Is the end coming? A video was shown to my mom to influence the mentality that the end of the world is coming. While not sure the exact video, the one below does suggest it could be this.
The link between the sound of trumpets and end of the world is aligned with the Bible in context of Revelation Chapter 8.
TRUE OR FALSE?
So is it really coming? They said these sounds were heard recently only. True? False. In 1979, that was heard before. Read here.
And such sound of trumpets could be true but could be faked. Snopes, the famous website that debunks hoaxes exposed one such hoax here. All you need is a videocam and a sound player at the background. It has been demonstrated by someone here. Even audio expert broke down the sound to analyse to prove it is an hoax here. It could also be something natural, a sound of the earth as explained by scientists here.
What are some Christians doing then? Believe into such things easily and spread lies. You have heard of cry wolf story. When lies are spread be it deliberately or not deliberately, people lose trust in you and when the true trumpet really sound, everyone's heart will be hardened. Why be so quick to judge that it must be? We just don't know and admit that. THE WARNING BY CHRIST ABOUT FALSE CHRISTS & PROPHETS
Did Jesus just warn about false messiahs? No. He warned about false prophets too! And some Christians naively assumed false prophets as those that can be easily identified. If so, how would they been able to deceive? These false prophets likely to live among you. They might not be deliberately deceiving but due to the lack of wisdom, they believe in such things easily and spread them. If they are leaders, their ability to influence belief would be stronger. More will accept that information and will spread it. As more spread it, it becomes widespread and people will reason "if it is not true, why is it widespread?" as if the earth being flat is true even though once upon a time, it was a widespread belief.
WHAT DO YOU WATCH OUT FOR?
The above Bible verses are misused. It says "keep watch" and so people says it meant to keep a look out for end times signs. If that is so, why did Jesus said "do not believe it!" (Matt 24:24)? Is He trying to tell just to look out for the signs and so be ready?
Or instead in the following context, He was trying to address a proper attitude of a Christian?
If you truly believe in God and treat Him as your Lord, should you not do what a loyal servant should do? If you truly believe that hard work is good, do you still need someone to monitor you to work hard? Hence, if you are a changed new person belonging to God, with or without God monitoring you, you should be ready and be Christ-like and not because the end is coming then you suddenly become alert and start 'behaving' yourself when your heart is still wicked. God seeks the heart, not your acts.
If indeed He meant for you to look out for end times signs, He would not have said the following:
If you are the faithful and loyal servant, what is there to fear?
WHAT WE SHOULD BE
We are Christians who claimed to follow the Truth! But what truth is in you if you easily believe rumours and hoaxes and spread them? If you do not embrace science, a tool that systematically study things to know what is reliable or not, how can you tell what is true? Anyone can write a religious book and say it is from God and you cannot question, cannot use science or will use the common excuse "science cannot explain anything" and can make any falsehood true.
Like Einstein said "Science without Religion is lame, Religion without Science is blind". Can you be the light when you yourself is blind? You can't even see yet expect to guide?
Do you not see that you are to love if you are with God?
Do you not see that love rejoices with truth and does not delight in evil?
So why do you not care whether it is true or not, not verify the credibility like whether Obama really is anti-christ and spread lies? Is slandering not evil? Why then are you participating in that? Have you turned away from God?
Do you not know there is no fear in love? Why then spread end times fear? You say it is to create urgency. So you create lies to influence wicked servants that God is coming to monitor them so they should behave? Shouldn't you guide them to be faithful servants that do not even need monitoring and would behave?
Some fruit for thought and the reason why I decided to leave the group.
For consecutive 2 days, I have been bombarded with messages by Christians claiming Pokemon is Satanic just like they accused Harry Potter as so too.
As a Christian myself and one that is surrounded by scientific studies and did a proper-though-short 10,000 words research for Masters degree, being able to analyse research to judge validity and reliability of claims, such rumours really annoyed me. I'm accused that I could be biased against a 30-minute video because I refuted it without viewing it for the full length as I was busy. So now that I have cleared most of my work, I'll address this.
HAS CHRISTIANITY DEVIATED FROM WHAT IT SHOULD BE?
When I was in Sunday School, I was taught that Christianity is the Truth and it is not superstition. I was also taught 10 commandments to hold them dearly. One of them was "you shall not give false testimony against your neighbour" (Exodus 20:16). Today, Christianity is different from that when I was young. Obama was accused by one speaker even to be the Anti-Christ last year in a Church service I attended! Rumours of this or that is 'Satanic' is not uncommon and the trend is with Charismatic movement. I'm not saying that is necessary the cause but there seems to be a higher tendency to link anything to the spiritual world which is not so common back then among the traditional churches era.
