Prof Lee - Singaporeans are gullible.


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reachme2003

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Oct 6, 2003
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when it comes to donating to 'medical' charitable causes like (ex-conjoined)nepalese twins, yishun siblings and indonesian boy. caused quite a stir in our english paper recently. is her view substantiated or are singaporean indeed gullible?
 

she's the daughter of our Old Guard....
 

some are gullible...
some sad story + some sad photo... all start to donate
 

That is why "The Rich gets richer, the Poor gets poorer and all those who are experts in manipulation gets their way." :)

I had learnt to harden my heart since.
 

jsbn said:
I had learnt to harden my heart since.


Please don't!

Get "wiser".
 

jsbn said:
That is why "The Rich gets richer, the Poor gets poorer and all those who are experts in manipulation gets their way." :)

I had learnt to harden my heart since.

If everyone is rich, then who will clean public toilets?

Everything in this world is well balance. Poor people complain they are getting not enough. The rich complains their business is not making money (which is bull S**T).
 

student said:
Please don't!

Get "wiser".
Its hard not to when u face ppl like this day in day out.

I wish I could maintain what I'm.... Doing things that I like, seeing smiles on ppl's faces and living on a simple philosophy that "Seeing a smile is good enuff for me".

Shit pouring down of late made me realised something that, "Kindness is a weakness, weakness is for someone to exploit and exploit them people will." Of seeing ppl using u and dropping u like a hot potato once their aim is accomplished is not fun. :(

I'm trying hard not to turn to my Dark Side but I can't help but ask myself if I'm being overly generous at times? :(
 

Since you dun know which side to be, just run zigzag down the line. treading the fine line is no fun.
 

Put it this way, if you need finanical help or any type of assistance, it would be beneficial if Singaporeans are gullible. Everyone seem to think that they would not be expecting help from the public, thus start to think that it's silly why people are donating such good money to others.

On another note, prehaps Singaporeans are so caught up in the working life, that they thought by donating, they are doing some sort of charity works. In a bid to comfort themselves that they are "kind @ heart" too...

But then again, it's the media. It happened in the US, in UK, everywhere where I used to work. Media created the news, followed up with depressing photos and tales to make people go weak in the knees, hear to their heart and poured their money in.

Think again. If ever you need help from the public, don't you want the media to work up the public to help too? Life is very uncertain, don't even say "no" or "not possible" until the last nail is hammered into your coffin.
 

I think LWL knew she will be in for lots of attacks but she wrote the message anyway.

I think she did not say "S'poreans - do not be charitable"
But to be careful next time you get a few foreigners realising they can pluck us.
The problem is that with all the hype, no one bothered to manage the money handover properly. $70,000 ? said in today's papers.

The person collecting it could easily have arranged to hand it over in presence of the Nepalese Embassy staff, the media, the Spore govt reps, personally to the parents, so there is no doubt.

Now you do not know who took the money - so many middlemen in between.
Or maybe the parents took it and spent it and ask for more.
This is extremely poor money management.

I think media hype got something to do with it.

I think media hype got much to do with the first decision to operate.
Some doctors also want to get famous.
With fame comes awards, recognition, money$$$, positions in hospital hierachies, etc...
Some people love the media hype. They just cannot get enough.

When I read about the follow-up 2nd operation on the iranian twins (who died at the operating table), I guessed maybe the desperation for more media attention hype and fame and even (greed?) got to the doctor. Maybe it went to his head. Only he and God knows.

so although LWL seemed cold in the message, she was trying to tell you something.
 

If you read her article carefully, you would realise that less than half of it has got anything to do about gullibility/generosity. In this letter, she takes yet another opportunity to take a swipe at her fellow doctors who went against her advice and proceeded with the operation. She also went on and basically called the lives of the twins not worth living, just because they may be a burden on their parents. I wonder what makes her think she should impose her own beliefs on the parents of the twins? They themselves have said, "if it were her own children, would she say such a thing?".

As for charitable giving, my belief that it is best to do it with one eye closed. Yes, you can assume that some of the time, you are going to get ripped off. It goes with the territory, but it shouldn't stop you from giving anyway.

Cheers
 

reachme2003 said:
when it comes to donating to 'medical' charitable causes like (ex-conjoined)nepalese twins, yishun siblings and indonesian boy. caused quite a stir in our english paper recently. is her view substantiated or are singaporean indeed gullible?


How else can you explain the lack of credible opposition after 40+ years of independence? She has rightly pointed out the critical success factor of her father and nephew's regime.
 

reachme2003 said:
when it comes to donating to 'medical' charitable causes like (ex-conjoined)nepalese twins, yishun siblings and indonesian boy. caused quite a stir in our english paper recently. is her view substantiated or are singaporean indeed gullible?


you sure bring up very localised topics that are important to heartlanders (or at least that is what the gahmen calls us these days)... ever thought of venturing into politics?.. you will make a good spokesman for the common man (if not that .. even for us folks in CS)...
coupled with your experience in law and excellent studio photography skills ... you will go far .... maybe u can consider that your 2nd/3rd career :)

Happy shooting :)
 

my friend, you see me too up, too up!

Sputnik said:
you sure bring up very localised topics that are important to heartlanders (or at least that is what the gahmen calls us these days)... ever thought of venturing into politics?.. you will make a good spokesman for the common man (if not that .. even for us folks in CS)...
coupled with your experience in law and excellent studio photography skills ... you will go far .... maybe u can consider that your 2nd/3rd career :)

Happy shooting :)
 

whats so strange about such charitable exploits? ever wonder if 100% of funds donated REALLY went to the Tsunami victims? time to grow up lah...
 

nightpiper said:
whats so strange about such charitable exploits? ever wonder if 100% of funds donated REALLY went to the Tsunami victims? time to grow up lah...

It is totally unrealistic for 100% of funds to get to the intended beneficiary. But I expect about 80% (+/-) of the donated funds to get to the people.

I had once for for a charitable organisation. I needed to live too! Where do I get my bread? From the charity itself!

What Prof Lee is talking about is "relative exploitation" of donors' attitude, and the sometimes predicted/known futility of the exercise.
 

student said:
It is totally unrealistic for 100% of funds to get to the intended beneficiary. But I expect about 80% (+/-) of the donated funds to get to the people.

I had once for for a charitable organisation. I needed to live too! Where do I get my bread? From the charity itself!

What Prof Lee is talking about is "relative exploitation" of donors' attitude, and the sometimes predicted/known futility of the exercise.


what i meant was the "relative exploitation" from both donors & intended beneficiaries, not the cost of employing helping hands or cost of courier supplies, etc. sure got some middle men take big chunks, afterall, its "a drip in the ocean". u get what i mean...?
 

OT a bit, but after 'donating' $10 to some auntie who was selling some 'coupons' for some stoke patient charity stuff, I was told that $7 goes to the auntie???!!! Is that true? If it's true, maybe the next time I see her, I'll give her a tight slap and give her another $7!
 

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