GP (A)

Part 1: Approaching Paper 1

Step 1: Plan your 90 minutes

1. Planning: 15 minutes (includes formulating thesis statement)

2. Intro: 10 minutes
3. 4 Body Paragraphs: 15 minutes each
4. Conclusion: 5 minutes ideally

Step 2: Choosing the right question

1. Run through all the questions in the first minute

2. If there’s more than one question that you can do then form rough points/ examples
(basically absolutely any info you can recall for the topic of that question that is
relevant) and scribble it down
3. Out of the few questions you’ve chosen see which one you’re the most comfortable
doing (possibly may be the question that has the most information written down) and
choose that
4. After you’ve chosen the question, proceed to step 3!!

IMPORTANT: DO NOT SPEND MORE THAN 3-5 MINUTES FOR THIS PROCESS

Step 3: Planning

1. Use the TIACKO method to break down the question (REFER TO PART 2)
2. Use the SPERMS model to identify which areas the question spans across
(REFER TO MESSAGE 2)

Eg: Question is “Youth have much to learn from those older than them” Possible areas to focus on:
Social, economic, race & religion

1. Using the information you’ve gathered in step 2, formulate relevant points and link
examples to them
2. Formulate your thesis statement so as to know what’s your overall stand
:
 3. Using your overall stand, order your arguments (opposing arguments should come
first and must be coupled with a rebuttal that supports your supporting arguments)

IMPORTANT: DO NOT CONFUSE THIS STEP WITH STEP 2. THATS JUST CHOOSING THE
RIGHT QUESTION BUT THIS IS LINKING TOGETHER YOUR INITIAL IDEAS WITH NEW ONES.
DO NOT SPEND TOO LONG FOR STEP 2

Part 2: Important Acronyms

(i) Traits of the 21st century

CEFGKPPO= Competitive, Everchanging, Fast-paced, Globalised, Knowledge-based economy, Profit

driven, Pragmatic, Open economy

1. This is mainly used for introductions and evaluations

2. When introducing an issue, it is imperative to set the context of the society you are
exploring (if it is an in your society question)/ the societal values that are prevalent in
the world today

Eg. In this ever changing world that we live in today, countries are constantly in a flux, affected by
global winds of change.

1. When evaluating, zoom in on the characteristics of the specific society that you have
chosen in your example

Eg: (if talking about SG) The pragmatic nature of Singaporeans has fomented more mental health
issues

(ii) The challenges of the 21st century

IEETDDPRC= International conflicts and tensions, Economic vulnerabilities and crises,

Environmental disasters, Terrorism, Discrimination, Diseases, Poverty, Refugees, Crime

1. Mainly used when the topic is about politics (mainly a guiding tool for planning)
2. Can be used to explore different political issues which can be used as examples to
support your point

Eg: Refugees => Rohingya refugee crisis => Reflects how rising religiosity among various global
groups and leaders has led to the deterioration of secularity in political matters

(iii) Features of Singapore society

:
 AAMME= Asian conservative, Ageing Population, Multicultural, Meritocracy, Education

1. Mainly used for AQ

2. Can be used for topic sentences for in your society questions

Eg: Question is ‘Discuss the importance of food in your society.’ Topic Sentence: In this multicultural
society that we live in, food takes on the quintessential role of bringing people together and thus
maintaining the delicate harmony that has been established over time.

(iv) Broader topics

SPERMS= Social, Political/ Psychological, Environmental/ Economic/ Education, Race and religion,
Moral/ Military/ Media, Science and tech

1. Used as a thought process framework (REFER TO STEP 3 OF PART 1,

EXAMPLE GIVEN THERE)

(v) Aspects of society

CEFGHHS= Culture, Education, Family, Gender, History, Health, Sports

1. Using (iv), if ‘social’ is an area you want to focus on in your questions, split it up into
these aspects of a society

Eg: Question is ‘Discuss the value of individuality’ Possible aspects of society to zoom in on: Culture,
Gender

(vi) Question analysis

TIACKO = Topic, Issue, Assumption, Comment, Keywords, Opinion

1. It is used to break down the question

2. Identifying the topic is rather self l explanatory (except for when it is a general
question then it has no specific topic)
3. Issue is to formulate clear stands for your essay
4. Assumption is to know what are the underlying assumptions that the author has
already made so that you can use it as a possible rebuttal
5. Comment is to possibly thing of WHY the author is asking such questions and what is
the context of various societies
6. Keywords is to paraphrase the question so that you can address it nicely
7. Opinion is possibly used for rebuttal/ your stand

Eg: Question is ‘Developing countries should welcome change not resist it’
:
 Topic: Change

Issue: Countries must welcome, countries must not welcome

Assumption: Developing countries have practices that are less than desirable

Comment: Myanmar moved towards democracy under Aung San Suu Kyi and it had yielded lots of
progress for the country

Keywords: Developing country = low standards of living and those countries riddled with
poverty Opinion: They must welcome change however it depends on the long term
implications of what that change entitles

Media
Media as a solution to various problems (direct impacts)

Effective solutions Ineffective solutions

Providing valuable information as quickly as Reinforces prejudice and stereotypes

possible → more accessible communication for
everyone ● Nivea, a German skincare company, has
been accused of racism over their “visibly
● Especially crucial when a country is fairer skin” advertisement.
facing a crisis such as Covid-19
● E.g. In South Korea, when there is a
positive case, the government will send
out alerts to the people living nearby
about the locations that the person had
been to before he/she were diagnosed
● Helpful to the citizens as they will
know which places to avoid which
reduces the chances of the virus
spreading

Empower youths that are fighting for a particular

cause (social activism) → social media allows In today’s age is the financial incentive that
like-minded people to come together online to comes with higher ratings. Due to the saturation
spread awareness about a particular cause → acts of the news and media industry, rival firms have
as an online amplifier taken to increasingly sensationalised,
● Malala uses social media to make her exaggerated or even utterly fake news with zero
voice heard for the rights of Afghan girls factual accuracy in order to generate revenue.
to attend school, she uses blog pages to
give her opinion, and that is how people ● CNN posted an article called: Ebola in
started to know more about the the Air? A Nightmare that could happen.
importance of education ● Because readers are afraid of this
possible method of viral transmission,
● Me Too movement, where people used they click on the link. Once they click,
it to discuss sexual harassment issues. It however, they read on to discover the
began when Tarana Burke, a social World Health Organization actually says
:
 activist and sexual harassment survivor, that type of virus mutation is highly
began using the phrase "Me Too" in 2006, unlikely and is only speculation.
on Myspace in order to help women who ● Sometimes, media takes an alarmist
have been sexually abused. Now, #MeToo (exaggerates a danger and so causes
has evolved into a global movement. needless worry or panic) approach by
exaggerating facts
● Social media has been playing a ○ E.g. Climate alarmism → in
positive part in the LGBTQ+ community October 2019, British TV aired
where Facebook, YouTube and Instagram repeated claims by a
are acting as a comfortable place for spokesperson of the Extinction
members of the community to talk and be Rebellion that “billions will die”
heard by thousands of people across the from climate change and they
globe. fear that “climate change will be
apocalyptic”.

Indirect impacts of media

Positive indirect impacts Negative indirect impacts

Promotes social cohesion Worsened divisions → when insensitive people

Whenever there is an incident about people’s spread hateful messages on social media
actions that were deemed to be wrong, netizens anonymously → exacerbate the divide among
will come together to criticise and condemn the different groups of people
particular person online ● In 2012, Lai Shi Mum (NYP student)
● A Chinese woman was banging on a posted a racially insensitive comment
gong loudly while her Indian neighbour about Indians in Singapore
was conducting his Hindu prayers → the ● Subhas Nair (local musician) allegedly
video went viral online and people start produced and published a racially
to criticise the lady for her actions charged rap video online → it promoted
● George Floyd’s death sparked anger as feelings of ill will between Chinese
people from all around the world come people and other races
together to promote the Black Lives
Matter campaign as they condemn about Cause unnecessary harm to the safety and well-
the actions of Derek Chauvin → they use being of the people → Social media has very little
social media to hold mass protests control, and sometimes it can go overboard
● E.g. Megan Taylor Meier was an
American teenager who died by suicide
by hanging herself three weeks before
her 14th birthday. Her suicide was
attributed to cyberbullying through the
social networking website MySpace.

Social withdrawal

● The ‘Hikikomori’ Phenomenon: severe

form of social withdrawal/social
isolation, youths withdraw into the home
and do not participate in society for an
extended period of time → loss of
opportunities for education & work, at a
large scale, it jeopardises the labour
market & health

Narrows mind → perception of beauty standards

Promoting unhealthy body image → many feel
that being “thin” is the ideal type of body that
women should have → endanger the physical and
mental health → results in a warped sense of
reality
Emergence of thinspiration (something or
someone that serves as motivation for a person
:
 seeking to maintain a very low body weight) →
many women internalise these stereotypes, and
judge themselves by the beauty industry’s
standards
● Growing popularity of K-pop and K-
dramas → idols have become “body
image” role models for people
● Korea beauty standards have known to
be extremely strict → it can alter fans’
perception of body image in an unhealthy
way
● Trends follow K-pop idols’ diets (IU and
Suzy) where they eat insufficient portions
of food in a day in order to lose weight
quickly.

Censorship is both harmful and futile in today’s society.

- Account for how has technology changed from the past to the present
- Not harmful
- Restricts the content that is that can harm the social stability of the country
- E.g. Social cohesion in SG → multicultural and multiracial citizens.
Government took down the website - Doggiesite.com which contained racist
remarks against the Malay community

- Prevents social disability

- Ensures national security
- E.g. Extremist ideologies → terrorism (lone wolf arises because of social
media)

- Shuts controversial ideas from a society which is not ready for such content
- Restricts ideas or beliefs that may be deemed socially undesirable/against the social
norms of a country

- E.g. And Tango Makes Three and The White Swan were 2 children’s books that
were taken down by NLB because they were not pro-family

- SG is still a very conservative country

- Ensures the society progresses safely
- Futile
- Increasingly number of ways to get access to the censored content despite
government’s efforts to contain

- E.g. Virtual Private Networks (VPN) allows one to gain access

- Everyone in China knows this backdoor method of accessing the
restricted content

- Very difficult to consistently regulate and control the content posted on the internet
- Social media allows user to spread information much quicker
:
 - E.g. Christchurch shooting in New Zealand → the attacks were livestreamed on
facebook, despite the original being taken down, the video was being replicated
and spread widely on other platforms like Youtube and Twitter

- Prevalence of fake news will still continue despite government’s efforts to restrict the
amount of fake news content

- E.g. SG government ordered Facebook to restrict Singaporeans’ access to the

FB pages of Singapore Straits Times and its owner Alex Tan

- Designated as Declared Online Locations (DOL) under the Protection

from Online Falsehoods and Manipulation Act (POFMA)

- They repeatedly conveyed falsehoods

- However, both FB pages have put up posts to direct users to a new

page → National Times Singapore

- Ineffective current measures

- Nature of the internet plays a very big role → designed with one thing in mind -
sharing

- Used to be called information superhighway because of the rapid transfer of

information

- Information and communication is in the DNA of the internet

- Harmful

- Too much censorship → restricts the accessibility of people consuming important

information → it shapes a person’s reality and creates illusions of the world which
people are forced to blindly subscribe to
- E.g. North Korea → authorities restricts all the information outside of the
country → citizens only get to have intranet
- Limit the freedom of speech
- Privacy greatly affected
- E.g. China’s facial recognition surveillance cameras → people who jaywalked,
their faces, ID and address will be posted on a big screen where everyone can
view

- Governments can portray people in a certain way they want to

- Media used as weapons to brainwash the public by publishing their enemies in

a bad light while whitewashing their own scandals or misdeeds
:
 - Not futile

- Very strict government control

- E.g. North Korea → very limited access

- E.g. China ordered Apple to remove all the VPN apps

Impacts of the media

- Expression vs Conformity
- Expression
- Social media (SM) as a means of self-expression: create a virtual identity that
resembles an idealised self → boost one’s status and self-esteem → intention of gaining
admirers and friends

- E.g. Successful Kickstarter projects: Baubax, manufacturers of “The World’s Best

Travel Jacket”, raised approximately $9 million on Kickstarter in 2015.

- Conformity
- Media (traditional & new) has been accused of promoting unhealthy body image which
teenagers are compelled to attain → endanger the physical and mental health → results
in a warped sense of reality

- E.g. Media portrayals of standards of beauty: K-pop and K-dramas have become the
major influence on young people in South Korea with the help of media → in 2015,
between one-fifth (⅕) to one-third (⅓) of women in Seoul have had plastic surgery

- E.g. In one study, half of the girls aged 16-21 said they would undergo surgery to
improve their bodies → exposure to images of thin, young, air-brushed female bodies
leads to depression, loss of self-esteem and unhealthy eating habits in girls and young
women (Canada’s Centre for Digital and Media Literacy)

- E.g. Emergence of thinspiration (something or someone that serves as motivation for a

person seeking to maintain a very low body weight) → many women internalise these
stereotypes, and judge themselves by the beauty industry’s standards

- E.g. Results in echo chambers → people would rather not express their personal views
on policy if that means going against the crowd

- E.g. ALS Ice Bucket Challenge (2014) → trended on social media → critics argue that it
was difficult to distinguish if participants were serious about raising awareness or just
jumping on the bandwagon

- Connectedness vs Separation
- Connectedness
- Provides opportunities for people to maintain close relationships with others,
especially those who are geographically apart

- E.g. Various online dating sites and apps (tinder) allows people to expand their social
circle and develop romantic relationships

- E.g. Business has changed as many companies learn to generate buzz by creating viral
content and encouraging shares and likes → 78% of small businesses now get at least one
:
 quarter (¼) of new customers via social media

- Separation
- “Social media is a gateway for self-promotion, fostering multiple shallow
relationships where empathy and warmth do not feature” MacDonald, 2014

- E,g. The ‘Hikikomori’ Phenomenon: severe form of social withdrawal/social isolation,

youths withdraw into the home and do not participate in society for an extended period
of time → loss of opportunities for education & work, at a large scale, it jeopardises the
labour market & health

- E.g. ‘Facebrag’: where people show off their material items and/or fun activities on
social media (boasting) → makes people feel annoyed

- Broadens minds vs Misleads & narrows minds

- Broadens minds
- Challenge existing stereotypes, fighting prejudicial views of race, age and gender (e.g.
Princesses like snow white, cinderella and sleeping beauty vs Princess Merida in the
movie Brave)

- Exposure to various forms of environmental and social issues present

- Free and open access to information through the media allows exposure to various
cultures and traditions around the world

- Mass media platforms allow innovation and sharing of content, aiding the learning
process and exposing students to various topics (e.g. Khan Academy: online learning
website with 4,300 videos on science, math & humanities)

- People can discuss current issues and broadcast different perspectives to an issue (e.g.
Pink dot in SG)

- Misleads & narrows minds

- Negative stereotypes in the media reinforce & perpetuate social
prejudices and impart a warped world view → effect: shapes the perception of the
young on what is normal, acceptable and true of society → also a form of socialisation

- Used to propagate ideas that control the people, dictating what people should think,
feel or believe, instilling a certain mindset (e.g. North Korea)

- Minority characters are often portrayed in a one-dimensional manner, reinforcing

racial stereotypes (e.g. The blacks being the maids, the whites being the rich)

- Imparts a warped worldview to the young girls by shaping their perception of what is
expected for their gender (similar to conformity)
To what extent can we rely on the media to be truthful in today’s world?
Can rely on the media

- Apparent rise in frequency and incidents of fake news, many media outlets have placed an
increased emphasis on the factual accuracy of what they report

- Established news outlets have taken the initiative to become more reliable sources
- E.g. In Germany, even news outlets with rather dubious reputations - such as that of a
local tabloid (a newspaper having pages half the size of those of the average
broadsheet, typically popular in style and dominated by sensational stories) known for
its salacious (obscene, improper) reporting and penchant (a strong or habitual liking for
:
 something or tendency to do something) for sensationalising - have publicly vouched to
maintain journalistic integrity.

- A concerted (great effort/determination) effort to present truthful media coverage

despite previous mistakes made, and suggests that they will maintain a sufficient level
of truth to be relied upon in times to come

Cannot rely on the media

- In authoritarian regimes, or even democracies less liberal in nature, the media can end up
being a mere mouthpiece of the government that fails to act as an effective fourth estate (press
and news media both in explicit capacity of advocacy and implicit ability to frame political
issues) by omitting reports that might reflect poorly on the government.

- E.g. It can be taken to new extremes when it comes to countries like North Korea,
where any media coverage mat be completely false, and presented simply to further the
interests of the government

- Fortunately, many countries today still have relatively better levels of freedom of the
press

- However, it is nonetheless a factor to be considered as a reason why some media

should not be taken at face-value

- In today’s age is the financial incentive that comes with higher ratings. Due to the saturation
of the news and media industry, rival firms have taken to increasingly sensationalised,
exaggerated or even utterly fake news with zero factual accuracy in order to generate revenue.

- E.g. The decision of Fox News to post an article on the death of a Democratic
politician who belonged to the Democratic National Committee (DNC), who the article
accused of having leaked inside information about Clinton and other DNC members
during the election season to WikiLeaks, rather than attributing it to Russian hackers.
Not one to be one-upped, other far right news sources soon put up articles boldly
headlined with titles along the lines of “Information leaks an inside job, not by
Russians!”, which generated much readership due to their controversial nature.

- These turned out to be baseless accusations.

- The tendency of larger-than-life stories to be popular and the wishes of some media
outlets to exploit this causes them to present fake news that should not be fully relied
upon

- This is especially true for media that tends to be very extreme in its bias, whether on
partisan, ethnic or gender lines, and should be considered when evaluating the
reliability of some media.

- There is also the possibility that journalists may not be able to present the whole truth due to
concerns about their safety, if they are writing about controversial or sensitive topics.

