GP Life of an AJCian

Group Blog..Sorry for the late entry...

2007-06-01T22:47:00.000+08:00

Media is a medium to spread news and information to the rest of the world. Corrupt means to induce harm to society. Put it together and you will understand that we are trying to say that this medium that has been in contact with us for many generations is the cause of many evils and thus harming our society. Our motion is that the house believes that the media is corrupting our society. Biasness in media is nothing out of the ordinary these days as news is sensationalized in order to achieve maximum revenue. Why is biasness affecting our society? For example, between the TIME magazine and its other local counterparts, the cover picture and description of the O’J Simpson case was drawn him to look as though he was the guilty party instead of taking a neutral stand. This shows that the magazine had portrayed him as a criminal before he had the chance to face a proper jury. This is racial biasness at work. This affects our society as it spreads the message that feeling biased towards another ethnic culture is okay. This is one possible cause why the number of racial discrimination cases is on the rise. Another example was the Maria Hertogh case that happened in Singapore a couple of years ago where newspapers bad-mouthing the opposition race resulted in a horrific riot that left many dead and dozens more injured. Who knows, even some might even be fake.
Corruption is the degradation of the society's moral sense as well as misleading the society by painting a false picture of matters. The media corrupts our society by airing various risqué advertisements which promotes promiscuity and makes people feel that promiscuity and watching obscene material is socially acceptable. This results in many children, teenagers and young adults starting to get attracted to watch obscene material and they may even get addicted to it. Moreover, the media also airs many advertisements which promote materialism. This inculcates materialism in children from young and may result in them growing up to become cold-hearted and selfish people who care for nothing but money so as to pander to their material gratification. The media paints rosy pictures of many things. For example in Iraq, during Saddam Hussein's 'reign', the BBC did not publish articles about the former Iraqi dictator dirty deeds. In 2003, CNN's chief news executive Eason Jordan admitted that for the past decade the network has systematically covered up stories of Iraqi atrocities. Reports of murder, torture, and planned assassinations were suppressed in order to maintain CNN's Baghdad bureau. The media has shown that it is indeed capable of misleading us by not reporting truths about issues which might concern their interests. The mass media do indeed makes up stories sometimes. Let me give you another example. I quote from http://select.nytimes.com/gst/abstract.html?es=FB0910FA395B0C728DDDAC0894DB404482 :Investigation by team of New York Times journalists finds reporter Jayson Blair committed frequent acts of journalistic fraud while covering significant news events in recent months; major findings are these: he filed dispatches that purported to be from Maryland, Texas and other states, when often he was in New York; fabricated comments, concocted scenes and lifted material from other newspapers and wire services; also he selected details from photographs to create impression he had been somewhere or seen someone, when he had not.

The problem with the modern media is they do not have a sense of social justice. Do you agree?

2007-05-16T22:39:00.000+08:00

I agree that modern media do not have a sense of social justice as nowadays real life examples suggests that monetary benefits are priority of the media. This is in the sense of publishing of risqué advertisements, fabricating news to attract readers to buy more newspapers for money and creating vulgar songs to attract the unsuspecting youths to support the production. This is due to the fact that media consumers thrive and are most attracted to provocative and controversial issues.

Firstly, the publishing of risqué advertisements like the “Kat Jes” healthy yoghurt sweet, are used to attract viewers to purchase more of the product. It shows Heidi Klum naked in a bath tub but with most of her body covered by their yoghurt sweet. Such type of visual appeal tends to motivate people to unnecessarily spend money to buy the product.

Secondly, fabricating of news to attract readers is also a ploy used by the media to gain more viewers and revenue. This can be seen especially from the paparazzi around the world. In Hong Kong, these false reports tend to cause superstars to feel insulted or disturbed. Two of the many incidences were that of the death of superstar Leslie Chung and Show. Both are popular Chinese music artists that are affected by the false reports of the media. For Leslie Chung, he was suffering from depression, which was contributed partially by the paparazzi. It resulted in his decision to commit suicide, leaving behind his family, friends and fans to mourn for him. In the case of Show, the paparazzi falsely accused him to be a drug abuser. This made him push for a lawsuit against the press for defamation and his innocence in the case.

Thirdly, the media has the tendency to create vulgar songs to attract youths. This is especially prominent in the United States of America, where free speech is entertained. Thus songs like “I wanna love you” by Akon and P.Diddy(If I am not wrong) is the corrected version of the actual song named “I wanna **** you”(no offence intended). Another song, called the “**** song” is also commonly circulated among mobile phones and music players. Such songs play on the lines of being provocative and controversial, thus bringing more attention to these singers, aiding them in their advertising and popularity.

