The man who studies the spread of ignorance

How do people or companies with vested interests spread ignorance and obfuscate knowledge? Georgina Kenyon finds there is a term which defines this phenomenon.

By Georgina Kenyon 

6 January 2016


In 1979, a secret memo from the tobacco industry was revealed to the public. Called the Smoking and Health Proposal, and written a decade earlier by the Brown & Williamson tobacco company, it revealed many of the tactics employed by big tobacco to counter “anti-cigarette forces”.

In one of the paper’s most revealing sections, it looks at how to market cigarettes to the mass public: “Doubt is our product since it is the best means of competing with the ‘body of fact’ that exists in the mind of the general public. It is also the means of establishing a controversy.”

This revelation piqued the interest of Robert Proctor, a science historian from Stanford University, who started delving into the practices of tobacco firms and how they had spread confusion about whether smoking caused cancer.

Proctor had found that the cigarette industry did not want consumers to know the harms of its product, and it spent billions obscuring the facts of the health effects of smoking. This search led him to create a word for the study of deliberate propagation of ignorance: agnotology.

State Of Cool

Have we finally found our spot of gold at the end of the hipster rainbow, wonders Helmi Yusof.

Oct 8, 2016

HELMI YUSOF

GOOD morning, Singapore! We don't know about you, but we sense something in the air - and it's not Zika or PM2.5 particulates.

Think about it. Hokkien is now spoken on national TV. We put one of our own on an open-top bus and worshipped him like a rock star. Caucasians are officially angmohs - because the Oxford Dictionary say one. We carry tote bags proclaiming our inner Beng (look up said Oxford). If a banker decides to quit and become a hawker, that's okay - because even bak chor mee can earn a Michelin star. Wake up and smell the kopi - has Singapore finally become cool?

Outlook dims for Singapore Inc as economy moonwalks

TODAY

October 24, 2016


SINGAPORE — During Singapore’s full moon festival last month, employer John Kong was focused more on cost-cutting than celebrating.

Not sending his clients traditional mooncake gift packages saved him S$14,000, and his 60 workers at building materials supplier M Metal Pte Ltd didn’t get a pay rise either.

Having grown at a break-neck pace that transformed what half a century ago was a seedy colonial port into an Asian Manhattan, Singapore is now bracing for a prolonged period of low growth, darkening the outlook for the city-state’s deeply indebted firms.

“When you talk to building infrastructure groups, it sounds depressing,” said Mr Kong, who faces a 10-15 per cent sales drop this year, the firm’s first in its five-year history.

“Everyone seems to be asking ‘what’s going to happen to me in three months?’ Companies are not getting the orders, there are fixed overheads, so the first thing they do is slash marketing budgets and the next thing is they cut the number of people.”

As a regional centre for trade, oil services and wealth management, Singapore’s US$300 billion (S$418 billion) economy punches above its weight and serves as a barometer for Asia’s other export dependent economies.

China’s slowdown has hit the city-state’s manufacturers and shippers, the slump in commodity markets is weighing on its oil and gas sector, while a rise in bad debts and a regulatory crackdown has hurt its financial services industry.

The result: Earnings forecasts for Singapore-listed companies are falling at among the fastest rates in the world.

In global iron ore, Singapore bosses China in setting prices

TODAY ONLINE

October 21, 2016

SINGAPORE — In the US$7 billion (S$9.8 billlion) a day global iron ore futures market, size doesn’t matter when it comes to clout. Contracts in Singapore have greater pricing power than those traded in China even though the volumes in the city-state are more than 20 times smaller, according to Goldman Sachs Group.

Although investors may assume that it’s the Dalian Commodity Exchange, or DCE, that sets the global price given the high volumes, it’s the contract on the Singapore Exchange, or SGX, that drives the market, the bank said in a report. The reason may be that institutional investors account for a greater share of trade in Singapore, it said in the Oct 20 note.

