I don't know
what is it about people.
Or maybe the problem
is actually me.
I don't know why
people seem to believe
everything they read
or hear.
I stopped reading
the Shit Times
for many years now.
I think Swingaboreans
are basically gullible
in nature.
I doubt Swingaboreans
are stupid,
most are smarter than me.
But somehow
very few bother
to think.
Maybe its because,
in Swingabore,
we're not allowed
to think for ourselves,
we let the government
do the thinking
for us.
Or maybe
to think
takes too much
energy.
Maybe its my nature,
I was born
cynical and skeptical.
Whenever I read
or hear something,
I start by
disbelieving.
And I start thinking
of reasons
to disbelieve.
I hate reading the news.
Even the act of merely
reporting an incident
serves to create
a mental picture
and invariably
distracts me
from other
probably more important
things.
Why tell me
about the number of people
blown up in a train
by a terrorist?
When many more people
are dying of cancer
which can actually
be treated?
Why tell me
about how many people
dead from a Hurricane
in some obscure state in USA
when many more
are dying of terminal diseases
right here in Singapore?
Why read recommendations
from stock analysts?
How often were they
actually right?
Why listen to government's
economic forecasts?
How truthful are they?
They paint such rosy pictures
but you know so many
unemployed friends.
Why do we believe
that ministers should be paid
millions of dollars?
What have they actually done?
That is worth so much?
They said otherwise the ministers
will work in the private sector.
So, for that matter,
why are chairmen or CEOs
paid multi million bonuses
in large corporations?
What skillsets are
actually involved?
How do you quantify
their actual contributions?
Why even bother to read
restaurant reviews?
Don't we all have our own
personal tastes?
Even when one see's
an acquaintance's or friend's
ostentatious braggings
of wealth,
success in stock
or property markets,
why should we believe
everything?
Could he possibly
be in debt
to his eyeballs?
Why look at assets
and not liabilities?
