Censorship matters

“Censorship is a reciprocal relationship between openness (candor) and respect, you cannot expect me to respect your opinion if you hide in a veil of anonymity.” – (Mun, 2010)

A gem popped up while crossing (s)words with an anonymous troll. Thought I’d immortalize it in the an(n)als of cyberspace history here on my blog.

P.S. I’m sorry my part 2 took so long… research, research, research… its one of the most time consuming yet non-visible phase in the writing process… Akan datang soon, I promise!

Quote of the Day

“Hang him if you must, but not in such an automated, robotoid(sic), spasmodic, reactionary manner.”
- M Ravi, in defense of Yong Vui Kong, the boy who cheated death 3 times.

A brief interlude…

Taking a break from the article I’ve started just for today…

On a related note, when I told my dear friend that the title of my upcoming article would be “Like moths drawn to a flame”, he came up with this witty rejoinder: “like (famous) men drawn to women?”  I laughed.

Well, if you didn’t get that, the talk of the town recently has been pretty much the same thing: PBM Jack Neo and his extra-monogamous dalliances(I love how bombastic words add a certain euphemistic touch…). I didn’t bother myself with catching up with all the sordid details through the various media reports.

Reports of a man’s fulfillment of his biological functions bore me after sometime, no thanks to the media (both stat mainstream and online) reporting of the same issue ad nauseum, seeking to milk the saga for what it is worth. What I can vaguely recall is the afternoon news flash on television on the day of PBM Jack Neo’s press conference.

I wasn’t even watching the television directly but I could hear my mom watching it from my room. Apparently, Mrs Neo had a breakdown during the proceedings,  judging from the scuffles and panicked vocalizations that I could hear. At the point in time, the first thought that entered my mind as an uninvolved (and somewhat disinterested) party was: “Wow, that’s more dramatic than any of the movies he made…”

Oh well, what to do, its happened. So lets move on, right? Shouldn’t there be more pressing issues for the people to be concerned about? The last I remembered, the world didn’t stop revolving when the saga broke. From all the chatter both online and off,  I cannot help but think that people enjoy a public persona’s fall from grace more than that person’s rise to prominence. Such twisted perversity.

P.S. In case you are wondering what on earth does PBM mean, it is an honorific used to address recipients of the Public Service Medal, or the Pingat Bakti Masyarakat in its original Bahasa Melayu rendering.

Like moths drawn to a flame – Part 1

Members of the human race, like moths drawn to a flame and other light sources, have a propensity to gravitate towards sources of  leadership. For the moths, this very natural instinct served very fundamental purpose: survival.

Long before the advent of the human race and subsequently the discovery of fire, the only sources of light to be found within prehistoria’s nightfalls are the celestial bodies i.e. the Moon and the Stars (ok, ok, I know trees set on fire during lightning storms at night can serve as a source too! But indulge me… as I muse along this line).

Under such circumstances, positive phototaxis (sorry, my inner scientist wanted to speak there…) by the moths towards these extremely distant light sources, physically impossible to reach by mere winged flight of the moths alone, will result in their traversing long distances in a straight line. Flying towards light sources undercover of darkness means safety from predators, traversing long distances means newer food sources. In short, survival, of both the self and the entire species.

It can similarly be argued that we humans, tend to gravitate towards leaders for similar reasons of survival….

To be continued in Part 2…. Stay tuned!

So, why a blog?

To tell you the truth, I’ve never kept a diary nor a journal before this, much less owning another blog like this one. So why now? Why skip the food chain and jump right into an online weblog? The answer’s much simpler than you think. I’m an introspective person at heart(surprise surprise!) and would toss around ideas, insights and memories in my head on a regular basis. And then from that synthesis, draw my inspirations to better experience the limitless possibilities of life as a human being.

Of late, however, as I continue to accrue my life’s share of laughter, tears, excitement and boredom, I began to notice that the memories of my experiences past are becoming more like a blurried continuum, and less… focused, for want of a better word, as compared to say, 10 years ago. As such, I began to see the usefulness of keeping a journal or a blog, which essentially is an online journal. A blog would allow me to crystallize my insights, my musings into a physical, tangible form for future reference, rather than having them vanish from my psyche at an inopportune moment due to the physiological limits of my brain.

Crystallizing my thoughts onto an online blog also opens up more possibilities than if I were to keep a pocket journal. It allows me to update in midst of using my computer, from which I am practically inseparable. Not having to utilize my doctor’s handwriting helps too. But most important of all, I feel, is the prospect of my ideas, insights and musings being available to the world at large(should they deign to come to my blog in the first place… suddenly I feel small ._.).

It is an exciting prospect because it enables me to see if my ideas and insights come up to the scrutiny of others, and if indeed they come up short, hurray! Because I have learnt yet another perspective to hone my paradigms upon. Ahhh… The joys of lifelong learning. To conclude this post of mine, let me share one of my favourite quotes of all time:

“The best thing for being sad,” replied Merlin, beginning to puff and blow, “is to learn something. That’s the only thing that never fails. You may grow old and trembling in your anatomies, you may lie awake at night listening to the disorder of your veins, you may miss your only love, you may see the world about you devastated by evil lunatics, or know your honour trampled in the sewers of baser minds. There is only one thing for it then — to learn. Learn why the world wags and what wags it. That is the only thing which the mind can never exhaust, never alienate, never be tortured by, never fear or distrust, and never dream of regretting. Learning is the only thing for you. Look what a lot of things there are to learn.”

- T.H. White, “The Once and Future King”

And here we go!

Finally… this is it, the very first post to deflower this pristine, untouched corner in cyberspace that I recently claimed as my own. I guess you could call it my virgin post.

The first time is always, as they say, the hardest and it is so even now,  for my writing of this virgin post. But still, nothing ventured, nothing gained. First off, I’d like to give thanks to (a number of) my dear friend(s), upon whose behest I’ve decided to start up this blog in the first place. According to them, I absolutely have to tormen share with the world at large my various musings and insights, lest they be lost in the mists of time.  Without their staunch encouragement (and repeated prodding ad nauseum, I might add ), much of what you see now wouldn’t even have come to pass. And so, special thanks to them, aye?

Now that credit is given where credit is due, let us get down to the pertinent issue at hand: “Who am I and what am I doing here?” Before I go down the slippery slope of existentialistic angst, let me just confine my answers to within the purposes of this blog itself. Here’s a brief primer about myself: I’m male (if you didn’t get that by now…-.-), coming 26years young this July. Graduated from University of Queensland, but back in Singapore now (raised some eyebrows didn’t I? Trust me I had my reasons). The things I enjoy are a good book, whipping up a good meal, opening a good bottle(go figure) and a good conversation. The simple things in life, because (very)deep down inside I’m a simple guy at heart.

And that is all for the brief primer on my person. Now, if the teaser got you craving for more, feel free to click the “About” section on top, or even click on my smiling self just to your right sidebar like so. Go on, I won’t bite, and you know you want to.

Without further ado, fasten your seatbelts and here we go! My Infernal Emissions!