The monster within the USA.

Monsters come in great variety. There are many ways to be evil. One way, is simply not to care whether one’s fellow men live or die – for that way leads to very dark worlds indeed.

In a CNN Tea Party debate hosted by Wolf Blitzer, recently, the audience glimpsed the true nature of some modern Americans.

Wolf Blitzer asked Texas Rep. Ron Paul, who is a doctor, oddly enough, how society should respond if an uninsured 30 year old has an accident and goes into a coma and needs intensive care for six months. Ron Paul was blunt and rather brutal. He argued strongly that the government should not be responsible. “That’s what freedom is all about, taking your own risks,” Paul said. His voice was overwhelmed by the uproarious audience applause. He continued, “this whole idea that you have to prepare to take care of everybody...”.

“Are you saying that society should just let him die?”, pursued Blitzer.

At that point, the audience gave its answer. They were shouts of “Yeah!”, from those who watched, attended by, rather unbelievably, LAUGHTER.

To my mind, those shouts were horrifying. They signalled that, in some quarters, Americans harbour attitudes to life which would have blended well with the Nazi administration of World War II. They hold life in such low value, that they LAUGH at the idea it should be allowed to slip away, unopposed. Truly, they are monsters. Yet, these monsters, would just call themselves “true Americans”...and have no real knowledge of the callousness of their own position. If this is what the Tea Party is all about, then America has some serious issues to worry about. How would it be, were people who so little value life, to come to power? What kind of society would they build, founded on the celebration of death, as if it were a humorous matter?

Modern America can, at times, seem like a study in heartlessness. At some point, in its history, a wrong turning was taken, such that it is, now, in some quarters, so concerned with “me”, that no-one else matters – even if they die unnecessarily and avoidably. America has become a nation of individuals who care for nothing and no-one but the self. Unfortunately, however, a society cannot be built on universal selfishness. The kind of society that emerges when no-one cares for anyone else, is so heartless, so cruel, so aggressive, so cold and so unremittingly mean, that no-one would ever wish a life there, upon anyone. Yet, that is precisely the kind of society that America promises to come, guided by “thinkers” who believe that the state should not intervene to save a life and that it is “every man for himself”.

There is merit in the European ideal of nationalized medicine. At least, in Europe, the state would not stand by, whilst such a hypothetical 30 year old, died. European healthcare systems would intervene to preserve that life, believing it to have great value and be worthy of great efforts to save. That is a more humane outlook. In America, however, if you are uninsured – and basic insurance for an average family runs to well over a thousand US dollars a month, I am told, if independent of a company plan – then some people would prefer to let you die, than require the state to intervene and try to save you, should you fall catastrophically ill.

It is interesting to consider the different varieties of human society and see the values on which they are built. Europe is built on a regard for human life that seems quite clear – and on a wish to achieve equality of some kind. America, on the other hand, is built not on the value of human life in general, but human life in particular: one’s own life, at the expense, even, of all others. I am not sure that any society following the American model of outlook on life, is a sustainable society. Life should be cherished, wherever it is found and whatever its condition. None of us have any more valuable a possession than our own lives. What kind of world is it, therefore, where society would stand by and let a young man die, without attempting to intervene, for the want of a rather expensive insurance policy? Surely the fault here is in constructing a society which does not provide universal healthcare for all, regardless of wealth. The fault, here, in this imaginary scenario is in America itself. It is not the failing of the young man that he lacks health insurance he probably could not afford – but it is the fault of America for requiring that he be insured in the first place. Healthcare should be a universal right – not the privilege of those with the wealth to afford it. If this is not so, societies constructed on the basis of wealth, determining health care access, become very inhumane, indeed. They are not societies at all – but simply life long scrambles for supremacy over others. They are latter day jungles. Is that the kind of society modern man should choose to live in? Should not care for the lives of all, be at the root of our civilizations? If it is not, is it possible for human beings to thrive in such cold conditions? Can a happy and moral life be found in such circumstances?

