Self-righteousness

There's this old man in a ward in Carlisle, who's terminally-ill. He's about 87 years old, and doesn't really have much hope of living to see his next b'day. One day, he was reading a newspaper about the war in Iraq, and said 'the world would be a much better place if we were all just nice to each other'. At the time, I just thought to myself 'Duh' and laughed.

I recently came across a letter in Malaysiakini that suggested smokers should not be treated by goverment hospitals because the disease that they have was brought upon themselves, and thus taxpayers' money should not be wasted on them. In other words, it's a case of 'serve his right for being so stupid in the first place'.

While I do agree that smoking is harmful and should be banned (congrats to the Irish n Scottish governments for taking the brave step of banning public smoking), I have to disagree with the practice of discrimation that is being proposed. As Rev Vernon (a lecturer of mine) would say, it's just not ethical.

One of the main gripes I have with society today is the commonplace attitude of being self-righteous. 'I have a belief that eating maggi goreng makes you god-fearing, healthy and wise. Therefore, those who do not eat maggi are infidels who will cast into the lowest pit of hell.' And you see this sort of idiotic behaviour everywhere. Just because someone is not similar to you, or does not have the same principles and beliefs as you do, you judge them and they become wrong and evil in your eyes.

I'm not saying that smoking is good. My point is, blanket coverage of every individual in every situation is a rather silly thing to do. Getting all worked up and bombing countries because their political system is 'wrong' and not similar to yours is a rather silly thing to do. Not being friends with someone because they believe in the Torah or Bible rather than the Quran is a rather silly thing to do.

For example, Bush is all high and mighty when it comes to issues such as abortion. He is supported immensely by the folks who're really into The Rapture and all that religious stuff. Fine, abortion is not a good thing blah blah blah. But what about the thousands of people killed elsewhere? In the 2 years that the US have invaded Iraq, they have killed about 1/3 of civilians that were supposedly killed by Saddam within the last 30 years. Looking at the 'bright' side, at least they're effective at something! So, who are they to judge a HIV +ve lady who's pregnant with a child that she will not only be unable to bring up, but will have a short and miserable life? Do they want to prolong the life of the baby for the patient's benefit? Or is it for their own self-satisfaction so that they won't feel bad because their religion compels them to do so?

Example no.2. Malaysians who live in the UK but segregate themselves according to race. And not only race, but according to their various cliques. In some places, the malays hardly ever see any of their chinese or indian counterparts. They prefer to stick to themselves. Among the malays, there are those who do not like mixing with others if they perceive those individuals to be different or not alim enough. Once again, the mentality is such that if you're not the same as me, you're not good enough for me. It won't be too much to say that they have the same basic principles as the Nazis did. But at least the Nazis had the courtesy of being open with their prejudice.

Bodoh tak?

I'm probably waffling on incoherently at this point, but it just pisses me off when you judge someone without actually knowing the journey that the other person has been through. Put yourself in another's shoe, and you'll have but an inkling of what that person has been through.

I guess I've always been a bit sensitive when it comes to matters relating to self-righteousness and this is probably due to my upbringing. Growing up, I never really knew my grandparents and relatives on my dad's side (who were malays), 'cause they practically disowned him when he got married to my mother, a catholic of indian descent. The fact that my mother embraced Islam and the fact that she made my dad's life complete wasn't enough - she was a 'keling' and wasn't good enough for them. The only person who really supported them was my mother's father. Everyone else in my mother's side wasn't too happy at first, but he got them around and eventually they more or less accepted my dad. I wasn't that close with my grandfather, but I remember my mother crying her eyes out when he died 'cause 'he was the only one who was always there for us and didn't judge us'. And that is why Raya doesn't mean much to me. All it does is remind me how bigoted some people are. I never enjoyed nor celebrated Raya 'till I came to the UK and found a batch of friends that I can enjoy it with.

I came to the conclusion early on in life that I quite dislike individuals who just know you superficially, and come to various conclusions about you without actually getting to know you. Excuse me, I don't merely dislike them, I fucking hate them. ah well...There're lots more I'd like to say about this matter, but heck, I'm tired and I'm not exactly in the best of moods. I guess that old man did have a point after all.