, with the difficult choices they are left with, and being neither Liberal nor Communist, our success can only be comprehended as a miracle.
So yeah! We're a miracle as much as Hitler was an abominable freak of nature. Neither. We're all part of the same humanity and most of us just need to get our heads out of our asses. Maybe then we can understand each other more and work together toward love and peace.
Like in Micah 6:8, that is ALL that the lord requires of us: Justice, Mercy and Humility.
I HAVE SO MUCH BAGGAGE!!!! (And I think I only read what I want to see.)
maintain balan!
there is wisdom in the (not-so) age-old singlish saying
i attended a talk yesterday about institutions and development. and while the talk got a little messy towards the end because the speaker had to rush through 19 slides in the last 15 minutes, i appreciated the little reminders and insights he eloquently gave.
the so-called east asian tigers or east asian miracle isn't really a miracle. rather, we've been caught up with identifying good institutions as being those that promote negative liberty, that secure property rights and have constrained governments so that self-interest via the invisible hand can do its work. yet singapore & south korea certainly did not begin with very democratic institutions and its governments were, in essence, dictatorial. they've defied the ideal of constrained governments and yet secured economic success. so hallellujah, it must be a miracle.
well, i guess if you want, you can really call it that. but maybe the truth is we've just identified good institutions wrongly. as much as negative liberty is hailed and demanded for by many human rights groups, we should also look at positive liberty which requires governments to facilitate and enable its people to participate.
ok, so as far as political participation and speaking out against the lee family, that's not available in singapore. but in terms of security in contracting, in being able to make your own living and not having to worry that the government is going to expropriate your assets, i think i can safely say that singapore has that. and this little facet of positive liberty: to be secure in your investments, to be able to trust your trading partner and have confidence in contracting with others, its tremendous to social capital. you'll able to participate in your society without distrust of the other.
so it's not perfect. i don't think its a miracle and there's a long way to go really. and maybe i'm not really saying anything new.
but because economists in trying to make things testable, have to make alot of assumptions; these assumptions lead to narrowly defined concepts and variables. and it is almost necessary sometimes that some things are narrow in thoughts as the simple things often lead us to understand greater mechanics. nonetheless, there must always be the presence of mind that we've started out with but a narrow view.
in short, seriously, maintain balan.
My Reponse:
Amen Amen!!
Can i Copy and paste this on my blog? Anyway, I was at Zouk last night, and I think it can only be me: I go for a free night of clubbing, and end up at 2 am, outside the club at the winebar, without having stepped inside Zouk, Phuture or Velvet. I had spent the last 4 hours sitting outside at a table with a few Law-enforcers (from like, high up on the law-enforcing echelons) jabbing about societal differences between the east and the west. Long story, how I ended up at that table watching the shiny leggy people drift in and out. And being kept up to date on the fight that broke out, and the molest case that just occurred.
And at 3 am, the 7th day adventist taxi uncle drives me home telling me about how he went bankrupt a year ago, from the height of 20 million. "But everything that I do, I do it for God. So it's ok." And just before that, the conversation was (naturally) about, the societal differences between the east and the west.
"You know ahhh... I actually don't really like ang mohs."A hint of caution, since he knows that I've studied *there*. "They all think that they know it all and are the best. But they are quite stupid for thinking this way."
"yah, I've seen a lot of that."
"And then hor, they all talk 'Free Speech! Free Speech!' But wah lau eh, free speech must also got some substance right?! Anyhow whack want to say this say that, also for what! just makes things messy only." The climax of passion. He goes on, i forget what he talks about exactly, but it ranges from health care to government concern for the people. And from a taxi diver lor!!
"Oh absolutely uncle!! I agree!" Obviously, the last 4 hours was just the beginning; where The guy from the MHA laughed at me, my political baggage and called me LKY's cultural ambassador. "Be careful!" He tells the other guy at the table, who trains law enforcers, "don't taint her image on how the administration works!". Heh, "aiyah", i semi-say to him, but more to myself, "I've been tossed around by them already, I know the administration is not all that rosy.... but it's ok".