In conclusion, we can tell from here that as long as monetary benefits can be reaped, the media would not hesitate to take any actions, even if it harms the society, in order to achieve the benefits.

The media is corrupting our society. Do you agree?

2007-05-08T22:35:00.000+08:00

Yes, I fully agree that the media is corrupting our society. In my point of view, the evidences of these actions are prevalent in our everyday lives and can be seen almost anywhere.

One of the main aspects of media corruption is media censorship. The initial purpose of censorship was to filter out any fictitious news or information that harms the image and reputation of the countries. However nowadays, the role of censorship had been blurred. Examples would be governments using censorship to remove negative news and cast themselves in positive light while editors use censorship to prevent publishing any news that risk offending any important figures in the society, thus benefiting themselves. Unknowingly, the media has shrouded our points of view by doing so and this can be noted locally: how often do you see the local government broadcasts news about their achievements on catching illegal immigrants as compared to broadcasting the news on the number of illegal immigrants that slipped under their noses? How often do you see schools announcing the achievements of various student groups as compared to announcing that of the groups that had nearly made the mark? The answer will be there will be more focus on the former than the latter for both cases. From these, we can see that the media today is corrupted as the supposedly good censorship practice have become a weapon for people to self-benefit.

Another aspect would be the making up of stories just to gain more viewers and popularity. This is done so as to select the best news to put on the front page, such that people will be most attracted to follow up on. An example would be the reports the on Israeli air strike in year 2006 that had supposedly struck the city of Qana, which had suffered a similar fate in April 1996, as indicated by the media. However upon further investigation, it was found out that the strike had occurred at a ‘hamlet approximately a mile to the north of the village, called Khuraybah (also known as Al-Khariba)’. Due to the influence of the media, this city eventually became the ‘“Qana” in cotemporary accounts.’ This shows the affluence of the media and thus has the ability to corrupt the society. "http://eureferendum.blogspot.com/2006/08/part-1-introduction.html"

Although these are just two points, the tip of the iceberg of this issue, however, I believe people can see the extent of corruption on the society the media is able to introduce.

Is technology as good as it seems in the world today?

2007-05-02T20:12:00.000+08:00

In this 21st century, the age of technology have came and swept across the world in the waves of tsunami. Now, people in urban areas, regardless of rich or poor, inevitably find their lives closely intertwined with technology, be it in the form of mobile phones, computers or music players. It hooks onto the masses as if a widespread addiction had occurred, with people undergoing symptoms similar to those of drug withdrawn symptoms whenever they lose contact with technology.

However behind its beautiful facade, is a side of negativity of the technology we have at our fingertips, which people tend to be oblivious to; firstly, as stated above, technology may prove to become a drug-like entity, causing addiction among users. Next would be the ineffectiveness of information transfer and not forgetting the impacts of technology on our world.

First of all, the problem of game addiction is widespread, especially in countries like the United States and Japan, where technology advances very rapidly as compared to other countries. These game addictions are mainly associated with computers, be it arcade game machines or home computers, and there has been reported cases of people playing computers non-stop for several days, neglecting the fatigue of their mind and bodies and demand for energy. These cases eventually ended in these addicts losing either their lives or sanity.

As the saying goes, “there will always be two sides to a coin”. Thus when people say that information can be disseminated very fast with technology, there would be loopholes in the system that people overlook. A simple example would be the jamming of networks on major festive occasions like the Chinese New Year, when people send festive greetings in the forms of MMS or SMS. Another example would be the recent mass murder in Virginia Tech University. On the day of the shooting, alert messages that would have averted the disaster was sent out. However due to network failure, the message came too late at 9.50am, where students and tutors had already started lessons and was not able to check their mails over either the internet or Blackberrys, thus resulting in the massacre becoming reality. This is undoubtedly an ironic twist to all the tribute paid to the goodness and effectiveness of technology.

Regardless of anyone’s rebuttal, the undeniable bitter truth of technology is that it has impacted our world to a large extent. Take into view the American society; Due to the emphasis on human rights, the American youths can easily gain access to violent materials which are not suitable for their age. In this sense, there has been increasing proportions of aggressive youths in the population, resulting in more home violence and crimes committed by youths.

Thus I urge people out there to try and see the two sides of technology and understand that we should not rely too much on technology as it is not all good and as reliable as portrayed in the façade of technology we see.