The audience of the Tea Party debate placed no value on human life. Might I suggest that American readers, in turn, place no value on the Tea Party? This position would seem the rational response to a political movement informed by a denial of the value of life, at least in this example.

Let us build a world in which all human life has value. All the alternative worlds, that do not, are nothing but varieties of horror. Mankind had enough of such horror in the 20^th Century. Let not Man be visited again, by such horrors, in the 21^st Century – at least no more than we already have.

Posted by Valentine Cawley

(If you would like to support my continued writing of this blog and my ongoing campaign to raise awareness about giftedness and all issues pertaining to it, please donate, by clicking on the gold button to the left of the page.

To read about my fundraising campaign, please go to: http://scientific-child-prodigy.blogspot.com/2011/01/fundraising-drive-in-support-of-my.html and here: http://scientific-child-prodigy.blogspot.com/2011/01/fundraising-drive-first-donation.html

If you would like to read any of our scientific research papers, there are links to some of them, here: http://scientific-child-prodigy.blogspot.com/2011/02/research-papers-by-valentine-cawley-and.html

If you would like to see an online summary of my academic achievements to date, please go here: http://www.getcited.org/mbrz/11136175

To learn more of Ainan Celeste Cawley, 10, or his gifted brothers, Fintan, 7 and Tiarnan, 5, please go to: http://scientific-child-prodigy.blogspot.com/2006/10/scientific-child-prodigy-guide.html

I also write of gifted education, child prodigy, child genius, adult genius, savant, megasavant, HELP University College, the Irish, the Malays, Singapore, Malaysia, IQ, intelligence and creativity.

There is a review of my blog, on the respected The Kindle Report here:http://thekindlereport.blogspot.com/2010/09/boy-who-knew-too-much-child-prodigy.html

Please have a read, if you would like a critic's view of this blog. Thanks.

You can get my blog on your Kindle, for easy reading, wherever you are, by going to: http://www.amazon.com/Boy-Who-Knew-Too-Much/dp/B0042P5LEE/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&m=AG56TWVU5XWC2&s=digital-text&qid=1284603792&sr=8-1

Please let all your fellow Kindlers know about my blog availability - and if you know my blog well enough, please be so kind as to write a thoughtful review of what you like about it. Thanks.

My Internet Movie Database listing is at:http://imdb.com/name/nm3438598/

Ainan's IMDB listing is at http://imdb.com/name/nm3305973/

Syahidah's IMDB listing is at http://imdb.com/name/nm3463926/

Our editing, proofreading and copywriting company, Genghis Can, is athttp://www.genghiscan.com/

This blog is copyright Valentine Cawley. Unauthorized duplication is prohibited. Use only with permission. Thank you.)

A state of madness.

Akmal Shaikh has been executed, or should I say, assassinated, by China. His crime was to be delusional. His punishment was death.

The whole developed world pleaded with China to stay his execution and commute his sentence...but China, in its pig-headed way, ignored them. In China, the opinion of the whole world, has no value at all. Despite every effort of the rest of the world, China killed him, by lethal injection.

Now, as you will probably know, Akmal Shaikh was caught carrying drugs he didn't know he was bearing, whilst under the incredible delusion that he was flying to China to record a hit single, that would "bring world peace". Now, if that isn't reason enough to reconsider his sentence and commute it, perhaps to a stay in a mental hospital, I don't know what is.

For me, the most appalling element of this is the self-serving nonsense spewing from China. Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Jiang Yu, said, for instance, that Akmal Shaikh's rights had been "fully protected". Yep. I can see how killing a man for something he didn't intentionally do, is "protecting his rights". Perhaps Mr. Jiang Yu would also like to be executed for something he didn't willingly do...and then he, too, can enjoy the full protection of his rights. The same astonishing spokesman went on to say, in classic paranoid delusional fashion: "We hope the British side will face this case squarely and not create new obstacles for China-Britain relations". I say this is paranoid because it is a classic sign of this illness that someone should blame others for their own actions. Here, China is blaming Britain for the consequence of its own actions - killing a most certainly innocent man.

