On nostalgia:

Ver-nern commented that on the average, a local serial or production will be made on World War 2. While I would like to think that it is a year and a quarter, but that disagreement is inconsequential. War dramas and advertisements are probably the compulsory contributions by the media to our Total Defence, aside from our Power 98.0 and FM 88.3 which are radiostations largely funded and related to our military.

Oh, regarding the contributions of our media to Total Defence, did I forget to mention the selective coverage of our news?

I was switching channels between TCS 8 and Channel U, wondering whether Bukit Ho Swee or that imported soap opera from Hong Kong is the greater evil. In the end, I decided to turn to computer games for solace. It occurred to me that I have no idea where Bukit Ho Swee is, or what its historical significance is. Give me Chinatown and I can tell you what it is all about, maybe. The sets on the show looked over used, the screen was tinted yellowish to create the effect of age, embarrassed looking fowls brought onto the screen to show that in the past, people had land, enough for them to grown bannana trees, papaya trees and chilli plants.

Has anyone wondered why dogs were never figured on the set? Is it maybe because they were not around then, and only around now? Or maybe they are around then and now, and that is why they need not be featured on the screen?

Perhaps, I belong to a small group that is always trying to unravel my own roots, a group which thinks that there is no difference even if Merlion is something from an Ultraman movie, a group which thinks that the past contains lessons, not identity, a group that is looking forward to each new day with fear, anxiety, excitement and curiosity.

I think Hegel was the one who said that the person who does not know the past is bound to repeat it. Dare I disagree with Hegel?

But I do wonder though, aside from lessons, since I do not believe that history is the unfolding of the Geist, since I have no need of an identity, of what other uses is the past to me?