And confirmation bias is rather common too. People just do not verify the validity of the source of a claim especially if it fits their initial belief (e.g. Pokemon is bad) and just anyhow spread it despite 10 commandments told us not to give false testimony. They can quote you many Bible verses to make their claims as if 'Christian'. Yet, even Arch Angel Michael dare not slander against Satan! (Jude 1:9) How many times did the Bible warn against the tongue and slandering? The word 'slander' came out in the Bible 43 times! THE VIDEO CLAIMING POKEMON IS SATANIC
This video is by Stephen Dollins and is spreading around. Who is he? He is a self-claimed ex-Satanist High Priest which no information can be found to verify that. Most websites I found doubted that. For example, this website wrote about his background.
ARGUMENT AGAINST THE CLAIMS OF THE VIDEOS
So I'm going to address the logic and validity of those claims one by one. The video suggested Pokemon has its source from Satanism. Snopes, the famous website that debunk myths suggested not.
1:23: He claimed that Poliwhirl has the symbol of a spiral which symbolises male fertility. I checked if that is true. Indeed, this article suggested so. However, the spiral is also a symbol of hypnosis and even before it was used as a symbol of male fertility, it already existed as a symbol! Just see what does this symbol mean in different culture yourself! So next time Satanists use the cross to mean something means Christians cannot use it already? Since when what God has created, Satan can claim it just like that? Anyway, this was the real reason why there is a spiral symbol (taken from TIME interview with the creator):
2:04: He claimed that Mew-Two has 3 fingers which if translated to humans will be the sign of the horns that Satanists use to mean "hail Satan". Hello... the so-called 'Satanists' which some give that label to Wiccans, use it as a sign of their goat god. There are only 2 fingers, not 3. The thumb is used to hold the other two fingers down making it look like a goat, not as a 3rd finger like the photo on the right (I took from wikipedia from the link above).
3:52: He even claimed that Pikachu's lightning symbol on its tail is a 'Satanic Z'! I have no idea what is that and cannot find that. But I find the claim nonsense. So our ruling party cannot use lightning symbol already! By this time, I already feel like not wasting further time listening to the rubbish but since I did not finish seeing the whole video hence not in position to judge, to prevent such nonsense from spreading again, I'll finish watching and critique it.
4:10: He associated the Pokemon Trading Card game with Wizards of the Coast and link it to male practitioner of black magic solely because of the word 'Wizards'. However, do you know the card is not from Wizards of the Coast? It was first created by Media Factory in Japan in 1996 and Wizards of the Coast published it in USA in 1998! The company is named 'Wizards of the Coast' which I believe has nothing to do with black magic but more like because it is dealing with games based on fantasy. It became a subsidiary of Hasbro which your Cluedo and Monopoly came from! Are you saying Hasbro is into black magic?! I have also played Magic the Gathering during secondary school with my friends too. For Role-Playing game, of course you become part of the game else you call it 'Role-Playing' for what? But do you lose yourself? I did not become a more 'spiritual' person but rather even more rational and scientific today. 6:48: He claimed that those role-playing games lead you unable to tell what is real or not. You think I think the fantasy world is real? Kids may think it is real with their imagination (though I really doubted so). When I was a kid, I imagine I have lots of bodyguards protecting me and someone is hunting me down so I ran from school back home. It is role-playing too! But I acted as if it is real, not believing it as real.
And you better don't watch TV too. Back then when I studied Social and Applied Psychology, it was proven that people tend to assume what is shown in TV drama as factual (can't remember which study). Like men always force their way to kiss ladies ending up the ladies giving in. Some men do actually believed that works and ended up being sued for molestation or even rape! That is not even role-playing. So shut off your TV from now on...
8:18: He claimed that experts said many teens committed suicide because of playing Dungeons and Dragons. True? False. BBC News is far more credible than this guy. In the news, it is stated that the American Association of Suicidology found no causal link between Dungeon & Dragons and Suicide! Do you not see what nonsense and bad reputation you can create by sharing such nonsense? Even Christians became featured in BBC News on the nonsense we believe and we became infamous! Until you open your eyes and interact online, you won't know what sort of reputation has been created because of our not-so-careful behaviour.
