Brainstorming

Generally, brainstorming is all about generating many radical and useful ideas using various kinds of methods. It is a very useful and popular tool that often used to develop highly creative solutions to a specified problem. Examples of brainstorming are such as freewriting, mapping, listing and bulleting. Once brainstorming is done, there will be many kinds of possible solutions that are generated as the possible outcome. Furthermore, a member that is involved in the process will review others ideas and it will enable them to sharpen the way they think of something. In other word, brainstorming teaches people to train and start to think outside the box or creative thinking. This trimester might be the final period of my time in my degree studies. During this four-year course, I have gone through a lot different kind of projects with my course mates. There were many group projects and brainstorming was used in each project in order for me and my team to come out with the best option. I hope that with knowledge that I gained throughout my university time will make me a better person during my working world soon.

*BCT term(s): Brainstorming

Gerakan to Pull Out of Barisan Nasional

I have read an article in today’s local newspaper reported that Gerakan is studying whether they can still play a meaningful role as a component party in the Barisan Nasional, acting president Tan Sri Dr Koh Tsu Koon said. He said that what he maeant of “a meaningful role means genuine mutual respect among component party members, able to share ideas and getting consulted on major programmes and policies”. Furthermore, he believed that Gerakan’s membership in BN was not unconditional as reported before. He thought that it is a right decision to make in order to affirm their position as a member of BN. In addition, he didn’t deny anything when asked about possibility of Gerakan to leave BN in the near future by the media. Dr Koh said Gerakan was not a yes-man in the coalition but they would also not leave merely because another component party’s member attacked them. Datuk Ahmad Ismail, who is currently the Bukit Bendera Umno division chief had been alleged to have described Malaysian-Chinese as “squatter” which carry the same meaning as unlawful tenant, has also been involved in a war of words with Gerakan. The Gerakan’s acting president said that they should be given a “reasonable” amount of time to review its position in Barisan. If Gerakan really make a move of pulling out of BN in the near future, there would be a huge internal crisis among BN party members. There are possibilities of Gerakan in joining the opposition party as well and if this becomes true, BN will face a slump in their political support by Malaysians. They might also lose in the next general election and due to that, BN will not be able to form a government. BN should take this matter into serious consideration as it can be a decisive factor for their future development.

*BCT term(s): Ad populum Appeal to Indirect Consequences (Slippery Slope Argument or Domino Theory Argument)

McCain Vows to Capture Osama

I have read an article on the Internet regarding a statement made by Republican candidate John McCain which said that if he is going to be elected as the next president of USA, he will capture al Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden. He quoted on World News, "President Clinton had opportunities to get Osama bin Laden. President Bush had opportunities to get Osama bin Laden. I know how to do it and I'll do it," he told ABC's "World News" in an interview. "I understand and I have the knowledge and the background and the experience to make the right judgments. Senator Obama does not". He bravely said that he has adequate knowledge and experience in Vietnam War that will enable USA to improve on their military supplement. Besides, he laughed off at his rival, Barrack Obama saying that his opponent does not know how the world and military operates. In my opinon, McCain was trying to say that if Barrack is going to be elected, USA will become a weaker country. From my point of view, McCain was in desperation and all that he could do at the moment is to highlight his rival’s weaknesses in order to attract more supporters. But, does Barrack Obama really does not know how the world and military operates? If that is true, he is not eligible at all to be a presidential candidate but I do doubt it! For me, McCain’s statement was vague and it did not contain enough evidence for the readers to believe in him after all.

*BCT term(s): Vague statement, Ad populum Fallacy of False Dilemma, and Ad populum Appeal to Vanity

Sarah Palin’s Daughter, Bristol is Pregnant

John McCain’s running mate, Sarah Palin announced that her 17-year-old unmarried daughter, Bristol is pregnant and plans to keep the baby. Furthermore, Palin revealed that Bristol will be getting married to the baby’s father soon. Due to this circumstance, she had been widely criticized by the media on the way she runs her family. Senator McCain did reveal that he knew about Palin’s daughter pregnancy and he thought that the incident had nothing to do with politics. McCain’s rival, Barrack Obama did agreed with his opponent point of view regarding the issue and he quoted in CNN.com that he thought people's families are off-limits, and people's children are especially off-limits. He then said that these kind of issues shouldn’t be part of politics in the first place. It has no relevance to Gov. Palin's performance as governor or her potential performance as a vice president. Looking at this kind of situation, it is acceptable to agree with the media that Sarah Palin is not a good mother but in the same time, she had have McCain’s trust due to her deep charisma and leadership quality that qualify her to run for vice-presidency of USA.

