17 May 07

How has censorship affected different human communities?

Censorship, as I had defined before is the act of censoring. The act of censoring is the prevention of letting undesired information in all forms to reach the masses, usually done by some form of authority. In our country, censorship is carried out by the government to protect several interests. However, in doing so, there are some consequences that would result.

Censorship limits creativity. While schools, parents and teachers encourage students to think out of the box, to produce a spark of magic by being creative, censorship is the resistive force in this bid to drive our children forward. By thinking out of the box, we can come up with many ideas, opinions and theories. However, if these were to be shot down almost immediately without hesitation, what is the point of being creative in the first place.

With censorship, our people, espescially the young ones, are oblivious to many things around the world. Issues such as homosexuality or government ineffiency should be widely debated about in schools as students would gain a wider knowledge and insight about the huge world beneath. Only then, would our students really become smart, bright and thinking students, rather than just students who become slaves to the book.

Not to mention, with censorship, our local entertainment industry might not be able to buzz to life like those abroad. Attitude songs with vulgarities are gaining popularity with each passing day, while movies with homosexuality content add spice to a original storyline becuase of its scarcity here. This can help take our economy to another level, but yet, it is not being adopted.

Hence, censorship has impacted on many of our human communities, such as our students and the country as a whole.

# posted by ^Ic0n^ @ 5/20/2007 08:49:00 PM 0 comments

10 May 07

Censorship can never be justified. Do you agree?

I believe that censorship cannot be justified. Despite countless government attempts in filtering the undesired information from other countries or even locally, people have found means and ways to work round this obstacle, still getting censored materials fully.

What is censorship? It is the process of censoring, cancelling of undesired information from reaching to the masses. This includes the censoring of controversial issues like homosexuality, religions and the content of certain movies. I have to agree that censorship is important because it plays a part in creating a stable government with least political strife. This is because movies or cartoons throwing indirect insults at our government may cause our people of the country to lose confidence in their leadership, leading to possible uproars within the governing body and revolts against the current government.

Recently, Taiwanese celebrity Rainie Yang shot a movie, named as 'Spiderlillies'. It was a movie about her underlying love for a tatoo specialist, which was of the same gender. Even though this movie was rated as PG in taiwan, it rose up shockingly to a rating of R21 whent it hit our shores. Was this censorhip on the government's part of not allowing our young ones to be exposed to the controversial issue about homosexuality given that singapore was a multi-racial country?

The evolution of many forms of medias, espescially the internet, have formed something of a resistance to governments' fruitless attempts at censorship. From video sharing websites, to peer-to-peer sharing softwares, censored materials can be view online with a click of a button. Such is the simplicity of obtaining these information, is that censorship cannot be justified.

Moreover, there are no fixed rules on which censorship can act on. ITt would be fruitless if the government is working on something yet without setting its boundaries.

Hence, censorship would never be justified or effective.

# posted by ^Ic0n^ @ 5/20/2007 08:38:00 PM 0 comments

3rd May 07

The recent issue of the Virginia Tech massacre, starring South korean Cho, has left people in regret. There were 33 casualities; including killer Cho himself, and many more injured. Those who escaped the clutches of death suffered psychological traumas. In fact, almost everyone across the globe was deeply affected by what the media deems to be the 'worst mass murder case in the entire U.S hiory'. However, the issue here is whether this tragedy could have been prevented right from the begginning.

Technology was a factor which was running at full effiency when it was needed to the most. According to a Straits Times article, the first email sent through the campus emails warning them of possible imminent danger was only done at 9.26am. By then, the students were already in classrooms attending lessons, oblivious to the content of the email. To complicate matters, the same article claimed that rumours were spread around at the initial killings in the dorimtory. Some speculated that it was a lovers' tiff, with nothing too significant to take note off. Thi sismple rumour could have distracted the police's line of investigation, putting them on the wrong route. Hence, should technology have been correctly utilised, this tragedy might be halted in time.

Not to mention, the arising debate about gun control also serves as a possible factor. With reference to a Straits Times article, it claimed that Virginia had one of the least strict gun control laws. Couple with the simplicity of getting a gun in the United States, it could explain how an English Major student could have in his possession, a weapon that would end 33 innocent lives. Some stood with the stand that loose gun control indirectly caused the deaths of these peopl, while others tried to explain that even without a gun, Cho could still have gone on his rampage using another weapon.

I feel that while the loose gun laws made Cho's job easier, it is his personal grudge and inferiority that drove him to such an ending. The newspapers reported that Cho had sent weird and violent ramblings to the media, involving some ramblings about the other students being 'rich brats' I think that this was the prime reason.

Time cannot be turned back, but it can heal most wounds; the familes of the deceased. However the public should learn a lesson from such a matter, and not let history repeat itself.

