"What is the point of the search for the truth if it does not further the collective good? Just what is the ‘truth’??” Mr.Bean
Both your points are valid. So what is Truth ? There are scientific and non scientific truths. It all boils down to perception and acceptance.
Can truth be logical and logic be true? If you tell an audience who believes that the earth is square, that it is indeed round, will you be telling a lie?
The point i am making is that Truth is paramount but you get squat if there is no acceptance and consensus. A glaring example is Anwars’s case. Regardless of whether the allegations made against him are true or false, what is material is the public perception of him that will make him the next PM.
Do not be fooled that this is not all about perception , public relations and spin doctoring! Truth is secondary when it comes to politics. Truth can be manipulated. Shakespeare, if he can get off his grave,will tell you that nothing is good nor bad but thinking makes it so.
“Malaysia is nowhere near being a ghost of the western style democracy today. It is nearer to being a socialist state with emphasis on wealth redistribution – robbing Ah Chong to give to Ahmad. John McCain the U.S. Presidential candidate is today accusing Barack Obama of wealth distribution. That’s stupid because it is nothing even close to that.” JohnLeemk
There is no perfect system - idea, thought or opinion. If there is one it will not last. Everything is subjective and relative to time and what surrounds us. What works yesterday may work today and tomorrow only we all live in a time warp where nothing changes.
PR is moving at the right direction for I humbly think that they have the right balance - the idealism of PKR, the pragmatism of DAP and the moralism of PAS.
You can articulate as much in fanciful philosophical semantics but you will never reach the masses unless your words bear realism and carry some moralistic weight as well.
“This climate of fear we live in is not something we can tolerate just because we can still put food on the table and send the kids to school. It cuts to something fundamental about us as human beings. We have a right to know, and a right to believe.
When you reject the notion that people have the right to seek the truth, you are not just rejecting some artsy-fartsy Western liberal ideas. You are rejecting the enrichment of human life, the spirit which has governed the growth of both religion and science over the millenia. You are rejecting economic development, because you have rejected the exposure of lies and corruption, because you have rejected the growth of human knowledge”JohnLeemk
This is hardly new script! The writing has been on the wall for years but the powers that be chose to ignore it.
The fact remains that the common aspirations of the common man on the streets are still paramount and it is also a fact that it is only because the government of the day has not delivered and meet these aspirations like”food on the table,etc….” that the freedom to question, to dissent ,etc.. which was and is non existent, resurges into the common man’s consciousness.
This reminds me of a conversation I had with my European friends who had visited Malaysia and they wanted my opinion why there are so many stray dogs and cats on our streets and why unlike here , why don’t the Malaysians just take them home and care for them? I answered that we do have the RSPCA but there is only so much they can do but we are not in Europe, the people here cannot afford the luxury they do because we have to first put food on our table before we can start to care for the strays.
I don’t know if that is the right answer, not humane but not unreal either, I think.
You are right, Mr.Bean, we do have a steep hill to climb still ,to reach “2020″ or at least till we can be proud to say that e are a civil society. In the meanwhile, we need honest people like Johnlee to remind us to keep our resolve for change. The only constant in life is change. 
ocho-onda - October 24, 2008 a
