Nothing is right. Meaning everything is wrong

This is usually not the kind of time anyone would want to spend on blogging, since the exams are on and all. Which is precisely why I do it. Because this, being Malaysia, is the kind of time where everyone is too busy committing things they know to memory to have any time for learning anything new. I doubt anyone reads the newspaper for these few days when they’re too busy reading their textbooks and notes. And what I have to say is precisely NOT meant for them, more because they can’t be bothered than because they don’t deserve it; in fact it would do them a world of difference if they saw this. It’s for people who are concerned not about their future money or income or anything of the like, but rather their future.

And I shall begin by referencing a post from ‘The Carapace’ and a news article quoted there. I will not bother repeating whatever that is there here, but I will point out some of the finer details that people either don’t know about, ignore, deny or acknowledge but decided nothing can be done. Sure, their setting is in Australia but I think people are intelligent enough to localize. Unless of course you’re too fixated in obeying a nonexistent dictator.

First point being that, and I quote, “Every election people find themselves asking politicians what they will give them in return for their vote. They forget that we employ our politicians to do a job. We should approach the process of electing them as we would if we were hiring an employee. Can you imagine going into a job interview and having your potential future employer ask you what you are willing to give them in exchange for the job? Shouldn't you be hired on the basis of merit rather than bribery? Of course you should.”

I guess it goes without saying that only people who deserve the votes will get them, not people who promise to be deserving of it. There’s no way of telling if one is being true to their word – like a decent human being – or being a typical politician – lying their way into and then abusing the newfound power and privilege – at all. I wanted to use bona fide but as you can see from the context, it is clearly inappropriate.

I’m not saying all politicians are liars. No doubt there are some out there with clearly good intentions, but unfortunately for these endangered number of people, that’s just the stereotype. And as I have said before, people who stereotype are unfortunate people who have seen more of what they shouldn’t have than what they should have.

The solution? There isn’t one. Because the only thing close to being perfectly fair is communism. But the problem is that it’s way too fair that people lose whatever bragging rights they may have, and that’s the problem with people. Even if we left shame out of the equation, we all still prefer to die proud than live as equals.

Or maybe there is. For one thing, voting shouldn’t be an obligation; it should be a privilege. Every time the elections draw near you hear “exercise your rights” with an almost ‘or else’ tone. Why bother? You’re just pushing people who know nothing or those who can’t be bothered to risk making the wrong choice. At least make sure the people who vote are interested and educated so that at least they know for themselves they are making the right decision.

Speaking of education, the current system’s got to change as well. Currently, and apparently it’s not exclusive to Malaysia, children face their parents’ personal firing squad whenever they come back with a report card that has anything which is not an ‘A’. I’m not alone when I say that school, the way it is now, is almost completely useless. It’s so bad that ‘the dim kids work and work and work until their little hormones are fried and then emerge after five years, suicidal, mad and with an A-level in media studies. The bright kids, meanwhile, lounge all day knowing that a CV will never be checked so, when asked how many A-levels they have, they can lie and say 264’ (Jeremy Clarkson, 27 January 2008). And I totally agree with him when he said ‘all school does is put you off things that might, later in life, be interesting’.

I knew a person from my school who was at the top of the grade without fail every year, but freaks out every time she attempts to cook an egg for herself. Seriously, children in school should be taught to survive as an adult, not be a quantum physicist who cleans public toilets.

Then there’s the segregation. They force science students to be Isaac Newton, Ivan Pavlov and Dmitri Mendeleev all at the same time within two years, when they might, like me, end up with social sciences. Like psychology, for instance. Sure they prepare you for what you might be going into, assuming that there’s nowhere else you can go. It’s like bringing a nuclear warhead into a parliamentary debate: infinitely excessive.

Then there’s history. Instead of all the meaningless dates to memorise about who died when and what year did he take the whole world down with him, why not discuss the impact of whatever his actions may be?

Better yet, why not scrap the whole subject and use newspapers instead? Instead of learning about the past that we cannot do anything about, why not learn about the present and at least know which idiotic politician is taking bribes today so that when you’re of age you know not to vote for him or her instead of learning about how dead some fool was a thousand years ago, and the only benefit that will be today is knowing how much deader he is now compared to then?

But I guess that’s not possible either because what was once known as current affairs is now known as politics and students are not allowed to take part in it. The only thing students are allowed to take part in is mass suicide in the slowest form possible: losing sanity by replacing it with irrelevant knowledge.

Well, nothing is perfect. Perhaps in the same way that perfect is nothing.

And on that bombshell, adieu to y’all.