10:55: Who can verify the students really believed Necromancer's ability and trying to summon spirits in school field? Magic the Gathering was also popular during my secondary school days. I did not see that. Anyone doing that will be a laughing stock.
12:40: He tried to link Pokemon with Magic the Gathering and Dungeons & Dragons because of Wizards of the Coast being the publisher for all of them in USA. But note that I mentioned Wizards of the Coast was not the originator of Pokemon trading card. That made all his linkage invalid.
14:50: Being a Pokemon 'Master' was warned as against God because you don't need parents or need anything. Maybe Christians shouldn't pursue a Master's degree. I should just burn my Master's degree too because it suggested that I have mastered a field of study (hence the name 'Master's').
16:35: I do agree that by repeating 'Gonna Catch'em All...' may induce purchase behaviour. But this has nothing to do with Satanism or 'enchanting'. This is marketing. Anyone trained in marketing likely to know that!
17:45: He mentioned Team Rocket who do cross-dressing and other behaviours are bad examples for kids. Have I cross-dressed despite growing up watching Pokemon? Nope. Social & Applied Psychology found that TV does influence kids (so as adults) but if adults are nearby and educate a behaviour as incorrect, it actually works out better than avoiding it completely (they will still be exposed to it in future just not in TV and when you are not around to educate, how?)! Imagine you deprive your kids from all cartoons because it has a bit of things not in line with Biblical teaching, how can your kid fit into any social circle in school? Your kid will feel left out and may even eventually hate Church and associate all these social discrimination with Christianity because of your behaviour!
20:10: Claiming that MewTwo has a Satanic salute with its left hand (in Biblical tradition, 'right' is deem as good while 'left' is bad). Hello... that's the right hand on that poster though on your left hand side.
21:00: He featured this CNN news article that many Japanese became sick after watching Pokemon. He claimed that the kids did not have epilepsy. True? False again! A study based on sample size was carried out and NBC news did mention that electroencephalograms revealed that 10 of the 13 who had not been diagnosed with epilepsy did, in fact, have the disease! They likely have the genetic predisposition just may not be triggered before.
24:00: For the energy balls, for a electric-breed pokemon, you don't use lightning bolt symbol, you use what? For psychic pokemon, you don't use the eye, you use what? And that eye can be found on eye mo too! So eye mo Satanic? The fist is symbol of anarchy? We used to punch our fist to the sky in Army too! So rebelling? The symbol of fire is witchcraft? I see that in my fire extinguisher too! The leaf is also a witchcraft symbol? I don't know so many symbols have been copyrighted by witchcraft! Then water symbol also can link to witchcraft. Next time you better don't take water from any water source because it has the symbol and linked with witchcraft! Pokemon has its origins from its founder Satoshi Tajiri's childhood where he grew up at Machida where he collected bugs from rice paddies, rivers and forests. Full of nature. Of course you have those nature-based symbols!
Do you see how nonsensical you look to non-Christians when you believe in such things? The Bible has always been emphasised but did you know Paul in addressing food sacrificed to idols are only food if one does not associate it with the idols (1 Cor 8:1-13)? So what if indeed they are satanic symbols? If you do not know and do not believe nor your act will stumble others, does it matter?
28:40: You can have bad dreams for anything scary. You don't need hunter pokemon. I throw you a bunch of cockroaches see if you will have bad dreams. I once had nightmare assuming cockroach climbed on my legs and woke up suddenly because it did happen before! This is not the work of Satanism or whatever.
29:20: Then he mentioned 'Abracadabra' as a word used in magic. Do you know in Etymology, the study of the origin of words found it to have multiple possible sources and one of it is Jewish and perhaps Biblical origins? Read more about it from wikipedia and here. He then said Kadara has 'SSS' on its body which means 'Satan's Solemn Servant'. Have a look at this picture yourself if it is 3 wavy lines or 'SSS':
The Satanic salute I have addressed as well that it is invalid as the sign of the horns does not have three fingers. Further debate on Kadabra can be found here.
31:10: Did you see any kids really believing they have power to call upon pokemon? Last time, I did play with friends as a kid to call upon Captain Planet but it was for fun, not assuming it was real. We acted as if it was real because it was fun. Did you also see any pokemon fans raised their hands with the sign of the horns? I don't. If you have watched pokemon, you know that is nonsense as it has little association with pokemon. You call upon a pokemon by throwing out your pokeball and say "Pikachu, I choose you!"
