technology has infiltrated our lives for quite some time and we've been using it extensively for various aspects. In comms class, i learnt of the relationship between communication and technology. with the presence of technology, communication has been made limitless. no boundaries. or at least, thats how it has been perceived to be.
but today,we'll talk about CMC. Computer Mediated Communications. it is simply defined as " any form of communication using computers and computer networks that allows access and interaction between people and databases all over the world."
so this would include your e-mails, msn, facebook, friendster, virtual games and basically most of the things that teenagers nowadays LIVE FOR. oh wait..even this BLOG is a product of CMC. so yes. we're all pro- CMC.
CMC can bring us soo much joy and happiness..BUT WAIT. lets look at how CMC has further invaded our lives, or made stalking easier.
In Singapore, according to Straits Time dated 14th of march, "School attendance checks go digital". wow. just wow. and Cedar Girls' is one of the three secondary schools to participate, along with Presbyterian High and Anglo-Chinese. The reason to incorporate such technological advancement in the school system is so as to derease admin work and manage disciplinary problems such as absenteeism and truancy. Students are to tap/scan their ez-link cards/ fingerprints upon entering and leaving school. For Cedar, parents can check through an online portal to find out what time the child came to school or what time they left school after activities. parents will also be instantly notified if the child fails to attend school via sms. scaryyyyy. its like being watched all the time! stalker parentals!
when i was in cedar, i never skipped school. or at least, i never played truant. BUT that does not mean i'm such an innocent angel either. see, i have STRICT parents. then and now. my mother never really gave me freedom to hang out with my friends. i had to go home IMMEDIATELY after school. hence, the devil's workshop in my brain, produced great lies to make things possible. I would always tell my mum that i have extra lessons, remedials (which is very much believe-able since my grades were bad), CCA, CCA meetings and all sorts of excuses just to be back home late. and in that time,i would actually be out in Toa Payoh or Tampines with my friends having a good time. Imagine if during my time, this system was administered! i would be trapped in a smaller cage! goodness. i am so relieved that they decided to do this after i graduated.
my worst fear would be if SIM decides to participate in such nonsense as well. i'll be fuming mad if they did. as many of my friends know, i STILL have strict parents, and i STILL have a curfew. drum rollll...10 pm! and that is only IF i am allowed to go out...then my curfew is 10. other than that, its HOME straight after school. goshhh. i will be so dead if my mum gets a hold of the time table of my classes! hahah. but i am pretty sure (hopes and prays) that SIM gives their student more freedom than that.
in any case, i feel that some times, CMC is not at all good. when it falls onto the wrong hands, it may invade people's personal space or create tension and conflict. sometimes...its just good to NOT know everything. cheers.
writer's block is indeed apparent. sigh.
joke of the day!
A lawyer named Strange died, and his friend asked a tombstone maker to inscribe on his tombstone,
"Here lies Strange, an honest man and a lawyer". The inscriber insisted that such inscriptions would be confusing, for passersby would tend to think that three men were buried under the stone.However, he suggested an alternative:
He would inscribe, "Here lies a man who was both honest and a lawyer." That way, whenever anyone walked by the tombstone and read it, they would be certain to remark, "That's Strange!"
Sunday, March 15, 2009
Sunday, March 8, 2009
thank you for not choking
due to the fact that i got such depressing results for comms, i am going to take the opportunity to use a topic and be all angsty about it. it has been bugging me for quite some time now, and well, here's the chance to let it all out.
to all smokers,
how did you feel when the gahmen kept increasing the price of ciggarettes? angry? yes? but did we protest? no. from $3.50 a pack, it has come to $11.20 for 20 sticks of ciggs. we showed no signs of disapproval other than to puff our stress away even more. THEN, they decided to put disgusting horrific, SUPPOSEDLY true pictures on each pack to show us what harm smoking can bring us. did we protest? no. instead we sniggered, laughed about it, even created a collection of the pictures. THEN, what did they do? slowly slowly BAN places from us smokers. BAN. yes. BAN. first it was the air-con places (duh), then it spread outwards to bus stops, queues, coffee shops (partially..but i will comment more on this) outdoor places that we all just love to chill, have fun and enjoy a stick or two with our friends. its getting OUTRAGEOUS these days. because NOW, they ban even more places like CARPARK, door entrances, staircases and MANY MANY MORE.
what have we done to you non-smokers? exactly what?! do we blow our smoke into your faces? do we PURPOSELY stand next to you while smoking and let you inhale our smoke? yeah yeah. stop the nonsense on second hand smoking okae? if you're so scared, when you see a smoker, RUN for your life.
