Survival of the fittest - effective but cruel

This post is in response to the Wee Shu Min (da RJC girl) saga. In reply to Derek Wee's concerns (published in ST forum) on older workers being less employable, the latter ridiculed the former, calling him a "wretched, undermotivated, overassuming leech", saying that "if you're not good enough, life will kick you in the balls", "if people would prefer hiring other people over you, it's because they're better".

Yes, miss wee has a point but her bloody tone and insensitiveness doesn't help to put her point across. Of course derek wee should try every measure to make himself more employable, but i find her lack of compassion is also troubling - and given that she's the daughter of an MP, her comments are bound to make people talk and will probably have significant ramifications on her dad's career, whether fair or unfair, justified or not. Yes, she's an RJC humanities scholar, and he's probably learnt - but failed to apply - ethics (kantian, golden rule etc.) in philosophy class. Giftedness without empathy makes you a mindless, heartless, souless robot; talent without morals can only be a detriment to society - what if that talent is applied in the wrong manner? Just look at people like Osama: he's talented, no doubt, but this talent has been applied in perverse ways. I certainly hope that this episode is not an accurate reflection of her character and she is not devoid of a heart. If not, i fear for her - what goes around comes around.

The idea of survival of the fittest is a very efficient and effective one in terms of producing results, the trouble with it is that it's a very cruel system, lacking in empathy and pretty heck care whether each individual sinks or swims (i.e. you die, just too bad).The basis of capitalism is also survival of the fittest - and therefore it is sometimes cruel (think of polarisation), but society has implemented various safety nets to help those who fall behind in this race (e.g. social security, social welfare, unions, legislation on retrenchment benefits etc), as well as tried to ensure that everyone is given (as far as possible) equal opportunity. Of course the reverse of capitalism (i.e. communism) won't work at all because of man's selfish nature that undermines its premise of equal effort, therefore deserving of equal reward. At the end of the day, a balance is needed.

Related mrbrown podcast: The elite way to say sorry