Tolerance

Few days ago, I went to a shopping mall with my housemates. We decided to treat ourselves with a shopping trip because the mid-term examination had just ended. We went there by bus even though it was time consuming because it was cheaper than other transportations like taxi and KTM. After two hours (yes you got that right) we arrived at the shopping mall and we filled our grumbling stomachs at Fish Market Restaurant.

When we were on the way to the cinema we saw a crowd of people in front of the main hall of the shopping mall. We pushed ourselves through the crowd to see what was going on. We saw a bitter quarrel between two men. What we were able to catch from the fight was the old man shouting, “Either you pay me a compensation of RM199 or you end up being charged by the police!” An auntie standing beside me helped to clarify the whole incident to us. A young man had broken the wineglass that belonged to the old man. The young man was refused to pay him because he thought that it was not his fault. Shortly after that, the security guard appeared and the two men were asked to settle the problem in the office.

I was wondering that why they couldn’t settle the argument calmly. Sometimes it is very difficult to deal with different kinds of people. Different people have different beliefs, attitudes and behaviours. Therefore, I think they should be more tolerant and patient in order to live in harmony. I always remember this when I have arguments with the people around me and try to reconcile it in a good way.

My principle is such that once we notice a problem we have to settle it immediately. Any misunderstanding will result in an unforeseeable consequence. In our daily life we encounter different types of people. Some of them might be very kind and generous while some might not. Hence, it is very important for us to learn how to get on well with people to avoid any fights. 

Ad populum Fallacy of False Dilemma

A limited number of options (usually two) are given. It is very deceptive because it plays on the fear that everyone has about making the wrong decision.

But in reality there are more options than the two that are stated. In the case above, there are more options available than stated such as negotiation, apologization, and paying half and etc.

Written by Chan Mei Wui  1091102754

6 Thinking Hats

Green Hat

Recall back what I listened and learnt from the Critical thinking lecture in 16^th ogos 2010. During the class, Madam Aznur asked the students, “How could we get any information if the company refuses to reveal their information upon our request?” Nobody could answer lecturer’s question and all were stunned. Actually, I had thought of few ways on how to get the information from them such as having a business deal with them (buy the information from them) but I didn’t share this in the class. After that, Madam Aznur continued talking about her student who was doing her master. She requested the information from the company but got turned down . Therefore, she thought of her own way to overcome the problem. She used Facebook to do online survey. It was one of the faster ways to gain information from the public. Her survey only targeted at some specific groups in Facebook which could help her with the research project. She wanted to know how many customers are using internet to purchase their book from MPH. Her target groups, which are members of MPH group, were given clear instruction for the survey to avoid any redundancy. I conclude that she must be wearing green hat which mean growth of creative thinking while she was coming out with ideas how to obtain information.

Yellow Hat

SPM reminds everyone of secondary school. The form 5 students especially go through it to proceed to the next level of their studies or life. When the results are released, some cry while some rejoice. Students who achieve flying colour brim with happiness because their efforts are finally paid off. Students do not achieve excellence regret of how little effort they have put in. I believe that the results depend on how much effort one puts into it.

 I was the 2008 year SPM batch student and unfortunately I belong to the groups of students who mourn over their results. I did not manage to reach my target but I remain optimistic about it. I thought that the failure did not mean I could not success in the future. I still had to face different challenges greater than this. My advice to all form 5 students:  don’t be upset just because your results aren’t as good as others. We must wear the yellow hat all the time. Think positively whenever life gives you a lemon. 

Written by Chin Wai How 1091103977

Conclusion and premises

I had my lunch with my aunt today. After lunch, we went to TM Point to fix up the online stuff. I followed my aunt to her office at Kota Damansara because she did not send me back to home first. I brought along my laptop and did my homework at her office. I saw a microwave oven at the pantry. I used it to heat a cup of milk. While i was waiting for the milk, i read the words on the oven.

 

From the sticker on the microwave oven,  there are many premises that support the implicit conclusion. The sticker shows that using the oven can help save the environment. Besides it is easy to clean and can cook food in a short time. These are the premises. The implicit conclusion supported by the premises is that we should buy this to speed up our cooking process.

We went back home at 6 o’clock. On the way back, we went to Mcdonald to grab ice cream. Wow! Very delicious!

Written by Steffi Kha Yan Yap 1091101757

First Entry : Brain Storming

Becoming a leader is definitely not as easy as it may seem. Donald H. McGannon once said before, “Leadership is action, not position.” I now much agree to his saying. Two months back I was elected a camp leader for the society I just joined. Little did I know that the glamour which accompanies the title of the position would bring along with setbacks, difficulties and despair.

