Nationalism, Racism and Humanity

There have been some talk of late on the inhumane treatment of stray dogs by the city pounds. Then I heard of an NGO who is advocating counselling for children of refugees/illegal immigrants, that they should not be placed in the same place of incarceration as adults for fear of traumatizing these gentle souls for life. But then, I thought of most of the immigration population all around the world had done well for themselves and for the country that accepted them as guests. In fact, history has shown those who roam the streets of relatively stable societies with affluence, structured social structure and without a care in the world may end up as raving lunatics.
Then there are those on the other end who are out to squeeze out the last drop of blood and sweat of their foreign workers. Even though, they give their life and soul to the development of the country, these workers are considered lesser human beings by many. They were not born here, they say. I was here earlier, say others. What would happen to their children, you would say. Surely by then, the offspring would have the local lingo and customs. And other things would be mentioned that suspect their loyalty, their race, their whatever. If the workers fall ill or get debilitated enroute to elevate the status of the nation to one of the first world, the country feels that the non productive worker must be bundled back to his native country rather than letting him hog the system and over utilize the already depleted resources in the public hospital.
The other day, a friend, living in an up market guarded community relating an incident that happened recently.   Two occupants of above average intelligence and socioeconomic strata (obviously neither of the common sense and humanity faculties) were involved in a meaningless tiff. Animosity brewed gradually over trivial matters like one neighbour's dog peeing in the other's compound. Then the other became unhappy when the parking arrangement of one's vehicle impinged on the other's compound. One thing led to another which finally ended up with a noisy stand off!
We cannot even care for each other fellow human being but we seem to be more emphatic to animals! Ironic.. More like moronic!   

Half a century behind

After frying my fat cells in my cranium with five 13-episode seasons of Mad Men, the only deduction I can make is that what they are showing in the series is what is happening in 50 years later in Malaysia. In other words, some a sociological viewpoint, we are 50 years behind them, which is not necessarily a bad thing. It is a spontaneous evolution of any society where one seeming more 'advanced' society set a precedence and a yardstick for any younger ones to follow suit. In order to how what is in store for our future generation, see 'The new Beverly Hills 90210'!
Revolutionary changes happening over the 5 seasons were ladies creeping into decision making posts not mere making coffee and cleaning up, interracial unions, ladies smoking and drinking freely, extra marital and premarital flings with no qualms about its guilt and the effort of psychological disturbances in daily lives.
Gone is the era where people were more conformist to the norms set by the majority. Fundamentals held close to everyone's heart is sacrosanct no more. There are questioned. Abstract answers based on folklore and hearsay would not suffice to quench the thirst to explain and understand every non tangible subject with an objective answer. Blind acceptance is passé. The frustrated older generation who try to impart their long long learnt experience in lessons of life falls on deaf ears, not without an earful of explicits. Times are a'changing!