- E.g. An example of journalists in Mexico covering the ongoing drug war. Recently, a
prolific journalist known as Javier Valdez Cardenas, famous for such in-depth pieces on
“narcos” (referring to drug cartels), was shot dead with twelve bullets in his chest. The
death of Valdez was especially chilling due to the time of his death having coincided
with his recent article detailing the violent rise to power of a member within the Sinaloa
Cartel – indicative, perhaps, of lines that should not be crossed; of truths that should
not be told.

- In dangerous situations such as the above, relying on the media to be truthful in

reporting about these matters is perhaps too cruel and idealistic a hope.
:
 - After all, the people behind the media too have their own families to raise and lives to
lead, and if threatened, they cannot be fully blamed if they should decide to post
untruths and omit information rather than risk their lives.

“Media regulation is needed now more than ever.” Discuss.

Media regulation is needed

- Those who support the regulation of the media argue that it sows divisiveness amongst
citizens and, if left unregulated, would do more harm than good.

- E.g. Media outlets such as FOX News, an alternate right-wing news agency, were the
loudest proponents (a person who advocates a theory, proposal, or course of action) of
the conspiracy theory that then President Obama was a Muslim. FOX also reported on a
“terrorist attack” in Sweden, to draw a link between mass migration and terrorism →
which was later found out that no such attack had occurred

- The report caused irrevocable (unable to change) damage to relations between the
already paranoid white community and the migrant population.

- This resulted in an increasing amount of racial attacks on migrants by the alternate

right, causing a climate of fear and mistrust amongst the American people

Media regulation is not needed → vital for the media to have enough freedom to carry out its functions

- A truly free media can act as an important check and balance on the government, helping to
convey the opinions of the public to those in power.

- As the saying goes “Absolute power corrupts absolutely”; any government that can do
as it wishes would not be beneficial to its citizens in the long run.

- The media, the government and the citizens → form the three pillars of democracy →
a government that is able to control the media would be able to control the flow of
information to its citizens, advancing its own agenda through the media

- E.g. One clear example would be North Korea, where the media is completely used as
a tool to brainwash and control its citizens → To prevent such an Orwellian (being
destructive to the welfare of a free and open society) scenario from occurring, the
media must have a certain amount of freedom from regulations and government control.

- The media must have the ability and space to support and champion positive causes → why is
this particularly necessary in today’s context?

- The media can unite people behind beneficial campaigns, such as the appeal for
donations after the Nepal earthquake

- E.g. After the Rwandan killings, the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) ran a story
about the massacres. However, due to government regulations against blood and
violence, the BBC was forced to censor the report, omitting many of the worst pictures
and videos. This caused the public to think that the situation was not that serious and
severely reduced the public outcry that would have followed, resulting in less action
from the international community.

- This clearly shows that regulation, however well-intentioned, would hamper the ability
of the media to effect change for positive causes.

- Considering the feasibility of regulating the media today, especially with the rise of new
media, an increasing number of people are getting their information from sites such as Twitter
:
 and Facebook instead of traditional newspapers and television.

- With new media, news is shared with a click of a button, making it nearly impossible
to regulate the spread of information.

- Government regulations of online media are often inadequate; even supposedly fool
proof firewalls are not 100% effective.

- Government regulation of the media is not entirely feasible → especially with the rise
of fake news
Cybersecurity (threats and measures)
- In the first half of 2019 we saw a 50% increase in mobile banking malware compared with last
year, which means that our payment data, credentials and funds are handed over to
cyberattackers in the innocent click of a button on our mobile devices. The attempts of
cybercriminals to trick consumers to hand out their personal data through their most common
means of communications will intensify and will range from email to SMS texting attacks, social
media posts and gaming platforms. Whatever we use most frequently can become a more
popular attack surface.

- AI (Artificial Intelligence) will play an increasing role in both cyber-attack and defense
- Just as AI can “learn” to spot patterns of coincidence or behavior that can signal an
attempted attack, it also can learn to adapt in order to disguise the same behavior and
trick its way past our defenses.

- This parallel development of offensive and defensive capabilities will become an

increasingly present theme as AI systems become more complex and, importantly, more
available and simpler to deploy.

- There is tech available to help us avoid falling victim, such as deep learning security
algorithms, automation of systems that are vulnerable to human error, and biometric
identity protection.

- E.g. Deepfake technology

- Facts and events can be manipulated, in a way that looks credible
- 21st century’s answer to photoshopping
- Use a form of artificial intelligence called deep learning to make images of fake events
- Can create convincing but entirely fictional photos from scratch
- Audio can also be deepfaked → there are scams that used recorded WhatsApp voice
messages

- E.g. SingHealth cyber attack (SG’s worst cyber attack)

- Hackers infiltrated the databases
- The personal particulars of 1.5 million patients, including the outpatient prescriptions
of PM Lee Hsien Loong and a few ministers, were stolen.

- The data stolen included names, NRIC numbers, addresses, gender and race
information, and dates of birth. About 160,000 of these patients also had their
outpatient prescriptions stolen

- The attackers specifically and repeatedly targeted PM Lee's personal particulars and
information on medicine that had been dispensed to him.

- Singapore’s Operational Technology (OT) Masterplan 2019

:
 - Developed by Cyber Security Agency of Singapore (CSA)
- Seeks to protect SG’s water supply, power and transport (critical sectors)
- The masterplan will guide the development of capabilities to secure systems in the OT
environment, and mitigate emerging OT cyber threats.

- Digital Defence (SG’s 6th pillar of Total Defence)

- to guard against threats from the digital domain
- Reason for implementing it: Singapore is an open and connected city-state. As
individuals, we are constantly connected through online networks. Thus, we must evolve
our skills and instincts to defend ourselves from cybersecurity threats.

- Good cybersecurity habits: use an anti-virus software, use strong passwords and enable
2-factor authentication (2FA) → provides an additional layer of verification, which
makes it harder for cyber criminals to access one’s accounts, spot signs of phishing &
update one’s software as soon as possible
Free speech is more of a curse than a blessing in social media
- Curse
- Fake news, causing misconceptions (especially during important events)
- E.g. During the pandemic outbreak, a Singaporean man posted false information on
Covid-19 circuit breaker measures on a Facebook group called “Taxiuncle”, saying that
he had “intel” that SG would purportedly impose extended measures on April 18.

- With Singaporeans being emotionally unstable about the circuit breaker, posting false
information on social media can cause unwanted panic among Singaporeans. Since social
media allows people to be anonymous, this gives them more freedom to post anything
that they want. Thus, many people take advantage of the anonymity to post false
information on social media freely. Thus, it can bring more harm to people.

- When one is hidden behind a veil, this can bring out the very dark nature of society.
(Anonymity)

- E.g. When the 'sovereign' woman was charged with breaking Covid-19 rules, another
lady was targeted for what she did, as some went to find her home and work addresses
and posted them on social media, but those were not the ‘sovereign’ woman’s
addresses. Innocent people suffer as a result.

- Cyberbullying
- Social media has very little control, and sometimes it can go overboard.
- E.g. Megan Taylor Meier was an American teenager who died by suicide by hanging
herself three weeks before her 14th birthday. Her suicide was attributed to
cyberbullying through the social networking website MySpace.

- Blessing
- Allows many topics to be open for discussion like those unpopular, taboo and
controversial topics.

- Provides a voice for marginalised (of a person, group, or concept being treated as
insignificant) groups. This allows people to offer their opinions on sensitive issues that
might not be discussed in real life since it can be taboo (prohibited or restricted by
social custom)

- Allows the minority to say opinions that they dare not say in real life
:
 - E.g. LGBTQ community. Social media can educate the masses on controversial issues.
People who were homophobic in the past, or people who saw gay and lesbian as
abnormal, they are able to perceive them as normal now because of the repeated
documentaries seen on social media, or with people speaking about it with passion,
many people now have changed their perceptions on LGBTQ.

- Social media can serve as an online amplifier (allows amplification of voices)

- E.g. Me Too movement, where people used it to discuss sexual harassment issues. It
began when Tarana Burke, a social activist and sexual harassment survivor, began using
the phrase "Me Too" in 2006, on Myspace in order to help women who have been sexually
abused. Now, #MeToo has evolved into a global movement.

- E.g. Malala, her campaign for Afghan girls to get access to schooling and her fight
against extremism (the holding of extreme political or religious views) and
oppression (prolonged cruel or unjust treatment). She has opened the world’s eyes to
the kind of mistreatment the Afghan girls were getting.

- Like-minded people can use social media to come together to fight for a common
change
Discuss the claim that social media has been the ruination of the younger generation.
- Assumption: social media has ruin (no coming back, extreme word, the stand should be
disagree) the lives of the younger generation

- Social media can change the behaviour of the youths for the worse, affecting their mental and
physical health negatively.

- E.g. Negative body image, due to the common beauty perceived on social media. The
portrayal of unrealistic body standards on social media caused youths to be pressured to
set unnatural targets. Social media allows the widespread circulation of beauty fads (an
intense and widely shared enthusiasm for something, especially one that is short-lived)
and celebrities photos among young users has resulted in many females feeling
dissatisfied with their body.

- Lower self-esteem and insecurities can cause youths to use extreme methods
to lose weight, leading to malnutrition and development of eating disorders.

- Social media can promote bad behaviour.

- E.g. The Tide Pod challenge, where individuals consume laundry detergent.
- E.g. Neknomination: involves drinking dangerous quantities of alcohol in less than 1
minute and nominating someone to go next → originally started in Australia but spread
by social media all over the world → 4 people in England & Ireland died

- Increased usage of social media has led to cyberbullying

- 42% of LGBT youth have experienced cyberbullying. 35% of them have received online
threats, while 58% have been a victim of hate speech at least once. Youths can feel
humiliated and dissatisfied with who they are, they feel that no one is able to accept
them for who they are. This can lead to severe depression and eventually suicide.

- Anonymity allows cyberbullies to avoid facing their victims, thus, they use social media
as a platform to show dominance towards the victims

- Counter argument: Social media can cause enlightenment and thus, education. There are
younger people who use social media to advocate and raise awareness about their beliefs and
campaigns.

- E.g. In 2015, a disturbing video of a marine biologist extracting a plastic straw stuck up
the nostril of a live sea turtle went viral. With blood dripping down its nostril during the
:
 extraction, this painful footage helped many to understand the damage that plastic
waste had on marine life.

- E.g. Ang Zyn Yee used social media to campaign for her “Straw Free
Singapore” initiative allowing for increased curiosity among Singaporean youths about
environmental issues and the problems of plastic wastes. She has also managed to
convince more than 20 F&B establishments to go straw-lite.

- E.g. Malala uses social media to make her voice heard for the rights of Afghan girls to
attend school.
To what extent has social media had a positive impact on your society?
- Create and promote awareness (Advertising and public awareness)
- E.g. “Thanks to” challenge in South Korea where celebrities participate in thanking the
medical staff on social media, and about the importance of social distancing during
Covid-19.

- E.g. LGBTQ+ community allows people to be more open about their sexual identity.
Social media has been playing a positive part in the LGBTQ+ community where
Facebook, YouTube and Instagram are acting as a comfortable place for members of the
community to talk and be heard by thousands of people across the globe.

- The “It Gets Better Project” started in 2010, and since then more than 60,000
people

- Provides more accessible communication for everyone

- The ease of connectivity allows communications to be improved across the global
scale.

- Empower youths, allowing their voices to be heard

- E.g. Malala uses social media to make her voice heard for the rights of Afghan girls to
attend school, she uses blog pages to give her opinion, and that is how people started to
know more about the importance of education

- Create stereotypes
- Nivea, a German skincare company, has been accused of racism over their “visibly
fairer skin” advertisement.

How far do you agree that social media activism (the policy or action of using vigorous
campaigning to bring about political or social change) is ineffective?

- Ability to connect with people around the world and gather support

- Gather people together to support a cause, which can spread very fast on social media

- Causes with a massive number of supporters are likely to be noticed by the

government which signals them that they have to bring change to the society.

- It gives marginalised (insignificant groups or people) communities a platform for them

to speak up, giving them the opportunity to change the public's opinions.
:
 - E.g. Me Too movement, where people used it to discuss sexual harassment issues. It
began when Tarana Burke, a social activist and sexual harassment survivor, began using
the phrase "Me Too" in 2006, on Myspace in order to help women who have been sexually
abused. Now, #MeToo has evolved into a global movement.

- Celebrities participated in it, allowing the movement to reach a global

platform. As more and more survivors who were sexually harassed spoke out,
this gave them a sense of comfort, to know that they are not alone.

- Effective since many people participated in it, and it has reached a global
audience.

- In South Korea, the Me Too movement began when a lawyer Seo Ji-hyun took
the unprecedented (never happened before) step of publicly accusing her
former boss, the senior prosecutor Ahn Tae-geun, of sexual misconduct. Her
courage inspired hundreds of others to step forward.

- E.g. George Floyd was the African-American who got killed by a white police officer
who kneeled on his neck for several minutes even though he pleaded that he could not
breathe.

- It was recorded by passers-by and the video footage went viral on Twitter and
Instagram. People then started trending the hashtag #BlackLivesMatter to raise
awareness about racism and how many innocent black lives were lost due to
unjustified police behaviour.

- People started to take it to the streets and protested, they even set the police
station that the white police officer was working in on fire.

- Donald Trump labelled the protestors as “thugs”. (what a bitch)

- People are not doing enough when they are just sitting behind their devices and using a
hashtag to show their support when they are not doing anything.

- Ineffective as they only show their support online and not actually doing something
that can help change the situation like going to the streets and protesting.

- Not very sincere as people would not know the extent of how much they actually
support the cause and how much they are willing to sacrifice for the cause.

- E.g. #BringBackOurGirls was a social media campaign about the concern for 276
Nigerian girls who were kidnapped by terrorists, the hashtag was used to raise
awareness about the situation and to ask the government to help bring them back. But it
did not work even though celebrities expressed their support for the cause online.
:
 - The situation did not change for the better.

- E.g. Arab Spring (2010) was a series of anti-government protests. The access to social
media sites like Twitter, YouTube and Facebook, allowed protestors across the Middle
East to gather together to speak out against oppression, inspiring hope for a better,
more democratic future. Even though there was political awakening, in terms of the
change in government in giving people more rights, nothing has changed. Since 2011 till
the present day, the country is still mired (be involved in a difficult situation, especially
for a long period of time) in a horrific civil war.

Consider the view that the Internet could, and should, be regulated?

- The internet is not a machine, it is a much more complex system

- No central authority of the internet → impossible to regulate the internet as a whole, but
when it comes to localised communities where countries are concerned → possible (can).

- Should

- Prevalence of fake news

- According to a REACH poll, more than 70% of Singaporeans have come across
fake news online

- Can distort behaviour and cause unnecessary panic in people

- E.g. During the pandemic outbreak, a Singaporean man posted false

information on Covid-19 circuit breaker measures on a Facebook group called
“Taxiuncle”, saying that he had “intel” that SG would purportedly impose
extended measures on April 18.

- E.g. There are people claiming that Covid-19 can be transmitted through
mosquito bites, increased panic for those in warmer climates, or complacency
for those in cooler climates resulting in more premature deaths

- To let the citizens know the government's position or stand on issues that are amplified
by the internet

- Pornagraphy → not impossible for Singaporeans to have access to porn, but

Singaporeans are completely restricted to the top 10 porn websites. The
government is saying they do not approve pornagraph, but it is not like they are
shutting down.

- In SG, the government took a symbolic approach to regulate the internet

:
 - Could (to a certain degree)

- The government can control their own county’s systems and servers to regulate the
internet → filter everything not in line with the country’s laws

- E.g. Great Firewall of China → country’s online censorship system, government does
not want any information to distort the country’s stability

- Sites like Youtube and Google is restricted because they do not want people to
write negative comments about the government and go against them

- E.g. North Korea strictly limits the internet (more of intranet) access, since Kim Jong
Un has the power to control all the information that is going into the country.

- E.g. Protection from Online Falsehoods and Manipulation Act (POFMA) in SG → make
people who want to post fake news online think twice → self-censorship

- Could not

- Even if the government wants to regulate the internet, the restrictions are not
effective → not successful

- Inherent nature of the internet makes it impossible to regulate → impossible for

government to control → there was many ways for people to access the restrictions
sites

- E.g. China citizens use VPN to bypass the restrictions and have access to
Youtube, Twitter, Google, Facebook and Instagram

- E.g. SG government ordered FB to restrict Singaporeans’ access to the FB pages of

Singapore Straits Times and its owner Alex Tan

- Designated as Declared Online Locations (DOL) under the Protection from

Online Falsehoods and Manipulation Act (POFMA)

- They repeatedly conveyed falsehoods

- However, both FB pages have put up posts to direct users to a new page →
National Times Singapore

'The mass media is too influential today.' Discuss.

:
 - People do things without thinking

- Challenges in social media has been a trend

- Some challenges risk people’s lives and puts them in perilous situations

- By jumping on the bandwagon, their lives are held at stake

- E.g. Sunburn art: putting sunscreen on certain parts of the skin, then letting
the unprotected skin sunburn to create “art” → Skin Cancer Foundation warned
that not only is a sunburn incredibly painful, but there is an increased risk for
melanoma, the most serious form of skin cancer.

- E.g. Fire challenges: people record themselves being doused in flammable

liquid and setting themselves alight. To avoid getting badly burnt, they generally
do this in the shower or by a pool. But many of them underestimate the speed
at which fire spreads → there are about 24 000 videos posted on Youtube

- Bandwagon effect → people do something primarily because other people are doing it,
regardless of their own beliefs, which they may ignore or override.

- Constant bombardment of violent imagery → desensitised (make less sensitive) individuals to

the effects and consequences of violence and present violence and revenge as the
panacea (solution for difficulties/remedy for diseases) for eradicating (destroying completely,
putting an end to) problems.

- Frequent exposure to violence develops an individual’s aggressive cognition and

behavior

- Lose their sense of distinction between fiction and reality

- Negatively impacts his empathy and prosocial (behaviour which is positive, helpful,
and intended to promote social acceptance and friendship) behaviour.

- E.g. According to a study in the Journal of Psychological Science, it was

reported that violent games desensitise an individual’s perception of violence
and creates a greater potential for aggression. In renowned psychologist Albert
Bandura’s Bobo Doll experiment, it was shown that children emulated violent
behaviour that they witnessed.

