When All My Options are S***

 One of the nicest things that I’ve done was also one of the stupidest. I was a student in London and I befriended a Canadian tramp called Murphy. In a moment of kindness, I led him into my flat to take a shower in return for cleaning my bathroom. When he went to shower, it occurred to me that things could go south, so I stood in a corner and held onto my Swiss Army knife telling myself that I better be prepared for a nasty outcome. Thankfully nothing happened and Murphy did his part and eventually got himself off the streets.

However, it occurred to me as I was holding the knife that I was pretty screwed if Murphy suddenly chose to turn nasty. I would, at best be robbed, dead if he had gotten the better of me in a fight and used the knife against me or in jail if I had gotten the better of him and used the knife. I was very lucky but had I not been, I was screwed whichever way things went. Murphy on the other hand, had nothing to lose. He would either have walked off with something of mine, died (which given the way his life had been, was a viable option) or in jail (which would have meant three square meals a day and a warm bed, which was a lot more than what he was getting on the streets).

I tell this story because one of the things that many of us forget is that there are people out there who have “nothing to lose and everything to gain,” when we deal with them. At the very worst, most of us have a roof over our heads, even if its just a one-room HDB. Our inability to understand the concept of “nothing to lose,” has coloured our view of things. Talk to Singaporeans about the Palestinian or Tibetan issue and the reply will inevitably is inevitably “why do they bother protesting – the other side is way stronger and richer.” As far as most of us are concerned, the fight is not worth it if you’re going to lose anyway. What we never seem to understand is that you’re talking about people who have the reached the point where they believe that there’s nothing to lose.

The main point is that people who have everything to gain and nothing to lose, make dangerous opponents. People who have nothing to gain and everything to lose by contrast are easy opponents. As was made in the classic “Rocky III,” the guy with nothing to lose goes all out to wreck you, while the guy with nothing gain holds back.

 

 He had everything to gain and nothing to lose

Hence, governments, like the Singapore government work very hard to ensure that the population never reach the “nothing to lose” stage. If anything, the Singapore government peddles the story that “You have everything to gain” provided you follow the “right” path.

To be fair, this was the case for many years. People went to school and then got good jobs. With the exception of a few opposition politicians, life seemed fairly comfortable. Nobody rocked the boat because there was no need to.

This trend is clear in the evolution of the Singapore media. Clement Masenas, who led the last journalist strike in 1971 was once quoted as saying that the journalist victory in the strike was a pyrrhic victory. The journalist got much better pay – in fact far better than they imagined and they lost all incentive to question the government that had ensured they got their hefty pay increase.

This was seen very clearly in the early 2000s, when our late Prime Minister, Lee Kuan Yew was interviewed by young journalists. A few people wrote into complain that the journalists were not giving Mr. Lee the due difference, without realising that Mr. Lee had behind the scenes made them do several takes until they were critical enough in their questioning.

Think of how silly this sounds? Young journalists in most places are the most “aggressive,” because they’re hungry to build a name and they effectively have nothing to lose. Bob Woodward and Carl Bernstein could break the Watergate story because they effectively had everything to gain and nothing to lose. Doesn’t happen here because the young believe they have everything to lose if they go against the official line. What aspiring journalist is going to p** off a ruling politician when it could end a career before it starts.

In the UK, the situation is different. Young journalists, particularly in the obscure regional mediums, have far less to lose when it comes to dealing with national politicians. Think of Liz Truss’s recent series of interviews where young journalists said things like “Where have you been?” Or, “Are you ashamed?”

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_q0rlT-5oxE

So, here’s the moral of the story – never drive anyone to a point where they have nothing to lose by going after you, even if you have significantly more power and money. Someone who is determined to bring you down and believes they have nothing to lose, will do unexpected and unpleasant things to you if they believe it is what is necessary.