Back in the cab, a pregnant pause. I felt seized up. "You sure anot Miss, you sure you agree with me? With what I say" Sigh, demonized in and out, I think my anger does me no good. My unfortunate perfect english and the hint of angmoh slang sets me apart, EH?
"Aiyah I tell you ahh.. the west hor, should stop being so kaypoh!! If people want to live in kumpungs.. and I don't want to say... but be backward hor, then let them lah! Wah lau everything also want to do. See ah, 18th century was ruled by europe, 19th century by the Americans. Now the 21st already? Shouldn't we have a chance??".
Oh democratic world, this is what your citizen wants. If you're not going to care for his heart's desire, then don't pretend that you do.
"Miss, you sound like you're a christian. Are you one?" He says in response to my passionate stand on indigenous rights in the west, and my comparison on the first nations and tibet and the olympics.
"Yes!"
Sorry, I got carried away there. But yeah balls. I totally agree. There are other ways! But I can understand lah, I mean the west grew up in a difficult era: the cold war. And as much as they think that they have the capacity to form independent thoughts as free-thinking individuals, that's just a myth too. We're all brain washed by our political discourses. So all that the west can see are 2 systems: The Liberal democratic way with all the fancy schmancy charters of rights and freedoms, and The commie way of red evil. No third. So when Singapore and Korea humbly do their thing, struggling, unnoticed, with the difficult choices they are left with, and being neither Liberal nor Communist, our success can only be comprehended as a miracle.
So yeah! We're a miracle as much as Hitler was an abominable freak of nature. Neither. We're all part of the same humanity and most of us just need to get our heads out of our asses. Maybe then we can understand each other more and work together toward love and peace.
Like in Micah 6:8, that is ALL that the lord requires of us: Justice, Mercy and Humility.
3 comments:
haha well i see what i want to see too and i definitely hear what i want to hear too!(seeing that during the other parts of the lecture, i effectively zoned out when it was about growth functions and equations)
heh, the beatles say "all you need is love!" but this would be very unpopular political discourse because love sounds too simple, too fluffy and belongs in the personal; although this might be the boldest political statement to make and carry through. i guess people want action and reparations today, not many want to wait and understand. and i don't blame them. there's uncertainty that goes with waiting, sometimes people just find it safer to keep their "heads in their asses" (remarkable feat when you think about how you would need to contort your body!).
anyway, this message might be slightly alcohol induced. had a drink too many
There's so much to talk about here...
Re the original post: chalk up one more who agrees substantially.
Re Shu's subsequent comment: "love" looks good on paper, but then we get into that complicated business of just how we'd define "love" ;)
Re Hannah's post. Aside from how bluntly it evoked for me that George Burns quote about how it's such a damn shame that all the people who truly know how to run the world are too busy cutting hair and driving cabs...
I object to the historical simplism. :)
For instance, it's not just about adopting ideas to succeed. I'm sure there are people out there who'd think that, but we can safely ignore them as wrong.
Ideas are not a panacea, and it'd be silly for us to interpret them as such. There's a far more pragmatic reason for why rights discourses have, until relatively recently, focused on negative rights. An economy (or a successful country or whatever) is like an human body. Nobody knows just what makes it healthy. Sometimes they aren't, for no reason, and that's too bad. But we can all generally agree that there are certain things which harm that body and which therefore should be avoided and certain things which, as unpleasant as they might be, never hurt.
For instance, "Democracy" in very broad terms is generally a good idea for any country looking to succeed. But Poland developed it (and a quasi-Pacifist constitution) in the 1700s, and for their trouble they became a textbook example of why nobody wants the Germans as neighbors... or Catherine the Great as a lover. A well-organized tyranny can stomp out the most well-meaning democracy if that democracy is lazy and stupid, as it was in a nation PJ O'Rourke once called 'The Remedial Reading Class of Europe.' In other words, "Evil will triumph over good because good is dumb."