- E.g. While some may argue that individuals would have the maturity and
discernment to mark the differences between fiction and reality, the 2012
Colorado mass shooting incident proves otherwise. James Holmes took
:
 inspiration from the famous character “The Joker” and dressed in a similar
fashion as he shot his victims.

- They believe the hyper-realities (exaggerated compared to realities) created by the

visual media and are drawn by the glamour and escapism of these dark fantasy worlds.

- Especially for our youths, the exposure to violent gaming platforms can
pervert (distort/corrupt) their young and impressionable (easily influenced) minds.

- Too much information → increasing prevalence of fake news → people unable to discern
between truth & lie

- Sometimes, media takes an alarmist (exaggerates a danger and so causes needless

worry or panic) approach by exaggerating facts

- E.g. Climate alarmism → in October 2019, British TV aired repeated claims by

a spokesperson of the Extinction Rebellion that “billions will die” from climate
change and they fear that “climate change will be apocalyptic”.

- Not being able to recognise what’s the truth and what’s not → can result in herd
mentalities → subscription theory where people just believe and accept the majority
even though they may be wrong

- E.g Dee Kosh sexual scandal → even though he is still under investigation for
the alleged sexual harassment of teenage boys and nothing has been
confirmed, netizens still kept claiming false accusations (having sexual relations
with a minor) on him in which he denied it on his instagram post.

- Perception of beauty standards in a narrow manner

- Promoting unhealthy body image → many feel that being “thin” is the ideal type of
body that women should have → endanger the physical and mental health → results in a
warped sense of reality

- Emergence of thinspiration (something or someone that serves as motivation for a

person seeking to maintain a very low body weight) → many women internalise these
stereotypes, and judge themselves by the beauty industry’s standards

- Results in conformity
- E.g. Growing popularity of K-pop and K-dramas → idols have become “body image”
role models for people

- Korea beauty standards have known to be extremely strict → it can alter fans’
perception of body image in an unhealthy way

- Trends follow K-pop idols’ diets (IU and Suzy) where they eat insufficient
portions of food in a day in order to lose weight quickly.
:
 Science & Technology
S&T as a solution to various problems (direct impacts)

Effective solutions Ineffective solutions

● Overcome physical challenges such as ● It may only address the superficial

climate change & food shortage → after problems and not the root cause → the
the Malaysian rice paddies were wiped water drones used by the Indonesian
out during the 2004 tsunami, government to extinguish the forest fires
international seed banks provided has proven to be ineffective as
farmers with seeds that helped them to individuals and large companies who
start over gained profits from palm oil production
● Lowers costs of medical treatment → will continue to the use ‘slash-and-burn’
according to the National Foundation for method to do illegal deforestation
Transplants, a standard kidney transplant,
on average, costs about $300 000 whereas
a 3D bioprinter (used to create 3D printed
organs) can costs as little as $10 000 →
more people can afford, reducing
inequality
● The use of machine learning in
preliminary (early-stage) drug discovery
has the potential for various uses, from
initial screening of drug compounds to
predicted success rate based on
biological factors → in 2018, a team of
researchers at Stanford announced they
have developed a system that can tell
whether or not a freckle is cancerous
accurately by machine learning. It runs a
pattern recognition algorithm through
numerous past cases, looking for
similarities which allows us to analyse
large amounts of data that may not be
physically possible by humans.

Indirect impacts of S&T

Positive indirect impacts Negative indirect impacts

● Problem: compared to 7.7 billion that Environmental issues → health problems:

currently inhabit the earth, food In 2016, major cities across northern China
production must increase by at least 70% suffered from air pollution and ground traffic was
to feed the growing population disrupted.
● Indirect positive impact: help growers Beijing authorities had to declare a 5-day
and enterprises make better decisions pollution ‘red-alert’, ordering nurseries and
based on weather data to enable schools to be shut down.
continuation building towards the goal of WHO said that China is the world’s deadliest
sustainable agriculture country for air pollution with overcapacity in the
● Reducing costs and focus on profits: development of its state industries such as coal
farming smarter and moving food from and steel.
farm-to-fork in a more efficient way will
be beneficial for those involved in the
agriculture industry. IoT data from
sensors installed in everything from seed
drills, sprayers, and spreaders to drones,
satellite imagery and soil
● Conserving the environment and
preventing pollution: by adopting
sustainable practices, farmers will reduce
:
 their reliance on non-renewable energy,
reduce chemical use and save scarce
resources.

● Problem: the usage of fossil fuels AI will displace lower-skilled jobs, resulting in
produces large quantities of carbon more people being unemployed, especially those
dioxide when burned. Carbon emissions routine-intensive tasks.
trap heat in the atmosphere and lead to E.g. US lost over 60 million jobs
climate change
● Indirect positive impact: nearly 335000
people work in the solar industry and
more than 111000 work in the wind
industry → clean energy employment
grew 3.6% in 2018, adding 110 000 net
new jobs, and employers expect 6% job
growth in 2019

‘Any scientific research which has the potential to bring about catastrophic consequences
should be banned immediately’. What is your view?
- E.g. Cern Project, or the Large Hadron Collider (LHC), is the world’s largest and most powerful
particle accelerator. Inside the accelerator, two high-energy particle beams travel at close to
the speed of light before they are made to collide. (Basically atoms colliding with one another
at high speeds.)

- Since the Standard Model of particle physics (an early theory in the 1970s that
describes the fundamental particle and their interactions) is incomplete, it leaves many
questions open, which the LHC will help to answer.

- A lot of scientists at that time, when the LHC was first invented, were quite iffy
(uncertain) about it, they thought that the study of such effects can bring about grave
consequences that were far-reaching where there could be a creation of a blackhole.
Hence, they wanted the project to be stopped there and then as they felt that if they
were to continue on with this project, the consequences could be far worse than what
they expected.

- There were aspects of science that carried with it catastrophic consequences but we still went
with it anyway. One such aspect is nuclear science.

- E.g. The Manhattan Project, a US government research project that produced the first
atomic bombs. The development of the first nuclear bombs mankind has known. The
nuclear weapon was mainly used for World War 2, which brought about claustrophobic
consequences like when the US dropped the first atomic bomb on Hiroshima, Japan.

- The evolution of nuclear science took a very different approach. The scientific
community did not abandon the research that was done for the Manhattan
Project. Instead of using nuclear energy for war, countries are now using nuclear
energy for electricity.

- There are bound to be consequences or risks involved when doing research. If

it’s used in the wrong hands, it can result in tragedy or catastrophic
consequences. The development of nuclear science was set on the wrong foot,
since it was first used as a method for developing a nuclear weapon for war, but
the science behind it is useful for today where there are countries that use
nuclear energy for electricity.

- For countries that have used nuclear energy, only 2 have experienced nuclear
disasters: Fukushima and Chernobyl (human error). For Fukushima, the nuclear
accident was due to natural disasters (earthquake and tsunami), the science was
not to be blamed.

- E.g. Eugenics, the set of beliefs and practices which aims at improving the genetic quality of
the human. The study of eugenics did not die with the Nazis. Modern eugenics is now known as
genetic sciences. Genetic studies allow one to know who is more prone to what disease and
:
 what illness. Moreover, the development of genetic engineering has brought about GM food.
Eugenics is not totally useless, the research that was done in the past has led to genetic
engineering research today. Basically, eugenics lighted the path forward for science where
biology and genetics were concerned
Will technological advancement be the death of education in your society?
- Key terms
Technological advancements:

- MOOCs (massive online open courses) - increasing accessibility to information on the Internet (e.g.
Wikipedia, Google, apps to help solve math equations)

- Live online lessons facilitated by improvements in audio-visual communications

- AI-powered smart assistants/teachers

- Personalised learning

- Virtual reality

- Improvements in entertainment and social media -> offers students new ways for students to get
distracted, threaten their academic grades

Education:

- interdisciplinary thinking (ability to combine insights from different disciplines - e.g. psychology &
computer science) -> becoming more important in today's advancements

- character development

- critical thinking (the ability to distinguish between fake and genuine news)

- Yes
- students are becoming over-reliant on easily accessible information and have lost the ability to think
for themselves: the prevalent use of smartphones by students has deterred independent learning
(evidence: over 50% of teachers believe that technology has hindered the interpersonal skills of pupils
the most, survey by Open Access Government)

- technological advancements also offer an increasing number of distractions which threaten to

undermine the development of students: addiction to smartphones / gaming

- No
- can enhance the learning process

- technological advancements help to reduce the cost of providing a high-quality education and make a
high-quality education more widely accessible (e.g. AI-powered teachers which can replace costly
teachers, MOOCs)

- technological advancements can enhance the learning process (e.g. The use of VR in teaching live
online classrooms)
‘Technology is key to solving the major crises facing mankind today.’ Do you agree?
Firstly, I believe that advanced technology is indeed a must-have when mankind attempts to solve
today’s global issues but it cannot achieve any measure of success without adequate political willpower,
human effort and financing. Extensive research and development throughout the 20th and 21st century
has ushered in a period of numerous and ongoing breakthroughs and improvements in technological
innovation, such as nuclear power and earthquake detection systems. However, while these
:
 technological innovations exist, they cannot be fully utilised or maximised to their full potential unless
they are properly implemented. This is evidently seen in the current dilemma of climate change.
Although sources of renewable, clean energy have been invented, countries today are unwilling or
unable to implement them, and continue using environmentally deleterious methods of energy
production such as the burning of fossil fuels, which release tonnes of greenhouse gases into the
atmosphere every year. In addition, despite warnings from renowned climate change researchers and
United Nations conferences by the Intergovernmental Panel for Climate Change that the rate of
greenhouse gas emissions are increasing exponentially, countries such as China remain steadfast in their
use of unclean energy sources as they are more cost-efficient. The lack of implementation of technology
can also be seen in the cases of elephantiasis in developing countries, and not in developed countries
where the disease had already been eradicated in the 20th century. People in the Third World today are
unable to access the technology and research that led to its eradication in the Global North back then.
This is due to a lack of political and humanitarian effort and funding. Thus, it is evident that although
technology is of paramount importance as an enabling factor when solving global issues, it must be
executed in conjunction with adequate political and humanitarian effort.
- E.g. Climate, Not Conflict. Madagascar's Famine is the First in Modern History to be Solely
Caused by Global Warming (2021)

Moving on, technological advances are not able to alleviate crises involving large-scale ideological
conflicts such as terrorism or war. Such differences in beliefs and ideologies are complex and do not
have a straightforward, moral solution. How would one convince the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria, in
their bloody pursuit to establish a political system based on Sharia law, that their efforts are unjust and
morally wrong? How would one convince terrorist groups like the Irish Republican Army that differences
in religion need to be set aside in order to establish peace and harmony? Technology cannot provide a
solution to these abstract questions. What is needed to solve ideological conflicts remains an obscure
and mind-boggling concept, with no easy answers. Although technology such as protective war
machinery and riot control equipment does help to mitigate the harmful effects of such conflicts, it can
only deal with the symptoms and not the cause of the ideological clashes. Thus, technology has a
limited role when it comes to providing a solution to ideological conflicts.

Besides this, I also believe that technology is constrained in its capacity and significance when it comes
to dealing with major problems in the current global economy such as inequality, and the dominance of
transnational corporations in the economic sphere. In fact, technological advances might arguably have
exacerbated the growing inequality of income and development in the world. For instance, the advances
in transport and communication technologies have enabled transnational corporations to relocate their
manufacturing operations overseas and break down their manufacturing processes to simple, self-
contained tasks via the fragmentation of production. This has resulted in the workers in less developed
countries, who took up these aforementioned manufacturing jobs, to have no opportunity to upgrade
their skill set, become more highly skilled and earn a higher income. They are limited to performing
simple activities such as sewing, with no training in communication and technical knowledge, which are
seen as highly valued faculties in a person seeking employment. While these workers continue to be
trapped in this socio-economic class, the owners of transnational corporations earn even more profit
from their exploitation of comparative advantage and are able to increase their wealth rapidly. Instead
of technology, what may be required to solve inequality is government intervention. With the provision
of education, states can create a skilled workforce that is able to improve its income, especially in the
developing world. Also, government redistribution of finances from income tax can help alleviate
poverty in a nation. Therefore, technology is unable to bring a solution to the economic issue of
inequality; once again, it takes proper government intervention to solve such issues.

- E.g. Apple and Samsung supplier Foxconn has reportedly replaced 60,000 factory workers with
robots

- Rebuttal: Apple has discovered that humans are better at assembling products than robots →
Apple has reportedly been experimenting with automated iPhone assembly in partnership with
Foxconn, tests that have revealed robots struggle with the more delicate aspects of iPhone
assembly

Some believe that technology is indeed the pivotal factor when attempting to solve global issues despite
its lack of implementation because it is simply a matter of time before states and corporations
recognise the gravity of global issues, and when that time comes, the technological innovations will be
there to be implemented. They believe that it is critical that we have the tools to solve world dilemmas
at our disposal even though their application may be delayed. Unfortunately, this idealistic claim fails to
recognise that the delay in the implementation of technological advances may lead to detrimental,
irreversible effects. Take, for instance, the invention of genetically modified food crops. Yes, they are
:
 controversial but they have proven to be able to contribute much to solve starvation in the Global
South. Yet, the inertia of its implementation is resulting in more and more deaths due to starvation and
deprivation in developing countries. Aside from the technology itself, pressure has to be put on
governments to promote the production of these crops in order to prevent a multitude of deaths from
famine; it is not enough to let such inventions sit on the bench passively and never enter the arena to
battle global crises. Therefore, technology itself is not sufficient to solve world crises, it needs to be
put into use and maximised to its full potential in order to solve issues in the world today.

Do you agree that technology has disrupted our lives?

The twenty-first century, to cite Professor Stanislav Grof, is characterised by human’s internecine
symbiosis with the world of machines. In today’s context, technology has become second nature to us
and we are increasingly dependent on it. Since the advent of the Internet, technology has promised that
our daily processes would change for the better. Indeed, the multi-faceted nature of technology such as
medical technology, has provided solutions to many diseases plaguing society. Yet, new media, another
form of technology, has disrupted our thought processes and the way we interact with one another.
Furthermore, disruptive technology, characterised by the removal of sunset industries has posed
problems such as structural unemployment for the less skilled. Hence, I agree to a large extent that
technology has disrupted our lives.

In order to study the nuances of technology, it would be prudent to examine its nature. Technology
paves the way for greater collective wisdom in society. It does so by introducing multitudinous platforms
online to search for information. As a result, our thought processes have been disrupted by what experts
coin as digital bulimia. ‘A wealth of information leads to a poverty of attention’. This statement was
made by Herbert Simon who predicted the insidious effects of technology. With one click, the Internet
presents a never-ending rabbit hole of websites and articles so much so that people are only taking
cursory glances at these articles. No longer are people spending time to meditate upon the information
they receive. Instead, articles online are written cheaply just to attract one’s attention. Industries are
using the attention economy to generate revenue as Internet users are easily distracted by attractive
thumbnails and sensational headlines, only to find out that they have been led to an online
advertisement. Playwright Richard Foreman too, warned about this occurrence a long time ago. He
feared that we would turn into ‘pancake people’ – spread wide and thin as we indulge in a large pool of
information. This has detrimental effects on the way we think and sustain conversations. People today
have shorter attention spans and it is increasingly difficult trying to sit down and finish a novel, for
example. Therefore, it is clear that technology has disrupted the way we process information.

Technology also has profound effects on the way we form relationships. Ironically, it has disrupted the
way we communicate. Facebook, Twitter and WhatsApp were created to help us foster stronger ties
with one another. However, the process of making friends and even dating has been grossly simplified to
the pressing buttons on our phones. For example, it is increasingly popular for people to measure their
popularity based on their Klout score which quantifies their level of influence and fame. This downplays
the notion of making friends and disrupts the way we used to form genuine relationships. Another
prominent example to cite is the rise of online dating applications such as Tinder which reduces the
significance of dating and disrupts many marriages because it only takes a mere swipe to find another
partner. With all these reasons, there is no doubt that technology has disrupted many of our cherished
relationships.

The demise of many industries can also be attributed to the rise of technology and this has disrupted
the lives of the less skilled. Sunrise industries such as cloud computing and smartphones have largely
changed our economy. Industries such as the paging industry or the entertainment industry face intense
competition. For instance, with new and improved manufacturing methods of production, workers
without the relevant occupational mobility and skills suffer from unemployment. This is because the
sunset industries are deemed irrelevant due to the fast pace of technology which forces companies to
innovate quickly to pander to the demands of consumers. This problem is most felt by developed
countries like Singapore where the less skilled are unable to join the labour force due to its large
dependence on technology. Governments therefore spend large amounts of money on retraining
programmes such as the SkillsFuture programme, recently introduced in Singapore, to enable workers to
quickly move up the value chain, to counter the disruptions of technology on the economy.

On the other hand, some may argue that technology is not all but a problem. Developments in medical
technology have managed to treat worldwide pandemics like the Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome by
developing vaccines. Technology has also been able to provide help to victims of natural disasters.
During the Haiti earthquake, drones were deployed to send supplies to victims in dire need of help,
:
 reducing the need to send people into the area. Another reason why some may claim that technology
has not disrupted our lives is because it has the potential to cure many diseases. For instance, there are
more than ten types of Panadol available at pharmacies catered to different health problems. However,
this may in fact not be a healthy sign. Research by the World Health Organisation shows that humans are
developing antibiotic resistance rapidly and that by 2050, most medication would have been deemed
ineffective. Therefore, I feel that technology may pose more disruptions in our lives in the long run as
we seek to find stronger and more potent medicines to treat diseases.

Technology has increased our awareness of the less fortunate (marginalised groups, poor), but
it has not made us more compassionate

- Agree to a certain extent

- Compassionate: soft-hearted, sympathetic, concerned

- Technology has served as an online amplifier towards the disadvantaged. However, the inability
to relate to them does not enable sufficient sympathy for us to be more compassionate.

