10/27/2006

child prank or cold sore?

Wee Shu Min's case is but a child prank. In many cases of such nature this will be treated like a child prank and be ignored completely by the general public. It may at most deserves a little comment and will be forgotten. But this issue now has generated so much heat in cyberspace that it appears to become a political crisis of sort. Many of the bloggers and forumers are seeing things that are more than meet the eyes. Just like the Durai case, it is not an issue of a young girl making an off the cuff statement in the heat of the moment. Many are questioning the thinking, values and philosophy of the elite which is symbolised by the ruling party. Anyway, such perceptions only appear in cyberspace and appear serious for those who are reading the fierce comments posted. But is it really deserving of such attention in MSM? Obviously not. The general public will probably see this as a little disturbance, a little annoyance. And rightly the professional journalists in the MSM will not be bothered to spend time reporting on such a small issue. If it is that important and affecting the ruling elite or the party, you can expect some comments coming out from the highest places. The silence tells us that it is not important and no need to sweat over it. It is more like a cold sore. It will appear for a short while and will disappear by itself and the skin will be as smooth as before. Not a little blemish will be left behind. Whether it will disrupt again in the future will depend on the nature of the cold sore. If it is syphillis, it will surely rear its ugly self once again at the most uncomfortable moment. But it could be just a normal cold sore that will just come and go and will not affect the person having it. The elite have made their assessments like the MSM journalists and they are right. The forumers and bloggers are making a mountain out of a mole hill. Whichever party is right in their assessment, only time will tell.

10 comments:

Anonymous said...

Spot on. The severity of reaction from cyberspace has little impact i.e. the newspapers are a good barometer of cyberspace influence on the political sphere. If the political body deems that issues raised by cyberspace are hot potatoes, then they will be brought to attention in mainstream media.

Then again, who's to say what cyberspace impact will be five years down the road when it's nearer to the next GE w.r.t. our youth growing up with the internet and not newspapers?

Chua Chin Leng aka redbean said...

hi gecko,

welcome to the blog.

actually i was a bit cynical. the msm will only print what is politically correct. what is politically taboo will simply be missed.

just like the durai case. only when it blew up and cannot be contained anymore will msm report it. this case is very similar in nature.

professional expediency.

Anonymous said...

Hi Redbean,

"professional expediency." <- hmm... what a choice of noun with possibly improper or immoral connotations.

Perhaps, the key power holders overseeing the mainstream media think their approach towards media coverage is good for the nation.

But in the long run, within 10 years at the very most, you will see that this approach will hurt them very badly. It is sad that decades of national propaganda taints and erases the century-old newspaper activism seen before this nation's independence in 1965. Already as it is, people are waking up to the fact that the newspapers print rubbish.

Chua Chin Leng aka redbean said...

itsn't it great that there is cyberspace and cybernews?

news in cyberspace will continue to gain ground as long as msm are as professional as they are today. and cyberspace is people's news, citizen news. news told by the people for the people.

what is important now is for netizens to take their news and views seriously and readers will also take them seriously.

Anonymous said...

When I wake up each morning I turn on the PC and scan the blogs, news from foreign countries first before I even turn the fist page of ST. Why? I think the news in ST is so one sided and controlled that it is almost not worth spending time reading. Ask any Singaporean, and if it was possible to remove the "fear factor", anyone will tell you that ST justvomit out PAP propaganda with every sentence they print. I do not think it is worth the 80 cents we pay. I only pay for the advertisement.

What do you think Redbean?

Chua Chin Leng aka redbean said...

hi anonymous,

the only thing worth reading will be the sales of electronic gadgets or the latest handphones that you may want to buy. even the tv there is nothing worth watching except for news on cna.

for domestic gossips, better to write wanbao, more juicy. for political news, forget it. for international news, you will be reading american propaganda that they probably paid for it to feed to the readers.

this is but the brutal truth isn't it?

Anonymous said...

When I was in UK recently I watched a tv programme called " Prime Minister's Question Time ". How come there isn't a programme like that in Singapore. If we want to be a first world country then I think such transparencies is needed. Any agreement or disagreement out there?

Abao said...

Yo redbean. I haven't posted a reply here for quite some time.

Anyway, we have to record down the reactions by Papa Wee and see for ourselves whether he did change for the better by GE2011. If not, we must remind the public of this incident and make sure he stays down.

Chua Chin Leng aka redbean said...

hi anonymous,
we are already in the first world in many aspects. and from the aspect of internet literacy and participation we are also very high.

we need to move to the next gear with more participation and contribution. being educated and well informed allow us to contribute more actively to society. and one way is to speak the truth to effect change for the general good. whether change comes or not at all is another problem. but we need to take the first step by speaking out.

Chua Chin Leng aka redbean said...

hi abao,

nice to have you back. miss your postings.