Nirvana-bound's comments

El Toro Es Guapa:

Kashmir is an integral part of India & the UN has no bloody right to even consider a plebicite there. But based on your line of thinking, Alaska belongs to Russia & Texas, Arizona, Nevada & California should all be returned to Mexico. Similarly the Bathists deserve Spain to be split up & Northern Iraq/Kurdistan belongs to the Kurds... All these others, are far more deserving of UN intervention, than Kashmir.

Take those blinkers off, dude.

This misplaced outrage to Amy Chau's "Tiger Mom" (tuff love) exhortations, is typical 'knee-jerk' over-reaction, to the sting of home truths, where it hurts most.

Kids in the decadent West are, sadly, more than likely to be narcissistic, mollycoddled, cocky, kno-it-all spoilt rotten brats, than their eastern/oriental counterparts, whose parents demand excellance before praise or acknowledgement is dished out.

Here in the West, kids are shielded from the harsh realities & lulled into a delusional utopia by their doting, ever-praising & overprotective parents & grow up unable to face the truth or failure because of their ivory tower lifestyle.

Amy Chau maybe at the other end of the parenting spectrum, but never the less a better, more productive & successful one than what most American parents adopt - generally speaking.

And of course there's always that happy median, in between..

Spot on! That's precisely the difference between the emerging East & the regressing West: Management walks the talk in the pragmatic East, as opposed to just talk the talk, as in the pretentious & greed-obsessed West.

Time for a 'managed' reality check, guys.

So all Yee 'Church-detractors' take particular note! The Church does a lotta good too, unlike what most of Yee disclaim - especially in the poor, developing nations.

Maybe in the decadent West the Church has also dissipated into decadence & serves little of moral or spiritual value, any more. It's morphed into just another self-serving business entity; a real estate conglomerate. Nevertheless, credit must be given, where it's due.

Apparently the wisdom of the East, returned unappreciated with the Three Wise Men & the only one who learnt from them, was infant Jesus!

Oh Decadent West! When will you reject your arrogant pride & embrace humility??

@ Nyaya:

You echo my gut feeling & sentiments too.

The hapless, discarded & mostly ignored poor, matter only at election time. Dirty politics prevails unabated..

The age-old 'carrot & stick' ploy continues to work successfully, to the exclusive advantage of the rich & the powerful. The hardworking, albeit delusional masses, remain in abject denial about their sorry plight, while obsessing about making it rich, someday.

Narcissistic pride & infantile hubris, inculcated in them over decades, by vested interest lobbies, work against their better judgement & blinds them to their pathetic serfdom.

Meanwhile, the filthy rich are laughing all the way to the bank & beyond..

Commonsense dictates that decadent, mollycoddled, narcissistic, self-absorbed & entitlement-obsessed western spoilt brats are no comparison to their book-wormish, learning-obsessed Chinese/Asian counterparts, when it comes to acadamic excellance. Anyone who denies this lives in catatonic denial!

Just look at the demographics of American University students today. The majority of the science/maths, engineering/computer & medical students are of Chinese/Asian ethnicity. Credit for this goes to the "tiger moms" without a doubt.

However, western/Caucasian kids are markedly more 'socially' comfortable, exuding more confidence & better communication skills than their oriental counterparts. Credit for this also undoubtedly goes to the far more lax, constantly praising, esteem-building, albeit, mollycoddling western moms.

Each has its pros & cons. The smart parents take advantage of both schools of thought, bringing up their kids with intelligent & pragmatic doses of strictness & pampering. Finding the right mix will ensure unmitigated success & boundless joy in parenting.

If the oil prices keep on soaring this way, OPEC will have the rare distinction of destroying world economies, once & for all. But that's tantamount to cutting the branch they stand on!

OPEC, don't allow insatiable GREED to blind you to the longterm realities. Hopefully commonsense & pragmatism will prevail, before things get completely outta hand..