Name: CHAN, Sin Fong
Subject: Uncovered meat, Corporate Paedophile, and Junk Food
Visit Time: 4/11/2006 12:59 AM
Remark:
Sheikh Taj El-Din Hamid Hilaly delivered a Ramadan sermon in which he said, "If you take out uncovered meat and place it outside on the street, or in the garden or in the park, or in the backyard without a cover, and the cats come and eat it ... whose fault is it, the cats' or the uncovered meat?"
The full sermon of Sheikh Hilaly upset many people. However, the extract passage above does convey a powerful message - risk minimisation.
Just so happened during the week when Sheikh Hilaly was delivering his sermon on "uncovered meat", I was running classes on risk management. Most people in the society condemn violence and sexual assault because of their moral stance. However, there are always exceptions, and as a result, one has to minimise and control the risk of such unpleasant occurrence.
Just recently, a feminist academic accused major retailers of "sexualising" children in their advertising. Putting this in a similar context, "If major retailers sexualise children in their advertising in catalogues or magazines, and the undesirable admirers collect the pictures and post them on the Internet ... whose fault is it, the undesirable admirers' or the children's or the retailers'?
Obesity has been another hotly debated topic. "If a junk food company promotes its products on television or billboards or school canteens, and the obese customers buy and eat them … whose fault is it, the obese customers', the junk food or the company's?
Different people will come up with different answers for the above questions. There are no right or wrong answers - it is a matter of one's opinion, perception, attitude, belief, culture, and societal influence.
Australia is a democratic country. It is unthinkable that we have to be correct politically for every deed - every word sanitised, and every action scrutinised.
