Montag, August 16, 2004

Commercial Euphemism; Utilitarian perception.

I recalled that a few months before enlistment, I bought papers everyday to have a quick browse at what jobs I could take up. I came across one which was enticing. " Tuition Coordinator $10/hr ", picked up the phone and gave the fella a call. The fella spoke with deep tone and sounded mechanical, I was impressed with his quick reflexes in answering questions. I missed the interview and happened to speak to my friend about it.
Apparently, the job ad was tricky.
My friend wanted to try the job many years back and discovered its stinky secret. You don't coordinate other people's tuition but you do your own and it sounded like ultimate sai kang. You print your own ads, you dial your own client's no., you find business yourself and I seriously wonder how $10/hr can be generated. He tried it out when we were Sec 4 and obviously explains why the phone operator sounded so dead and computerised. Saw another ad today, " Course Coordinator .. Earn $2000/month .. Earn as you learn !... for only.. ", don't bother reading again, it never made sense to me.
Euphemism has been used as a tool to get labour fast and labour depressed. With greater transparency, ads could hopely reduce the pain of being tricked especially when one is utterly down in luck with job searching. Of course, what can people do if employers say that typographical space on the papers are precious and costly thus condensing job descriptions.

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I was waiting for my turn at NUH Diagnostics Imaging Centre and grabbed the papers and read the Forum. It was about abortion and all those things you typically encounter during GP class but nonetheless I read on. Refreshing and revelating it was, the writer hit on the right spot. Away with all these " I can't support a disabled child thus I'm going to abort it " bullshit, she (if I'm right) described some of the people as utilitarian. Forget about philosophical enquiries in moral issues, most of us are just obsessed with pragmatism and self-fulfilment. No one wishes to die, even some people who are going to jump down hestitate, the 'Silent Scream' very well justifies that foetuses don't want to die. Dreams, ideals are also things that disabled people have. Come to think of the phrase ' Disabled people ', we too are flight-disabled (as she wrote), just that all can't fly thus => normal. It's sad that I still can't break out of the utilitarian mindset, I believe I'll have great difficulty because I've been brought up in a practical and fast-paced environment. I've been too dominating such that I feel that it's something intrinsic of me. Perhaps that's why I and maybe we have difficulty accepting others who are different and less able than us.

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