dia-tribe

it's been an interesting evening scrolling through well-written and often humorous local blogs, perusing a pool of intelligent well thought-out opinions on current affairs in sg

here are just a few noteworthy ones that i stumbled across while searching for articles about the mr brown saga

waterchild (blog by a teacher. v v anon. what to do? teacher what)
mr brown (unceremoniously booted out from today newspaper as a columnist who "distorts the truth" *snorts*)
i-speak (v well-penned by a jc student)

so, an interesting, funny (laughed silly at some of the 760++hilarious critques and comments on the bhavani letter) and curiously depressing evening

depressing because on one hand, we have the government (generally) truly believing that it is doing its best to create a happy smiling nation state

and thus batting its eyes in unfortunately, almost pitifully sincere bewilderment when a character like mr brown pops into the limelight guns ablaze with satirical critiques of government policies (read: hikes in transport fares, schooling fees...)

the relevant ministry's response to his diatribe is to pull the plug on his column (well, not directly, but who doesn't know how much the local newspapers bow to political pressure?)

how heavy-handed! how misfiring! how high-browed a response (by accusing mr brown of encouraging "cynicism and despondency", the implication is that the average citizen who reads today is in possession of a white-washed mind prone to cynicism-programming, sorta like a canvas easily stained by earth-shattering irrationally outspoken articles)!

(2 things. if the income gap continues to widen then maybe the "average" citizen will soon become a rare breed. also, as much as i was aiming for dramatic irony in the above statement, sadly the implication may not be too far-fetched.. and that's just sad!)

i wonder if neil humphreys, another today columnist and author of the hilarious notes from a small island series of books on singapore life and culture, has thus far seemed escaped censure even though he pokes fun at singapore current affairs as well, week-in week-out?

granted, his columns are more light-hearted and usually drip with less sarcasm (though that's not to say that they don't occasionally pack a, er, mean punch). or perhaps - just perhaps - this "partisan politics" phobia (ppp) that the government seems to have can't be as readily applied to foreigners?

oh wait, if mr brown is accused of involving himself in "partisan politics" for ranting about kopitiam issues, then surely he must have directed his complains and criticisms towards the ruling party at some point in his article? surely??

but what is so political about complaining about rises in prices (and adding in a bit of satire/sarcasm/style, since one is equipped with the talent to do so)?

i for one regularly curse and swear whenever london's transport prices shoot up yet again (fact: in 2 years, the cost of my bus pass has risen by about 30%). open uk newspapers and you will find articles and letters complaining of every single damn thing as well (from the hose-pipe ban to the cost of maintaining the queen's lifestyle)

or just read the front page of a regular tabloid (viz daily mail, the sun) - yeah all 100 words - and observe the sheer bias/ prejudice/ sarcasm/ satire/ mockery/ etc (e.g. 23 july: "spineless bakri heads for hills" - referring to the fleeing muslim cleric)

you don't see the uk government trying to close down the newspapers!

no, because the political parties in the uk have more important things to do (well, most of the time anyway) than writing a complain letter about some satirical humour column - besides running the country, they're busy trying to run each other down, plotting for elections, coming up with "we-knew-this-was-going-to-happen" statements every time a member of an opposition party gets into hot water

in sg, being the only major political party in the country since, oh, the birth of the nation, has been a double-edged sword indeed. on one hand, the sg government has been able to push through policies and laws without much opposition. on the other hand, this sort of "we must make our citizens smile! :D! :D! :D! :D! :D! :D! :D!" mentality has become so compulsive - this sort of control-freak terror is so utterly undesirable in the government of a rapidly developing (hmm. arguable?) nation state

anyway, i thought i'd just air some of my thoughts here. seeing as usually i hardly have the patience nor concentration to write a long blog entry

(i only hope that this will not one day spell doom for my blog!)

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youtube is the new, er, cable? whatever... yay to podcaster power ;P

youtube pointer --> mariah carey singing journey's open arms live

dating from the mariah carey="white" ballad-y songbird days, as opposed to the current mariah carey="black" r&b artist era

an impressive change in style in any case, but who can match the heights of la madonna?