We’ve all just learnt about Individualism vs Collectivism.

Personally, I think that there’s no pure individualist. There’s someone I know, who puts himself above others, he studies like there’s no tomorrow and if he comes up to you and said “I went out yesterday to catch a movie”, I would be certain the sky had fallen and doomsday is imminent.

The incident that I remember the best is that he once told his only friend (“XX”), “Do not sit beside me.” In poly, we had to change classes every year or semester, and finally during the second last semester of the course, he was finally in the same class as XX (actually more of a living thing he was seen with other than his school bag and textbooks).

The first reaction you would expect would be glee, instead, he was unhappy about it, and then told XX the alarming sentence.

Till here, we can see he has disturbingly low dependency, he doesn’t care about any living thing. His goals, attitudes and values are of personal benefit.

Factors of an Individualist
Yes, he speaks freely, offending most people in his path
Honesty – I doubt. He often lies about the most retarded things
Social recognition – I highly doubt if he even needs it
Hedonism – His luxuries are his expensive textbooks and indulges in winning others academically
Rewards – yes, he’d love that

This person would be what I expected to be the most individualistic and most extreme.
In my opinion, there isn’t a distinct separation between individualism and collectivism. The two would overlap in some way or another. Being an individualist or collectivist would just be based on majority of the factors instead of purely possessing one side.



How often do we use fillers to fill up the empty spaces in between our words?

We might use empty words such as ‘well’, ‘actually’, ‘you know’ etc. as a stalling device to gain time to think of what to say or how to bring our message across.

This thought has been lingering in my mind for some time, and it suddenly occurred to me that this does not only happen in verbal communication, but also across the internet.

How many of you “haha” when you aren’t really laughing? The topic may be on the funny side, and laughing would be a “polite” reply. However, what if the topic isn’t funny at all. This time, “haha-ing” would be a filler.

I have a friend who “haha” whenever. He types this in almost every sentence, funny or not. Now I know, he’s using it as a filler.

I have another friend, who “hahahahahahahaha”. She says it’s a habit and she can’t stop using it. Yes, she literally uses that many haha.

So now I have a question, do you people “haha” to fill up the empty space and to make the conversation less harsh, or do you really laugh when you type those words?

A stereotype can be a conventional and oversimplified conception, opinion or image, based on the assumption that there are certain attributes that members of the other group hold in common.

When you see a specky boy wearing high waisted jeans and refuses to look at you in the eye when you two converse, what goes through your mind?

A nerd.

The moment your eyes laid upon this individual, you have already sterotyped him. Unless a miracle happens, the perception of him would not change.

Lets talk about someone of a different character. Imagine you are strolling down Orchard Road, and you see this female with silky long hair, a small waist and long slim legs. What runs through your mind then? “Woooo hot.” You then try your best to find out what she looks like. Because in your mind, you have already perceived her to be a beauty.

Everyone judges each other on the first meeting. You may say “I do not”, but in fact you already have.

So lets now talk about physical appearance. Define beauty.

“Beauty is only skin deep” but beauty is almost everything isn’t it?

Imagine this senario. You arrange an appointment for an interview with XXX Company. You put on your smartest shirt and flash your best smile. Armed with your superb resume and the confidence that you will definitely get the “Sales Executive” position. You then step into the meeting room and give the best presentation of your life. But you do not get employed. Why, why and why?

What do employers look for in an employee?

Of course, your resume, how do you carry yourself, which also means confidence and self esteem levels, your ability of eloquency and lastly, how you look.

AGREED?

I shall talk about judging a book by its cover some other fine day. Perphaps that I am actually a boy.