31:20: He used news articles like the news on Montreal case (not the exact news page as can no longer find) as well as the Lakeland case to claim that kids believe they have magical power because they beat or even stab others over pokemon cards. Wait... doesn't make sense. If they believe they have, why still need a knife? Just call the pokemon like Pikachu to electrocute the other kid! And where did the News article claim that the kid did say "they were trying to steal my powers"? How did he know what the kid said exactly then?
I'm sure pokemon may destroy some families when some are players and some are not and those who are not debate with the players arguing it is satanic etc. then those that play will find them a nuisance and unreasonable. Then quarrel happen and family may break up. Was it really because of pokemon or the nonsensical belief that it is satanic leading to a self-fulfilling prophecy?
I have walked around my neighbourhood. I also saw families coming together where parents used pokemon to engage with their kids and play together. Instead of destroying families, it became a tool to bring them together too. It really depends on individual wisdom on how they use it rather than a deterministic view this speaker try to portray.
CONCLUSION
Why create the necessary fear among God protected Christians stumbling them by claiming this is associated with Satanism etc as if God does not protect His people that we have to check every single association and live in fear? Do you not know perfect love drives out fear? Fear has to do with punishment (1 John 4:18). If your heart is right with God, why should you fear? I do not agree or believe such message to be from God because firstly, it is not based on facts which I have given more credible sources to refute his claims. Christianity is about Truth and it is an insult to God by influencing people with lies just to get what you want. Sure, the spread of lies if adopted by majority can make it look 'true' but you are answerable to God when you see Him! Secondly, it creates unnecessary fears. Thirdly, it slanders against people without credible claims. It is against what a Christian should be.
Sure a few people may experience spiritual things but can individuals' experience be generalised for everything? Some people also experience spiritual things while cooking, so cooking = satanic? Sometimes what is 'spiritual' may just be your imagination. You are being bonded and you know that is not right. In psychology, that is called 'cognitive dissonance' which is uncomfortable and you will want to bring back consistency to your ideas, beliefs etc. You could do so by reasoning that it is not satanic or reason that it is and thus leave the game etc. The cognitive dissonance itself is not a claim that it is 'evil'. It is a state of no comfort, no peace. And why are you bonded? You may not really know. It may have some elements that increase psychological attraction etc. and need not be of satanic origins.
Pray for wisdom and think about the impact you have on your kids. By exaggerating cartoons as satanic when the claims are not valid and you just want to 'play safe', are you really abiding to Biblical standards and principles or are you creating the impression that Christianity is irrational, being a hindrance to a kids' ability to make friends and be seen as unattractive and drawing them away from God instead?
For me, as an adult, the spread of irrational news and claims do annoy me and in fact draw me away from the Church, not closer because I do not want to be associated with such irrationality. Then perhaps some may have self-fulfilling prophecy and say "ahh.... Pokemon led me to this else I wouldn't defend it against Christians". I'm defending the image of Christianity and will continue to do so until I no longer find it worth protecting. These claims are detrimental rather than beneficial for the Church in my opinion. How can I even attract people to Church when they know how nonsense it can be? Think again.
And so, this weekend would be the pink dot movement in Singapore
where those supporting LGBT rights will be wearing pink. The religious groups
who support pro-creation and fear how pink dot movement would affect society
will be wearing white. Both groups believe they are doing what is right while
the other group is doing harm and made assumptions.
Should I wear any of those colours? To many, they are quick to pick a colour to
wear. For me, I hesitate. Why?
1) APPLYING CHRISTIAN PRINCIPLES
For many Christians, they would be quick to say, "ahhh... Bible disagree
with homosexuality, it is obvious that we should wear white!" Then they
will quote the Bible:
But is it really so obvious? Have you worn white against sexual
immorality? Movies nowadays show nude scenes. Have you wore any coloured shirt
to protest against it or boycotted all Hollywood movies because of that?
Adultery is getting common too. Have you made any noise? Some people can be
greedy wanting to win a fortune by getting into gambling. Have you worn anything
to protest against it? Some Christians even gamble with greed! Are those lesser
sins in eyes of God? Is there selective reading?
The Bible while complex to understand has some very simple principles too.
Everything is summed as 'love':
And what exactly is 'love'?
