Myopia of Race / Religion

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MYOPIA







Near-sightedness, also known as short-sightedness and myopia, is a condition of the eye where light focuses in front of, instead of on, the retina.[1] This causes distant objects to be blurry while close objects appear normal.[1] Other symptoms may include headaches and eye strain.[1

There is a 'disease' amongst us and it afflicts most people and I term it as 'myopia of race/religion'. It manifests it's symptoms in profound ways that can be dangerous.

The tendency to view life in the narrow viewpoint of race and religion is overwhelming in this country it seems these days. I was born in the 70's and I cannot recall any bias other than the normal day to day stereotypes we had of the different communities around us.

There was never any violence or threats of violence just being of a different race or religion. These two issues has been used brilliantly by heads of governments the world over to suppress free thought and to divide societies for their own gain as is happening in most of the countries that are forever stuck in a cycle of poverty and even violence despite all the advancements in humanity and not confined to Malaysia.

What is worrying is that each day Malaysia is slowly heading towards this myopic view despite the hope presented by the last G.E. The why is easy to see when small pockets of extremist minorities of the population are given wide attention and coverage whenever these two issues are played out.

This I feel will be our biggest threat for the foreseeable future after the strategic brainwashing from birth of so the called superiority of one race over another is constantly pounded into our psyche by decades of propaganda by the media and the mushrooming of Government Departments and entities whose whole existence is to play up these issues for their funding and to justify their existence.

Imagine if we could harness and use our diversity for mutual gains? Imagine if we are willing to accept this wonderful diversity of our population and look beyond the myopia of race/religion and allow individual talent to be the yardstick and using that talent to increase our prosperity instead.

Imagine that one day we all identify as being Malaysians? Imagine our Government actually coming up with the policies and drafting laws to create a fair and just environment where all can be the best they can be without being shackled by race/religion? Where all are equal under the law? This is our challenge or are we scared of our own shadows to even try?



 

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