China is growing economically. However, in many ways, it remains a backward, even barbaric country. It does not heed international norms for human rights. It does not listen to international opinion. It has a history of appalling crimes against its own people (take one look at Tianamen Square...). Yet, the world is expected, by China, to show it respect in proportion to its economic success. However, what China fails to understand is that economic might, alone, does not command any respect at all. Just as one would not respect a rich man whose path to richness involved crimes against others, disrepect for basic human rights, and general disregard for the rest of the world. So, too, does China not command respect at this time - for it's behaviour is too coarse, too callous, too cold by international standards.

I hope that China matures as a nation - that it develops a sophisticated, humane, concerned and involved personality that takes heed of global standards for national conduct. For, at this time, China is far from being such a welcome global citizen. Its standards of conduct are well below what it expected from even the most backward of countries.

China has done well economically, it is now time for them to take a good look at themselves and focus on becoming a humane nation.

(If you would like to learn more of Ainan Celeste Cawley, a scientific child prodigy, aged eight years and seven months, or his gifted brothers, Fintan, five years exactly, and Tiarnan, twenty-eight months, please go to:http://scientific-child-prodigy.blogspot.com/2006/10/scientific-child-prodigy-guide.html I also write of gifted education, IQ, intelligence, the Irish, the Malays, Singapore, College, University, Chemistry, Science, genetics, left-handedness, precocity, child prodigy, child genius, baby genius, adult genius, savant, wunderkind, wonderkind, genio, гений ребенок prodigy, genie, μεγαλοφυία θαύμα παιδιών, bambino, kind.

We are the founders of Genghis Can, a copywriting, editing and proofreading agency, that handles all kinds of work, including technical and scientific material. If you need such services, or know someone who does, please go to: http://www.genghiscan.com/ Thanks.

IMDB is the Internet Movie Database for film and tv professionals. If you would like to look at my IMDb listing for which another fifteen credits are to be uploaded, (which will probably take several months before they are accepted) please go to: http://www.imdb.com/name/nm3438598/ As I write, the listing is new and brief - however, by the time you read this it might have a dozen or a score of credits...so please do take a look. My son, Ainan Celeste Cawley, also has an IMDb listing. His is found at: http://www.imdb.com/name/nm3305973/ My wife, Syahidah Osman Cawley, has a listing as well. Hers is found at: http://www.imdb.com/name/nm3463926/

This blog is copyright Valentine Cawley. Unauthorized duplication prohibited. Use Only with Permission. Thank you.)

The Mass Psychosis of Modern Life.

Singapore is a mad place...according to a leading academic. However, it is not just Singapore, for he would consider many places in the world, utterly bonkers.

In 1985, Dr. Burkhardt wrote a paper (the original of which I have yet to find), in which he observed that modern life is possessed of a "mass psychosis" that requires "uniformity and sameness from everyone". He said that this went against the basic human right (as he termed it) of allowing all people to be "unique individuals".

Basically, Dr. Burkhardt is convinced that modern societies are completely mad - particularly those that go in for uniformity.

Now, I happen to be living in a society that goes in for uniformity and sameness in a big way. I can't say that I find myself disagreeing with Dr. Burkhardt's assessment. In fact, his words rang true the moment I read them. It IS mad to insist on uniformity and sameness from everyone. It is completely insane to build a society on conformity. People are unique, by nature...so they should be allowed to be unique in society. Any society that does not allow individuals to blossom and be individuals is, according to Dr. Burkhardt, utterly insane.

It is certain that Dr. Burkhardt would identify Singapore as one of his "mass psychotic" societies, were he to consider it. What, however, can we do about it, as individuals? Unfortunately, I fear that nothing can be done by any particular individual - given the strength of the insistence on sameness around here - apart from what a lot of people do, in fact, do: they emigrate to places more given to allowing individuals to be individual.

