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Showing posts with the label civil society

The Malaysian Attitude Toward Littering: A Culture of Disregard?

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The Malaysian Attitude Toward Littering: A Culture of Disregard? Malaysia is a beautiful country. Tropical forests, stunning beaches, rolling hills, and food so good it could cause international diplomatic incidents. Tourists arrive expecting paradise. Then they notice something else. Plastic bottles floating in drains. Fast food wrappers decorating roadside grass. Cigarette butts scattered like tiny landmines on sidewalks. Drink cups tossed casually from car windows like someone is feeding invisible pigeons. Welcome to one of Malaysia’s most embarrassing social habits: casual littering with absolute confidence. And before anyone starts the usual defensive chorus of “not everyone does that,” relax. Of course not everyone does it. But clearly enough people do to keep municipal cleaning crews permanently busy. The psychology behind Malaysian littering is fascinating in the worst possible way. Many offenders genuinely behave as if public spaces are some kind of magical...
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The Decline of Civil Society: Has Online Peer Culture Replaced the Family as the Primary Socialiser?

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The Decline of Civil Society: Has Online Peer Culture Replaced the Family as the Primary Socialiser? There was a time—not very long ago—when families did the difficult job of shaping human behaviour. Parents taught manners. Grandparents enforced values. Uncles and aunties acted as unofficial social referees who made sure you didn’t grow up thinking the world revolved around your personal feelings. Today, that job appears to have been outsourced. Not to teachers. Not to community leaders. To the internet. Specifically, to online peer culture , where millions of strangers with questionable judgment collectively decide what behaviour is acceptable, what opinions are trendy, and what level of public outrage is required for the day. In other words, welcome to the modern classroom where the syllabus is written by algorithms and the teachers are whoever shouts the loudest on social media. And we are surprised when things go wrong. Families used to be the first place where ...
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