To die physically to keep another alive is noble, we all agree; but how about psychologically, emotionally and spiritually?
Just watched Gunslinger Girl, third episode. Most Singaporeans will find the series disconnected and very very very very slow, but it works well for this sort of show. It's about a group of young girls who, being given second life, now work and train as assassins with an assigned adult "brother" each, living behind the front of a social welfare organisation.
The series isn't out to scare, shock or excite you (which is why a lot of pple won't watch it). It's purpose is little more than just to prod, poke and disturb you and get you to look from another angle (albeit a much explored one by now), and that's it. What makes this series good is that although just about everybody knows that age-old contemplation of how governments have spies and assassins and what cost these pple are forced to pay in order to keep political and social balance, this series makes you actually stand in place of these girls, so although you've heard all those debates before, you finally realise what they actually mean. That's why it disturbs, although you won't feel too strongly disturbed until you realise how devoid of emotion the train of thoughts are, mainly because most of us don't know the sensation of feeling absolutely nothing (very different from dazing or zen).
Today's episode followed the Rico-Jean pair, although other pairs appear, so you can compare the relations between each pair (just so you know, the Rico-Jean pair are the most emotionally void pair, aka most disturbing).
Rico was once immobile, until the agency took her in, fixed her up and she became an assassin. The newfound mobility has been of great importance ever since, in tandem with the absence of having to hear her parents squabbling while she was bedridden. With this in view, she regards herself happy to be with the organisation.
During an inspection routine at a hotel, in preparation for an assassination, Rico bumps into a bellboy, Eriol, who works at the hotel. Long story short, they talked (well, in truth, he talked, and she didn't know how to respond), there's mutual attraction, before Rico hurries off, partly because she didn't know how to react in social situations, partly because she needed to report back to Jean. Upon returning to Jean, she apologizes for being late, whereupon Jean suspects, and asks, if Rico interacted with anyone, to which Rico lies and says no. Unconvinced, Jean nevertheless drops the matter, but tells Rico that anyone who in anyway observes her during a mission must be eliminated.
On the day of the actual assassination, Rico is deployed as a hotel maid to the designated room where the assassination takes place. Unfortunately, her retreat is delayed due to imprecision of her shot, which she corrects immediately. The result is that as she comes out of the room, she bumps into Eriol again, who is confused that she is in the hotel dressed as a maid. Rico has no idea how to respond to Eriol's queries, and remains silent as she tries to figure out what to do. Then she says, "Oh... yeah," raises her gun at Eriol and with a rare, sad smile, says, "Sorry."
(In case some of you just missed that, you fools, the "Oh... yeah" was in reference to Jean's order of elimination of witnesses)
In the days following the mission, every morning Rico wakes up in bed, her first thought is whether she's lost her mobility, and every time she's relieved that she still retains her freedom of movement (irony pple, for those same fools who didn't catch it... yes I'm grumpy). And again, she concludes that she really likes being at the agency.
Extent of brainwash, pple.
Right. Now I shall follow up with another query of my own: So many books, movies, debates have been centred round what's wrong with which government, and the high price paid by those who work for the government, the cold-blooded secret experiments carried out in secret laboratories on psychic prisoners (or something close enough), cruelty of animal experimentation, loss of innocence, twisted ethics, absence of emotion, blah blah blah...
But has anyone considered the fact that all of these are indeed keeping us alive?
Sure, it would be fine and dandy if no one had an ulterior motive and everyone was nice and kind and not selfish and empathatic... but that's not the case. And if the wrong people have enough ambition, they can do a lot of things beyond the concepts of right and wrong in order to achieve personal goals and satisfy their own visions of greatness and ideals. And that is effectively 100% more than all that those bound by morality can do. And mind you, that's a lot.
Animal experimentation, no matter how cruel, has helped develop some life-resurrecting miracle treatments, among many other things. If not for animal experimentation (or those top secret experiments in secret labs in some underground complex in some secret continent on poor telepathics), we would never be able to pinpoint defective genes, causes of cancer, effects of poisons and antidotes, yada yada...
And all those different laws in different governments, and the different ways each country is run... it has to be, doesn't it?
I'll pick the most recent example to date: the drug-trafficking incident, which recently resulted in a hanging. The guy was Ngyuen, right? Sure, poor thing, he was left with little choice, and in desperate times, we all go for drastic measures. That's what Australian authorities said, and they were all for stamping out the death sentence. Problem is that the crime took place on Singapore soil, therefore to be dealt the Singapore way, and that means capital punishment.