It would be interesting to learn what Singapore's leaders would think of learning that, by the standards of a respected academic, their society is mad. Would they take efforts to change the emphasis on uniformity if they knew? Or would they reject the thesis (as one, of course, being uniform in their response and nature), thinking that uniformity and sameness are the ideal by which their society should live by?

I would welcome comments, from around the world, about the extent to which your own society allows you to be an individual, allows you to be whatever and however you want to be. Or, conversely, perhaps you might like to comment about the extent to which your society wants you to be the same as everyone else.

Thanks.

(If you would like to learn more of Ainan Celeste Cawley, a scientific child prodigy, aged eight years and seven months, or his gifted brothers, Fintan, five years exactly, and Tiarnan, twenty-eight months, please go to: http://scientific-child-prodigy.blogspot.com/2006/10/scientific-child-prodigy-guide.html I also write of gifted education, IQ, intelligence, the Irish, the Malays, Singapore, College, University, Chemistry, Science, genetics, left-handedness, precocity, child prodigy, child genius, baby genius, adult genius, savant, wunderkind, wonderkind, genio, гений ребенок prodigy, genie, μεγαλοφυία θαύμα παιδιών, bambino, kind.

We are the founders of Genghis Can, a copywriting, editing and proofreading agency, that handles all kinds of work, including technical and scientific material. If you need such services, or know someone who does, please go to: http://www.genghiscan.com/ Thanks.

This blog is copyright Valentine Cawley. Unauthorized duplication prohibited. Use Only with Permission. Thank you.)

Free healthcare for all: a basic human right.

I believe that free healthcare for all, should be a basic human right. It isn't. In many countries of the world, only those who can pay for healthcare, have access to it - and that just isn't right. Healthcare should be free for all who need it, the actual cost of supporting it distributed amongst all members of society, who are working, through taxation. This is the only way to prevent injustices such as the one I am about to address.

Kiron: does that name seem familiar? For some it will be a brand of lens, but for others it will mean something else entirely - it will mean a tragedy.

Let me explain. Kiron is the name of a very special child born recently in Bangladesh. This child was a hearty 5.5 kg at birth. Part of that seemingly healthy weight came in an unusual form: an extra head. Yes, that is right, Kiron was born with two fully normal heads on one otherwise normal body.

Now, even in the most developed society, a baby like Kiron - a baby whose body seems to be from an ancient legend, another time of mythic beings - would attract great attention. So it was in Bangladesh. A crowd of 150,000 people gathered around the clinic that had tended to Kiron. Though just newly born, Kiron was an instant celebrity in his native country.

Yet, that celebrity was not of much use to him. Though 150,000 people had gathered, in a kind of pilgrimage, to his clinic, not one of them reached out to help Kiron. You see, Kiron's parents were very poor. Their doctor advised that Kiron be sent for care to a hospital in Dhaka, but his parents could not afford a hospital bill. So, this marvellous child, with two functional heads, was taken home. There, he caught a fever - and this is the part that stings - DIED. Not one of those 150,000 worshippers had actually translated their worship into active assistance for the family. This most unusual of all children was allowed to die for want of the money for a hospital bill. Surely, a crowd of so many people, in a nation captivated by this child, could have helped the family at this time? Had they each donated 10 cents that would have been 15,000 dollars worth of hospital bill - surely enough in such a poor country. Yet, their interest did not extend past morbid curiosity, it seems. The child was allowed to die for no other reason than the parents couldn't afford the medical care to keep him alive.

Now, I object strongly to this scenario. Kiron should not have been allowed to die, for want of money. Kiron's nation should have provided healthcare, not only in this special case of this special child - but in all cases of all children and, indeed, adults, in need of medical care. Healthcare should be a right as ubiquitous as the air we breathe. No-one should lack it for want of money - for money shouldn't even be part of the equation - it just isn't right that it should be so.