- E.g. Black Lives Matter movement → a lot of people are just posting, it does not
necessarily mean that they actually care for the particular cause

- All the reposting of how George Floyd struggled is not helping at all → the intention is
not to help → it raises awareness but we are unable to sympathise with them as much
→ we are the majority (Singaporean Chinese might not be able to understand as much
as the minorities in Singapore)

- Sheer amount of information of the unfortunate that circulates around the internet, ironically
desensitised us towards such events causing us to take it as a norm

- Sense of normalcy towards these kinds of issues already

- We will depend on others to make a change instead of us taking the initiative to act

- When we post a particular story of a less fortunate, rather than raising awareness &
trying to garner compassionate acts, it actually results in society judging that particular
person posting → they think the person is attention-seeking

- Trivialisation (make less important) of the effect that is supposed to be intended.

- Compassion becomes secondary

- People who repost have a false sense of belief that reposting and getting people to like
a post → means that they are doing their part in helping the less fortunate
:
 - Technology DOES NOT raise awareness about the less fortunate and it DOES NOT make us more
compassionate

- Echo chambers results in us becoming oblivious to the less fortunate

- E.g. Donald Trump → he is concealing and fabricating truths towards poverty and
income inequality in America → that will not call for any compassionate acts

- We tend to interact with people who echo our beliefs, like-minded people will attract
like-minded people. If we are particularly more interested in these kinds of social
issues, our timeline of our media feed will purely be targeted to our own interests.

- Thus, if we are not interested in these social issues, it will not be in our timeline → we
will be limited in the understanding of these social issues

- Algorithms decide what we see on social media

- Disagree (rebuttal)

- Television

- NGOs appealing for funds, organising charity events

- Another form of technology, helps to filter the information (social media is unfiltered)

- A lot of events and donation drives uses TV as a medium → have been largely
successful

- Ease of technology has made us more open to the idea of opening our wallets to the less
fortunate

- Hassle free donations on social media

Privacy
Privacy & governance
Questions

1. How far should the government be involved in the private lives of its people?

2. To what extent is it justified for the state to intervene in the private lives of its citizens?
:
 3. 'With increasing emphasis on rights, the state should not interfere in the private life of its citizens'.
Do you agree?

4. Can government surveillance eradicate the threat of terrorism?

5. How far can the state's surveillance of citizens be justified?

Justification

- Arguments for:
1. National security: protecting people from threats

2. Achieve optimal societal outcomes (e.g. Covid-19 contact tracing, smart lamp posts) - create certain
benefits - how government surveillance can help achieve those benefits

- Arguments against:
1. Risk that governments may use that information for their own notorious purposes (e.g. China govt
may use surveillance to suppress political dissent - dissatisfied with and opposed to the policies of a
governing body)

Q: Is the protection of privacy worthwhile?

- Not worthwhile
1. Privacy may not be worthwhile due to the increasing importance of national security, it helps the
government to protect people from security threats.

- considering the rising threat of terrorism amidst other crimes and violence; the benefits gained from
infringing on peoples privacy to protect them from acts of crime and terror might outweight the cost of
people losing their privacy.

E.g. Airport security checks - can deter terrorists and prevent airplane attacks. These are life saving
benefits that are much more important than the uncomfortable feeling people experience when airport
security officers check their baggage

*If protection of one’s privacy is over-emphasised, they may request for their luggages not to be
checked. Terrorists can therefore capitalise on this opportunity to bring weapons and paraphernalia on
board the plane, threatening the lives of hundreds of passengers and denying them the right to life.

E.g. 16-year-old Singaporean detained under ISA after planning to attack Muslims at 2 mosques - he was
self-radicalised, motivated by a strong antipathy towards Islam and a fascination with violence.

- To prepare himself for the knife attack, the teen watched YouTube videos, ISD said, and was confident
of hitting the arteries of his targets by randomly slashing at their neck and chest areas.

- By allowing the governments to have access to our location or online privacy, they are able to
effectively track down individuals or lone wolves and prevent terrorist attacks from happening

- Worthwhile
1. Some unscrupulous politicians make use of the data of the citizens to exploit them and gain benefit

- use information obtained from mass surveillance for their own purposes

- governments may abuse their power and use the information they have obtained to control their
citizens & prevent their citizens from criticising itself
:
 E.g. Cambridge Analytica's blueprint helped Donald Trump win the 2016 election. A former employee
explained how it details the techniques used by the Trump campaign to micro-target US voters with
carefully tailored messages about the Republican nominee across digital channels. Intensive survey
research, data modelling and performance-optimising algorithms were used to target 10,000 different
ads to different audiences in the months leading up to the election. The ads were viewed billions of
times, according to the presentation.

*Manipulate people's voting patterns and behaviour

2. Protects people's reputation and dignity

e.g. pornhub removing videos

- can damage person's dignity, dehumanise them - privacy is important to prevent those from occurring

Q: Should the public care about a politician's private life?

Key term: Private life

• Race and heritage: Halimah Yacob (Indian or Malay)

• Sexual orientation: Pete Buttigieg (Gay Catholic), Anwar Ibrahim (sodomy)

• Religious beliefs: Mitt Romney (Mormon)

• Family matters: Joe Biden’s son, Hunter Biden

• Relationships with spouses, partners and friends: Donald Trump’s affair with

Stormy Daniels, Najib and Jho Low

- Should not care

A1: It is irrelevant to his ability to perform his function effectively and focusing too much on his private
life reduces the public’s ability to elect the most competent politicians.

• Explain how a politician’s private affairs are irrelevant to his ability to lead the country.

o Who a politician loves, what God or gods he worships, what his son does in his own capacity, and
whether he is Japanese, Chinese or Indian, these are all irrelevant to the question of whether he can
represent his people’s interests effectively in Parliament. Neither do any of these things influence his
ability to determine whether the country should allocate a larger part of its budget to defence or
education, whether to abolish the death penalty, or whether to pull out of the Trans-Pacific Partnership

• Explain how an overemphasis on a politician’s private life distracts the public from more important
policy issues.

o People have all sorts of prejudices which can colour their opinions of politicians and influence them to
vote in ways that are contrary to their own interests.

o An overemphasis on a politician’s private life allows these prejudices to override more rational
considerations about whether or not a politician’s policies are likely to make their country more
prosperous, just and equal.

• Give an example of a situation where prejudices have convinced a country to vote against an
otherwise well-qualified politician.

o For example, in the 2016 American presidential elections, Donald Trump accused Hillary Clinton of
being an “enabler” of her husband’s sexual abuses of other women.
:
 o Although this was clearly an absurd claim, Trump’s tweets were retweeted by many of his supporters
who took this to have further evidence of Clinton’s incompetence even though this is clearly not the
case.

o While this may not have swung the votes of committed Clinton supporters, it may arguably have
prejudiced some minds against Clinton even if there is no rational reason for it. Donald Trump's election
in 2016 is arguably the result of a combination of all his different smear campaigns against his political
opponents.

A2: Excessive public concern about a politician’s private life encourages politicians to engage in
mudslinging (make malicious allegations about an opponent with the aim of damaging their reputation)
instead of focusing on the issues.

• Encourage politicians to dig up dirt about their opponents.

• Causes campaigns to descend into an exchange of personal attacks and ad hominem arguments.

• Public will not be well-served by such a political contest because it prevents them from thoroughly
evaluating each politician on the basis of the merits of his policy.

• Allows politicians with poor ideas to get away by emphasising their opponent’s character flaws.

• Political contest turns into a race to the bottom, undermining the legitimacy of all candidates, no
matter who wins (both in the eyes of the country’s own citizens and that of the international
community)

• E.g. Halimah Yacob was eminently well-qualified to be Singapore’s elected president. However, the
controversy over her race cast a pall over her election and discredited her in the eyes of many
Singaporeans.

Case studies for privacy

1. Covid-19 contract tracing, Singapore TraceTogether

- Users' identities: most countries have implemented an anonymization (having had identifying
particulars or details removed) or pseudonymization (it prevents the data from specifically pinpointing
the user) approach - fulfilled by the Bluetooth connection

- Data structure & storage: Data is uploaded to a server controlled by the government health authority
rather than stored locally on users' devices

E.g. France's StopCovid app uses a centralised architecture

- Austria's right-wing chancellor, Sebastian Kurz said that "It is a trade off, is data protection or that
people can return to normal more important?"

- Any use of data must be proportionate and fall away once the crisis has passed

- Contact tracing apps only work well when large proportions of the population download them. No
matter how technically ingenious a solution may appear, it is little use without mass consent.

E.g. Poland enforces a quarantine of those suffering from covid-19 with the aid of an app - They must
submit regular selfies to prove that they are staying at home

How SG lost trust on contact tracing privacy

- When the 2 systems (Safe Entry & Trace Together) were launched, there wasn't much space for the
public to discuss apprehensions: they were seen as necessary to fight the pandemic, and the SG govt
acted in a typical top-down fashion. The government repeatedly assured Singaporeans that the data
collected with such technology would be used only for contact tracing.
:
 - However, the government later confirmed that the data could actually be accessed by the police for
criminal investigations - triggered public anger and criticism, not necessarily because Singaporeans are
particularly privacy conscious, but because people felt they'd been subjected to a bait-and-switch.

- SG govt had previously rejected Apple and Google's system, saying that it would be "less effective" in
Singaporean context

2. NSA mass surveillance

- The scandal broke in early June 2013 when the Guardian newspaper reported that the US National
Security Agency (NSA) was collecting the telephone records of tens of millions of Americans.

- Edward Snowden, a former contractor for the CIA, left the US in late May after leaking to the media
details of extensive internet and phone surveillance by American intelligence.

- NASA tapped into 200 fibre-optic cables to give it the ability to monitor up to 600 million
communications every day

3. FBI-Apple Encryption dispute

- Apple received an order to make specialized software that would allow the FBI to unlock an iPhone
used by Syed Farook, a suspect in the San Bernardino shooting in December 2015 that left 14 people
dead.

- The FBI wanted Apple to create a special version of iOS that would accept an unlimited combination of
passwords electronically, until the right one was found.

- But Apple refused. Tim Cook (Chief Executive Officer of Apple) and his team were convinced that a
new unlocked version of iOS would be very dangerous. It could be misused, leaked, or stolen, and once
in the wild, it could never be retrieved. It could potentially undermine the security of hundreds of
millions of Apple users.

- Building a version of iOS that bypasses security in this way would undeniably create a backdoor. And
while the government may argue that its use would be limited to this case, there is no way to guarantee
such control.”

- Tim Cook accused the government of trying to force Apple “to hack our own users and undermine
decades of security advancements that protect our customers

- The encryption of iOS 8 was so strong that not even Apple could break it.

4. Cambridge Analytica

About the case

- sought to help political candidates tailor their campaign messages according to the recipient's
personality

- used insights from behavioral science in combination with a treasure trove of date

- built a Facebook app that offered a personality quiz to collect this data

- Facebook exposed data on up to 87 million users to a researcher who worked at Cambridge Analytica,
who worked for the Trump campaign

- it did so through a loophole Facebook API (application programming interface) that allowed it to
collect data from the Facebook friends of the quiz takers as well - only about 270 000 users participated
in the survey and had consented to having their data harvested
:
 Using big-data to tailor campaign messages is not new

- Political campaigns on both sides have always used demographic data to help decide whom to target in
their outreach efforts, how to reach them and how they might respond to certain messages

- They work with data firms to create national databases of voter files, collecting information from
many sources to create detailed profiles of voters - help them campaign better

5. China's Social Credit System

- Part financial credibility indicator and part compliance mechanism - aims to generate a score for
individuals and institutions in China based on data like tax filings and driving demerits

- consumers can reap rewards, but the score also functions as a signal mechanism for authorities about
whom or what deserves to be penalised

- As of yet, there's no one social credit system

- Instead, local governments have their own soci record systems that work differently, while unofficial
private versions are operated at companies such as Sesame Credit

- There is no single, nationally coordinated system - those private systems link up to the govt rankings,
data is exchanged between cities & companies

- Blacklist, part of the official govt social credit system, means that if one owes the govt money, one
could lose certain rights

E.g. Sesame Credit links up with the Baihe dating site, so that partners can judge each other on their
looks and also their social credit score

Discrimination & prejudice

Discrimination (action) & prejudice (attitude) examples
- Racial discrimination (racism) / religious discrimination
- A black man (Mr Cooper) kindly asked the white woman to leash her dog, as rules
required, but she refused. Then, she called the police, falsely accusing the man and
repeated “African-American” twice. Mr Cooper filmed the video and his sister posted on
Twitter, which trended. After that, the woman got fired from her job.
- On August 9, 2014, Michael Brown, an 18-year-old black man, was fatally shot by 28-
year-old white police officer Darren Wilson

- George Floyd was the African-American who got killed by a white police officer who
kneeled on his neck for several minutes even though he pleaded that he could not
breathe → #BlackLivesMatter is used to raise awareness about racism and how many
innocent black lives were lost due to unjustified police behaviour.

- Trump’s immigration policies (build a wall to prevent Mexicans from entering, ban
muslim-majority countries from entering USA)

- Language discrimination: In the survey by the Institute of Policy Studies (IPS), 73% of
Malays & 68% of Indians → large proportion of minorities → felt that they had
experienced discrimination when it came to applying for a job.
:
 - After the 9/11 terrorist attack, muslims have been mistakenly associated with the
terrorists. Anyone one who is a muslim will be associated with the face of terror.
- On the anniversary of 9/11, an arsonist set fire to Fort Pierce Mosque
- In 2016, Daniel, 22 and Alexis, 17, attacked a 68-year-old Skih man just because they
assumed him to be part of ISIS → hate-crime attack

- Christchurch mosque shooting in New Zealand → the terorrist attacks were

livestreamed on facebook, despite the original being taken down, the video was being
replicated and spread widely on other platforms like Youtube and Twitter → white
supremacist killed 51 worshippers on a Friday prayer

- Muslims are widely faced with job related discriminations in the US, following the
terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001. This is termed “Sophisticated discrimination”
→ act of discrimination is performed in a way that it cannot be proven easily.

- Age discrimination (ageism)

- In March 2020, MOM penalised 5 employers for age discrimination in hiring practices →
Wisdomtree advertised for a Chinese teacher and stated its preference for candidates
younger than 30 years old → they wanted energetic teachers
- 57% respondents → have lesser training opportunities as they get older
- The prominence of the phrase ‘OK Boomer’ → widening generational gaps & displays
the unwillingness to understand different viewpoints of others.
- Gender discrimination (sexism)
- Many religoius fundamentalists of Islam still believe that the female has no place in
anywhere but the home and hearth → the Taliban did not allow girls to go to school &
enforced harsh laws that restricted the freedoms of women
- In Saudi Arabia, women are not allowed to drive by themselves & often require
someone to approve any major decisions they make → mindset that women are less
capable
- Despite increase in women majoring in STEM, the number of females who rise to higher
positions in STEM industries remain low at 24% in US as reported by The Guardian in 2015
→ low female leadership presence → women were thought to quit or be less devoted to
their jobs once they have children → given lesser opportunities to rise up in ranks
- National Transgender Discrimination Survey shows that 71% of the respondents said
that they hid their gender or gender transition to avoid discrimination.
- Gay and bisexual youth are 4 times more likely to have attempted suicide than their
straight classmates, based on a 2015 report by the United States’ Centers for Disease
Control and Prevention
- Wear White Movement which was joint effort between Muslim and
Christian organizations in Singapore → declaring that they would “wear white till the
pink is gone.” → pro-family movement against the Pink Dot movement
- Discrimination against the disabled (Ableism)

- In India almost all the schools are result-orientated → not willing to admit disabled
children as teachers have to take extra effort to help the children to get good marks.
Some schools put up barriers to entrance for children with special needs. This is partly
due to the pressure on schools to do well in school rankings → lowers the choice for
parents & reduces the opportunities for children with disabilities to be integrated.

- Face isolation from society starting at an early age, a time most important for
development in communication, self-esteem and learning.

- Classism
- Migrant workers and foreign domestic workers in SG
- Income inequality → private property vs HDB
- Education: students from IP or express vs. N(T) or N(A) → most express stream
students look down on N(A)/N(T) students → hardly interact with each other
:
 - Causes: To justify inequalities in order to…
- Safeguard benefits of those in power
- Sexism in gaming industry

- Gaming industry → traditionally male-dominated space

- Common refrain → women cannot be as good gamers as men, should not be
allowed in this “male space”

- Some male gamers put out sexist messages and hate speech against female
gamers

- E.g. Anita Sarkeesian (female gamer) received much of the furore (an outbreak
of public anger or excitement) like rape, death threats, address or phone
numbers released online → fears for their safety

- Achieve social domination

- E.g. Haryana’s Rape Culture (India)

- Prevailing idea that women are to blame for rape, as if they did not
consent or agree to it, the men would not be able to rape her

- Girls are made to internalise it

- Continually oppress women, keep them feeling unsafe

- They can control women’s behaviours like not going out late
- What if the rapist abducts the victim? The police officer’s reply: how
can someone just abduct you?

- Both boys and girls are being taught from young that both girls and
boys are to be blamed for rape

- Girls should not wear jeans as they are “provocative clothes” that
invites attention → leads to rapes

- No laws to protect the girls → no help from the government

- E.g. Misogyny (hatred of women) in India

- In early 2012, in a survey conducted by the Thomson

Reuters Foundation, India was identified as the “worst nation for
women” by 370 gender specialists.

- Misogyny has long permeated their textbooks, their

pedagogy (teaching) and their parenting.

- 16 December 2012, a female student was gang raped and brutally

assaulted with an iron rod in Delhi. 2 weeks later, she succumbed to her
injuries in a hospital in Singapore.