Some people said that the S'pore govt was too inhumane in not giving allowance for the background circumstances that forced this incident, but they themselves, then, did not look at the background circumstances in which the S'pore govt is forced to do what it must.
Look at it this way: Any other country has a big population, lots of talent, such that even if half the population were to fall (OKAY, OKAY, I'M EXAGGERATING... but hopefully you'll get my point) there would still be enough resources and pple to allow that country and its remaining population to survive. Singapore, on the other hand, have no natural resources, and is too miniscule for that red dot on the world map. So if half the population dies, everyone dies. Because of that, the govt, which is responsible for us, has to make sure that there's almost absolutely no room for error of any sort, esp human error, or we crash and burn. Hence the mechanical clockwork style, stringent rules, limited media freedom, and the absolute final say of the state, including the issue of capital punishment.
A drug trafficker was caught on Singapore soil, and Singapore has to make sure that every denizen here gets the message loud and clear: no illegal drugs. Coz if this, or any other situation that could compromise the effectiveness of work, economy or health, however indirectly, happens once too often, we're goners. That's just how little space there is on the cliff near the edge.
People, this is how we survive.
I'm not going to say that we shouldn't sympathise with less sentient creatures, or not to be compassionate to the unfortunate... By all means go ahead and stick to your beliefs, your morals and your sense of virtues. Go on and pray for world peace. Because, you know those people you despise? The cold-hearted ones? Some of them chose to be cold-hearted, or were forced to be, to protect people like you, who value life and the quality of life, either from natural disasters or from other cold-blooded people. Because the world needs more people of such outlook, in order to bring the world a step closer to that ideal, though we will never reach it.
But I'm thinking... those cold-blooded people we keep seeing in portrayed in books and movies and newspapers and whatnots... can't we give them a break? You think you can run the world any better? Why do you think they rule the place, or in the case of maligned evil scientists that work for secret organisations that work for the govt, why do think they're there doing what they do? I mean, the Emperor of Qin killed thousands of people in unifying 7 countries and in building the Great Wall of China. You think that was just cruelty? He waged a great war to prevent petty battles, and killed thousands to protect millions. He sacrificed many to save more.
Of course some people would make use of similar reasoning to justify their own personal vendetta... but tell me this... why do you think such excuses can even exist for them to use in the first place?
The series isn't out to scare, shock or excite you (which is why a lot of pple won't watch it). It's purpose is little more than just to prod, poke and disturb you and get you to look from another angle (albeit a much explored one by now), and that's it. What makes this series good is that although just about everybody knows that age-old contemplation of how governments have spies and assassins and what cost these pple are forced to pay in order to keep political and social balance, this series makes you actually stand in place of these girls, so although you've heard all those debates before, you finally realise what they actually mean. That's why it disturbs, although you won't feel too strongly disturbed until you realise how devoid of emotion the train of thoughts are, mainly because most of us don't know the sensation of feeling absolutely nothing (very different from dazing or zen).
Today's episode followed the Rico-Jean pair, although other pairs appear, so you can compare the relations between each pair (just so you know, the Rico-Jean pair are the most emotionally void pair, aka most disturbing).
Rico was once immobile, until the agency took her in, fixed her up and she became an assassin. The newfound mobility has been of great importance ever since, in tandem with the absence of having to hear her parents squabbling while she was bedridden. With this in view, she regards herself happy to be with the organisation.
During an inspection routine at a hotel, in preparation for an assassination, Rico bumps into a bellboy, Eriol, who works at the hotel. Long story short, they talked (well, in truth, he talked, and she didn't know how to respond), there's mutual attraction, before Rico hurries off, partly because she didn't know how to react in social situations, partly because she needed to report back to Jean. Upon returning to Jean, she apologizes for being late, whereupon Jean suspects, and asks, if Rico interacted with anyone, to which Rico lies and says no. Unconvinced, Jean nevertheless drops the matter, but tells Rico that anyone who in anyway observes her during a mission must be eliminated.
On the day of the actual assassination, Rico is deployed as a hotel maid to the designated room where the assassination takes place. Unfortunately, her retreat is delayed due to imprecision of her shot, which she corrects immediately. The result is that as she comes out of the room, she bumps into Eriol again, who is confused that she is in the hotel dressed as a maid. Rico has no idea how to respond to Eriol's queries, and remains silent as she tries to figure out what to do. Then she says, "Oh... yeah," raises her gun at Eriol and with a rare, sad smile, says, "Sorry."