i myself, have been very tolerant with such beings. when i see a morsel of distortion on their face (ie. cringe) when i light up a ciggarette, i would move away. i also dont smoke when im near children, or at least i wont blow the smoke in their direction. if im crossing a road, and i happen to be holding a stick, i would walk at the outer most section of the crossing and not be in between people to spread the smoke around. most of my smoker friends are like that too! so if WE can be considerate to all you non-smokers, why must you keep denying us places to smoke? it gets unbearably irritating!
last time, i LOVE the fact that i can always choose the alfresco of a restaurant so that i can smoke. that is of course if my non-smoker friends dont mind, (see, we seek approval to show our consideration for others).it is a lovely feeling when you have eaten to your heart's content and then smoke afterwards. its heaven.( all you smoker get your hands in the air and say HELL YEA!) but what have they done? they made EVEN the alfresco, the open air part of the restaurant to be non-smoking. or even if they allowed, they only have up to TWO tables for smokers. what in the world...see...to all you non-smokers..at first, restaurants set up alfrescos for people who smoke and for those who cant take the cold of the air condition. unless you are one of these people, STAY INSIDE. dont be bothered with what goes on outside. and if you're the latter, the ones who cant stand the cold of an air con, and HATES the smell of smoke..tell you what...BRING A DAMN JACKET AND STAY INSIDE.
oh and im not done yet. SOME OF THE MORE IRRITATING non-smokers, would sit in OUR table. yes. OUR table. the one that allows us to sit there and smoke. see, again, it goes two ways now honey, if you dont want us to smoke at your non-smoking table, then jolly well dont take up our seats if you're not smoking. kapish?
then, yet another brilliant idea to irritate smokers is the "no smoking at door entrances, 5 metres of every building, multi-storey carparks and...OH. your mum's house!" annoying jfd&$%#. you know how annoying it is that singapore is SMEARED with buildings all over. so for a smoker to not be able to smoke at door entrances areas and 5 metres of every building, thats as simple as saying that we cant smoke ANYWHERE! because every 5 metres or so, we're into the 5 metre radius of yet another building!! and and, why cant we smoke at multi-storey carparks?whose life have we endangered there? bearing in mind that cars emits smoke too. so no one should use a car. because if you smell car's exhaust fumes, you may DIE.
oh ridiculous ridiculous. AND. they set up this small yellow boxes outside of shopping malls where they appear to be smokers-friendly. BUT if you scrutinize further, they're actually torturing us even more. the boxes are small. so if ten smokers were to obediently follow the law and smoke there, we will all be crammed up. andi've always realised that NONE of the smoking boxes EVER offered chairs. i mean. we'rehuman beings too you know! let us have a place to sit or something. smoking is to chill out and relax. not to strain our veins on our calves and feets!
oh the rantings can go on. how does this even relate to COMM 101 you ask? its all about the media theories we learn. this example can cover at least three. that is, the agenda setting function, media hegemony and the cultivation theory.
agenda setting function
media's ability to raise importance of an issue in the public's mind through repeated coverage. hmm. remember those disturbing advertisements that they show on tv about smoking. how one of them end up to be totally faked? yes. the fact that they have "no smoking" signs repeatedly showcased everywhere? yes. the fact that they intentionally link all sorts of health issues to smoking? whereas in the past, they only focused on healthy diet pyramids and eye exercises? yes. change of focus. we become the target. case closed.
media hegemony
media represents the views of the powerful elite. how many of our ministers smoke? maybe discreetly, we dont know...but in the public eye, none of them are smokers. furthermore, the gahmen wants to create singapore into a health hub. therefore, unhealthy habit (see..not habitS) should be eradicated. realise that gambling is also an unhealthy habit? but what? what did you say? the IR will be ready soon? ohhh. great for singapore's economy i hear. case closed.
cultivation theory
message in media do not influence audiences attitudes directly but, cultivated indirectly. in the past, when more places were allowed for smoking, even those smoke-haters cant say much. those neutral parties say nothing and accept life as it is. but now, with the placement of those horrible signs, the smoke-haters now have a reason to say all they want and involve the law to outcast the smokers. neutral parties will be swayed to think likewise, since now, the law is involved. its a gradual reconstruction of perception. slowly, people might just associate smokers with druggies. -shake head-
its a sad sad life now for the smokers.imprisoned in their own land. outcast by society. and we're only left with the company of those 20 loyal friends that come in a pack and ease our tension, stress, sorrow away.