Many may say "it keeps no record of wrongs" and so must
be accepting of all things. That is also selective reading. It says "Love
does not delight in evil". Hence, if something is considered 'evil' in
eyes of God, we should not support it. But it also says "... but rejoices
with the truth". Have we considered the truth before placing our
judgement? Are we really kind and understanding? 'Love' is often linked with
empathy, putting us in the shoes of others. But have we Christians really done
that?
2) RELYING ON THE TRUTH
Have you wondered why there is pink dot
movement? One of the reasons was due to early scientific studies. One of the
early studies was done by Bailey
& Pillard (1991)which
they wrote their findings that "52% (29/56) of monozygotic cotwins,
22% (12/54) of dizygotic cotwins, and 11% (6/57) of adoptive brothers were
homosexual". Adoptive brothers are not genetically identical. Dizygotic
cotwins have genes that are similar and monozygotic cotwins have almost identical
genes. And you can see that homosexuality increases as DNA is found to be
similar. This suggested that genes is one of the factors influencing sexual
orientation cause if one twin is homosexual and the other is, then it cancel
out environment as a likely cause especially if they were raised in different
families (in cases of orphans). The sample size for this research is small and
hence cannot really generalise but you can see the pattern.
Another much
bigger sample size research was done by Långström,
Rahman, Carlström
& Lichtenstein (2010) in Sweden on 3,826 same-sex twin pairs.
Genes were found to explain 34-39% of the differences in sexual orientation
while individual-specific environment explains 61-66%. You might then be quick
to say "see, genetics is only moderately the cause while environment is
the main cause hence they chose to be so". Is it? Did you get to choose
where you get born into? Did you get to choose your family? No.Even if environment is the main
cause, it doesn't mean you can choose freely.Dr.
Bailey warned that 'environmental' does not mean 'socially acquired' that
suggest individuals have full control. Also, 34-39% is still quite a big
number.
Another
research done byUniversity
of Californiain USA recently
suggested 20% due to genetics but it is of a much smaller sample size of 37
sets of twins (so questionable on the validity to suggest the whole population
would be 20% also). There are plans however to do a much bigger research on a
bigger sample size. To say it is mostly by 'choice' and justify any
discrimination is way too premature.
I used to
debate with people on such issues over at least a decade ago standing on the
white shirt camp and I lost the argument. I recalled reading a research done on
twins raised in different families that when one was found homosexual, the
other is as well and together with other researches, they somehow suggested
there is a 'gay gene'. I could no longer recall which research nor can I find
it now. Nevertheless, I did not support it. Few years ago I also debated with a
Professor during a Summer School when the topic was being raised by him. I
argued from sociological point of view that people can be socialised to certain
sexual orientation and while I am not against LGBT people, I'm not in favour of
it being promoted or publicised in anyway as kids can be influenced and may
affect population growth (the extent of it is questionable though) etc. Still,
I'm not in favour of wearing white. I'll explain why later.
Update: Some church leaders wanting to convince people to wear white saying that because Americans did not make a stand hence the bathroom bill got passed. This is false again. The Bathroom bill was partly a response to North Carolina's state bill to prevent any anti-discrimination/LGBT bill from being passed in the state's cities (which was also a response to an initial ordinance passed by Charlotte City Council, a city within North Carolina). Your so-called 'making a stand' will just escalate any potential conflicts and create unnecessary conflicts. Don't believe this as what happened instead of what those misinformed church leaders said? Read this news articlehere.Leaders have more power to influence and need to be careful with what they say and be responsible. People look up to them. When I argued against what was said by leaders, people criticised me and believe everything said by leaders. Despite my years of education, when it comes to faith, all these are discounted. Even if I'm trained in social sciences to know the possible impact of actions, all are discounted.
Then they also brought out that because of
legalising it being liberal, Europe is in a mess that toilets can be found in
public that everyone can see you peeing openly even for ladies! Is that true?
Below are two photos of some of such toilets I found from google:
They are not so open that you will be
exposed as was suggested. It was exaggerated that such toilet is in the centre
of a mall and it is common! That is nonsense. I have lived in UK for a year,
travelled to Iceland, France, Netherlands, Germany and Italy and I did not see
it common at all! And all these toilets seem to be gents only. The more common
toilets are such paid toilets that I found from google:
They warned against legalising such
movement as it will end up many people being influenced and people would openly
perform certain acts with everything in a mess. Having been living in UK for a
year, I did not see what they claimed. I did not see a mess. While there are
such cases, they are not far above what happens in Singapore and definitely not
above what happen at Changi Village at midnight despite we have laws against
it! It is totally fear-mongering without basis.
