Propaganda is often derogatorically associated with evil regimes
that seek to impose a political will against the good of society,
as seen from mankind's history such as germany's 3rd reich,
stalinist russia, mao's china.
But what i had proposed are nothing more than
philosophies for the ideal society practiced by greeks
and the western culture eons ago, mix with traditional eastern
thoughts for the well being of a society. I am no Plato or
Confucius. I am just a humble nobody, an ordinary citizen.
I do not seek to impose my beliefs upon anyone, but only that
they consider the idealism and realities one faces with regards to
the birth issue over what i had written.
Your concept of 'work life balance' is not a tantra that can be
used for all situations in reality. If you are working in the govt
services, you will have my fullest support for a worklife balance -
with all the benefits parents should entitle such as 3 mths
maternity leaves, 5 day week, allowances, etc, because your
employers are none other than us - the taxpayers, members of our
society and you are one of us, and we all want the best for each
and everyone of citizens.
However, if you are working in the private sector, then you
would have to be fair to your employers. It is their private funds
that is used to create employment, get business to earn a
living.
If they have to employ workers with such benefits - 3mths leave,
5 day week, no overtime, no deadlines, no pressures, there would be
hardly profitable or productive to stay in business and
will even fold up in time!
So how should private companies 'balance' your work life, when
their very own survival depends on your regular attendence?
Another angle to look at private sector companies is that -
should you dedicate your life to the company, getting promoted and
elevated above your peers, and given all the material comfort you
would want - by the time, if you are fortunate, after 30 years
helping your boss gain fame and riches, you will have to
retire.
All you will get is a handshake, a gold watch, and a thank you.
Is this worth the sacrifice of giving up a family life with
children for? You could have been embracing your grandchildren
instead, whom will give you happiness and are priceless, worth
beyond more than a miserable gold watch and a handshake, coupled
with living the rest of your years with childless
loneliness, watching others' children play, but none of your
own.
I agree that the usual association with propaganda is not good,
but the actually definition of propaganda is very different.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Propaganda
Propaganda is a concerted set of messages aimed at
influencing the opinions or behaviors of large numbers of
people. As opposed to impartially providing information,
propaganda in its most basic sense presents information in order to
influence its audience. Propaganda often presents facts
selectively (thus lying by omission) to encourage a particular
synthesis, or gives loaded messages in order to
produce an emotional rather than rational response to the
information presented. The desired result is a change of
the cognitive narrative of the subject in the target audience to
further a political agenda.
Yes, if work life balance is what you have defined, it is not
workable. But many Countries/Companies have better work life
balance. Toyota, one of the world class manufacturer under an
American CEO, practise work life balance. Employees are not allowed
to work more than 48 hours a week unless a written approval is
obtained from the CEO.
How often are employees wasting time surfing the net and doing
non work related tasks in office? My brother and his
girlfriend who both worked in US found the work culture very
different. You are free to come and leave the office anytime as
long as the tasks are completed. There are urgent times where he
works 12 hours a day to complete his tasks , but usually he is
given a lot of leeway with regards to working hours. However in the
same company, Singapore branch, hours are long long long.
As I said, good luck promoting birthrates without work life
balance. Were there issues of work life balance in
Confucius/Plato’s time? Did Confucius/Plato say there is more to
life to work? Didnt Plato say "A Life not examined is not worth
living?" How are we going to examine our lives if there is no work
life balance?
