of prime ministers and non sequiturs
I haven't been blogging about politics lately, partly because I thought it a bit unwise, given the narrowly-defined sensitivities of my job, and partly because I just got bored. There's only so much politics you can talk about, after all.
But I'm now watching Lee Hsien Loong's National Day Rally speech and he again made the point that you can say things on blogs that you can't in the mainstream media, so anything I post here should enjoy immunity as long as (1) it isn't racist (2) I make sure I say it's frivolous and not serious at all. That is, more TalkingCock and less mrbrown.
So I want to talk about mrbrown. (Not seriously, of course.) I don't understand the logical leap PM made when he said (not verbatim): people should feel free to criticise the government, but when they do so, they must be prepared to stand by their views, and they must expect a response. We must give a harsh response when necessary. This is how we are being more open and more candid. We are moving forward.
I'd like to know (not seriously, of course) - how does an immediate clampdown on columnists translate into open discussion? And how exactly does the government expect to conduct "open discussions" with Singaporeans anyway? Surely they cannot honestly believe that government-regulated "forum sessions" with the public - apparently the only sanctioned (and carefully-controlled) means of such interaction - constitute adequate engagement with the people?
Or that judiciously-worded commentaries and opinions in the seldom-read political section of the newspapers (apologies to all political journalists who may be reading this) are truly representative of public thought? Because obviously any column in so-called mainstream media that is less artfully crafted (and perhaps more in tune with what Singaporeans really think) is fair game for MICA wrath and prompt suspension, as we've seen.
But - still in all frivolity - blogs are okay. And, as someone once advised me, blogs by young people are especially okay, because you can later blame your "mistakes" on being carried away by ardent inexperience and a misguided - and English-educated, of course - radicalism. So we should all blog about politics as much as possible. After all, none of us bloggers will ever be held up to the same rigid standards as mainstream media, right? MICA has said so. Even though their response to mrbrown addressed none of the issues that he brought up and instead dedicated several paragraphs to his "sarcastic" tone and clear intention to stir up public discontent so as to achieve - what? Must be his ultimate aim of overthrowing the government and replacing them with bak chor mee sellers, because surely that's the only possible goal of anyone who criticises the government.
Andy Ho and his recent, characteristically so-fallaciously-asinine-I-can't-think-of-a-suitable-adjective column on how bloggers will never replace the mainstream media completely misses the point, as usual. Of course bloggers will never be able to cover news - especially political news that is issued only through government press releases - in the same way as accredited journalists. But how important, really, is news? Particularly Singaporean news? What most politically-aware Singaporeans are interested in are genuinely critical news analyses, which they're never going to get in papers like The Straits Times, despite having highly-credentialed journalists like the above-mentioned Andy "I have a PhD and an MBA so I am all-knowing and no one else on earth is qualified to argue with me" Ho.
I mean none of this seriously, of course.
And if I'm ever called on it, I shall plead temporary insanity - youthful, English-educated temporary insanity - due to the pro-Singapore fervour stirred up in me by the National Day Rally speech.
Today I watched a movie and went shopping. See, this is actually a frivolous entry.
posted by zyn ::
9:24 PM ::
4 Comments ::
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