4) RELYING ON REASONING
It seems like quite a few Christians
suggest that they have a choice. I argued above that even if it is environment
as a cause, it does not mean you have control or a choice. Ask yourself if you
are straight why do you get attracted to the opposite sex? You would say
"because she is so pretty" or "he is so handsome". And why
are you only attracted to beautiful things? You just cannot explain. You have
no control over what is biological which may also be shaped by environment
(e.g. virus do mutate based on environmental changes).
Have you considered what benefit is there
in being a homosexual? They get ostracised. Who in the right mind would want to
be ostracised? And people still think it is mostly a choice so they label them
as 'sinners' being guilty because they chose to as the 'judges' would claim.
They face hardship and as Christians,
shouldn't we show love and hence empathy to them (this is also why straight
people supported pink dot movement due to society ostracising them too much)?
While we cannot agree to their movement because of religious beliefs, do we
have to wear white and go head on? Some argued that this is not head on but to
create awareness to the Government that majority do not agree. You think
Government stupid or what?Government
has already made clear that they are not going to repeal Section 377A of the
penal code to legalise such movement. Yet, they will also not enforce it to
criminalise such movement. Government is aware of the thoughts of
majority (NUS Institute of Policy Studies did a survey study where majority of over 70% still do not accept so why need you to even wear white to create awareness to the government?) and if any change in legislation will have to go through parliamentary
debates. If you want to raise objection, you could do it then if such bill is
being developed! Why create conflict unnecessary, making so much noises?
What good is it to society when two camps
fight one another under the same excuse of 'just creating awareness'? It only
leads to polarisation that attitude towards you by the other camp will be even
more negative thinking that you are not understanding and unwelcoming then they
will turn even more aggressive and more will join them when they find you
unreasonable. Then your camp will see it as a real threat and increasingly so
and start to convince more people to wear white. Then everything just escalate
all because of self-fulfilling prophecy and unwise decision made.
CONCLUSION
Instead of wearing white, you can still
make your stand like what I did with my Professor that I acknowledged that
genetics is a cause and that it is not fully a choice. But to promote it may
cause other problems too. When you reason, there is a higher chance to convince
people and when you show that you understand the hardship they go through, they
are also more open to what you have to say. If you just wear white, who knows
what you were thinking when wearing that? They will just find you unreasonable;
harden their hearts further and what good have you done that created the image
that Christianity is unloving? Don't believe such initiative is being seen as bigotry? Just read the comments found here.
Be like Christ who in front of the crowd
that tried to stone the adulteress chose not to condemn her but kindly
corrected her with love and not activism. And note that this is Singapore, a
home belonging to all. It does not belong to Christians alone so don't use the
Christian values to push down to everyone's throat forcing them to accept your
values and beliefs. You can speak up but to go into activism is a bit too much
I feel.
Still want to wear white or pink leading
to polarisation and social unrest with the excuse of 'creating awareness'? I
see no good reason and want no part of these.
An update: I saw this video by 3:16 church in Facebook which I want to promote as a far wiser movement. It recognises the struggle that LGBT group have to endure instead of assuming it is a mere choice of lifestyle. It is also far more welcoming showing that the cell group cares for such person that love of God could be seen. Imagine all Christians share such video in Facebook instead of merely wearing white, which is more effective and more aligned to Christian principle of love? This video has the message of love yet made its stand. Wearing white made your stand but does not carry with it a message of love. Instead, it suggests bigotry and intolerance. Have a look at the video at the church's main page here. This church even have a special service tomorrow at 4 pm featuring testimonies from those struggling. For more info, look at their Facebook page here.
It has been a while since I wrote about something in my blog.
In recent months, I came across some comments in SIM Confessions that is so negative about the future career prospects of distance learning degree holders like SIM-UOL and the complaints about discrimination against distance learning. It is annoying to be frank that they are creating negative impact on others while you have been volunteering your time to help improve things for them and create a better image of the community.
Here are some common complaints:
Pay lower than Diploma holders
Could not get pay equivalent to local graduates
Could not get the expected salary hence decided to keep on looking
In my mind is like "hello... wake up your idea". To address those complaints, here are my arguments on those complaints in hope that mentality will change:
1) Pay Lower than Diploma Holders
Which diploma holders are you comparing with? They read news articles that claim average diploma holders post-NS earns like $2.5k and argued what is the point of studying a degree?