# posted by ^Ic0n^ @ 5/20/2007 08:29:00 PM 0 comments

Wednesday, April 25, 2007

25 April 2007

Nowadays, the mass media do not report the news; they make the news.Discuss this with references to recent events.

Mass media has been everpresent in our lives ever since technology has attained our current level of efficiency. Day in day out, the media has been keeping us informed about the daily headlines and groundbreaking news. However, the question remains whether these news is factually reported or a matter of fiction. I would be discussing this with reference to some recent events, defined as matters that happened just some time ago and still lives in everyone’s memories.

I believe that the media have been active in both reporting and lying. Taking the recent Virginia Tech. massacre case for reference, certain statistics and information like the death toll and the process of which the gunman carried out this rampage were truthfully reported. This was because these information have been based on hard rock proof and evidence. However, as the gunman had shot himself in the face, resulting in difficulty in unveiling the identity of this killer, CCTV of China had already broadcasted to public that it was an American who was responsible for this carnage. This conclusion was made despite being the identity of the killer still unknown.

Not to mention, Taiwanese celebrity, Rainie Yang, recently commented on a popular variety show that the war between China and Japan lasted for “ONLY” eight years, offending millions of citizens of China. While it may be a slip of tongue, the media magnified the impact of this slight error. They made a mountain out of a molehill, making claims that set out to put her reputation down. The mass media could not admit that it was only because of a poor knowledge of history and not what they claimed her to be as unfeeling, unsympathetic and insulting.

The media has its reasons for doing such a malicious act. When simple news has a twist added to it, it gives the entire story several new plus points, making it newsworthy, inducing the public to take notice of this saga. There would be higher profits made by companies involved. Thus, it doesn’t take a genius to understand why making up stories is common

The media has a license and the responsibility to publish only the truth so that we can trust it to be a reliable source. Hopefully, this situation would cease to exist in the near future.

links : http://www.pekingduck.org/archives/004625.php

# posted by ^Ic0n^ @ 4/25/2007 09:02:00 PM 0 comments

Wednesday, April 11, 2007

11 April 07

“YouTube has no ethics, it's been created for the sole purpose of entertainment and money.” Do you agree?

I believe that when the three young men Steve Chen, Chad Hurley and Jawed Karim came together to start an internet company, now YouTube, their minds would certainly be on making profits through advertisments on their site and creating fame for themselves. While they may be successful at doing that, they may have just failed at creating an ethical community for people to share videos.

I frequent YouTube. I frequent it for the entertainment it provides. Certain episodes, which I may have missed on television, may be found on the site, courtesy of the kind soul who had recorded and uploaded it onto the YouTube community. For someone like me, who has little time to spare on the television, YouTube provides a convenient source of entertainment during my leisure time. I can watch my favourite shows repeatedly, or even videos that have not crossed the sea into our lands. Hence, I can only associate YouTube with entertainment.

To say that YouTube is not ethical, I have two different views to this matter. Personally, I have viewed many unethical videos making fun of famous political parties, impersonating their voices and making a joke out of them. With reference to the recent ban of access to YouTube in Thailand due to a video showing insult to the King, I believe YouTube isn’t very ethical. However, these videos were uploaded and submitted by different individuals. There are guidelines for submitters to adhere to when sharing a video, and one of the guidelines is not to “ publish falsehoods or misrepresentations that could damage YouTube or any third party; (iii) submit material that is unlawful, obscene, defamatory, libelous, threatening, pornographic, harassing, hateful, racially or ethnically offensive, or encourages conduct that would be considered a criminal offense, give rise to civil liability, violate any law, or is otherwise inappropriate;” While the creators of YouTube have seen this problem, they are unable to do anything about it, except to remove videos that violate these guidelines, which happens only after it has been reported by users. The unethical ones are those who uploaded the videos of bad content.

In conclusion, I believe that this situation has two sides to it.

# posted by ^Ic0n^ @ 4/11/2007 08:19:00 PM 2 comments

Wednesday, April 04, 2007

4 April 07

‘The teenage years are the best years of one’s life.’ Would you agree with this view? (CAMBRIDGE NOV 1994)

When asked whether the teenage years are the best years of one's life, I can only choose to agree that the teenage years are indeed the best years of one's life. It is based on both reasoning and personal experiences that I have made my choice.

Firstly, during the teenage years, one would be tasting many things in life for their very first time. The experience of trying something new, or coming in contact with new attempts is extremely enriching and enjoyable. This is largely because they have experienced life only for a short period of time, relative to one's entire lifespan. Moreover, most of this time have been spent when one was still ignorant and without proper reasoning skills. Thus, one would have ample opportunities during their teenage years to experience matters for the first time, gaining much both in terms of knowledge and satisfaction.