*BCT term(s): The Contrary Relationship and Red Herring Fallacy

My Ramadhan Experience

I met with an old friend from Malacca in Shah Alam today. Our last meet up occurred nearly five years ago during the day that SPM result came out. Due to fasting month, he invited me to hang out at his place for a while. When I entered the house, I can smell cigarettes smoke odors heavily. I was extremely surprised as he told me that all of his housemates are Muslims. I felt a little bit awkward by sitting there and watch them smoke during Ramadhan. When he lighted his cigarette in front of me, I did questioned him spontaneously, “Don’t you fast today?” Surprisingly, he said that it is fine to smoke while fasting as long as he did not take any foods or drinks until dawn. To be frank here, he did persuade me to smoke with him too! I am clueless to hear the statement did come out from my long-lost friend. To be honest, I was totally shocked and disappointed in him at the same time.

*BCT term(s): Ad populum Appeal to Common Belief.

Malaysia Political Scenario

Nowadays, Malaysia’s political environment has been in instable condition. Since the general election, our politics can be assumed to be in turmoil. Our government had failed to win by more than 2/3 margin. Many of political analysts had labeled the general election’s result as ‘political tsunami’. Besides, there have been rumors that seven of BN alternatives party are going to join the ‘Pakatan Rakyat’ on September 16^th which will enable Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim to be our sixth Prime Minister. Today’s news reported that our current Prime Minister vowed that he would do all that he could within his power to prevent this tragedy from happening. Pak Lah said during the press conference that Pakatan Rakyat is depending highly on BN component party in order to realize their dream to rule Malaysia. He said that BN is still a very strong party and it is the only political party that being mandated by Malaysia’s citizen to rule for five years period of time. From his point of view, it can be assumed that our Prime Minister thought that due to their least winning margin in history, Malaysian are still sticking up with Barisan Nasional. He also thought that there are no possibilities at all that Pakatan Rakyat’s plan will succeed by September 16^th.

*BCT term(s): Ad populum Fallacy of False Dilemma.

Keegan Walks Away

Newcastle United’s manager Kevin Keegan quit St James' Park for the second time in his career due to inappropriate interference from within the club, in particular the transfer of club favorite James Milner to Aston Villa recently according to today’s British tabloid. He had been a subject throughout the whole week and being made by bookies the second EPL manager that was on his way out. The prediction was proven to be true as he finally walked away due to major dissatisfaction with board of directors. Keegan was furious to discover members of his already slim squad had been offered for sale during the final hours of the transfer window after he had reluctantly accepted James Milner's £12million departure to Aston Villa. When Keegan was questioned by media a couple days ago referring to his possible resignation, he had denied the speculation immensely. But, Newcastle's fans who had been giving a lot of support to Keegan during his reign at the Tyneside had been left furious and dissapointed with Keegan's decision. There were demonstration being held outside the stadium but surprisingly, it was held in order to express their dissatisfaction towards the board of directors in letting Keegan go. Newcastle's fans believe that a strong Newcastle team as in the good old days can be produced once more via Keegan’s presence. They were trying to force their chairman, Mike Ashley to quit the club too. After his resignation, Keegan said that he was sorry to hurt all the fans, players and staffs’ feelings but he was left without an option as he felt that he was not given the right to do his job according to his way. By having assured the club's fans that he expected to recruit three or four top-quality signings by the time the deadline passed, he was left with only Spanish striker Xisco and loan signing Ignacio Gonzalez to add to earlier arrivals Jonas Gutierrez, Fabricio Coloccini, and Danny Guthrie, and that went nowhere near to meeting his expectations.

*BCT term(s): Causal Relationship and Ad Hominem Circumstantial Fallacy


From this scenario, we can assess that it do contains causal relationship between sentences. Kevin Keegan was disappointed that things were not going as he preferred in the transfer window and he then decided to hand in resignation letter immediately after the transfer deadline had passed. Furthermore, this incident did consist of ad hominem circumstantial fallacy as the club chairman, Mike Ashley who is a billionaire are not able to provide adequate transfer funds as he promised before to the club in order to strengthen the squad. It is illogical to just think that a billionaire can’t afford funds that are required by the club’s manager to spend on new players. Kevin Keegan was targeting at least three more new signings that will cost Ashley not more that £30 million approximately. He obviously had the capital to do so but he refused to spend some of his wealth on new players due to lack of trust to Keegan’s choice of player.