Hello... do you know what does 'average' in statistics mean? It is the 'mean' which is affected by outliers. You should look at median, the 50th percentile which is around $2,250!
And have you ever wondered why would any employer bother to pay $250 extra to someone just because they have done NS? Employers are not doing charities! It could be that they give NS recognition pay because they are Government-linked or their NS experience is relevant to their job. And you are using a private company that does not have NS recognition pay and a job that has nothing to do with your NS role and compare with that? Is it even a fair and reasonable comparison?
If you can't even reason or understand statistics, why should employers pay you high when you do not have the abilities to analyse and understand things to make yourself worth that much?
2) Could Not Get Pay Equivalent to Local Graduates
Earning less than local graduates generally is expected. Local uni graduates are consistent performers. If you are an employer, be objective and ask yourself this: would you place your trust more on someone who is consistent or one that is not? And so your answer why local graduates earn more.
Sure there are discrimination (unjustified) against distance learning degree holders but do you rather complain and wait for good jobs to drop from the sky (which won't) or buck up and show the world that you can do it too? Some sacrifice at the start (like earning lesser but gaining relevant work experience for your career like I did as explained here) is nothing when you have the eagerness and passion to strive, and with the use of strategy on your career path, you still can excel better than those hares that look down on the tortoises in the long run (I'm a tortoise myself but I am back on track now and faster than some hares)! Listening to the story of the hare and tortoise countless times in childhood seems like it means nothing to them.
3) Could Not Get the Expected Salary Hence Decided to Keep on Looking
Ya... as if jobs will drop from the sky and bow to you solely because you have a degree. If you can't match the requirements, who cares you have a degree? Plenty of degree holders out there who are eager and show that they are contributors and not with entitlement mentality. Keep on dreaming and the longer you are jobless, the less bargaining power you have over salary while all your knowledge just depletes as you do not use them and your worth just drop as time goes. You know, I went to some of the local universities for their career fairs as an employer (I'm in HR role) and there are even students so willing to take a gap year just to get internship! If you are not hungry enough, just keep on waiting...
Employers usually will mark down your salary when the gap between your last job and current applied job is too big. If after 2 months no invitation to interview yet, you have to do something already. Change your CV format base on what the employer really wants (look at here for ideas and market yourself well as mentioned here) or even lower expected salary!
Why I'm a Little Upset
I do not see people being eager to network (there are some minorities that are and I did see some who turned up at University of London's 7th Apr 2016 career networking session at Singapore which is delightful and I believe these are those that will excel in their career). Some thinking of the registration fee for lifetime member at the Alumni Association as high. For fresh graduates, I can understand that. But for those already working for quite some time, $50 is really nothing. They just did not see the value of networking that I have mentioned here. You ask some of them to consider joining alumni, some argue it is elitist group that they feel out of place but then they complain about discrimination and the inability to get good jobs and excel.
I have shared with two of my juniors today after the career networking session of my intention to become a lecturer not at poly but at private uni because I do not see it as mere teaching but as someone that's transforming the life of another, giving them hope and when you see them successful, it is a great feeling! I wanted to be in the corporate world, gain relevant work experience and be up there first before lecturing so that I can show myself as a role model of 'been there, done that'. Many people who entered private uni in Singapore will feel discouraged because they could not enter local uni, believing they are 2nd class citizens. That was the case for me too in the past but I bucked up and worked my way back on track! I wanted to show people that you as a private uni graduate can excel too! All you need is just to buck up and work on it!
However, many are saying "none of my friends got good jobs, got into Big 4 accounting firms or get good pay". But surprisingly, my surrounding friends do get good prospect. One went to LSE got distinction and went Chicago Booth for her PhD. One went Oxford for his Masters and working in London now. One went LSE and in EY now (got EY even before LSE with his 1st class). One went LSE and in IDA getting very good pay. I, myself got into a graduate programme in a Forbes Global 2000 company. How come? You see, you are applying convenience sampling that is not representative of the true nature of the population. Sure, people who excel are rare and not common. But when you mix around with the right group (e.g. the Alumni who usually are filled with eager people who has a goal and vision), you will just hear more success stories, be motivated and even gain ideas from those who are successful on how to excel. You are equipped with the knowledge that LSE students get at London campus itself and you do not use the critical thinking ability to think for yourself?
Hello... if you do not fight for opportunities, will jobs drop from the sky?
