Tuesday, September 13, 2005
Singapore is a multi-racial society. We're not just talking about Chinese, Malays, and Indians here. In the 'Others' racial catergory, you have the Eurasians, Peranakans, and lets' not forget the many foreign guests we host here. So yes of course we have to be respectful towards every single race... we cannot tolerate racism - it is destructive.
I do not know the exact contents, but I suspect that those made by the two bloggers who got charged over the racist remarks must have really gone overboard; TalkingCock.com never got charged for the racial jokes on their site because we, being the intelligent beings that we are, know the difference between being light-hearted individuals who know how to take a dig at ourselves, and being totally insulting.
I am very against racism. So you can imagine how disturbed I was when I read on the front page of the Today newspaper about the issue.
I was even more disturbed to read about how people kept going on and on about how bloggers have to be more sensitive and cautious about what they post.... the article's subtitle was '... Other netizens MAY watch their words'.
Isn't it a given, that you shouldn't post up racist posts? Why do you have to stop, and think a minute, "Should I type in these racist remarks?" Regardless of whether you know the law or not, racism should never be entertained, and that's that. You shouldn't be stopping yourself from posting up racist remarks just coz the law says so; it should be coz you know, racism is wrong.
"Meanwhile, the case is likely to have a temporary "chilling effect" on the Internet community..." - Today article.
The issue is not about how, oh, the Law inhibits blogger and makes bloggers more cautious.... we shouldn't be anti-racist just because the Law is against racism.
Instead of saying that oh, these guys, tsk tsk for being racist... the media has to, as usual, come up with the whole jazz about the blogging community being all scared and frightened now coz the Law is being wielded. As the media, they should have been more responsible, educating the public about racism and its evills. I know the media's latest craze is publishing articles about blog-related topics but this time, they're really lost the main issue here; racism.
So now people are going to be more focussed on bloggers, than the issue of racism.
I can just imagine it:
"Wah, bloggers got charged leh!"
"Wah, like that means we cannot anyhow blog liao lor!"
"Waliao, like that very sian leh... whatever we blog got 'mata' watching!'
HELLO AH.... for goodness' sake, it's not a matter of, must be careful about what you blog.... it's about how racism exists in Singapore.
So are you saying, "oh it's ok to be racist, just make sure you dun blog those thoughts down coz the Internet is public space and police can catch you"???????
It's not a matter of, watch your words... it's a matter of, get racism out of your heart and mind, period.
Get it?
I do not know the exact contents, but I suspect that those made by the two bloggers who got charged over the racist remarks must have really gone overboard; TalkingCock.com never got charged for the racial jokes on their site because we, being the intelligent beings that we are, know the difference between being light-hearted individuals who know how to take a dig at ourselves, and being totally insulting.
I am very against racism. So you can imagine how disturbed I was when I read on the front page of the Today newspaper about the issue.
I was even more disturbed to read about how people kept going on and on about how bloggers have to be more sensitive and cautious about what they post.... the article's subtitle was '... Other netizens MAY watch their words'.
Isn't it a given, that you shouldn't post up racist posts? Why do you have to stop, and think a minute, "Should I type in these racist remarks?" Regardless of whether you know the law or not, racism should never be entertained, and that's that. You shouldn't be stopping yourself from posting up racist remarks just coz the law says so; it should be coz you know, racism is wrong.
"Meanwhile, the case is likely to have a temporary "chilling effect" on the Internet community..." - Today article.
The issue is not about how, oh, the Law inhibits blogger and makes bloggers more cautious.... we shouldn't be anti-racist just because the Law is against racism.
Instead of saying that oh, these guys, tsk tsk for being racist... the media has to, as usual, come up with the whole jazz about the blogging community being all scared and frightened now coz the Law is being wielded. As the media, they should have been more responsible, educating the public about racism and its evills. I know the media's latest craze is publishing articles about blog-related topics but this time, they're really lost the main issue here; racism.
So now people are going to be more focussed on bloggers, than the issue of racism.
I can just imagine it:
"Wah, bloggers got charged leh!"
"Wah, like that means we cannot anyhow blog liao lor!"
"Waliao, like that very sian leh... whatever we blog got 'mata' watching!'
HELLO AH.... for goodness' sake, it's not a matter of, must be careful about what you blog.... it's about how racism exists in Singapore.
So are you saying, "oh it's ok to be racist, just make sure you dun blog those thoughts down coz the Internet is public space and police can catch you"???????
It's not a matter of, watch your words... it's a matter of, get racism out of your heart and mind, period.
Get it?