(ps: i've always been a supporter of the gahmen. but not this one. defnitely not this one)
to all smokers,
how did you feel when the gahmen kept increasing the price of ciggarettes? angry? yes? but did we protest? no. from $3.50 a pack, it has come to $11.20 for 20 sticks of ciggs. we showed no signs of disapproval other than to puff our stress away even more. THEN, they decided to put disgusting horrific, SUPPOSEDLY true pictures on each pack to show us what harm smoking can bring us. did we protest? no. instead we sniggered, laughed about it, even created a collection of the pictures. THEN, what did they do? slowly slowly BAN places from us smokers. BAN. yes. BAN. first it was the air-con places (duh), then it spread outwards to bus stops, queues, coffee shops (partially..but i will comment more on this) outdoor places that we all just love to chill, have fun and enjoy a stick or two with our friends. its getting OUTRAGEOUS these days. because NOW, they ban even more places like CARPARK, door entrances, staircases and MANY MANY MORE.
what have we done to you non-smokers? exactly what?! do we blow our smoke into your faces? do we PURPOSELY stand next to you while smoking and let you inhale our smoke? yeah yeah. stop the nonsense on second hand smoking okae? if you're so scared, when you see a smoker, RUN for your life.
i myself, have been very tolerant with such beings. when i see a morsel of distortion on their face (ie. cringe) when i light up a ciggarette, i would move away. i also dont smoke when im near children, or at least i wont blow the smoke in their direction. if im crossing a road, and i happen to be holding a stick, i would walk at the outer most section of the crossing and not be in between people to spread the smoke around. most of my smoker friends are like that too! so if WE can be considerate to all you non-smokers, why must you keep denying us places to smoke? it gets unbearably irritating!
last time, i LOVE the fact that i can always choose the alfresco of a restaurant so that i can smoke. that is of course if my non-smoker friends dont mind, (see, we seek approval to show our consideration for others).it is a lovely feeling when you have eaten to your heart's content and then smoke afterwards. its heaven.( all you smoker get your hands in the air and say HELL YEA!) but what have they done? they made EVEN the alfresco, the open air part of the restaurant to be non-smoking. or even if they allowed, they only have up to TWO tables for smokers. what in the world...see...to all you non-smokers..at first, restaurants set up alfrescos for people who smoke and for those who cant take the cold of the air condition. unless you are one of these people, STAY INSIDE. dont be bothered with what goes on outside. and if you're the latter, the ones who cant stand the cold of an air con, and HATES the smell of smoke..tell you what...BRING A DAMN JACKET AND STAY INSIDE.
oh and im not done yet. SOME OF THE MORE IRRITATING non-smokers, would sit in OUR table. yes. OUR table. the one that allows us to sit there and smoke. see, again, it goes two ways now honey, if you dont want us to smoke at your non-smoking table, then jolly well dont take up our seats if you're not smoking. kapish?
then, yet another brilliant idea to irritate smokers is the "no smoking at door entrances, 5 metres of every building, multi-storey carparks and...OH. your mum's house!" annoying jfd&$%#. you know how annoying it is that singapore is SMEARED with buildings all over. so for a smoker to not be able to smoke at door entrances areas and 5 metres of every building, thats as simple as saying that we cant smoke ANYWHERE! because every 5 metres or so, we're into the 5 metre radius of yet another building!! and and, why cant we smoke at multi-storey carparks?whose life have we endangered there? bearing in mind that cars emits smoke too. so no one should use a car. because if you smell car's exhaust fumes, you may DIE.
oh ridiculous ridiculous. AND. they set up this small yellow boxes outside of shopping malls where they appear to be smokers-friendly. BUT if you scrutinize further, they're actually torturing us even more. the boxes are small. so if ten smokers were to obediently follow the law and smoke there, we will all be crammed up. andi've always realised that NONE of the smoking boxes EVER offered chairs. i mean. we'rehuman beings too you know! let us have a place to sit or something. smoking is to chill out and relax. not to strain our veins on our calves and feets!
oh the rantings can go on. how does this even relate to COMM 101 you ask? its all about the media theories we learn. this example can cover at least three. that is, the agenda setting function, media hegemony and the cultivation theory.
agenda setting function
media's ability to raise importance of an issue in the public's mind through repeated coverage. hmm. remember those disturbing advertisements that they show on tv about smoking. how one of them end up to be totally faked? yes. the fact that they have "no smoking" signs repeatedly showcased everywhere? yes. the fact that they intentionally link all sorts of health issues to smoking? whereas in the past, they only focused on healthy diet pyramids and eye exercises? yes. change of focus. we become the target. case closed.
media hegemony
media represents the views of the powerful elite. how many of our ministers smoke? maybe discreetly, we dont know...but in the public eye, none of them are smokers. furthermore, the gahmen wants to create singapore into a health hub. therefore, unhealthy habit (see..not habitS) should be eradicated. realise that gambling is also an unhealthy habit? but what? what did you say? the IR will be ready soon? ohhh. great for singapore's economy i hear. case closed.