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

2007-04-26T04:59:00.000+08:00

Yes, I fully agree that the mass media nowadays do not always report the news in an objective tone, but instead makes the news out with some fictitious content such that to attract readers and generate revenue in this materialistic.

An example would be the recent passing on of the richest woman in Asia, Nina Wang. News reported that she passed away leaving behind $4.2billion inheritance to her personal fortune teller, Tony Chan Chun Chuen. This was then continued by several days of speculating the relationship between Madam Nina Wang and Mr Tony Chan Chun Chuen. Why is all this unnecessary speculation happening? Why are the reporters not letting her pass on with a good name, and instead accuses of having an affair with Mr Chan? The most obvious reason would be because the readers like these gossipy news. In this way, readership would definitely move up the revenue chart, and more revenue will be generated.

Another example of the media making news is the coverage on the debate on Ministerial Pay rise. The debate raged on over several weeks and despite MM Lee made the point during the parliamentary meetings that Singapore is a very small country, and thus we require an elite and effective government that can bring us to greater achievements. It is in view of this that the ministers pay must be raised to meet the current benchmark of the working world as if the ministers’ pays are to little, a brain drain situation, where talents will choose to move to private sectors due to high pays, will occur. The end result: Singapore will sink into oblivion. Many people had sent in their views to the forum of The Straits Times. This has help them meet their expectations; By choosing to report this news over other more trivial news, such as the banning of the film about ex-political detainee (on The Straits Times on 11th April 2007), more readership and revenue have been generated.

The points I stated above are just a tip of the iceberg on how the mass media works but the undeniable fact is that making or reporting of news all comes down to one point: the news that will attract the attention of the readers and generate more revenue will get a lot of coverage by the mass media.

"Youtube has no ethics, its been created for the sole purpose of entertainment and money." Do you agree?

2007-04-11T21:15:00.000+08:00

I do not agree to the claim stated in the question that Youtube is unethical and created for the sole purpose of entertainment and money. As people said, the Internet is a medium of free speech. Thus the ethicality of the website comes directly from the users. The undeniable fact is with more freedom, comes more responsibilities. However, with the recently uploading of the video, which features the graffiti over the king’s face, show how users of the website do not fully understand their responsibilities. Besides, I feel that with the growing stress level in the current economy, the setting up of Youtube not merely as a money tree and entertainment hub, but it is also to provide people with an alternative to express themselves and relieve themselves of the pressure they feel on their shoulders.

In my point of view, I believe that everyone has different cultures and traditions. Although some of us may find it hard to tolerate these cultures and traditions, everyone has rights to believe in the things they want. In this sense, mutual tolerance and respect for each other’s beliefs should be present and that no one has the right to comment on each other’s beliefs.

As common knowledge tells us, to the Thais’, their king is similar to their god. The Thai population worships their king and would not tolerate any sort of disrespect shown to their leader. I remember the last time I went to Thailand, one of my friends jokingly told me that when I am there, I must be alert and look at the floor as I walk, lest I step on their currency notes and have the Thai’s mob me due to stepping on the king’s face on the dollar note. On the surface, it was a joke. However, upon looking deeper into it, one can realize that is the intensity of the admirable respect and loyalty they have for their king, especially in this materialistic world, where most of the existing population are only self-concerning.

People ask, “Is Youtube a medium created merely to generate money and entertainment?” My answer would definitely be a no. Probably I am generalizing, but if it was purely for income and entertainment, would the funeral and life of the late Steve Irwin be featured on it? Is this unforgettable tragedy a source of entertainment? Not forgetting that it was the wife of Steve Darwin who volunteered and suggested that the video be broadcasted, would it still be considered a gimmick to earn income by placing it on Youtube? I believe by just this simple example, somewhere in our hearts we have found the answers to both the questions.

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

2007-04-03T20:45:00.000+08:00

In one point of view, whether the teenage years are the best years in one's life is relative and people would have different opinions based on their experiences in the period of time. However on hindsight, as it is the period of time that lets us experience more and opens our eyes to the outside world. To some, negative experiences such as loss of loved ones, constant betrayal by friends or years of solitude, may lead to them having the worst, most miserable years of their lives. For others, friends may flock and form a band of friendship around us, as if an invisible shield that protects us from the evils of the world. Nonetheless, I feel that teenage years are the best years of our lives.