No doubt many thousands of children - probably millions - die each year because of their parents' poverty. Not one of them should. Fewer of them would if every society made the effort to make healthcare free for all - or, at the very least, free for the most vulnerable ones of all: newborn children who have yet to mount an effective immune defense of their own, against the world.

Should there ever be another child like Kiron, I hope that the astounding birth leads to a more effective reaction than 150,000 gawpers who did nothing to save him. They should be ashamed, really.

(If you would like to learn more of Ainan Celeste Cawley, a scientific child prodigy, aged eight years and seven months, or his gifted brothers, Fintan, five years exactly, and Tiarnan, twenty-eight months, please go to: http://scientific-child-prodigy.blogspot.com/2006/10/scientific-child-prodigy-guide.html I also write of gifted education, IQ, intelligence, the Irish, the Malays, Singapore, College, University, Chemistry, Science, genetics, left-handedness, precocity, child prodigy, child genius, baby genius, adult genius, savant, wunderkind, wonderkind, genio, гений ребенок prodigy, genie, μεγαλοφυία θαύμα παιδιών, bambino, kind.

We are the founders of Genghis Can, a copywriting, editing and proofreading agency, that handles all kinds of work, including technical and scientific material. If you need such services, or know someone who does, please go to: http://www.genghiscan.com/ Thanks.)

Schools that forget their pupils' needs.

I have sometimes seen something very strange in Singapore. At least, it is strange for me to observe. Sometimes schools seem to forget that their pupils are human beings.

Let me explain. I am thinking of one school, in particular, in which I observed the complete absence of toilet paper in any of the student toilets. Noting that one toilet had no toilet paper, I went in search of another that did. I found none. Each toilet had a complete absence of paper of any kind.

Outside each toilet, was a toilet paper dispenser, in the form of a big paper roll. However, each roll had been entirely used up. Inside each toilet, there was no dispenser, of any kind, to be found. Thus, any student who wished to use the toilet, in that particular school, on that particular day, would have run into a problem: there was no way of going to the toilet without a serious hygience crisis.

Curious about whether this problem extended to the staff facilities, I checked: they were fully equipped with an entire roll of toilet paper. Thus, it seems that someone at the school is taking care of the staff needs, but not those of the students. This just doesn't seem right.

A school which neglects its students in their basic needs, probably neglects their needs in other ways too. It is a clear sign that the school, as an organization, are not thinking of their students' well-being.

I can only imagine the embarrassing situations that pupils at that school run into when it comes to a simple matter like going to the toilet. It is actually rather unsettling, to think of their distress.

Every school should take care of their students - starting with their basic needs. That they don't is a clear testament that not all is right in the Singaporean education system.

By the way, it is not just this one school that has shown this characteristic: others have too...it is just that in those other cases, I never thought to check on whether the staff toilets suffered in the same way - so I didn't gather full information. Either way, there was no toilet paper available for the students in some other schools, too.

(If you would like to learn more of Ainan Celeste Cawley, a scientific child prodigy, aged eight years and seven months, or his gifted brothers, Fintan, five years exactly, and Tiarnan, twenty-eight months, please go to: http://scientific-child-prodigy.blogspot.com/2006/10/scientific-child-prodigy-guide.html I also write of gifted education, IQ, intelligence, the Irish, the Malays, Singapore, College, University, Chemistry, Science, genetics, left-handedness, precocity, child prodigy, child genius, baby genius, adult genius, savant, wunderkind, wonderkind, genio, гений ребенок prodigy, genie, μεγαλοφυία θαύμα παιδιών, bambino, kind.

We are the founders of Genghis Can, a copywriting, editing and proofreading agency, that handles all kinds of work, including technical and scientific material. If you need such services, or know someone who does, please go to: http://www.genghiscan.com/ Thanks.)