(In case some of you just missed that, you fools, the "Oh... yeah" was in reference to Jean's order of elimination of witnesses)
In the days following the mission, every morning Rico wakes up in bed, her first thought is whether she's lost her mobility, and every time she's relieved that she still retains her freedom of movement (irony pple, for those same fools who didn't catch it... yes I'm grumpy). And again, she concludes that she really likes being at the agency.
Extent of brainwash, pple.
Right. Now I shall follow up with another query of my own: So many books, movies, debates have been centred round what's wrong with which government, and the high price paid by those who work for the government, the cold-blooded secret experiments carried out in secret laboratories on psychic prisoners (or something close enough), cruelty of animal experimentation, loss of innocence, twisted ethics, absence of emotion, blah blah blah...
But has anyone considered the fact that all of these are indeed keeping us alive?
Sure, it would be fine and dandy if no one had an ulterior motive and everyone was nice and kind and not selfish and empathatic... but that's not the case. And if the wrong people have enough ambition, they can do a lot of things beyond the concepts of right and wrong in order to achieve personal goals and satisfy their own visions of greatness and ideals. And that is effectively 100% more than all that those bound by morality can do. And mind you, that's a lot.
Animal experimentation, no matter how cruel, has helped develop some life-resurrecting miracle treatments, among many other things. If not for animal experimentation (or those top secret experiments in secret labs in some underground complex in some secret continent on poor telepathics), we would never be able to pinpoint defective genes, causes of cancer, effects of poisons and antidotes, yada yada...
And all those different laws in different governments, and the different ways each country is run... it has to be, doesn't it?
I'll pick the most recent example to date: the drug-trafficking incident, which recently resulted in a hanging. The guy was Ngyuen, right? Sure, poor thing, he was left with little choice, and in desperate times, we all go for drastic measures. That's what Australian authorities said, and they were all for stamping out the death sentence. Problem is that the crime took place on Singapore soil, therefore to be dealt the Singapore way, and that means capital punishment.
Some people said that the S'pore govt was too inhumane in not giving allowance for the background circumstances that forced this incident, but they themselves, then, did not look at the background circumstances in which the S'pore govt is forced to do what it must.
Look at it this way: Any other country has a big population, lots of talent, such that even if half the population were to fall (OKAY, OKAY, I'M EXAGGERATING... but hopefully you'll get my point) there would still be enough resources and pple to allow that country and its remaining population to survive. Singapore, on the other hand, have no natural resources, and is too miniscule for that red dot on the world map. So if half the population dies, everyone dies. Because of that, the govt, which is responsible for us, has to make sure that there's almost absolutely no room for error of any sort, esp human error, or we crash and burn. Hence the mechanical clockwork style, stringent rules, limited media freedom, and the absolute final say of the state, including the issue of capital punishment.
A drug trafficker was caught on Singapore soil, and Singapore has to make sure that every denizen here gets the message loud and clear: no illegal drugs. Coz if this, or any other situation that could compromise the effectiveness of work, economy or health, however indirectly, happens once too often, we're goners. That's just how little space there is on the cliff near the edge.
People, this is how we survive.
I'm not going to say that we shouldn't sympathise with less sentient creatures, or not to be compassionate to the unfortunate... By all means go ahead and stick to your beliefs, your morals and your sense of virtues. Go on and pray for world peace. Because, you know those people you despise? The cold-hearted ones? Some of them chose to be cold-hearted, or were forced to be, to protect people like you, who value life and the quality of life, either from natural disasters or from other cold-blooded people. Because the world needs more people of such outlook, in order to bring the world a step closer to that ideal, though we will never reach it.
But I'm thinking... those cold-blooded people we keep seeing in portrayed in books and movies and newspapers and whatnots... can't we give them a break? You think you can run the world any better? Why do you think they rule the place, or in the case of maligned evil scientists that work for secret organisations that work for the govt, why do think they're there doing what they do? I mean, the Emperor of Qin killed thousands of people in unifying 7 countries and in building the Great Wall of China. You think that was just cruelty? He waged a great war to prevent petty battles, and killed thousands to protect millions. He sacrificed many to save more.
Of course some people would make use of similar reasoning to justify their own personal vendetta... but tell me this... why do you think such excuses can even exist for them to use in the first place?
posted by 2P | 11:59 PM
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