- Sparked protests and outrage in India → thousands of protestors

gathered, demanding for changes in a ‘societal’ mindset

- Laws which explicitly discriminate based on sex → still do not

acknowledge marital rape as a crime

- Achieve political purposes

:
 - E.g. Trump’s immigration policies/false comments on immigrants
- He referred to Mexican immigrants as “rapists” and “criminals”

- In 2017, he banned people from six muslim majority countries from

entering USA → they face unnecessary and discriminatory obstacles

- Impact/consequences
- Marginalisation of particular groups

- E.g. The Ainu People in Japan

- In late 1800s, Japanese government embarked on a wide-scale

assimilation program → force them to adopt Japanese names, culture
and language + restricting their traditions and practices

- Ainu population was forcibly stripped of their land + forced to give up

their hunter-gatherer lifestyles, become farmers instead

- In 2008, Japanese government formally recognised as an indigenous

group in Japan

- However, they are still routinely discriminated against → many hide

their ethnicity to avoid discrimination

- E.g. Hukou system in China

- Denies farmers the same rights and benefits enjoyed by urban
residents

- Implications of the policy have resulted in a form of discrimination

- Rural-urban migration, more rural residents moved to cities to work

and live → they earn low wages & face official discrimination → hukou
system shuts many of them out of subsidised urban services (e.g.
education & healthcare)

- Deprivation of opportunities and benefits

- Glass ceiling - an invisible barrier that blocks the access of women to the top

- Gender stereotyping of leadership → women being seen as less

appropriate for leadership roles than men

- Employment opportunities and pay → prejudicial beliefs that women

are less capable in certain industries

- Glass cliff

- More likely to be chosen for leadership roles when the task at hand is
risky

- End up being more likely to preside (be in charge of) over failure

- E.g. Theresa May → first female prime minister of UK since Margaret

Thatcher → she had to preside over the country’s economically perilous
break from the European Union
:
 - E.g. Study by management consulting company Strategy&, past 10
years → 38% of female CEOs were forced out, compared to 27% of
men → female are more likely to be sacked than their male counter
parts

- Ingrained assumptions about men and women. Women have

"understanding", "tactful" & "courteous" traits → more useful in times of
crisis. Men have "assertive" & "forceful" masculine traits → desirable in
times of success

- Classic "old boys' problem" → men prefer to hire 'ingroup' members for
cushy (undemanding, easy) jobs. But when a job is risky, they happily
fall back on women.

- Rise in hate crimes

- E.g. Murder of 19-year-old Blaze Bernstein in 2018

- Mudurer, Samuel Woodward, killed him “just because he was gay”

- E.g. Uighurs in China → sent to concentration camps for ‘ethnic cleansing’

- Government called it “re-education” camps

- Why are they targeted? They hold extremist views that are a threat to
security → cases of attacks by Uighurs in 2013 & 2014

- General well-being compromised

- Use of defensive architecture → act of discrimination against the homeless

- E.g. Bars on benches, bus benches are designed to slope (SG)

- E.g. Gating off the doorways and leftover urban spaces → provide
some refuge for those who have to sleep rough in cities

- E.g. More insidious → small metal spikes on surfaces, impossible to

sleep on

- People are treated differently or unfairly → cause low self-esteem → higher

risk of developing stress-related disorders like anxiety and depression (UCLA
Fielding School of Public Health professor)
Is discrimination justified?
- Stand: largely not justified
- The relentless marginalisation of various minority groups has placed them in a very precarious
(uncertain) position in society, denied of basic human rights & dignity, fearing for their safety
and often having to fight for their lives (moral duty → a matter of life and death)

- Racially motivated police brutality in UK

- E.g. In 2017, Rashan Charles lost his life in Hackney, east London after being restrained
by a police officer and choking on a package of caffeine and paracetamol in his mouth

- Minority groups, regardless of their citizenship status, are members of the society who
contribute to its development one way or another, and who therefore have the right to expect
to be treated fairly (social duty → part of the society, what they do can affect others’ lives)
:
 - E.g. Migration Policy Institute conducted a study on refugee-integration → the median
income of refugee in the US for at least 20 years was $31 000 higher than the median
income for refugees here for 5 years or less → incomes increased the longer they work

- Open and tolerant environments are conducive to the generation and dissemination of ideas,
which in turn contributes to innovation that supports competitiveness and economic growth,
thus denying minority groups of the same opportunities and fair treatment inflicts harm on the
general community (pragmatism → outcome is beneficial to both)

- E.g. Taking steps to decrease gender inequality in workplace → eliminating barriers to

women's workforce participation and promoting women’s leadership → benefit Canada’s
economy by $150 billion by 2026

- As minority groups have been trapped in a perpetual cycle of discrimination and inequality,
many find it difficult to break away from the shackles of being in the margins of society, and it
is only right for those in power, who have pushed them to the margins for so long, to give them
a certain advantage that would compensate for their lack of privilege in a society that
systemically benefits

- Equity → affirmative action (positive discrimination)

- The systemic discrimination and colonial narrative of hierarchy and supremacy exist to
this day and has translated, centuries later, into gaping health disparities

- E.g. Black people in USA → more likely to die from cancer, suffer from chronic pain,
diabetes & depression, report higher levels of stress, live in areas without clean water

'Celebrate diversity.' How far should this be encouraged in your society?

- Racial

- Not celebrate but tolerating diversity

- We have to move beyond the national political state

- Does wearing traditional outfits during racial harmony day celebrate diversity? Even
when people go about having casual racism jokes?

- A study by Straits Times shows that even though a class has a good mix of racial
groups, during recess, there is a bending of racial groups where the cliques formed are
based on their race.

- Why is there a need for racial self-help group when we want to celebrate diversity?

- SAP schools (chinese privilege)

- National policies (Ethnic Integration Policy) are important/the fundamentals to help

create diversity, just it stops there, people do not do what beyond that

- Elderly & Disabled

:
 - Fair employment practices

- Be more accepting in the workplace, despite differences in ability

- Promote inclusion and interaction between children with and those without disabilities

- E.g. In Jan 2016, a charity started SG's first inclusive preschool → Kindle
Garden, run by AWWA → children with disabilities learn and play alongside other
kids in the same classroom → 30% of children have disabilities (autism & Down's
syndrome)

- LGBTQ

- SG is largely conservative → even though people today are more accepting but it is
mostly the younger generation → the older ones still have a traditional mindset

- More diversity can encourage more acceptance from the older generation

- Acknowledge that they exist as they have been living hidden lives

- Can encourage diversity by support their campaigns → Pink Dot

- Give more opportunities to document the event on traditional media

- The national policies are very pro-family (promoting family life and traditional moral
values)

- E.g. Public housing → For single Singaporeans to get a flat → at least 35-years
old (under the Single Scheme)

- If you want to get a flat earlier than that, you need to get married (Joint
Singles Scheme). Wherein lies the problem: same-sex marriage isn’t
recognised in Singapore.

- National policies are geared towards discouraging an alternative lifestyle

Migration should be encouraged in today’s world

- Can be a boon (helpful, beneficial) for both host and destination countries
- Furthers economic progress
:
 - Led to an exacerbation of economic and social problems → leading to a strong case for
discouraging migration

- Worsened the plight of the less skilled in developed countries + worsening the problem of brain
drain in developing countries

- Developed: influx of migrants → stiffened competition for employment among the low-
income

- Threaten the livelihood of those who are unable to move up the skill ladder
- Increased social tensions in host countries + social fragmentation in destination countries
- E.g. SG ‘curry’ incident → PRC immigrant complained about the smell of her india's
neighbour cooking

- While humanitarian crises in today’s world seem to demand an open-armed embrace of

migration → economic difficulties made it unrealistic for migration to be pursued as a large-
scale response

- E.g. Debt-hit countries like Greece → highly questionable whether as a host country,
they can support a decent standard of living for migrants

- Overcapacity & shortage of food supplies at refugee camps in Greece → rampant

(uncontrolled, widespread) crime and hunger problems
Is the influx of refugees an opportunity or a threat to the host country?
- Threat
- Leads to exacerbation of social and economic problems
- Depletion of scarce resources
- E.g. Rohingya refugees (ethnic minorities in Myanmar)
- Not recognised by the Myanmar government → they are not given citizenship
- Escaping from the genocidal attacks by Myanmar authorities
- They settle in refugee camps in Bangladesh
- Hundreds of Rohingya refugees streaming in everyday, makeshift camps ran out
of space

- Water levels are dropping significantly → groundwater sources are quickly

becoming depleted and freshwater streams have become contaminated

- Locals have less access to freshwater sources

- Greater strain on limited resources
- Increased competition of jobs
- E.g. Sub-saharan Africa migrants
- Escaping from extreme poverty, starvation and overpopulation in Africa
- Have high education → US and Europe companies are willing to hire them
- Creates competition for those middle-skilled and highly-skilled locals
- Reduces job opportunities
:
 - Stiffened competition for employment among the middle and high skilled
workers

- Opportunity
- Further economic progress
- Low supply of low-skilled workers in host countries (mostly developed ones) →
changing aspirations and improvement in educational attainment

- Contributed to the perpetual shortage of workers in 3’D’ (dirty, dangerous,

difficult)

- Provide cheap labour

- E.g. Syrian refugees who want to escape from the civil war in Syria
- Can meet the demand of low-skilled labour
- Also, brought skills to Turkey like metal and woodwork

Poverty & inequality

Many developed countries are paying increasing attention to the needs of the disadvantaged.
How far is this true in Singapore?
- As a pragmatic society, SG ensures that disadvantaged groups are given the assistance they
need to be productive members of the society, thus contributing to SG’s continued progress.

- The prosperity that SG enjoys to this day is largely due to its emphasis on building an inclusive
society, and the government has safeguarded this from SG’s founding countries to fulfil its duty
to the nation by looking out for the needy.

- With the rise of social media, the voices of disadvantaged groups are given a platform to be
heard, and as their plight comes to light, the government and civil society feel greater urgency
to pay greater attention to their needs.

- The problems faced by disadvantaged groups are diverse and complex, and some of their needs
may not be adequately talked about, and thus do not get due attention from the public.

- While SG has become a modern society in many aspects, it remains to be largely traditional,
and the conservative values held by the majority may silence the voice of minority groups, thus
leaving their needs neglected.

- As a developed country, SG hosts a diverse group of low-skilled workers, who lack the power to
speak up for themselves and to make their needs known, which therefore become neglected as
the society focuses on addressing the multitude needs of a diverse society.

Poverty and income inequality (definitions and examples)

- Absolute poverty refers to the lack of resources necessary for well-being → most importantly
food and water, but also housing, sanitation, education and health care.
- Relative poverty refers to the lack of material and economic resources compared with most
others in the society.
- According to statista, in the United States, 700 people experiencing or at risk of homelessness
are killed from hypothermia annually & 44% of the nation’s homeless are unsheltered.
Absolute poverty
- Other than homelessness, the poor live in slums.
- Slums represent one of the main types of housing in many growing urban cities from Kibera in
Nairobi, to New Delhi and Manila.
- Slums are often defined by:
- Unsafe and/or unhealthy homes (e.g. lack of windows, dirt floor, leaky walls and roofs)
:
 - Overcrowded homes
- Limited or no access to basic services: water, toilets, electricity, transportation
- Unstable homes: weak structures are often blown away or destroyed during storms and
earthquakes
- No secure land tenure (i.e. the land rights to live there).
- Kenya's capital, Nairobi, has more than 40 areas defined as slums and approximately 60% of
Nairobi's population, of 4.4 million people, live in low income settlements. There are many viral
infections that cause health problems in these low income settlement environments.
- Over 7 million children under-5 years of age die each year mainly from preventable
and treatable conditions.
- Pneumonia, diarrhoea and malaria remain the leading cause of child mortality, and
undernutrition contributes to more than 1/3 of all deaths.
- In 2019, the infant mortality rate in Kenya was at about 31.9 deaths per 1,000 live
births compared to low single digit figure of less than 5.9 in the developed countries.
- India is home to 46.6 million stunted children, a third of world's total as per Global Nutrition
Report 2018.
- Nearly half of all under-5 child mortality in India is attributable to undernutrition.
- Undernutrition is a deficiency of calories or of one or more essential nutrients.
- Any country cannot aim to attain economic and social development goals without
addressing the issue of malnutrition.
Relative poverty
- Disparity in wealth in Singapore is manifested starkly in the type of housing
- Measures of poverty:
- The World Bank sets a “poverty threshold” of USD 1.90 dollars a day.
- Those living on less than USD 1.90 a day live in extreme poverty.
- People who live in extreme poverty are severely deprived of basic human needs and
often do not have access to service aids.
- Another measure of poverty is the proportion of people who consume less than a
minimum amount of calories to maintain health – who are chronically hungry or
undernourished.
- Calorie requirements differ by gender and age, and for different levels of physical
activity. So minimum calorie requirements vary by country, and from year to year,
depending on the age and gender structure of the population.
- However, the concept of poverty is multidimensional, and it includes food insecurity,
poor housing, unemployment, psychological distress, powerlessness, hopelessness,
vulnerability, and lack of access to healthcare, education and transportation.
- To capture the multi-dimensional nature of poverty, the United Nations Development
Programme (UNDP) developed a composite measure of poverty: the multidimensional
poverty index (MPI).
- The global Multidimensional Poverty Index (MPI) is an international measure of acute
multidimensional poverty covering over 100 developing countries.
- If a person is deprived of a third or more of ten (weighted) indicators, the global MPI
identifies them as ‘MPI poor’. The extent – or intensity – of their poverty is also
measured through the percentage of deprivations they are experiencing.

Causes of poverty
Physical factors
:
 - Natural disasters
- Unfavourable geographical conditions
Human factors
- Poor governance, government corruption → poor planning → over-prioritising urban areas
- Exploitation by external parties
- Lack of education
- Inequality
- War & conflict
Which groups and people are multidimensionally poor?
- The traditional concept of poverty is outdated, according to a new report released by the
United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) and the Oxford Poverty and Human
Development Initiative (OPHI).
- New data demonstrate more clearly than ever that labeling countries - or even households - as
rich or poor is an oversimplification.
- Even though absolute poverty is found in both developed and developing countries, the poor
are predominantly found in developing countries especially among the children (especially girls),
women and racial/ethnic/caste-based minorities.
- Due to the complex interplay of physical and human factors:
- Children as economic assets in poor families
- Traditional and patriarchal societies prefer sons over daughters (boys/males have more
access to food, education, healthcare, inheritance, etc.)
- Traditional gender roles (male dominance & women disempowerment)
- Racial/ethnic/caste prejudice & discrimination
- Exploitative businesses (e.g. child labour, sweatshops, etc.)
- Corrupt government officials & government
- Natural disasters
- E.g. India’s social inequality keeps a significant section of the population poor forever
despite the country’s impressive economic growth.
How poverty affects basic human rights and needs
- Poverty erodes or nullifies economic and social rights such as the right to life, dignity, health,
adequate housing, food and safe water, and the right to education.
:
 - E.g. India’s draconian coronavirus lockdown on 25th March 2020 significantly impacted millions
of poor migrant workers’ rights and needs
- India’s strict lockdown to halt the spread of coronavirus meant that most factories and
businesses shut down, rendering millions jobless.
- Prime Minister Narendra Modi appealed to businesses to keep paying their workers,
including daily-wage labourers.
- But that didn’t happen, and most of the workers were left with little money and food.
- With no prospect of income, they took long journeys to go back to their villages. Some
managed to get transport, but those who couldn’t, walked hundreds of kilometers.
- And some of them never made it home as they died because of exhaustion or in
accidents.
The benefits and problems of foreign aid to poor countries
- Governments of poor countries have limited resources to help themselves out of poverty.
- There are several forms of foreign aid.
- Rich countries provide aid to poor countries.
- Rich countries also have different reasons as to why they are providing aid to poor countries.
Benefits:
- Aid programs focused on health have saved millions of lives. The President’s Emergency Plan
for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR), which among other things provides antiretroviral treatment for 11.5
million people, has been a key reason why global deaths from the disease have fallen by almost
half since 2005.
- malaria mortality has declined by nearly 50 percent since 2000—saving almost 7 million lives—
in part through the efforts of the U.S. Agency for International Development’s President’s
Malaria Initiative.
- By engaging with communities – from the beginning of a project through to implementation
:
 and hopefully eventually creating self-sufficient programmes – several benefits emerge. Projects
are more likely to be sustainable, there are fewer unexpected consequences (such as products
going to waste or being used for unintended reasons, as with mosquito nets), and community
members gain agency by becoming drivers of change.
Problems:
- It was reported that UK spending on overseas aid exceeded £14 billion in 2018
- The current aid strategy encourages dependence and perverse economic incentives. In Africa
alone, more than a dozen governments derive more than half their revenue from foreign aid.
Much of the aid given to countries like Nigeria – the second largest recipient of UK aid after
Pakistan – makes the rich richer, the poor poorer and helps entrench corrupt regimes, while
failing to improve the living conditions of millions below the poverty line.
- It is an insufficient strategy for long-term poverty alleviation
Do you agree that, as long as no one suffers from extreme poverty, we need not be concerned
about income inequality?
- No, I do not agree. We still need to be concerned with income inequality.
- Extreme/Absolute poverty: living off US$1.25 a day
- Income equality can still exist between the upper, middle and lower class. Lower class people
in developed countries like Singapore do not live in extreme poverty but still suffer from class
divide. There can be a class divide between the upper SES people and the lower SES people. The
class divide can hinder interactions between people of different classes. For example, people
from the higher class are more likely to participate in society than lower class people, where
participation in activities like volunteering, arts, cultural and sports activities. There will be
more interactions between the upper class people.

- Poverty does not need to be absolute or extreme to matter. Absolute or extreme poverty talks
about third-world or less developed countries where poverty is of that nature.

- However, we should not disregard the relative poverty that is suffered by the lower classes in
developed countries. Relative poverty matters because someone will always be poorer when
compared to others, someone with a S$1000 might not be considered poor when it is looked at
from the perspective of the poor in South Africa, Somalia, etc. They are not living in less
developed countries but developed countries like Singapore. The cost of living in Singapore is
very high, S$1000 is not enough to survive in Singapore, but with that amount of money, one can
survive in less developed countries like Somalia for at least 3 months.

- Anyone would definitely be relatively poorer to someone who earns more. Especially countries
like SG where Gini Coefficient (0.398 in 2019) is high.

- The idea of relative and absolute poverty. Absolute poverty no longer matters, not in this
globalised age that we live in. Basic economic theory always states that income levels will
always rise, but does it rise equally. There will always be people poorer relative to others.