Anyway.
The point is, you can modify an idea. You can depart from dogma and add what you wish to it. That's easy because it's conceptual. Far more difficult is constructively modifying an idea. For instance, US industrialism rose significantly due to Taylorism. From a human perspective in the US, the system was brutal. In the course of researching which systems helped workers produce the most (a little chilly in the room? Music? Maybe special aromas?), they eventually figured out that output was always higher in these tests because the workers were engaged by the people testing them.
But then they exported it. Germany adopted it during '20s and did so with a vengeance. But they tended to make more allowances for their workers and in other areas where they realized that the dogma of Taylorism was not strictly necessary. In other words, where the dogma became counterproductive, they modified it. The USSR adopted Taylorism too, and it worked to a certain extent, but outside of the context of a war, the style the entire Soviet economy was organized essentially undermined the whole thing. A good idea could not work in an inferior system in much the same way it makes little sense to fill your Ford Taurus with high-octane fuel.
I could say the same thing with democracy. I think a lot of people assume that democracy is a means or an end to success, which is wrong, instead of a byproduct of success elsewhere - failed examples from Poland notwithstanding. The US, even during periods of obstinate stupidity (for instance, the McCarthy Era), realized this with great insight. There's always been foreign aid, but the US in the Truman Era created the kinds of massive foreign aid schemes everyone knows today. Part of it was out of a genuine desire to be benign and help, but a lot of it was because they needed a way to contain large-C Communism on the cheap. And if that meant subsidizing Marxist governments with foreign aid on the grounds that they were "Marxist, not Communist", so be it. The point was that even back then, they realized that people would stick to productive democracy if only they could be given a reason to. Sixty years later, this "foreign aid" nonsense we hold so dear is the main strategy of the other side of the political spectrum for winning wars and solving all the world's problems, in spite of its incredibly dubious record. Truman, and all deliberate Eurocentrists everywhere, would be proud ;)
By the way, to condemn the term "economic miracle" as evidence of a black-vs-white conception of world views is itself evidence of a black-vs-white worldview. White people were using that kind of language to express their condescending but impressed view of other white peoples' economies - hence soziale markwirtschaft wunder. They used the same basic term for Japan, too, leading one to suspect the "miracle" was not that foreigners could be successful, but that anyone could rise so rapidly after record numbers of involuntary cordite imports. Really, it's not a miracle that the Germans, of all people, could run something properly ;)
If anything, I'm kind of surprised nobody looks at it from the other perspective. I'm not sure how offended a Eurocentric guy like me should be about the term "Tiger" in an economic context, particularly as tigers are not terribly indigenous to Northern Europe, but the term started off referring to four jurisdictions in Asia who became successful in large part because of their embracing of Western economic theory more devoutly than the West. In spite of that kind of thing, I won't get offended at the adoption of terms "Celtic Tiger" or "Baltic Tiger", though they suggest that those countries succeeded because of Asian ideas instead of Western ones ;)
We're a lot more connected. Why this "us vs. them" attitude?
http://ca.youtube.com/watch?v=7cPjUbDiuwA&feature=related
Haha. Haven't I told you? I'm a big fan of segregation. But with respect. Instead of having all of us drown in this white-concoction of multiculturalism. Really at the end of the day, we're reaching for the impossible, as with I. But I think the important thing, as it always is, is truth. Let society be honest with itself! And then people know where they really stand, and then they can engage effectively in 'democracy'. So if we can't be multicultural as we have it, why not learn to be ourselves first?
But everyone needs an ideology to hold on to, to keep themselves from being lost. And I am afraid of losing myself to the rhetoric espoused by the west, because it isn't MINE. So I look to what my historical group has, and grasp at straws.
And I know, i know, I know canada wants me to "belong". But i can't help but feel like to belong, means selling out to some myths that I am not comfortable with. So, I've just picked the battle that I most believe in. Onward ho!
Post a Comment