Dear readers, you will note that I have changed the title of this series from THE ART OF THINKING CLEARLY TO TAOTC. This is done in order to allow space for the title of the subject. The article is presented verbatim from the original source but the conclusion or summary at the bottom is totally mine. These selected collection of articles are extracted from my FILE OF IDEAS at the TOETI JUAIRIAH LIBRARY.
By Dave Trott
The philosopher Isaac Berlin said there are two kinds of liberties.
Positive liberty and negative liberty.
Positive liberty is the freedom to DO things.
Go where you want, with whom you want, when you want, etc..
Negative liberty is the freedom FROM things.
Freedom from fear, from hunger, from exploitation, etc..
Both these freedoms are undoubtedly good things.
But people refuse to face the truth about them.
The more you have of one, the less you have of the other.
On the other hand:
If you give everyone the freedom TO carry a gun.
You take away someone else's freedom FROM fear.
If you give everyone freedom TO make money however they want.
You take away someone's freedom FROM exploitation.
On the other hand:
If you give everyone freedom FROM homelessness, the state must pay for housing.
Which means higher taxes.
Which means someone else loses the freedom TO spend their money how they want.
No one wants to face these hard choices.
If you want more of one, you have to have less of the other.
Remember science class at school
The most basic rule: Nothing can be created or destroyed.
It can only change state.
We can heat a block of ice, and it turns into water.
We can heat the water, and it turns into steam.
A solid, to a liquid, to a gas.
But the same amount of matter remains in existence.
That's the essence of the zero-sum game.
Nothing new magically appears.
If you want it, it has to come from somewhere else.
How come we don't know that in our business?
If we want more sales, if we want to grow the market, if we want to increase brand share, it has to come from somewhere else.
When was the last time you saw a brief that identifies where we would be taking sales from?
When was the grubby subject of money mentioned?
Who would be putting their hand in their pocket and deciding not to spend the cash on that, but on this instead.
How about never.
We talk about branding and hope it will act like a magnet.
Magically attracting people from somewhere.
Like moths to a flame.
No one wants to identify exactly where they are coming from.
Because, like politicians, no one want to make the hard choices.
CONCLUSION
Malaysian too have a choice.
In order for the politicians TO have the freedom to do anything as they like, behind our back.
We have to sacrifice our thinking faculty and our capacity for reasoning.
And be satisfied with our subsidies in various forms.
They give the citizens the much publicized tit-bits, in order for them to keep the rest.
By Dave Trott
The philosopher Isaac Berlin said there are two kinds of liberties.
Positive liberty and negative liberty.
Positive liberty is the freedom to DO things.
Go where you want, with whom you want, when you want, etc..
Negative liberty is the freedom FROM things.
Freedom from fear, from hunger, from exploitation, etc..
Both these freedoms are undoubtedly good things.
But people refuse to face the truth about them.
The more you have of one, the less you have of the other.
On the other hand:
If you give everyone the freedom TO carry a gun.
You take away someone else's freedom FROM fear.
If you give everyone freedom TO make money however they want.
You take away someone's freedom FROM exploitation.
On the other hand:
If you give everyone freedom FROM homelessness, the state must pay for housing.
Which means higher taxes.
Which means someone else loses the freedom TO spend their money how they want.
No one wants to face these hard choices.
If you want more of one, you have to have less of the other.
Remember science class at school
The most basic rule: Nothing can be created or destroyed.
It can only change state.
We can heat a block of ice, and it turns into water.
We can heat the water, and it turns into steam.
A solid, to a liquid, to a gas.
But the same amount of matter remains in existence.
That's the essence of the zero-sum game.
Nothing new magically appears.
If you want it, it has to come from somewhere else.
How come we don't know that in our business?
If we want more sales, if we want to grow the market, if we want to increase brand share, it has to come from somewhere else.
When was the last time you saw a brief that identifies where we would be taking sales from?
When was the grubby subject of money mentioned?
Who would be putting their hand in their pocket and deciding not to spend the cash on that, but on this instead.
How about never.
We talk about branding and hope it will act like a magnet.
Magically attracting people from somewhere.
Like moths to a flame.
No one wants to identify exactly where they are coming from.
Because, like politicians, no one want to make the hard choices.
CONCLUSION
Malaysian too have a choice.
In order for the politicians TO have the freedom to do anything as they like, behind our back.
We have to sacrifice our thinking faculty and our capacity for reasoning.
And be satisfied with our subsidies in various forms.
They give the citizens the much publicized tit-bits, in order for them to keep the rest.
1 comment:
Salam Tan Sri,saya suka ayat ni..."They give the citizens the much publicized tit-bits, in order for them to keep the rest."BR1M=BUGIS RASUAH 1 MALAYSIA.
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