A leader is not a leader until his followers stand beside him. That was exactly what I felt when I looked at the attendance of the committee members during previous meetings. Not all were committed to their roles in organizing the camp. Besides, quite a number of times we were stuck in the middle of discussion. We could not generate any ideas for issues such as accommodation, games selections, and activities to be carried out. It frustrated us and it did not help at all in motivating our progress.

Critical Thinking Mid-term exam was slowly inching its way to me. Having noticed it, I quickly browsed through both lecture and tutorial notes. I stumbled upon one interesting chapter, “Brainstorming”. It immediately shone light on the current difficulty. I was determined to adopt this method during the next camp meeting. I was hoping that it would help us to come out with ideas about activities to do in the camp.

  The next meeting as expected we were stuck. Then I remembered what I learnt from the tutorial. After giving instruction to the secretary to record down all suggestions, I gave them the background of our problem. We were to come out with ideas for activities to be done for the unfilled slots. There was no big “mahjong paper”, so I replaced it with a smaller A4 size paper. I listed down a few sample suggestions such as “play games” and “sharing”. Then I reminded them that nobody was allowed to criticize and wild ideas were encouraged as well as that quantity matters. Our warm up exercise in creative thinking was to crack some lame jokes. I started telling them about the story of cows drink milk or water and others began picking up with some other challenging IQ questions.

After sensing that everyone was ready, we proceeded into brainstorming. Many started with the generally known ideas such as “sharing their experiences with others”, “more games”, “another session by speaker” and etc. Some threw wild and creative ideas, such as “have the campers run around the campsite”, “art work”, and etc. Many a times some of us wanted to debate the practicality of certain ideas but I immediately stopped that from happening. Towards the end of our 30 minutes brainstorming, I notified them about the time limit and gave them extra 3 minutes to close down our brainstorming session. After collecting all ideas, I thanked them for this rigorous “brain juice squeezing “exercise. We moved on to discuss some other details about the camp.

I was quite happy with the outcomes of this brainstorming session. I was satisfied to see that all members actively participated in the contribution of ideas. Well, I gladly hope that one of the ideas can be used. I will only reveal the answer next week. So, stay tuned!

 

Written by POH TZE PHEI 1091100566

A Family Trip

Last Sunday was a memorable family trip for me. My elder sister had been planning to go on a trip to Cameron Highland since the last summer holiday but due to schedule problem the trip was postponed. Finally, after we got everything arranged we set the date on last Sunday. We departed at 6 o cock early in the morning. It was quite a difficulty to pull myself up from slumber land. However, when I thought of the fresh strawberries in the highland I quickly freshened up.

The way to Cameron Highland was bumpy and winding so that we could not take a nap in the car. Throughout the journey I felt dizzy while my sister vomited. Guess what? Our parents were still able to talk cheerfully and humorously. After three and half hours we finally reached the destination.

After checking in to the hotel, we visited strawberry farm.. The bracing air of Cameron Highland was fresh and cold. Although I was wearing sweater at the time, I was shivering due to the weather. The strawberry farm is big and besides strawberries (duh!), there were different types of flowers and vegetables such as radishes, cauliflowers, and cabbages. I noticed that the price of the vegetables is much cheaper than those available in hypermarkets. The foods and beverages sold in the farm (yes good marketing strategy) are mostly strawberry flavour.  We filled our stomach with strawberries pancake, strawberries cheese cake, strawberries milk shake and a very big size fruit salad as our breakfast. It was extremely tasty! Not to forget this meal only cost us about RM 60. Cheap!

After checking in to the hotel, we visited strawberry farm.. The bracing air of Cameron Highland was fresh and cold. Although I was wearing sweater at the time, I was shivering due to the weather. The strawberry farm is big and besides strawberries (duh!), there were different types of flowers and vegetables such as radishes, cauliflowers, and cabbages. I noticed that the price of the vegetables is much cheaper than those available in hypermarkets. The foods and beverages sold in the farm (yes good marketing strategy) are mostly strawberry flavour.  We filled our stomach with strawberries pancake, strawberries cheese cake, strawberries milk shake and a very big size fruit salad as our breakfast. It was extremely tasty! Not to forget this meal only cost us about RM 60. Cheap!

 

Then we went back to the hotel and bathed. When I was about to change my pair of long jeans to a pair to short pant, my sister was persuading me not to do that because the weather was cold. Of course I told her off and didn’t heed her advice because she was wearing a pair of shorts shorter than mine. In the evening, we had dinner in a Chinese restaurant and strolled along a night market. The night market was selling vegetables, flowers, foods, and different kinds of strawberries made products. My family bought vegetables and fruit whereas I just got myself souvenirs.