Just as the saying goes, “silver lining on the dark clouds”, some of us may face heartbreaking events like separation of friends or loss of family members, but it is also in these years that we can grow up in terms of our mental fortitude. Coming together and parting with one another is part and parcel of life. Separations may make us miserable and depressed, but it is through these ups-and-downs that our true grit is put through the test and honed. Besides, it is through these experiences that help us mature in our thinking and read things or situations in depth and be aware of the situations. In this way we would know what to do in order to reply in an appropriate manner. It is also only in these difficult times can we see the identities of our true friends.

In these sense, crowded by friends, surrounded by friendship, experienced enlightenment, helping us grow and mature into good and critical thinking individuals. Under such circumstances, none of us should be growing up in solitude, growing up in depression as long as one does not shut himself out from the world and takes the world in an optimistic light.

1st blog entry after JAE

2007-03-23T18:14:00.000+08:00

According to the homework stated on IVLE, we are supposed to do a self introduction on ourselves as the 1st assignment, so here I am. I am Wilson Boo from class 21/07, currently the PE representative. I was from Bukit Panjang Government High School, and my CCA was NCC. Presently, I am in the AJC Air Pistol and Rifle Club, which is one of the few niche CCAs in AJ(i only knew about it today). I spent my 1st 3 months at AJ. I guess that's all. Hope to be able to get good grades from this new blogging practice for General Paper:)

Post for 17th of February

2007-02-24T14:24:00.000+08:00

Topic for 17th February Task 4: How should Singaporeans respond to the recent spat between her neighbours and her?

I believe that Singapore instead of retaliating, should remain silent or issue a public statement to clarify things as a whole once and for all. I feel that we should let the public see the truth for themselves as time will solve all problems.

Take for example, the accusation by Tun Mahathia Mohammed, alleging that the land reclamation projects in Singapore was the root for Johor's flooding problem. However in the annual environment report of the world, it was obvious that the rise in water levels, which contributed to the floods in low lying areas, is due to the 1degree Celsius rise in global temperature, causing the melting of the polar icecaps. If after reading this report, people still choose to rouse up nationalistic feelings, then regardless of anything we do to try and clarify things, it would all be fruitless effort on our part.

Another thing is the spat between Thailand and Singapore over the sale of ShinSat, a Thai national asset, to Temasek Holdings, a Singapore company. This buy over is caused fury among Thai nationals and they have demanded the recovery of ShinSat. The Thai military had also pointed an accusatory finger at Singapore for listening and monitoring their military communications. However apparently, in the Newpaper of the Saturday, 24th of February, a group of Thais, probably from ShinCorp, the mother company of ShinSat, clarified that the military communications is not routed through the satellites of ShinSat and thus is impossible to be monitored by Singapore.

Therefore, similarly for the sudden ban of sand trade between Singapore and Indonesia, I feel that Singapore should remain silent and stay in a neutral position, so as to maintain our relationships with neighbouring countries as positive as possible. Besides due to the size of our country, we cannot afford to offend our greater neighbouring countries, lest they launch an attack on us; one which we may not be able to defend against.

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

2007-02-17T10:34:00.000+08:00

To many in Singapore, professional parenting is the way to go, however in my point of view, this is one thing that should not be sanctioned. Most of the time, the need for professional parenting is closely intertwined with the long job hours of BOTH PARENTS.

What are parents and their roles in the society or even the small family units that exists now? Parents are supposed to be the guide and guardians of the younger generation, ensuring their healthy growth both physically and mentally such that the young will grow to be useful individuals in the future and society. However the trend now is that the "parents", instead of personally taking care of their young, are putting their sacred duties aside and are fighting for materialistic wants under the pretext of "giving their children a better life". I understand that people may try to justify their actions by stating that their financial output is greater than their income. On hindsight, if one do not have the means to pay, why spend so much?

Moreover there is not a universal definition of a "better life" to children or adults. Parents nowadays have the tendency to tie this idea down with materialistic satisfaction. Thus they embark on their journey to climb corporate ladders for greater financial benefits and giving their children a life of no worries, such that anything they ask for, they will get it. In this sense, it is obvious that parents fail to see the fact that it is only through facing adversity together can family members bond and understand each other better. It is also through adversity that children can be moulded into upright characters and thinking individuals. Not forgetting, children also require their emotional wants to be satisfied too. This can never be done by the money that parents work so hard for.

Regardless of any reasons given, it is undeniable that parents spend most time with their children, and are thus at a better position to change and affect their children most. Therefore I feel that professional parenting is not the way for Singapore as Singapore requires and relies heavily on human resource and the only way for growing talents and useful individuals is through cultivation of the younger generations within the small family units, done personally by the parents.