Secondly, one in their teenage years is considered to be still on their learning journey. Hence, with assurance that they will learn their lesson and will not commit the same mistake again, blunders can be condoned. Consider a person of working age piling his trade in the banking industry. A small slip-up by the employee could cause the company huge losses, with the culprit facing a possible lay-off! The severity of committing a howler can be that impactful! However, a person in the teenage years can be excused for being inexperienced and ignorant. Quoted Fran Lebowitz “As a teenager you are at the last stage in your life when you will be happy to hear that the phone is for you.” This is exceptionally true.

Thirdly, the teenage years pack the most free time for leisure. One may argue that given the increasing amount of time spent in schools, external classes, etc, twenty-four hours per day seems to be never enough. However, compared to the working class, having Saturdays and Sundays as off-days seems to already be a bargain. At the very least, one in his or her teenage years have the weekends to pursue their interests, or to relax in leisure.

With the above reasons, I truly believe that teenage years are the best years of one’s life.

# posted by ^Ic0n^ @ 4/04/2007 06:23:00 PM 2 comments

4 April 07

This would be a short intro about me =D
My name is Clement Thiang Chuanjie and I am currently 17.
My birthday falls on the 6th of march.
More info about me can be found by clicking the tabs at the bottom. =D

I came from xinmin secondary school and have been at anderson jc since 3rd of January. I love to sing and my favourite idol is Rainie Yang, a taiwanese celebrity! She can sing, host, dance and act. This is probably why i would love to work in the media sector in future. I love to play sports, espescially soccer. I came in touch with this sport at a very young age and it has been everpresent in my life since.

Guess thats all. >.<

# posted by ^Ic0n^ @ 4/04/2007 06:12:00 PM 0 comments

Sunday, February 25, 2007

25 February

"Do you think professional parenting is the way to go for Singapore?"

I think professional parenting may just be the thing that all adults need in Singapore. Given the fast pace of our society, the time adults spend at work may sometimes be more than that spent at home or at sleep put together. With this in mind, they feel that life would be unthinkable should they have a baby to fend for, which would take up even a larger portion of his or her time. As a result, many couples tend to focus on their career and delay being parents.

Should professional parenting happen in Singapore, i suppose many adults would not fear the burden of having children. They can have the best of both worlds - their career and personal lives. In fact, some form of professional parenting has already been emerging in our generation. They are hired maids and retired grandparents. The parenting responsibilities have mostly been upheld by them. However, such is the reluctance of singaporeans to let others handle their child, that even some are unwilling to hire maids!

Although some might not be trustful of the professional parenting service, i believe it is only the miniority that are like this. Hence, having professional parenting may be the way to go for Singapore!

# posted by ^Ic0n^ @ 2/25/2007 05:39:00 PM 0 comments

25 February

'No fines please' for pedestrians using phone.

A heated debate was sparked off in the Straits Times STOMP forum over whether Singapore should follow in the footsteps of New York City and propose fines for pedestrians who cross the road while using mobile phones or MP3 players. Most Stompers agreed that it is dangerous to cross the road while using a gadget, but felt that education, rather den fines would ratify the problem here.

I believe that the imposing of fines would not be very effective. Firstly, there would be a waste of manpower in employing personnels to catch these people in their act. Even if there was the stationing of cameras all around singapore to capture these people red-handed, it would be taxing on the economy. Hence it is not a good idea to impose fines.

The issue of safety was brought up by miniority of the public. Thus, it is important not to neglect this ongoing problem. Through education, we can make our roads safer and reduce the large amounts of road accidents in our country. To educate, we can use eye-catching posters or advertisments at crowded places, or use the mass media to send out this signal.

In conclusion, I do not agree that the government should impose fines. Instead, it should concentrate on educating the public.

# posted by ^Ic0n^ @ 2/25/2007 04:59:00 PM 0 comments

Sunday, February 04, 2007

4th February

Pets Are Not Toys~

Every year, we do see reports about the large number of abandoned pets roaming our streets. A total of 9706 animals were taken in by the Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (SPCA) this year! Although it represented a six per cent drop from 2005, it is still unbelievable to learn that so many singaporeans are heartless in deciding the lives of their pets.

Unlike toys, Pets should not be disposed off when the affection for it ceases. When one owns a pet, he or she has to take responsibility in providing the best for it. Pets are like all living creatures, having a heart, having their life. How would you feel if you were, at a point, the man of the moment, and suddenly, being abandoned? Pets, are for life!

Some common reasons for these actions include " emigration", "a lack of time" and "relocation of residential area to a HDB flat". I feel that these are not valid reasons, but are just excuses to cover up their lost of affection for the pet. This applies especially to the younger generations. Taking the example of a dogWhen the pet was at its cute and bubbly size of a baby, it would capture the hearts of many with its cuteness. However, as time goes, it becomes an adult, and the previous affection for it is lost together with its growth.

In conclusion, we shouldn't treat pets like toys. They have been through thick and thin with us, and we should do our very best to provide for them.

# posted by ^Ic0n^ @ 2/04/2007 11:54:00 AM 0 comments