How far would you agree that education is a social leveller?

The reason education is so strongly advocated, especially for the poor or disadvantaged, is that it
provides a chance for them to better themselves and in turn, improve their prospects of access to
productive employment and a better life. Much like a rope thrown to a person sinking in the mire,
education is one of the best ways for one to rise up amidst discrimination or from a disadvantaged
background and achieve equality with the rest of society. This can be applied to other countries as well.
Japan is a case in point: now one of the world’s most developed nations, its rapid economic
development can be attributed to the widespread access to education shortly after the Meiji
Restoration. Now on par with many Western nations, the government had emphasised then that there
was to be no illiterate person in any family. In South Africa, an uneducated farmer earns a meagre
income of US $1-2 a day; however, with basic primary education and a job in the city, he is expected to
earn US$10 a day – still a small sum, but an improvement of at least fivefold in salary. Education is thus
a tool for people to learn cognitive and technical skills and level the playing field for everyone
regardless of background. Hence, we see that the potential of education to promote equality by
improving the status of the poor is not to be overlooked.

- It brings people out of the poverty trap

:
 - Less-developed countries → lack of teaching facilities, resulting in many receiving inadequate
education → people thus lack the necessary skills that would get them a job → limits their life
opportunities → end up in a poverty cycle and will never get able to get themselves out of the
situation

- E.g. Rural China → nearly all children would attend their local primary and high schools
located at their village, but the educational facilities in those areas are dilapidated (run-down)
with a usually unqualified teacher

- The Education Commission has also stated that absolute poverty could be eliminated if
children can graduate from school with basic reading skills

- Important for provision of basic education to those suffering from poverty

In many countries today, however, education seems to be reinforcing social inequality rather than
carrying out its intended purpose of being a social leveller. It is a growing phenomenon that the wealthy
would go to great lengths to secure the best education for their children who, having enjoyed a
privileged education, would then be propelled further in the corporate rat race in future. This inherent
bias toward those who already have more is an unfortunate flaw in most education systems today. For
example in South Korea, well-to-do families send their children to night tuition classes to ensure that
they can do well in school and remain competitive, while children whose parents cannot afford these
classes are left to cope by themselves or languish in the dust. As a result, it is a great failure of the
education system in South Korea, that more resources are eventually allocated to the advantaged
instead of to where they are needed most, and in doing so, resulted in worsened inequality in our
societies.

Upon closer examination of this strand of argument, we see that it is not education that has failed us,
but rather the administration of education. Ineffectual (not producing any significant or desired effect)
education policies are the most culpable as they abandon the purpose of education as a social leveller.
In China, according to official estimates, 1 in 4 children with disabilities are not in school at all. This
can be blamed on the government’s policy that disability is a valid reason to not offer someone a place
in school. Recently, a Henan university rejected a student who used crutches to get around and applied
for courses in medicine and psychology, as “his disability does not match his chosen subjects”.
Educators, not just in China, are ill-equipped and not given proper funding or support to teach these
disabled children. It is such systematic discrimination, a result of poorly-thought out education policies,
that causes education to have failed to be that ‘beacon of hope’ for them to improve their social
standing. However, we overcome the shortcomings of the existing system by drawing inspiration from a
successful African-American woman, Ruby Bridges, who grew up in an era where the better-equipped
public schools were meant for whites only. Her parents, outraged at the meagre facilities granted to the
black students, and subsequent insistence that she be educated in one of the all-white public schools,
may have earned her the ire of the white community of that era, but this only serves to show that if
these physical barriers to equal opportunity can be broken down, then education can indeed act as a
leveller.

In order to be a social leveller, not only should education grant equal opportunity, it should give
individuals the chance to maximise their talent in different areas, not just academics alone. The
Chinese Imperial Examinations (gaokao) in China can be seen as an embodiment of meritocracy, as it
serves as an indication of hard work and effort alone regardless of wealth or influence. However, it
favours academically bright students and those who excel in other areas are thus disadvantaged. In
Singapore, traditionally many scholarship and higher education opportunities are granted to
academically inclined students, with significantly fewer ‘alternative routes’ providing support to
academically weaker students who have talent in other areas. However, this is slowly but surely
changing as Singapore shifts towards allowing individuals to shine in their respective fields of talent.
Examples of action taken are the provision of more EAGLES awards, rewarding students who do well in
many areas and not simply possess excellent grades alone, as well as having schools like the School of
the Arts (SOTA), which has seen around 1000 applicants for just 200 places each year in the past few
years. Hence, education can be a social leveller if it does not propagate inequality by being slanted to
only provide outlets for the academically inclined.

There can be no real equality in society and we should stop wasting time and effort on
impossibility. Comment.
:
 Firstly, solutions aimed at closing the inequality gap are inadequate and appear to be acts of tokenism.
These solutions are either not sustainable in nature or not actively pursued or some seem to exist simply
to placate the enraged masses clamouring for equality. With solutions that are half-hearted in nature, it
is difficult for them to surmount the intractable challenges facing inequality. For example, the
convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW) was ratified by
more than 100 countries, with many countries pledging to put in place policies to close the gender gap
between men and women by equalising opportunities for women. With no regulation or penalty for not
following up on their pledge, many countries soon lost track of the goal and it largely faded into
oblivion. It is, hence, no wonder that the Global Gender Gap Report in 2013 reported that the 4 pillars it
traded - politics, education, healthcare and economics are not heading in the correct direction, again.
In addition to the solutions crafted by the governments, those crafted by women are also largely
unsustainable in nature, making it hard to produce any tangible benefits. For example, the Women's
March which overshadowed Trump's inauguration this year was criticised for its lack of sustainability and
tangible benefits, hindering its effectiveness in achieving real equality. Moving away from gender
inequality, policies undertaken in ensuring equal opportunities for all in education such as that of
meritocracy employed by Singapore also gives the false impression that equality is achieved by
rewarding people based on their achievements rather than background. What it fails to consider is that
richer children are usually sent for early education much earlier and are, hence, well·poised to clinch
excellent results when they enter school together with other less well-off children. Hence, though
solutions undertaken to achieve real equality may give the impression that huge progress has been made
and equality is bound to be achieved, most are actually "affirmative action" policies or ineffective in
nature.

Secondly, deeply entrenched mindsets and societal norms also pose a challenge to the achievement of
real equality. Every society has its deep norms and every group of people similarly has rigid rules
influenced by their culture and some of these beliefs and attitudes state that it is not wrong for some to
be above others. Hence, even if solutions are crafted to address the problem of inequality, it is not a
guarantee that a-paradigm shift will take place and that these people will embrace the changes with
open arms. For example, the good work of "sisters in Islam", a non-government organisation seeking to
empower women in Muslim countries appears to be well-received by most people but reality struck
when Boko Haram kidnapped 300 school girls in Nigeria and Malala Yousafzai was shot by the Taliban for
being a proponent of education for girls. Aside from these extremists, some netizens also chipped in,
stating that the girls deserved that. These occurrences are perhaps due to the deeply entrenched
convictions in these countries where women are expected to stay at home and tend to the family.
Meanwhile in the USA, while inequality between the Blacks and the Whites appears to be improving
after the seemingly huge progress made during the Civil Rights movement in the 1960s and the election
of Barack Obama as the first Black President of the United States in 2008~ recent shootings exposed the
distrust towards the Blacks by the Whites, with Walter Scott being shot for simply running away as the
police officer deemed it "suspicious" enough for him to shoot to kill. Hence, while some attitudes may
change due to the increasing globalization of the world, the majority still have conservative and deeply-
rooted beliefs that hinder the achievement of real equality.

However, pessimists would posit that campaigns and resources dedicated to the pursuit of equality
should be utilised more effectively in areas with more pressing concerns, such as climate change,
terrorism and poverty. They believe that campaigns for equality come at the expense of the more
legitimate aforementioned concerns, which unlike equality, can be solved or mitigated to a large
extent. They cite the example of Leonardo DiCaprio's environmental campaigns, one of the many
environmental and poverty campaigns, which are petering out and being overshadowed by the more
enigmatic HeForShe campaign by Emma Watson as well as the Black Lives Matter movement, among
many others. They argue that without these equality campaigns, more attention will be paid to the
more pressing concerns as mentioned above.

However, I would contend that equality is a prerequisite for surmounting the above mentioned pressing
concerns. Equalising opportunities will allow for a more efficient use of resources to solve problems like
climate change. Equality will also ease the disgruntled feelings of those who are discriminated against
and allow a harmonious and more concerted effort to solve today's seemingly insurmountable problems.
This line of thought is supported by the United Nations which claims that agricultural output can be
increased by as much as 10% if women have the same access to agricultural equipment and resources as
men, and this can solve the problem of food shortages in the world. Providing equal access to education
around the world will also help with poverty tremendously, with the United Nations Educational, Social
and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) reporting that every year of schooling increases a person's earning
by up to 10% and 101 million people could be lifted out of poverty if they have access to basic
education. Hence, since closing the inequality gap can be a major factor in deciding whether today's
:
 thorny challenges can be circumvented and solved, resources such as time and effort still have to be
dedicated to the cause.

The fight for gender equality is far from over, in fact, it has just begun. Discuss.

It is impossible to deny that huge leaps of progress have been made in recent years, in large part due to
governments recognising the importance of engaging both genders equally, to bolster lacklustre
economies. In the light of many developed countries, such as Japan, that have an increasingly ageing
population, the importance of engaging every member of the working age has never been as prevalent
as today. By promoting gender equality in the form of equal pay or less sexism in the workplace,
governments can encourage more women to join the workforce, increasing the total working population,
which helps bolster the economy. For example, one need only look at Japan which has long been a male-
dominated society, where women were often expected to stay home and look after the household while
men worked to support the family. However, just last year, Prime Minister Shinzo Abe passed policies
that mandated educational workshops in Japanese offices to eradicate sexism and harassment, which is
characteristic of many of the men from the older generation. This was part of his Abenomics push to
bolster the Japanese economy that has been suffering blows from its increasingly elderly population and
low birth rate. While the success of his plan has yet to be seen, this shows that governments across the
world have indeed realised the importance of gender equality, which led to progress in recent years.

The progress in gender equality is also in no small part due to the societal awakening brought about by
social media. Many feminist movements are born in Western countries, perhaps due to more liberal
perspectives. These movements may never have moved beyond their birthplaces if not for the speed and
wide reach of social media. For example, the #HeForShe campaign spearheaded by outspoken feminist,
Emma Watson, would not have the influence and awareness it did, if not for social media. There have
been intense social media campaigns to raise awareness, by engaging prominent male actors, such as
Ben Whishaw to post using the hashtag to show their support. The platform of social media also allowed
the common man or woman to engage in the movement and show their support. This allowed the
message of gender equality to spread far and wide, raising awareness of its importance among both
members of society and their leaders. This has helped to drive progress in recent years as well.

However, the older generation often hold very conservative views about their cultures and the role of
women in society. For example, many religious fundamentalists of Islam still believe that the female has
no place in anywhere but the home and hearth. The Taliban did not allow girls to go to school and
enacted harsh laws that restricted the freedoms of women. Even the Western world is not free from
such problems. After the 2016 Presidential election, it was found that many of the 42% of women who
voted for Trump, were from the older generation who believed that a return to more traditional values,
was more decidedly ―American. These conservative views have prevented a lot of future progress as the
older generation still occupy positions of power and can enforce their view on society through their
policies, which may even breed new generations of conservative views. The older generation also are
large in numbers and thus have larger voting power. The politicians who only care about re-election will
pander to such viewpoints as it benefits them. Therefore, such conservative values continue to hinder a
lot of progress.

Moreover, there is a mindset within society that women are less capable than men. This is a belief that
has been reinforced through gender stereotypes that boys are traditionally better at thinking subjects,
such as Mathematics and by a patriarchal society where having women in parliament or on a director‘s
chair is a victory to be celebrated rather than just the norm. In Saudi Arabia, women are not allowed to
drive by themselves and often require someone to approve any major decisions they make or even a
visit to the hospital. Is the woman really that incapable of making her own informed decisions? It does
not help that often these women have been socialised to believe that it is normal and expected to be
subservient to their fathers or spouses. A household survey carried out in India showed that 52% of
Indian women felt that it was normal if their husbands beat them for going out without his prior
approval. This mindset that women are not capable is one that is also holding back progress in gender
equality and often is the root of a lot of gender equality.

Till now, a large part of my argument has focused on empowering women. However, in a recent speech
by Emma Watson, she reiterated that feminism and gender equality were about equal rights for both
males and females, not just bashing men and raising up women. This is an issue that has often been
overlooked by activists and governments alike – the equality for males. While males do often have the
advantage in our largely patriarchal society, they also face discrimination. For example, many males
never seek treatment for mental illnesses as it is often viewed as not ―manly. The stereotypes that we
hold not only affect women but also impose unhealthy standards on males. In the United Kingdom, the
rate of suicide is 3 times higher for men than it is for women, many cases often linked to depression or
:
 eating disorders. There have been campaigns to raise awareness of male mental health, for example,
Movember that has raised millions of dollars and widespread awareness for male health issues. However,
these campaigns often pale in comparison to the UN-funded campaigns, such as the HeForShe campaign.
Until we acknowledge that males also suffer from such unrealistic expectations and try to progress in
equality of treatment for males, we may never truly achieve gender equality. Gender equality means
either males or females should be superior to the other.

Examine the claim that the problem of inequality can only be tackled by governments.

Key terms:

- “Only” - absolute claim → considerations of realities and logical possibility

- “The problem of inequality”
- Social, economic, power inequalities
- Social inequality: social and economic goods in a society are distributed unevenly,
because of norms and beliefs about how allocation of resources ought to be done

- Inequality between societies can be in terms of international inequality (inequality

between countries), and global inequality (inequality between people across countries,
e.g. differences in access to healthcare and education).

Though governments are not the only ones who can tackle the problem of inequality, given the level of
power they wield in making decisions that shape the systems and structures of a country, they indeed
play a crucial role in addressing the systemic causes of inequality.

- Governments are in a prime position to tackle seemingly intractable problems such as

inequality as they not only have the power to determine policy, they also have the power to
mobilise and determine distribution of resources, both within and between nations.

On the other hand, due to the decisions that governments are responsible for making with regards to
other areas of need, they may not prioritise tackling the problem of inequality.

- Governments tend to be motivated by “vested material and symbolic interest in its

perpetuation” and “narratives of growth, development and meritocracy”. Inequality could be
seen as a necessary trade-off for growth for the country on a larger scale.

Perhaps the answer to the problem of inequality lies in our individual choices and acts, the decisions of
advocacy groups to rally, condemn and boycott systems of exploitation and oppression, and the
collective will of many in society to commit to dismantling highly asymmetrical power structures, rather
than more slow-moving bureaucracies and governments.

- The desire to have the state ‘nanny’ us, and provide us with solutions, will further
incapacitate us in our quest to tackle the problem of inequality.

- Hence, the solution cannot possibly only lie with governments, even though governments hold
one of the many important keys to the solution.

Environment & climate change

Impacts of climate change (Singapore)

- Sea level rise (low-lying island, 30% of our island being less than 5m above the mean sea level)
→ minimum land reclamation level in Singapore was raised from 3 to 4 metres above the mean
sea level in 2011

- Water resources (Periods of drought can affect SG’s water supply, sudden episodes of intense
rainfall could overwhelm our drainage system and lead to flash floods) → Diversified water
supply strategy through the Four National Taps: local catchment water, imported water, NEWater
and desalinated water. Also, by using water wisely and making every drop count, all of us can
contribute to the sustainability of our water resource.
:
 - Mean temperature increase from 1.5°C to 2.5°C
- Effect on public health (heat stress and discomfort among the elderly and sick, SG is situated
in a region where vector-borne diseases are endemic)

- Food security affected (A small increase in global temperature can cause changes in weather
patterns that will disrupt crops grown in other countries) → the Singapore Food Agency (SFA) has
put in place a Food Security Roadmap, with the core strategies of food source diversification
and local production to ensure food security for Singapore.

