James Hsu

Brief thoughts, in no particular order.

1. Forget about regret, or dwelling on the past. What’s done is done. We need to move on and figure out what we need to do about things FROM THIS POINT ON. Thinking about what “could have been” is a total waste of time.
2. The more interesting question is: what’s the silver lining here? How can we as global citizens put our hearts and minds together to effect positive change?
3. It says something about the human race as a whole that we can only find true unity through mutual, shared commiseration.
4. One of the truly valuable uses of Facebook and social media: asking more knowledgeable friends about their opinions. I’ve enjoyed using Facebook to learn about different opinions, just like I learned a lot during the Hong Kong protests. There’s definite value there, so long as you enter with a mindset of humility and learning.
5. My pet peeve is hearing the anti-democratic powers that be refer to this event as a shining example of the “failures” of democracy. I’ll still take flawed democracy over something else, thank you very much.
6. “The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is for good men to do nothing.” Even though Brexit is not a matter of good versus evil, I can’t help but think of this quote from Edmund Burke.
7. May I propose this modified version of the Burke quote? “The only thing necessary for the triumph of ignorance is for intelligent people to do nothing.”