The Dilemma of Parents Educating Children in Developing Nations

http://hsudarren.wordpress.com linked to an interesting dilemma:

The dilemma of Chinese, Indian parents
Dr Hsu Dar Ren | Apr 9, 07 4:20pm

Many Malaysian parents, mainly the non-bumiputeras, have a dilemma regarding their children’s education and future. I just met a friend who has this to tell me. He is an engineer earning a decent living but not really rich. He has two children, and he is grateful that he has only two. The eldest is a son who has just finished his studies in engineering in Australia. The second one is a daughter who has just gone to Australia to study business management.

His dilemma is this. He had no choice but to send his son overseas in order to provide him with a good education and at the same time to broaden his perspective. He could have asked his son to study locally but the problem was that his son might not be given the course of his choice since majority of places for medicine and engineering courses are reserved for bumiputera students.

My friend had to work very hard and had to be very thrifty in order to save to send his children overseas. And he is now near retirement age. He wants his son to come back Malaysia to work but he fears that his son may not get a good job and the prospect of promotions may be limited.

So he asked me what to do. I told him this is the dilemma faced by many, many Chinese and Indian Malaysian parents. Who doesn’t want their children to be around them? But at the same time, if the children don’t good job prospects here, what would the parents do?

They would want the children to have the best chances and do something that they are happy with. And that means letting their children work overseas where the employment prospects are better, and where work satisfaction and upward mobility also better.

I asked my friend, ‘Why don’t you join your son Down Under?’ He answered that he loves Malaysia, he was born and bred here, his friends and relatives are all here, and his business is also here. He would feel out of place and it would not be easy for a middle-aged man to start his network and friends all over again in a foreign country.

What can we do about this? When a citizen’s child studies overseas, we lose precious foreign exchange and this is no small sum as an overseas education runs into hundreds of thousands of ringgit for each student. Over the years, how many Malaysians have gone overseas to study? One hundred thousand? Half a million? One million? I don’t have the figure. But Malaysian used to be the biggest group of foreign students in Australia, the UK, etc. How much money was lost?

And how many of these did not come back? I have so many classmates working as consultants in the UK, Singapore and Australia that I have lost count. This is ‘brain drain’ and ‘brain loss’. Human capital is now recognised as the most important asset in this flattening world. Many of these who stay abroad become very famous scientists, doctors, entrepreneurs, etc. How much ‘brain’ was lost? No one can quantify that.

Who knows, Malaysia would have become a First World country by now if we had all these brains realising their potential locally. Everyone, both bumi and non-bumi, would have benefitted more by now. How about the human cost? How many families were separated? How many parents died a lonely death because their children were overseas?

The lists go on and the dilemma is getting more acute. We should in fact be more farsighted. Intake for local tertiary education should be based on merit, with maybe a small proportion reserved for socially-handicapped people. For those studying overseas, try to lure them back, place them in GLCs such as Petronas, TNB, Telekom and government departments and let their promotion be based on merit.

That way, these companies can be much more successful, the country be more prosperous and there will be that much more job prospects. In turn, the economic cake grows bigger and we then have a bigger capacity to offer affirmative action for the less-advantaged groups. By being farsighted, we will be rewarded with every ethnic group getting a bigger share of the economy.

http://www.malaysiakini.com/letters/65682

Satanic Democrat Rape Scandal

Here are the accused:

They appeared to be standard New Age hippies, selling hand-made incense and the like, with newsletters like the following from the soon-to-be-expired Google cache:

Reconsidering Christmas
December 20, 2007 by dianapalmer
Even though most of us are aware that Jesus was not actually born on Dec. 25, it is still a day — or season — for considering Christ’s life and teachings. But instead of a search within ourselves for ways we can become more Christlike, many people try to outdo each other in how much money they can spend on gifts and decorations.

What if instead of spending outrageous amounts on those who already have enough material possessions that you instead donate more money to charity in the name of your intended recipient? Truly consider those who are the “least among us.” Volunteer at a shelter or food kitchen and serve meals to the homeless. Provide food to animal shelters. Visit nursing homes and befriend those who no longer have family around them. Be a mentor for at-risk youth in your community. Champion a cause that is important to you. Do these things not only at Christmas but all year long.

When a child starts thinking about what gifts he/she wants at Christmas, encourage that child to pick out a gift for an underprivileged child. Consider doing a yearly cleanout of all gently used toys and clothes and donating them to area shelters and other charitable services.

In the United States we live in a culture that promotes spending over spirituality. Challenge yourself to shun the stores and shopping malls and instead return to a true celebration of Christ’s life and teachings. Spend time at Christmas — and throughout the year — in quiet meditation, considering how you can live the life that Christ taught us to live.

Think of that baby in the manger as your soul waiting to grow, to be nourished and fed. Your best gift to Christ is to live your life’s true purpose and to truly love and nurture each other.

Tags: charity, Christ, Christmas, meditation, shelter, spirituality, volunteer

…

Welcome to Indigo Dawn, your resource for spiritual growth. We offer products
and services to promote enlightenment and to assist in the development of self-empowerment and divine potential.

Among our many products are made-to-order healing salves, herbal teas, oils and other natural healing ointments. Our services include intuitive guidance, past-life regression, spirit guide communication, and healing and cleansing.

We hope you feel welcome here to discover your true, divine self.

….
Indigo Dawn
was founded in honor of the Indigo children and the coming age of Aquarius or Age of Enlightenment. Our intent and purpose is to lead the way and help others rise to a higher level of existence, quality of life and increased spirituality in preparation for this coming age of enlightenment.