Examples
- Ministry of the Environment and Water Resources (MEWR)
- About 6 in 10 Singaporean households recycle regularly
- They use the blue bins at least once a week
- Only 33% knew that soiled paper food packaging was not recyclable
- 49% were mistaken in believing that tissue paper can be recycled
- Singapore Environment Council
- 26% of household have more than 20 plastic bags lying at home
- Montreal Protocol
- Aimed to ban the glocal production and use of ozone-damaging products such as CFCs
- Every country in the world eventually ratified the treaty, which required them to stop
producing substances that damage the ozone layer, such as chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs).
- The protocol has succeeded in eliminating nearly 99% of these ozone-depleting
substances.
- Paris Agreement
- Not adequate as countries’ pledges are not ambitious enough and will not be enacted
quickly enough to limit global temperature rise to 1.5°C
- Current policies would result in a nearly 3°C rise by 2100, according to a tracker by
Germany-based nonprofits Climate Analytics and NewClimate Institute
- If governments follow through on pledges they have made so far under the Paris
Agreement, it will still result in a 2.7°C rise
- Trump withdrawal from the Paris Agreement in 2017:
- claimed that the global deal to cut back carbon emissions would kill jobs and
impose onerous regulations on the U.S. economy
- would impose unacceptable costs on the U.S. economy and provide unfair
advantages to other countries like China and India
- In 2021, Joe Biden decided to rejoin the Paris Agreement as he has released an
ambitious climate plan, pledging to work toward achieving net-zero emissions in
the United States by 2050
- Kyoto Protocol
- Not all countries are taking part in the climate change agreements
- Required only developed countries to reduce emissions by an average of 5 percent
below 1990 levels, and established a system to monitor countries’ progress
- But the treaty did not compel developing countries, including major carbon emitters
China and India, to take action.
- China also repeatedly under declare their carbon emissions
:
 - United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC)
- International environmental treaty addressing climate change, negotiated and signed
by 154 states
- Created Paris Agreement and Kyoto Protocol
- Environmentalism strengthening businesses
- Patagonia: outdoor clothing and gear retailer
- Their environmental & social activism is well known and is a core principle of their
philosophy
- Their mission statement reads, “Build the best product, cause no unnecessary harm,
use business to inspire and implement solutions to the environmental crisis”.
- Supports many activist causes, funding and supporting programs, books and
documentaries such as the Jumbo Wild film
- For 20 years, they’ve used exclusively organic cotton
- In 2015, Patagonia’s profits tripled, and the compounded annual growth rate was
around 14%
- However, when an animal advocacy group called Four Paws reported mistreatment of
animals from which their materials were sourced, Patagonia received an onslaught of
complaints from their customers
- Vertical farms in Singapore
- In 2016, there are 7 licensed vertical farms → high-tech and high-yield methods
overcome the limitations of traditional farming
- Packet Greens: indoor vertical vegetable farm that sits on 1500 sq ft of space - about
the size of two 3-room HDB flats
- Only 3 people are needed to harvest 30kg of vegetables
- Sky Greens: Singapore’s first vertical farm, produces up to 1000kg of vegetables a day
- They are grown on 9m tall towers. Each tower produces 5 to 10 times more
vegetables than conventional methods in the same land area
- Apollo Aquaculture Group: vertical fish and crab farm
- World’s largest floating solar farms in Singapore
- capable of potentially offsetting more than 4000 tonnes of carbon dioxide per year
- Singapore is the first country in South-east Asia to implement a carbon tax, with revenue
collected from the tax being ploughed back into support for emission reduction projects and
energy efficiency schemes.
- Green buildings in Singapore
- The Building and Construction Authority (BCA) and the Singapore Green Building
Council (SGBC) will be creating a masterplan for green buildings, aiming for 80% of the
buildings in SG to be green by 2030
- Parkroyal on Pickering by WOHA
- incorporates rain sensors, solar power, and water-conservation and light-saving
measures, as well as reduced use of concrete in its construction
- Gardens by the Bay by Wilkinson Eyre
- The 250-acre gardens feature two conservatories (the largest climate-
controlled greenhouses in the world) and a forest of 18 Supertrees, which range
:
 from 82 to 164 feet tall. The Supertrees have incorporated technologies such as
PVs, which are cooling channels in their structure to moderate the surrounding
environment
- CapitaGreen
- 55 percent of the building’s exterior is covered with lush foliage
- The sky forest on the rooftop of this 242 metre tall building channels fresh,
cool air through its core channels, providing air-conditioning to all 40 storeys at
a vastly reduced rate of energy consumption
- 2018 report by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change
- The world is headed for a 1.5 degrees Celsius increase in temperatures in as soon as 11
years
- 16 year old Swedish climate activist, Greta Thunberg led a global environmental movement
- Aggrieved by the cavalier (showing a lack of proper concern) attitudes who are aware
of the imminent danger the Earth is facing but still do nothing about it, she started
“Fridays for Future”, where students are encouraged to sit out of school every Friday
and protest for change
- She made an impactful speech at the 2019 UN Climate Change Summit that moved the
hearts of politicians there
- People in more than 185 countries showed support for the movement
- 2019 fires in the Amazon forest in Brazil were the result of President Jair Bolsonaro’s pledge to
open up agricultural activities in Amazon
- The enforcement of environmental laws were loosened & deforestation surged
exponentially
- The mounting pressure by the Brazilians & the international community urged him to
take aggressive actions to curb deforestation, Bolsonaro eventually bowed to the
public’s demands
- He ordered a 60 day ban on setting fires to clear land → deforestation fell by about
one third between August & September 2019
- In the 2009 Copenhagen Summit, the USA and China met and pledged to prevent the world
temperature from increasing by 2°C.
- However, the agreement is non-binding, meaning that the countries need not stay true
to their end of the bargain
- Moreover, an increase of 2°C in the world temperature is literally a death sentence for
low-lying coastal states and the sub-Saharan nations.
- An Indonesian tycoon (wealthy, powerful person in a business or industry) who owns one of the
biggest logging companies in Indonesia partnered with global environmental organisation
Greenpeace, pledging to cut down 50% of the logging activities of his company, with Greenpeace
present to see that he held true to the pledge.
- The Penang state government in Malaysia implemented a ‘No Plastic Bag’ rule for all
supermarkets, mandating that shoppers bring their own shopping bags. This encourages the
public the reuse old paper or plastic bags, thus helping to reduce excessive usage of
nonbiodegradable plastic products
:
 How far are our environmental problems a result of our greed?
- Must address the GREED! Greed has overtaken the need to conserve the environment.
- "Earth provides enough to satisfy every man's needs, but not every man's greed".
- Talking about aspects that deal with the economic side of society, such as the desire for
profits.

- Consumerist lifestyle. Our greed for goods has increased over the years. (E.g. Changing
smartphones yearly, throwing away clothes) Together with the increased population growth, this
causes the manufacturing of goods to increase over the years. Manufacturing a smartphone can
produce as much as 20kg of carbon dioxide.

- Consumerist lifestyle drains the resources, animal extinction, greed→ have enough but want
some more, consumerist greed.

- Extinction, exacerbating (make a problem, bad situation, or negative feeling worse) global
warming, how we prioritise short term welfare even though we already have sufficient
resources, but because we want even more.

- Waste production to increase, greenhouse gases

- Deforestation
- With goods like smartphones constantly evolving and with the increased affluence, one
can never be satisfied and will have the desire to purchase the latest model of a
smartphone to satisfy their short-term wants.

- Incessant (of something regarded as unpleasant continuing without pause or interruption)

pursuit of continuous economic growth results in negligence towards the efforts targeted to
tackle environmental degradation. How greed for wealth metaphorically blinds (too fixated on
economic growth) one from the repercussion of their actions and it leads to hedonistic (engaged
in the pursuit of pleasure) behaviour of individuals.

- E.g. Donald Trump withdrew from the Paris Agreement on 1 June 2017 as it undermines
the U.S. economy and will put the U.S. at a permanent disadvantage. His policy style is
causing a lot of destabilising effects to the environment due to his sole focus on
economic prosperity.

- This leads to a trickle-down effect because authorities shape the country's

mindset, this will eventually influence individuals to similar blindness. Even
though they are aware that the greed for consumerist nature will lead to
environmental degradation they do not care much.

- Travel and tourism (examples must have a clear choice of greed over conservation of
environment)

- A great share of the tourism industry is based on the environmental services of

recreation and scenic beauty provided by the environment. Damages caused to forests,
coral reefs, beaches etc are a result of tourism.

- E.g. Cambodia has lots of illegal logging “mafias”. However, since their main purpose is
to obtain logs, they just discharged themselves from the project as at the end of the
day, they just wanted the logs. Since the illegal logging industry has become very
attractive to criminal organisations over the past decade, cartels are becoming more
organised and more advanced, thus they are able to conduct illegal logging while
avoiding the police.
:
 - The greed is on the part of the government because they are lured by the
promise of quick cash selling the concessions for the plots of land thinking that
it will be developed for tourism. They buy plots of land from the government,
and promise to use the plots of land to develop tourist attractions.

- Destruction of habitat – when too many tourists visit a destination, they may destroy
habitats and wildlife. Tourists may trample on plants when trekking or hiking. Tourists
may also make too much noise which can disturb and frighten off animals.

- Increased carbon footprint – greenhouse gas emissions by activities that involve the use
of fossil fuels such as when tourists travel by planes, tour buses and electricity
consumption by hotels.

- Natural disasters (NOT a cause by greed, rebuttal)

- Volcanic eruptions release large amounts of carbon dioxide, sulfur, sulfur dioxide which
can cause increased amounts of greenhouse gases and acid rain.

- A 9.0 magnitude earthquake, followed by a tsunami caused the Fukushima nuclear

disaster where there was a nuclear accident at the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power
Plant.

- Radioactive contamination is long lived, with half-lives guaranteeing

contamination for hundreds of years.

- Sometimes, mother nature plays her own role in environmental disasters.

Protection of the environment is the most serious challenge we face nowadays.

- Question is assuming that in the past, environmental protection is worse

- The points must compare the environmental protection in the past with the present

- Need to specifically explain the reasons for environmental protection being not as serious in
the past

- Disagree. Environmental protection is not the most difficult challenge nowadays as compared
to the past.

- Improved laws protecting the environment

:
 - There is an increased in environmental laws to help protect the environment

- Singapore plans to increase carbon tax from $5 in 2018 to $10 per tonne of greenhouse
gas emissions by 2030.

- The world is coming together to work on global solutions for the environment

- E.g. The World Wide Fund (WWF) for nature has grown to be one of the world’s largest
environmental organisations in the world since they first established in 1961. Today they
have more than 5 million supporters worldwide and they are present in more than 100
countries to help educate individuals and raise awareness in order to protect the
environment and safeguard the world’s biodiversity.

- Education and awareness has improved to a large extent that protection of the environment is
seeing better days

- Since 2019, people in the UK felt that the environment was the 3rd most concerned
issue the nation is facing.

- Survey conducted by the National Climate Change Secretariat in 2019 stated that 95%
of Singaporeans support Singapore making a shift to a low-carbon economy.

- Compared to 2015, more Singaporeans were practising environmentally

friendly actions at home in 2019. 90% of Singaporeans conserved water in 2019
compared to 84% of Singaporeans who conserved water in 2017.

- Students have CCE lessons, assembly and learning journeys where they will be provided
with a deeper understanding about the importance of the environment.

- The increased prevalence of social media has led to an increased awareness of

environmental problems.

- E.g. In 2010, Greenpeace posted a viral video on Twitter about Nestle using
palm oil to make KitKat, which is destroying the habitats of orangutans.

- In terms of politics, when a government has a continuous pursuit for economic growth, this
results in them neglecting the efforts for environment protection. Due to their greed for
consumerist lifestyles, when they care more about their country’s economic growth than the
environment, this leads to environmental degradation, causing more devastating effects on the
environment. (rebuttal)

- E.g. Donald Trump withdrew from the Paris Agreement on 1 June 2017 as it undermines
the U.S. economy and will put the U.S. at a permanent disadvantage. His policy style is
:
 causing a lot of destabilising effects to the environment due to his sole focus on
economic prosperity.

Does your country pay enough attention to protecting its natural environment?

- Yes, Singapore is doing enough

- Energy efficiency standards (imposed on both residential and industrial buildings as

well as appliances)

- Carbon taxes, emissions standards and other regulations

- Construction of solar panels

- Switch to natural gas in electricity generation

- Subsidies for green technology

- Investments in public transportation infrastructure

- Recycling and reduction of plastic consumption

- Responsible consumers → more environmentally conscious

- UNIQLO, NTUC & Miniso charging customers 10 cents for plastic bags

- Fast food chains (KFC) refusing to provide straws

- In June 2019, PACT together with Zero Waste SG signed 270 food and beverage
(F&B) outlets in Singapore to phase out plastic straws by 1 July 2019.

- Retailers are also moving towards using eco-friendly packaging such as banana
leaves and bio-plastic bags

- Protection of local habitats and biodiversity

- Conservation of Sungei Buloh and Chek Jawa

:
 - The mangroves and wetlands of Sungei Buloh were first saved from
development in 1993, when it was designated a nature park, and further
protected in 2002, when it was given the status of wetland reserve

- Pulau Ubin's Chek Jawa wetlands were saved from reclamation in 2001.

- Transboundary Haze Pollution Act

- In 2016, SG issued notices to six Indonesia-based companies that

started fires or let their concessions burn, and contributed to last year’s
haze that blanketed Singapore and part of the region

- Supermarket chains NTUC FairPrice, Sheng Siong and Prime

Supermarket removed all Asia Pulp & Paper Group (APP) products from
their shelves in 2015.

- No, Singapore is not doing enough

- Continued reliance on fossil fuels (natural gas)

- Minister for Trade and Industry Chan Chun Sing: "We will continue to rely on
natural gas for the next 50 years for a substantial part of our energy needs.”

- More than 95% of Singapore's energy comes from natural gas

- High per capita carbon emissions

- High reliance on air travel

- High consumption of goods and services

- High meat consumption

- Plastic waste

- Singapore Environment Council survey (2018): Singapore uses at least 1.76

billion plastic items a year - or almost one plastic item per person per day - but
less than 20 per cent is recycled
:
 - An extra 1,334 tonnes of plastic waste, equivalent to the weight of 92 double-
decker buses, was generated from takeaway and delivery meals during the two-
month circuit breaker period of stay-home curbs (Study led by 6 students from
NUS)

- Destroyed local habitats and biodiversity

- Loss of rainforests

- After 1820, large-scale deforestation began, mostly as a result for

clearance for agriculture

- By the end of the nineteenth century primary forest cover probably

occupied no more than 5% of the total land area

- Loss of biodiversity

- It has been suggested that 594 of 2277 native vascular plants have
become extinct in Singapore, 478 of these being forest species

- Singapore has probably lost more than a quarter of what could be

called its “terrestrial macrobiota.”

- Not only has this substantial proportion of the native biota been
eradicated, but many other species are currently severely threatened
with extinction

- Cross Island Line

- Expected to benefit more than 100,000 households

- Reduces travel time by six minutes

- There has been a controversy over the alignment of the line's Bukit
Timah stretch as it appears to cut through part of the Central
Catchment Nature Reserve (CCNR) and MacRitchie Reservoir

- Mitigation measures: Tunneling carried out 70m below ground, no

surface works within the CCNR

- Carbon footprint
:
 - Carbon Intensity (Emissions per GDP)

- Singapore ranks 126th of 142 countries in terms of CO2 emissions per dollar
GDP, based on International Energy Agency (IEA) data

- Per Capita Emissions

- Singapore ranks 27th out of 142 countries in terms of emissions per capita
based on the latest IEA data

- Global Emissions

- Singapore contributes around 0.11% of global emissions

‘Tourism brings less developed countries more harm than good’. Comment.

Consider the pros and cons → evaluate and weigh them

Consideration of the impact on less developed countries

- Increased employment and income → Tourism creates jobs and increases the incomes of
people in the less developed world by creating greater demand for the provision of goods and
services

- The average tourist requires a range of services during a vacation → transportation,

accommodation, food & entertainment

- Hotels, bars, restaurants → lucrative employment opportunities for the locals, who
may otherwise find themselves jobless or toiling at menial jobs with minimal pay

- E.g. The United Nations World Tourism Organization (UNWTO) reported that in 2015,
tourism provided 1 in 11 jobs globally, and it is likely that this might be even higher in
developing nations

- enables communities that are poor in material wealth but rich in culture, history, and
heritage to use their unique characteristics as an income-generating comparative
advantage

- creates networks of different operations, from hotels and restaurants to adventure

sports providers and food suppliers

- Rebuttal: Resort hotels are generally foreign-owned → high percentage of the profits
earned from tourism are repatriated to parent companies in the developed world → This
:
 happens because of the weakness of local governments and their inability to protect
locals from exploitation by rich and powerful MNCs → locals earn low wages & enjoy few
benefits

- Upgrading of infrastructure due to the influx of tourists → to cater to their needs

- While the primary target of such infrastructure are the tourists, the improvement in
these areas, transportation for example, may also benefit locals who now have an
improved network of roads and railways for their use as well

- enterprising locals who are better educated → better opportunities to create niche
businesses to leverage on such upgrades in infrastructure

- E.g. Kotoka International Airport, Ghana → the project to expand the airport is in line
with the government’s plan to make Ghana an aviation hub within West Africa

- An overpass will also be constructed → help ease the traffic + plans to

introduce a light train → transport passengers from the terminals at an
advanced stage

- The true costs of tourism should not be measured only in terms of absolute dollars, as
problems such as environmental damage could eventually become an even greater problem in
future.

- Less developed countries often have picturesque landscapes of the natural

environment which attracts tourists to visit → the greater number of tourists puts a
greater pressure on the land, natural resources and wildlife → especially when
irresponsible tourists litter → lead to environment degradation

- Environmental issues could include tourists damaging the environment that they visit,
whether through something as simple as littering, to the accelerated wear and tear that
these environments suffer from the increased number of visitors.

- less-developed nations who may not have a sufficiently-sophisticated logistics

network to deal with the environmental problems

- E.g. Machu Picchu, Peru → rich history draw an average of 3300 visitors every day

- The ‘Inca Trail’ is populated with rare indigenous plants and wildlife. However,
the trail is slowly being eroded by more than 75 000 tourists that hike on it +
some leave behind rubbish

- Some prefer to reach the site using helicopters for convenience → noise
pollution → in 2010, authorities banned helicopters for fear that its noise
:
 disrupts the indegenious wildlife

- The sheer weight and combined footsteps of tourists every year slowly damage
the land and artefacts on the site

- Rebuttal: Ecotourism → raise awareness to educate people about the environmental

impacts of tourism.

