Living Dangerously

This is probably the year blogging became (in my head anyway) a dangerous hobby.

You could get sued for it, kicked off your job, arrested or worst of all, become a victim of a witch hunt.

I wasn't blogging during the time of the Dawn Yang saga due to my exams. But I followed it pretty closely, or as closely as my study schedules would allow.

Thing is, apart from being foolish enough to draw attention to herself in that Xiaxue type manner, she didn't actually do anything wrong. Her plastic surgery(which she was an even bigger fool to deny) was her own perogative. As long as her parents had the money and were willing to pay for it, they should be the only ones concerned. As it is, most celebrities are tweaked to some extent anyway; one has only to take a look at this site to realise that.

The image conscious society we live in demands nothing less. Xiaxue's a pretty enough girl, but she has had tons of her detractors make snide and cruel comments about her looks, her weight and her use of photoshop.

Why turn on these girls in that manner? So what if she had plastic surgery? So what if XX uses photoshop? So do most celebrities (and by most I mean something like 98%).

Next thing I knew, yet another pretty female blogger(Daphne Teo) had decided to put an end to her blog. This too, was due to the amount of cruel and uncalled for comments she'd been getting in her comments boxes and apparently in forums as well. Again, the only thing she could have been guilty of, was flaunting her father's wealth and ability to purchase myriad designer handbags and electronic accessories. Again, the only people who should have been concerned about that would be her parents (and perhaps her future husband who may need to support that lifestyle).

Perhaps the main problem is that Singaporeans just cannot stand people flaunting their wealth or assets or success in any way. I've often noticed that it seems to be part of Asian/Chinese culture to deny success or downplay it in anyway. Response to any praise is almost invariably a slew of self deprecating remarks to show one's modesty and humility. Any other response would make the person seem 'proud' or 'arrogant' and that seems to be the crux of the problem with these bloggers.

Or maybe, in these sorry economic times, when most people find themselves financially challenged, watching these girls go out and spend money and time heedlessly just got to be too much. And for them to sit around and say after the fact, that they were not rich, merely got to be the proverbial straw on the camel's back.

The problem is that whole point of blogging is to draw attention. It's a platform for many things, a social diary, fashion, current affairs etc. It's the adult version of the poser's game for many people( like the 3 bloggers I highlighted). It's the online "hey look at me, look how pretty/knowledgeable I am!" scenario. And I guess the main problem with that is that most lifestyle type bloggers are unwilling to admit that this attention seeking type behaviour brings with it the downside of celebrity as well. Not only are they unwilling to admit it, most (with the possible exception of XX) don't know how to cope with it as well.

Singapore's not a place for revolutions. We all know that. But as the gap between the rich and the relatively poorer widens, we may get more witch hunts like these if people unwittingly decide to flaunt their successful lifestyles online and off. Perhaps that's why the government chooses to keep the lifestyles of its ministers quiet and under wraps.

After all, unless what you post is really inflammatory( or illegal), blogs that discuss current affairs and other intellectual matters tend not to be attacked in quite the same way. It is true that they don't draw the numbers the same way, but at least they tend not to draw the same amount of flak.

In these times(and with regards to our culture), blogging is a dangerous hobby, not for the fainthearted or timid. Those who thought that the Internet was a harbinger of a world without censors, some utopia of freedom of expression were fools. There will always be censors, official or unofficial. Even if freedom of speech is guaranteed, no one can protect you from the nastiness that envious minds breed.

All that live must die

There's been a great to-do lately about the young Australian sentenced to death row in Singapore.

There were the requisite demonstrations in front of the state library in Melbourne, angry letters to the press and scathing articles about the barbarism and inhumanity of the Singaporean justice system.

Online, various bloggers such as Mr Wang and Singabloodypore made their comments and others began angry impassioned debates on their comments pages.

The oddest thing that struck me about the whole affair? The fact that the Australians I spoke to and who commented, really believed that they could change matters with their campaigns and letters and leaflets.

The Singaporeans were merely resigned. Even those who did oppose the death penalty were careful to be quiet about it and to make it clear that they could do little to change things.

There's something rotten in both the countries, if you ask me.

Australia has definitely got fairly awful drug problem going on amongst their youth, both in consuming and trafficking. There have been so many cases just this year alone, although only one was turned into a media circus. Obviously some measures (draconian or not) have to be taken before it becomes even more rampant than it is now. There is also a distinct possibility, that unlike Singapore, their drug laws are far too lenient.

And Singapore? A country where social and legal change come dropping slow. Our legal system is literally decades behind everyone else in terms of social reform and I'm not just talking about the death penalty. It is true that we inherited our legal system from the British, as did Australia, but arguably, in certain areas of legal reform, they're streets ahead of us.

Among my friends, I take the stand that the guy broke the law and should pay according to the law.But deep down,I feel enormously sorry for him.
I've never really supported the idea of the death penalty for anyone, mainly because of its irreversibility; any mistakes made by the system, the DPP or the police and a man will die just like that. (Yes, I do realise that it's a very simplistic view of things)

And death has this awful finality to it.

I suppose it helps keep out streets safe and all that. But I look at the face of the young man about to die and I sometimes wonder, if the price we pay is too high.

But perhaps it would serve to remind the world(and I); that in Singapore, there are no second chances.