Carbon offsetting becoming good business(The Straits Times 2/2/07, World)

2007-02-03T12:10:00.000+08:00

In recent times, "Environmental Conserservation" has been the buzz term on everyone's lips, regardless of politicians or common folks. Definitely, it is reassuring to see that efforts are put in to find the best methods to conserve and to match the global notion to "Save our planet". We might not have realised but the notion had been around for the past decade or longer and had been spread through many different mediums, for example campaigns and media. Just in Singapore, we had the "Clean and Green" campaign, which went on for several years, the "Pollution-free" day, when people are strongly advised to take public transport in a bid to reduce pollution from vehicles, and the "Smoke-free zones", which was implemented last year, prohibitting people to smoke in public areas, except for the limited smoking zones specially allocated to them. Cartoons were also used as a medium to educate the young on this notion. An example is " Captain Planet". This cartoon depicts the adventures of 5 teenagers, all from different parts of the world and from all walks of life, who dedicated their lives on environmental conservation. They each received the powers of Wind, Water, Fire, Earth and Heart respectively, and when these powers combine, they summon a superhero called Captain Planet.
In these way, this cartoon is spreading the message that as long as everyone work together, the destruction of our Mother Earth can definitely be avoided.
Through these various ways, people all over the world will be inculcated with the idea of environmental conservation. However these efforts are mere talks. The real cost of Environmental Conservation can amount to figures that people may not be able to imagine. Just in Singapore alone, the government had already invested an estimate of S$2billion into researches of water and environmental technologies, which include the cleaning up of sewage, toxic waste, reducing everyday pollutions from vectors like vehicles, fossil burning for fuels, and etc. Moreover, even the costly "green" cars which run on either electricity or hydrogen gas are only in their initial research phases and are not so much ready to be put into practical use. Our local government has introduced the installation of a hydrogen gas tank in cars as an alternative to petroleum fuels. This will reduce the pollution levels but due to the fact that people will have to travel all the way up to Jurong Island in order to refill the tank, puts people off the idea.
Now with companies getting people to pay in order to offset their carbon pollution incurred on the environment, it has presented environmental conservation researches with a funding that comes from not only the country's annual revenue, but also from the public directly. Undeniably, this will give a boost to the efforts on Environmental Conservation but there is always two sides to a coin.
Concerns have been raised on this act by companies. Arguments had stated that such acts are more of a bane than boon to our global notion. Concerned parties fear that this will mislead people to thinking that it is alright to pollute the environment so as long as they contribute to the fundings for the related scientific researches to save our planet. Possibly, this is the dangerous thinking that will destroy our Mother Earth. Therefore, i feel that these companies and related organizations should reach out to people and emphasize that carbon offsetting is merely a temporary effort to aid the finding of viable environmental conservation solutions, and the best solution to put an end to our environmental woes would be to avoid and minimise our individual pollution.
In short, this would be a critical action plan to put forth, especially when our climate is facing major changes, with global warming becoming increasingly serious. It was reported in the news on the 2nd of February that in the past year, our climate had a rise in temperature of approximately 1 degree Celsius, which resulted in the melting of icebergs at the poles and the consequential floods all over the world.

The family plays a critical role in our society. Do you agree?

2007-01-27T13:01:00.000+08:00

The family plays a critical role in our society. Do you agree?
Yes I strongly agree that the family plays a critical role in our society for the fact that they are more experienced in the worldly ways of our society. Not forgetting that the older generations are always in close contact with the youngsters of the family, thus they understand the youngsters' thinking more and is a suitable cataylst to guide and train the younger generations into righteous and self-thinking individuals who can make an impact on the society. Moreover, the family is always there, thus when the younger generations are in their critical learning years, for example when they are still toddlers, they can inculcate good values to the younger generations and mould them into useful individuals of the future. The strength of blood ties and bonds are undeniably tough to break and can thus produce greater changes in the younger generations as compared to when outsiders try to help them. Family also represents a small community of people working and living together, helping out each other in times of need. This can eventually help to bond the society together, making people see each other, regardless of whether they are directly related or not, as a family and be willing to lend a hand to those in need.

Ok i switched the skins le..

2007-01-21T09:12:00.000+08:00

Sorry guys..i cldn hold on to the thought that my schoolwork blog is better looking than my main blog, so i switched the skin:P

OMG! is this cool blog mine?

2007-01-20T17:48:00.001+08:00

Haha..i like this cool skin so much..too bad i dun hav time nw..i guess i'll find sm free time and upload tis skin onto my main..dun wanna waste this skin on a blog meant for GP:P