The next day, we woke up fresh as a daisy after a long sleep. We checked out from the hotel and walked to the morning market that was located nearby our hotel. We were slightly disappointed seeing that the products sold there were similar to the night market. We ended our short trip right after that.  I enjoyed the trip although it was only two days because what matters after all is the time spent with family.

The statement in blue shows us Tu quoque Fallacy. It is a mistake done when it involves a speaker (writer) making an argument that points out someone has the same fault he is accusing the speaker (or writer) of having. Instead of providing a reason to why I still wanted to wear short pants, I refuted her by saying she wore even shorter pants.

Written by Chan Mei Wui  1091102754

Ad populum Appeal To Tradition

Argghhh again she is nagging

I remember those enjoyable days spent with friends when I was still in secondary school. Sometimes I would go back home late at around 11pm.Every time without fail, my mother would always be waiting for me at home with an angry face. She would start lecturing me.

Mother: “Your brother and sister are never late for home and they will always reach home before 10pm. You also should reach home before 10pm. But why you are always late for home?”

Me: “Why do I need to follow the time that is set by them? “

Mother: “Because all of your brother and sister are like that and you have to be the same .Just like you are wearing spectacles and your brother and sister are wearing too.”

Me: “Alright. I will try to come back early next time.”

In this situation, my mother has committed Ad populum Appeal to Tradition fallacy.

“Your brother and sister are never late for home before and they will always reach home before 10pm. You also should reach home before 10pm. “It shows that my mother was trying to  persuade me to come home early and she supported t it by saying I should follow the tradition. She did not provide me with the reasons why I was to come back early. She added that all of my family members wear spectacles so I’m also wearing spectacle.

 

Written by Pang Hui Hui 1091101482

Ad Populum Appeal To Shame

I remember very clearly that after my secondary school life had just ended, my friends were planning for all sorts of entertainment. One special night, we were hanging around at a mamak stall. Then they decided to go clubbing, drink and they invited me to join them. However I turned down the offer. I knew then I hadn’t hit 18 and I would never be able to get my mother’s permission.


They laughed at me and sneered at me, saying “You are such a mommy’s boy! You have to ask your mom in everything you do. Will you ask her if you want to date a girl or you want to marry a girl?”


The other one added in, “Even Kelly is coming. Are you afraid to come? If you are not coming with us, you are not a man.” Totally embarrassed, I agreed to go and ended up vomiting the whole night after drinking.


I regretted buying their argument. They intended to persuade me by embarrassing or making me feel uncomfortable “referring to my being a sissy” if I had not agreed to go. Why hadn’t I taken Critical Thinking subject then?

Written by : Eu Thian Teck

Lost World Tambun

Last month, I had my first trip organized by MMU Cyberjaya. This was an ice-breaking trip for our Tourism Club committee only. That was a memorable trip for me. Our destination was “Lost World of Tambun”, Water Theme Park@ Sunway City Ipoh. I went to this trip because the senior of the club said that: “You all are the best committee that we have ever met since the set up of this club. Thank you so much for your active participation. Since you all are such an understanding committee, I thought you all could go for the ice-breaking trip.” So, I registered for it.

On that day, we departed from campus at 8.00am. The journey was 4 hours long. We had some briefing for the game and activities later. After that, we had our lunch in the bus. One of my friends-Thye, had good appetite and the food provided was not enough for him. So, he said to me: “Hui, I have never eaten such tasty rice noodles before. But, your rice noodles seem to be even tastier.. Can you share some with me?” Of course I said “NO” to him because my stomach was also screaming “help” to me.

Finally, we reached our destination. The station game started soon after we had changed our attire. Within 3 hours, we ran through all the facilities around the water park. After that, we had some time for us to have our own activities. “Lost World of Tambun” is really a nice place to go. They have many different types of facilities. We didn’t realize that it was time to leave. We went for bath and packed up to leave the place.  We marked the end of our trip with a group photo session. All of us enjoyed the journey very much.

We checked in to our accommodation. At night, we had our dinner and they conducted the Prize Giving Ceremony. When we were having our night activities, I overheard the conversation between one of the committee members with her friends: “Lost World of Tambun is truly the place worth to go. We surely have many chances to go to different places by joining the tourism club.” 

-THE END-

Implementation from BCT Syllabus:  

•  “You all are the best committee that we have ever met since the set up of this club. Thank you so much for your active participation. Since you all are such an understanding committee, I thought you all could go for the ice-breaking trip.”

•   “Hui, I have never eaten such tasty rice noodles before. But, your rice noodles seem to be even tastier. Can you share some with me?”

The above statements are employing Fallacy Ad populum appeal to vanity.These fallacies attempt to make you feel “special” and to be respected so that you will be closer to the other person and tend to agree with his/her argument.

Written by Pang Hui Hui 1091101482