- E.g. Costa Rica and The Gambia have ecotourism initiatives that promote
environmentally-friendly activities and resources

- Worse yet, other challenges such as the loss of one's unique culture may even be irreversible
→ tourism is not well-regulated by the authorities in less-developed nations

- Dilution of local customs and heritage → when tourism becomes the major activity of
an area

- Commercial activities that cater mainly to tourists such as food outlets, hotels &
souvenir shops can become the major commercial activities of an area

- Older buildings demolished and new buildings constructed to host tourist activities →
force locals to relocate their original activities to other places → identity of a place is
lost

- To meet the demands & expectations of tourists → local cultural festivals and religious
rituals are modified → rituals shortened to fit into the itinerary of tourists + repeated
several times a day → the authenticity and significance of these cultural events are
reduced as they become commercialised

- E.g. In Thailand, tourists pay a hefty fee to enter the village of the Kayan Lahwi
women → some tourists treat the women as exhibits and aggressively take photographs
of them without permission

- Increases the cost of living → demand for scarce resources increase causing prices of goods &
services to increase

- Tourists → greater purchasing power than locals

- E.g. In Venice, housing prices have increased dramatically over the years of intense
demand for accommodation by tourists coupled with the limited land space available →
decline in population of residents by more than 50% over the past few decades

- Resources are diverted away from locals to meet the needs of foreigners
:
 - E.g. every room in a recently built Ivory Coast hotel consumes 150 gallons of water a
day, while in neighbouring villages even a central water supply is a recent luxury

- Evaluation & conclusion

- Price worth paying: many harmful effects of tourism on the less-developed countries
→ it is the price they are willing to pay in order to alleviate other problems that they
are facing

- Manageable with proper regulations set by authorities: help to mitigate the impact
of tourism → consequences they have to suffer are not that severe

Arts & beauty

Is our pursuit of beauty justifiable?
Key terms:

1. Pursuit of beauty
- seeking ways to enhance one's appearance, trying to achieve a certain beauty standard (for the individual, for the
nation, for the corporation, for buildings)

2. Justifiable
- benefits outweigh the harms

- desirable goal to pursue in its own right

- Not justifiable
- the constant exposure to the media causes people to have unrealistic expectations of one's
appearance, this results in those who do not fit into the beauty "standards" to have a lower self esteem
→ causing false images of what beauty needs to be

The media promotes unrealistic beauty standards:

- cause negative psychological impacts on the self, particularly for young teenagers who have the most
impressionable minds → the rise of Internet technology and social media, and how it has pervaded into
our daily lives, the display of an ideal physical beauty is all around us → constantly reinforced →
increasing trends of self-esteem issues and eating disorders → warped and unhealthy understanding of
what beauty entails (e.g. Superheroes actresses like wonder woman undergo months of training and diet
to achieve that slim body shape)

- appearances should not be used to define a person's worth

- relentless pursuit of beauty can have many knock-on (indirect effect) / unintended consequences (e.g.
Environmental consequences)

- Justifiable
- after achieving a certain beauty standard, it boosts their confidence level and allows them to increase
our chances in success in life → better looking people tend to earn more (evidence: Physically attractive
people earn 15% more than plainer colleagues, report by IZA World of Labour) → there's nothing wrong
:
 with trying to correct the injustices of the birth lottery (no one chooses the circumstances into which
they are born, and should not be held responsible for them)

- Beauty is abstract and relatively subjective → by allowing everyone to pursue their own definition of
beauty (e.g. Long neck village in Thailand - people there perceive beauty as having long necks) → form
of embracement of differing opinions and respecting one other's cultures

Rebuttal: very difficult to differentiate between good art and bad art by the government (e.g. Duchamp
urinal - when it submitted it he did it to criticise the art festival, saying that it was as low standards as
the urinal toilet, but it was accepted as a work of art as Marcel Duchamp was a famous artist)

- the pursuit of beauty brings humans higher aesthetic pleasures which are valuable in their own right →
this is what distinguishes humans from animals, these are pursuits that civilised societies have always
valued and represents markers of civilisation

E.g. Countries devote larger parts of their budgets to the preservation and promotion of the arts as they
become richer → Western European countries and the US

Rebuttal: it's ultimately an arms race → it's a societal problem (e.g. In Korea, when everyone goes for
plastic surgery to look better, then when everyone is good looking, then people must go for more plastic
surgery → ultimately, the people who benefit are the plastic surgeons) → the arts remain the exclusive
preserve for the rich → arts have been used to distinguish between the sophisticated elite and the
unshorn masses

- such a phenomenon is increasingly downplayed with the more responsible transmission of information
and values by media users and businesses today

E.g. Influences like Michelle Khare on YouTube do extreme challenges to give viewers a more nuanced
understanding of beauty and the hard work that comes with it) → increasing trend of acceptance of
diversity

E.g. Online fashion retailers constantly expand the sizes they offer, making online shopping for plus-size
women much easier today + plus sized models

E.g. Fenty beauty: wide and diverse foundation range) → people have a more holistic and healthy
perception of beauty

**it represents the echelons (a level or rank) of achievement for humans → since long ago humans have
already had nation of beautiful people being more capable and moral (e.g. Greek sculptures: many of
them are about the human physique) → today, can be seen through various beauty pageants globally,
participants are expected not just to be beautiful dolls but also role models → beauty=pursuit for
excellence → always push ourselves to the limit → sports like figure skating have a correlation with
beauty by necessitating poise and grace → beauty is not only linked to one's appearance but also it
represents human mastery over oneself and achievement, entailing discipline and drive → constantly
working to improve

**Arts: (pursuit of the arts is justifiable) artists always sought to capture timeless beauty, and viewers
always been captivated by their pieces. (e.g. Mona Lisa, with her mellow smile, attracts thousands of
visitors to the Louvre just to get a glimpse of her) → the arts are clear evidence of how humans have
always been obsessed with physical perfection. Even where artists have captured the lack of beauty
(e.g. Leonardo Da Vinci’s series of ‘bruttezza’ → captured the ugliness of the deformed or the sick →
humans are just as morbidly fascinated and mortified by ugliness because we desire beauty → beauty
and its pursuit is an innate human need

**Communities: (pragmatic advantages: music is used to promote certain causes) sociocultural and
political causes → Music: beauty goes beyond mere harmonies and chords, and elevates us and serves
real purposes. → Racial and ethnic groups: music serves as a symbol of culture, and can act as a bridge
:
 for the preservation and understanding of culture by youth. (e.g. Asian music is distinctly beautiful in its
use of the pentatonic scale, and the use of such traditional tunes) → the pursuit of beauty in music
helps capture, replay and preserve our heritage. → Pop music: the pursuit of beauty in its rawest form
that touches the heart makes it an effective vector in moving the heart and rousing people to change.
(e.g. Ariana Grande's God is A Woman - pushes for feminism in breaking the glass ceiling) → the beauty
of such songs lies not just in their face musical value, but more so on their message and push for greater
egalitarianism (thought in political philosophy on social equality)
Does popular art have any real merit?
- Merit (the quality of being particularly good or worthy): aesthetic beauty or functionality
- Popular art: Art forms intended to be received and appreciated by ordinary people in a
literate, technologically advanced society dominated by urban culture. (Dance, music, theatre,
etc.)

- Can help a country progress where the arts can encourage people to delve deeper into taboo
issues

- E.g. Street artist Banksy opens one’s eyes to views that are more critical, allowing one
to look at things at a deeper insight. Banksy is controversial as his artwork can be
rebellious since it is known for delivering political messages.

- E.g. LGBTQ
- Harry Styles released a music video for his song “Lights Up” to announce to the
world that he was not straight.

- One of Banksy's art pieces displays to male police officers kissing, he wants to
bring out the message that all love is valid, and that all love should be accepted
publicly and displayed freely, no matter what kind it is.

- Rally people in times of crisis

- People can unite together for a common cause
- E.g. Covid-19
- People turn to art like drawing and colouring and listen to music to relax and
pass time at home. Crafts can serve as a therapeutic function for those who are
mentally stressed.

- On 25 April 2020, there was an islandwide sing-along to the song “Home” to

thank the frontline and migrant workers amidst the circuit breaker period.

- Allows artists to express views and opinions that they believe in and raise awareness to their
audience

- E.g. BTS, their “Love Yourself” album raises issues like mental health, for example,
when one does not feel confident about his/her body image, this can cause unnecessary
stress and depression. Through their songs they talk about how they feel about society
and what they value and believe, with the message of self-love before you can start
loving others, when you give hope to yourself, you give hope and happiness to others
too. Thus, they spread positive influences around the world.

- This gave them the opportunity to launch a campaign called “Love Myself” in
partnership with UNICEF where they sponsor a #ENDviolence campaign to
protect and support child and teen victims of domestic and school violence as
well as sexual assault around the world.

- “A picture paints a thousand words”. Art forms can capture our attention and leave a
long lasting impression. It does not only add colour but also a voice to a particular issue.

Religion & culture

:
 To what extent does religion play a significant role in the lives of people?

- Significant role: the way they think, live and act

- Certain extent

- Plays a significant role

- Acts as a form of support and moral guidance

- Teaches us moral values

- Most religions have basic moral rules against killing, stealing, lying, and sexual
misconduct and promote altruistic (unselfish, selfless), helpful and kindly behaviour.

- E.g. Buddha's teachings are known as “dharma.” He taught that wisdom, kindness,
patience, generosity and compassion were important virtues.

- Every religion has its own moral code → have parables (simple story used to illustrate
a moral or spiritual lesson) and stories to teach a moral idea

- Provides comfort for people

- Religion practices have a calming effect which helps them overcome their fears

- Individuals find comfort through the belief in a divine power, rather than turning to
more popular ways of numbing the mind such as drugs or alcohol.

- E.g. Religious practices, like a prayer, is similar to meditation which is a form of

relaxation that helps one reduce stress

- Does not play a significant role

- Due to technological advancements, modern society has become more driven by logic and
reasoning.

- Since religion is based on a devotion to a divine being that has some sort of
supernatural power that cannot be explained using science, people are not convinced,
and thus, they do not believe and do not practice religion
:
 - Youths are more educated, grandparents or parents find it more difficult to teach the
youths today

- Fast paced society → people do not have the time

- E.g. In SG and South Korea → where there is a strong educational system and an
increasing affluence → shift in priorities away from nebulous (vague) beliefs to concrete
ideas and systems that work and produce results.

- E.g. Singaporeans without religious affiliation: 2015 → 18.5%, 2010 → 17%, with the
numbers being higher among younger groups. 15 to 24 years old → 23%, compared with
55 years and above → 14%.

- Maslow's hierarchy of needs

How important is tradition in modern society?

Tradition is a set of beliefs, culture, rituals and customs preserved and passed down from one
generation to another, and is unique to every nation and country. In this day and age marked by rapid
economic progress and cultural homogeneity, holding on to traditional, or orthodox practices and
cultures is becoming increasingly challenging due to the aforementioned tradition and globalisation
being in tension with each other. While purists insist that tradition is paramount and necessary for the
location of a nation in this highly globalised culture, it is my contention that tradition is no longer as
important as it used to be. Tradition is slowly getting outmoded, due to the imperatives of countries for
economic growth. There may even be a need to cast away traditions in the light of such ‘traditions’
being more exploited and taken advantage of by people to pursue single-sided goals and agendas.

Tradition is said by many to be the sine qua non for a country to identify her roots and beliefs in this
world, which is becoming increasingly dominated by Western influences. Holding on to tradition and
culture could hence serve as stark reminders of a country’s origins, her history, and helps to foster a
sense of belonging and identity in this highly globalised and Americanised world. The need for the older
generation to pass down rituals, customs and traditions to the younger generations becomes of vital
importance, lest a country loses her younger generation to the allure of the Americanised world
characterised by ‘skin and bones’ and outlandish pop singers. Tradition is the social quilt in a country
which adds colour, diversity and life to an otherwise nondescript piece of fabric. In Singapore, citizens
celebrate four major festivals a year – Hari Raya Puasa, Lunar New Year, Deepavali and Christmas. The
entire country would buzz with activities, night markets, decorations along landmark streets and festive
music in anticipation of the festivals’ arrival. Different practices such as visiting older relatives,
exchanging money packets and the indulging in traditional foods are observed during the festivals.
These traditional festivals are a reminder of Singapore’s grand narrative and remind us that regardless
of race, language and religion we work and live together with a common identity – as Singaporeans.
Tradition is important in helping us to remember and commemorate our roots, as it gives us a sense of
placement in this modernised world.

Be that as it may, while traditions can remind us of the past, the younger generation in today’s world
merely replicate and reproduce tradition without unearthing the deeper meaning behind these
traditions. This is due to the fact that the younger generation are more enthralled by the instantly
:
 gratifying markers of modern culture, and do not have the patience to listen to what they deem as
insipid anecdotes and stories of a long gone past. Traditions are then rendered as useless and
unimportant because of the lack of understanding of the nuances of the ‘hows’ and ‘whys’ behind them,
and the meaning attached to them. A mere mimicry of traditions cannot be considered important at all.
Additionally, people may even alter traditions and exploit traditional practices to suit profit-making
agendas. In Singapore, the Chinese cheongsam and Malay kebaya are worn during the Lunar New Year
and Hari Raya Puasa, and in recent years, these costumes are seen more as a market for fashion
designers to exploit and gain profit. It is not uncommon to spot a revealing cheongsam or a body-
hugging kebaya, and all these contradict with the traditional Chinese and Malay values of modesty.
Nuances of why people wear a certain costume or practise a certain custom is lost, as modern society is
more concerned with making big money or enjoying consumeristic pleasures. Sadly, this is the case for
many countries. Traditions are hence no longer important, because they serve no real meaning or
purpose than just a mimesis of old customs.

Tradition can no longer keep up with the growing times and with many countries’ economic imperatives
and hence, is no longer important. While tradition may encapsulate a collective identity in a country, a
question to ask is whether tradition is something we are still willing to guard with such jealousy if it
comes at the cost of economic growth and development. More often than not, economic growth is
regarded as more important than tradition. In Singapore, the announcement of the decision to build the
Integrated Resorts and Casinos incited a flurry of debate and upset among the purists and conservatives,
as gambling is at odds with some traditional Asian values characterised by good stewardship of hard-
earned money. However, talks fell through and many people conceded after the government spelled out
the economic viability of the casino industry and the potential loss of jobs, investors and opportunities if
Singapore were to stick to tradition so rigidly and pass on this chance. Even traditional Christian home-
schooling curriculum in countries like England and America and madrasahs in Muslim countries have
embarked on revamping their curriculum to keep up with the changing demands of the world. These
schools are beginning to realise that in a pragmatic world with a “rat-race” culture, holding on to overly
orthodox practices and customs may place themselves in very precarious situations. Tradition is
therefore compromised when it conflicts with the world view of economic pursuit.

In some developed nations, traditions are not only unimportant, but they are deemed by sheer logic as
condemning and unacceptable. Many traditional customs are merely customs and rituals in name with a
single-sided agenda of exploitation. Often, these are seen in patriarchal, non developed societies where
people use the name of tradition to exploit, subjugate and oppress certain groups of people,
particularly women and children. In Thailand, filial piety is wielded as an excuse for child prostitution.
In Africa, genital mutilation is common in certain tribes. In India, daughters in law are ridiculed and
even abused by mothers in law for not giving birth to a son, traditionally thought to carry on the family
name and are more “useful” than girls. Any person in the right mind would agree that such ‘traditions’
oppress and exploit the weaker groups of people and are not only unimportant, but unnecessary, and
uncalled for, as they violate certain human rights. In Saudi Arabia, due to “tradition”, females had not
been allowed to drive until recently, and are still not allowed to leave the house without a male
chaperone. Such “traditions” are used to mask the intention to politically oppress the female population
in the country, as they are deprived of a voice in constituencies. Such discrimination is not reflective of
a modern society, which prides itself on the freedom of speech, equality and equal rights. If we were
truly moving towards a modern society, we should be cognizant of the fact that it is time to cast away
such traditional cultures, marked by selfish intent to dominate and oppress, in order to achieve true
liberty and equal rights.

Lest detractors argue that such a phenomenon is only present in less developed nations, my counter to
that is the glass ceiling phenomenon in many developed nations, like Singapore and China. Due to the
traditional Chinese belief of males bringing home the bacon and females being confined to domestic
chores and the rearing of children, many females are being under-represented in the corporate world.
This comes despite many campaigns launched by the government such as the Convention of Elimination
:
 of All Forms of Discrimination against Women, which seeks to empower women. Such campaigns
evidently have minimal effect on Chinese societies due to the deep seated belief that females should
only stay at home. Even if women were to hold corporate jobs, they are kept out of traditional seats of
power, as we can see from China and Singapore having one of the lowest percentages of female
directors in the world. A stubborn and insistent stance on holding such a traditional belief is not only
discriminatory against women, it can also hinder economic development, as women are unable to
perform to their fullest potential in the labour force. Such traditions are no longer important in modern
society and should be outmoded.

In conclusion, the value of tradition and the passing down of customs and beliefs are slowly diminishing
in today's modern society. Far from bringing about progress, tradition stifles and stymies our society
economically and socially. Even traditions which are worth passing down see their value diminishing due
to the lack of understanding and concern by the younger generation. Tradition is no longer held in as
high regard as in the past and perhaps, it may even be time for us to kiss tradition goodbye.

Others
International relations: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1Q2ZpMVizYFdhonVld-
vcJFby2pYRnqCp/view?usp=drivesdk

Should we continue to allow for genetically modified food?

- We should continue.

- Increase food production

- Able to produce crops that grow in extreme conditions such as drought resistant crops

- This allows crops to be grown even when environmental conditions are not favourable

- It enables more food to be grown and harvested within a shorter period of time

- Helps to reduce poverty and hunger in developing nations, and address the problem of
food shortage

- E.g. A gene from a model plant (Arabidopsis thaliana) was inserted into the eucalyptus,
which produced 20% more wood and reduced the maturity time from 7 to 5.5 years.

- Development of foods that are designed to meet specific nutritional goals

- Improved nutritional quality of foods, enhancement of nutritional value of crops

:
 - Improve the human health especially for developing countries where people are
malnourished

- E.g. Golden Rice is a type of genetically modified rice that contains high vitamin A
content

- Can help address the vitamin A deficiency associated with the deaths of more
than a half a million children in Africa and Asia every year.

- Vitamin A deficiency is also a common condition in developing countries that

leads to blindness in many children

- Environmental conservation, reduce the environmental pollution

- Development of pesticide resistant crops

- Reduce the use of costly pesticides that can potentially damage the environment

- E.g. BT corn, a genetically modified corn which is pest resistant by producing toxins to
kill certain insect pests. Crops damage from these pests lower crop yields by 5-
10% annually.

- We should not continue.

- May cause allergies, because GMO foods may contain genes from an allergen — a food that
prompts an allergic reaction

- These days, GM foods are motivated by profits. Only those countries that are able to afford GM
food can obtain them. Thus, GM foods are not given to those who need it the most, it may not
be able to alleviate hunger and poverty in developing countries.

- However, with increased research to improve on the safety of GM food, they can be safely
commercialised.

- There are many experiments and rigorous testing done to GM foods to minimise
potential risks.

- E.g. There was a project to insert a gene from the Brazil nut into a soybean which can
create a more nutritious soybean for use in animal feed. However, since the Brazil nut is
known to contain an allergen, the company also tested the product for human reaction.
When tests showed that the modified soybeans caused an allergic reaction, the project
was abandoned.
:
: