COMMENT | Election coverage - report to make voters think and vote wisely

COMMENT | Reading the moment before Socrates’s self-execution in ‘The Dialogues of Plato’, I came across this insight recorded in the ‘Phaedo’: “You may be sure, dear Crito… that inaccurate language is not only in itself a mistake: it implants evil in men’s souls.”

Those words were said to Crito, one of Socrates’s followers, before Socrates drank a potion of hemlock - his death sentence for disavowing the many gods of ancient Greece, for teaching the youths of Athens to challenge traditions, to speak truth to power.

Hence, one of his more well-known quotes: “An unexamined life is not worth living.”

Socratic thinking, viewed as subverting the state in 399 BC, reminds me of our politicians today who would resort to any means to attain, regain or remain in power.

Yes, words cut like a knife. When unthinkingly wielded, “inaccurate language” carries serious implications. For example, Umno president Ahmad Zahid Hamidi’s speech at a MIC assembly. Indeed, evil words will manifest in evil deeds.

Socrates’ philosophy of a worthy life should heighten our concern with voters handing power to those whose callous words and deviant deeds reflect their unexamined political life.

The crooks, the connivers, the Bossku and his ilk - they are all unworthy of our votes...