While China’s policy makers have said they want to develop its raw material futures markets as hubs for setting prices — seeking to marry the country’s commercial heft with a greater say in determining how much commodities cost — Goldman’s finding suggests that goal remains a distant one. In iron ore, the country is the world’s largest buyer, accounting for more than two-thirds of the seaborne market. Most cargoes come from miners in Australia and Brazil.

“Size doesn’t matter,” analysts including Amber Cai wrote after crunching the numbers. The bank’s analysis revealed that the SGX has more pricing power than the DCE, with daily changes in Singapore consistently leading daily changes in Dalian, they wrote.

What is behind Duterte’s move away from the US?

Absent an official explanation, the announced decision by the Philippines to tilt away from the US would appear to be purely the product of President Rodrigo Duterte’s personal pique.

FRANCISCO TATAD

OCTOBER 18, 2016

Like a play looking for a plot, Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte’s “diplomatic war” with the United States is one in search of a valid reason and a just cause. We are dumbfounded by its sheer opacity, and the prospect that we will ever see the real reason and cause for it seems rather remote. It is beginning to look like a border war between two states that have no common border to begin with.

The Philippines’ relations with China, on the other hand, appear to be warming up after six years of lying inside the freezer during the watch of Mr Duterte’s predecessor, Mr Benigno Aquino. Mr Duterte, better known as DU30 on social media, is visiting China this week, accompanied by a large business delegation, to explore trade, investment and other opportunities.

This portends seismic effects upon the politics of Asia-Pacific. Amid statements that the Philippines can stand without foreign aid (from the West), one Cabinet secretary says the China trip will bring in some US$3 billion (S$4.17 billion) in “funding aid”.

An article in The Diplomat describes DU30’s visit as a “splash of cold water” on Philippine-US relations. This is an interesting turn in a century of Philippine-Chinese and Philippine-American relations. In the US debates on the merits of acquiring the Philippines after the Spanish-American war, the US minister to China Charles Denby saw the Philippines as America’s “gateway” to the vast Chinese market.

China's perception of Singapore: 4 areas of misunderstanding

Tommy Koh
For The Straits Times

21 Oct 2016

What China misunderstands about Singapore is that: Singapore is not a Chinese country despite having a majority-Chinese population; Singapore values a united Asean; Singapore is not a US ally but wants to be friends with all major powers; and Singapore has the world view of a small country.

Relations between Singapore and China are unique. There is no other country in the world with a population in which the majority are ethnic Chinese. Taiwan is not comparable because it is not a sovereign and independent country. Hong Kong is legally part of the People's Republic of China.

Final US presidential debate overshadowed by one shocking moment from Donald Trump

Jeremy Au Yong
US Bureau Chief

20 Oct 2016

LAS VEGAS - While the two previous clashes between Republican Donald Trump and Democrat Hillary Clinton have been eventful, the final presidential debate produced by far the most jaw-dropping moment of what has already been an unprecedented campaign.

Roughly an hour into the 90-minute debate in Las Vegas, Nevada, moderator Chris Wallace asked the billionaire if he would commit to accepting the result of the election on Nov 8, even if it turns out to not be in his favour.

Mr Trump, who had in past week been telling supporters that the election is rigged against him, shocked with his answer.

"I will look at it at the time. I'm not looking at anything now. I'll look at it at the time," he said, to exclamations from some in the debate hall as well as gasps throughout the media centre.

Mr Wallace even had to repeat the question to make sure Mr Trump was indeed questioning the integrity of US democracy.

"Sir, there is a tradition in this country - in fact, one of the prides of this country - is the peaceful transition of power and that no matter how hard-fought a campaign is, that at the end of the campaign that the loser concedes to the winner...  Are you saying you're not prepared now to commit to that principle?" he asked.

Mr Trump doubled down: "What I'm saying is that I will tell you at the time. I'll keep you in suspense. Okay?"

That single answer overshadowed what had been Mr Trump's best debate performance and one of the more substantial clashes between the two major party candidates.