For the child in us.
Maybe Singabloodypore was right. We, Singapore bloggers are infantile. Not in our writings - we are the most proficient users of the English language in Asia (really? well, according to CNA). But rather, in our understanding of the use of the blog and consquently the reading of the views of others with an open mind.
In recent weeks, we have all heard and felt sorry for the plight of Acidflask and that other PSC Scholar. But today I read about this. The poor boy was flamed about his views on NUS girls after FF wrote out against it.
I'm not saying we need to agree with all the things people say. But isn't it more mature to read it with an open mind, understand the other point of view, and perhaps agree to disagree?
We have waxed lyrical about the censorship laws of Singapore and how we fear Big Brother's watching what we say on our Blogs. But how is this different? We are effectively condemning ourselves as a community of bloggers by demanding self-censorship and the checking of our tongues. This is in the fear of getting flamed.
I agree with Miyagi-san that it's about writing responsibly. Hence you don't go around calling people names. But isn't it also about having a sense of humour too? What next? Mr Brown being labelled unpatriotic because he took the mickey at our Low Cost Terminal? Well, that might never happen because he is too popular- and in a sense powerful in Blogworld. He can make or break you, and we, as citizens have been conditioned never to go against the party in power (Well, also because Mr Brown is a nice guy).
So I say Singapore bloggers, it is not enough that we are advanced enough to have Tomorrow, our very own BoingBoing. We need to unite as a community and develop a sense of humour. To be able to laugh at ourselves and not take things too seriously nor personally.
We have a long way to grow, out of our infancy.
P.S> Ever wonder what is the point of flaming? Is it to get anger of your chest? Or is it to take it out on an online person - a non-metaphysical being - like a shadow? Or are we that vindictive that we want anything we do not like off the web? Its sad, really.
P.S2> FF has said that she wrote her post in jest too, but was taken wrongly by the readers. Apparently she stepped in to defend the poor boy not once, not twice but three times when he got flamed. Sorry, FF, I didn't read ALL the comments. You see, readers, you must apologise when you get the facts wrong, but not when you are just cracking a joke.
6 comments:
good valid points. some of 'em need to get a grip. uptight gits and all.
it's all but just a blog. facade and all.
It is sad. The thing is we cant control infantile behaviour, let alone infancy. What we can do as individual is to change ourselves by using highly value of language cleverly.
I overheard on Power 98 where the deejays were commenting on how ineffective some slimming centres advertises. The use of ever-thin Fann Wong and also our Olinda Choi. There is only a BEFORE picture but not an AFTER picture of her. heh. See, these people do not exhibit restraint in their expression of views. Yet, slimming centres have low chances of holding them responsible for what they said. Perhaps then, since we cant control others' infantile behaviour, we should, like Miyagi-san said, write responsibly. Or rather, make a point in subtle ways by using our words cleverly.
Well, the thing about using blogs is that you are putting yourself up for the world to read.. like it or not.
Every single word you type out says something about you.
Some people can easily dismiss it easily as someone having fun but not everyone is like that. Some people take it seriously... very very seriously especially when you involve people with enough corporate power to throw a lawsuit on you.
Well, if you get the small people who flame you and call you names, nothing you can do but to stand up against it. The malaysian blogosphere has had a lot of blogicides (Blog suicides. Who the heck came up with those names??) when the owners were faced with flamers. In a friend's words... hero all this while and so can't handle criticism.
But like I said before, it's more than just writing responsibly. You expose your personality a lot through your blog. Believe it or not, there's a guy from Bristol who missed out on an award and a chance for working with F1 partly due to the fact that one of the judges stumbled across his blog where he expressed his uncertainty about winning the prize.
Like Mr Brown said, just write responsibly.
Well I, for one, only find using a lot of different colors in a blog entry to be worthy of flame so FLAME FLAME FLAME. HATE HATE HATE.
Thank you, I feel better.
FF did not write out against it. FF wrote about it in jest and even defended the author when he was flamed (3 times in his comments section in fact) because he was just speaking his mind.
like kim said, when u blog people read it, like it or not. it's no pt saying "oh, it wasnt meant for you, don't read it." at the end of the day, it's still the public domain, so you shouldnt be surprised if the random blog whore stumbles upon your blog, or if one of your friends sent the link to people.
the pt about reading with an open mind and agreeing to disagree is valid. yet, that was not the reason for the alleged outrage sparked at his blog wrt nus girls, nor was it because anyone was genuinely offended. it was about what that post said abt his person as a character, and it was appalling to most.
sure, you can say that one should not attempt to diss a person based on his alleged character expressed through his blog because it really is none of your business. but the joker has a tagboard where also, free speech is apparently encouraged.
if you write, you write at your own risk/discretion. and if you get flamed, you face it, because you put yourself up to be flamed/commented upon. and if you did that, you better be ready to defend yourself the best you can. there is no use putting the blame (if any) on the public; the public whom has every right to read your blog, whether it is "meant to be private" or not, and has every right to comment.
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