We recognize that the coming New Age will not only be a time of true enlightenment but also world peace and unity. The Earth cannot obtain its highest level of vibration nor can humanity obtain its potential when nations are at war. Therefore, Indigo Dawn Inc. seeks to create a method to achieve world peace to provide for a smooth path to ascension.

Indigo Dawn Inc. offers services and products to promote enlightenment and to assist others in developing their own level of self-empowerment and divine potential, surpassing the constraints that society has placed on us. It is also the hopes and dreams of Indigo Dawn to assist all members of the human race in learning their roles in the upcoming New Age and achieve their highest potentials. By doing so, Indigo Dawn is paving the way toward the age of true equality and enlightenment.

And then they were accused of raping people and holding hostages for occult purposes:

July 4, 2008 — Stefan Fobes
Durham Democratic Party Official accused in rituals
June 30, 2008

Anne Blythe / Raleigh News & Observer

Durham — Allegations that a local Democratic official and her husband were involved in satanic rituals that included shackling people to beds, caging them and depriving them of food and water have horrified county party leaders.

Joy Johnson, 30, a third vice-chairwoman of the Durham County Democratic Party and vice chairwoman of the Young Democrats, was charged Friday with two counts of aiding and abetting.

Her husband, Joseph Scott Craig, 25, was charged with second-degree rape, second-degree kidnapping and two counts of assault with a deadly weapon for an incident in January and another in May.

The two made an appearance in court Monday morning after spending the weekend in the Durham County jail.

Mark McCullough, an assistant district attorney, urged Judge Nancy Gordon to increase Johnson’s bond to $500,000 from the $270,000 set by a magistrate. “Part of the allegations are that satanic worship is part of this case,” McCullough said.

Gordon kept Johnson’s bond at $270,000. Craig’s bond remained at $500,000. Each was ordered to stay away from the accusers. Craig has been charged with beating a man with a cane and a cable cord and assaulting a woman with a wooden cane and raping her.

McCullough would not release details of the allegations, but he added, “I don’t want to leave the impression this is a widespread thing.”

Jeremy Collins, president of the Durham Young Democrats, has known Johnson for several years. After following the Duke lacrosse case and seeing the phony gang-rape charges dismantled and dismissed, Collins said he would reserve judgment until the facts of this case were revealed.

“If it’s true then it’s extremely unfortunate and a shock to all of us,” Collins said.

During her time as a party official, Johnson was interested in trying to attract more young Democrats and get them involved in the political process, acquaintances say.

Floyd McKissick, a state senator and a Democrat from Durham, said Monday he had been told Johnson had resigned her posts with the party. He, too, reserved judgment.

“I was absolutely shocked and flabbergasted,” McKissick said. “You never would have suspected allegations that she would have had any participation in these rituals.”

Johnson and Craig, along with Diana Palmer, first vice chairwoman for the local Democrats, are partners in a company called Indigo Dawn.

Via:
http://warofillusions.wordpress.com/

Gary Brecher fans rejoice, TakiMag has two by Brecher

Rejoice, rejoice, o war nerd fanboys, to you has come Gary Brecher.

demography

And

eating soup

Real-Life Retroculture is not as vigorous as Lind’s fictional visions

William S. Lind wrote a fiction piece in the 1995 Washington Post that offered an extremely optimistic view of “Retroculture.”

But it was what happened on the cultural front that really made the difference for us. The Retroculture Movement had been growing quietly since the mid-1990s. It wasn’t political, just individuals and families deciding to live again in the old ways. …
The family was the first Victorian institution to make a comeback….

The schools came next. …
We deconstructed most of the universities. …
Christians took back their churches from the agnostic clergy, and the pews filled up again. ….

As the Victorian spirit spread, standards were revived. Communities decided that some things were acceptable and some weren’t. Crime wasn’t; with justice locally controlled and the lawyers digging potatoes, somebody who mugged on Tuesday hanged on Wednesday.

Entertainment was expected to be decent. In a world that had grown ugly enough, there was small desire for ugliness in art and music as well. The Victorian entertainments were revived, and young people in particular went in heavily for choral singing. The last rock concert was held in 2013 in the Cleveland arena. It featured all the big rock bands lift in North America and most of the remaining rock fans too. The Greater Cleveland Garden Club sealed the doors and pumped in a herbal compound, derived largely from Queen Anne’s lace and Viola odorata, that rectified brain damage in the cranial region connecting hearing to taste. The fans were soon holding their ears and whistling “Dixie,” and the ancient Rolling Stones ended up improvising Albinoni on their electrical guitars.

I write this from the real world of 2008. American rock concerts are not likely to stop in five years.

What are the real problems of Retroculture?

What if the Christian Men “Go Their Own Way” and the Muslim Men Don’t?

Quite a few websites are dedicated to Men’s Rights, the marriage strike, “Men Going Their Own Way.”

Examples:

http://menforjustice.net/cms/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=5&Itemid=4

http://outcastsuperstar.blogspot.com/

This would seem to imply demographic collapse. Currently the post-Christian West has a lot of illegitimate and abused children. In ten years it may simply have very few children at all.

Further, post-Christian men frequently cite the injustice of divorce laws — i.e. the illegitimate priorities of their governments — as a decisive factor. Probably most disengaged men will not become violent radicals, but probably most of them will have little genuine respect for governments.

One obvious temptation is to revert to a more primitive state of affairs and reinstate a culture of Wild West violence. If public safety were only guaranteed to the armed, divorce lawyers would become an endangered species, but Western Civilization might well be swamped by the ankle-deep rivers of blood.

Regardless of whether domestic fury and fierce civil strife cumber all the parts of the post-Christian West — what happens if post-Christian men “go their own way” and Muslim men remain faithful to the goal of heading a patriarchal family, impregnating a faithful wife, and raising several children?

Would that constitute the collapse of Christendom?