cultivation theory
message in media do not influence audiences attitudes directly but, cultivated indirectly. in the past, when more places were allowed for smoking, even those smoke-haters cant say much. those neutral parties say nothing and accept life as it is. but now, with the placement of those horrible signs, the smoke-haters now have a reason to say all they want and involve the law to outcast the smokers. neutral parties will be swayed to think likewise, since now, the law is involved. its a gradual reconstruction of perception. slowly, people might just associate smokers with druggies. -shake head-
its a sad sad life now for the smokers.imprisoned in their own land. outcast by society. and we're only left with the company of those 20 loyal friends that come in a pack and ease our tension, stress, sorrow away.
(ps: i've always been a supporter of the gahmen. but not this one. defnitely not this one)
Sunday, March 1, 2009
my culture my pride
Culture defines us. defines who we are, what we do and how we think.
i guess for me, culture plays a major role in my upbringing. i'm malay. malay malay. no mix.no culture crisis. you know how sometimes when you ask someone what is their race, they'll go," oh, my grandma has dutch blood, my great grand uncle is german, my grandma on my father's side is indian and my great great grandfather is portugese." interesting isn't it? how some people are so insecure about their own roots, that they have to give us every single race in the spectrum that they might possibly have. sometimes, when their answers get draggy, i'd rephrase my question and ask them, "what's the race that is written in your ic" and they'll be like.."oh..malay". total retards.
the malay culture is basically a collectivist culture. we are highly interdependent. suppose, there is a wedding function or make that ANY function that one family were to hold, everyone else would help out. the immediate family, the extended family, friends, neighbours, everyone would get involved. this is what we call "gotong- royong" . people sacrifice their energy, time and money for the benefit of the family hosting the function. we practice self sacrifice for the ingroup members. It can also be seen as having mutual sympathy for one another, where the community goes through thick and thin together. when one is short-handed, there'll always be a helping hand. there is great readiness to cooperate with ingroup mmembers.
collectively, we believe that the women are the weaker sex (something i'm still rebelling against..but i guess, thats the individualist in me) and they are to stay home, and provide necessities for their husbands and family. the malay women are known for their soft spoken personality, their grace and their submissive characters. this is well portrayed by our cultural dance, that speaks of the characteristic of a traditional malay woman. on the other hand, malay man are portrayed as strong, chivalrous brave leaders of the family who hunt and fish as a livelihood to feed his family. NO WONDER i see a trend of MCP in many malay men. hmmm. These are just some of the examples of social norms and duties that are expected of a traditional malay person and are defined by a group rather than of self.
The malay culture can be considered a high context culture where there are restricted codes and contextual cues. places much emphasis on politeness and "face-saving" takes. in the old days, when presenting themselves in front of the king or "Raja", any gestures that showed one's behind or the sole of the feet to the king is considered as disrespectful and an insult to the king. Also, in cases like maybe, premarital pregnancies, malays usually don't hold any extravagant weddings as it is seen as something shameful and a disgrace to the family's name. they will usually proceed with just a minor ceremony involving only immediate families. it can be said that malays places much value in family pride and what the community thinks of them.
in my opinion, the malay culture is rich, vibrant and ever-lasting. it holds many values like humility, pride and respect. as much as modernisation has depleted many of its beliefs, ie. gender roles, it is here to stay and still influences many of the younger generations. in our very own words, "takkan melayu hilang di dunia" which means, malays (or the culture) will never cease to exist in this world.
so tell me, what's your culture? how has it defined you? have you ever been embarrassed by your own culture? SHARE
joke of the day!
Why men are like computers. (one for the ladies!)
10. They have a lot of data but are still clueless.
9. A better model is always just around the corner.
8. They look nice and shiny until you bring them home.
7. It is always necessary to have a backup.
6. They'll do whatever you say if you push the right buttons.
5. The best part of having either one is the games you can play.
4. In order to get their attention, you have to turn them on.
3. The lights are on but nobody's home.
2. Big power surges knock them out for the night.
1. Size does matter
i guess for me, culture plays a major role in my upbringing. i'm malay. malay malay. no mix.no culture crisis. you know how sometimes when you ask someone what is their race, they'll go," oh, my grandma has dutch blood, my great grand uncle is german, my grandma on my father's side is indian and my great great grandfather is portugese." interesting isn't it? how some people are so insecure about their own roots, that they have to give us every single race in the spectrum that they might possibly have. sometimes, when their answers get draggy, i'd rephrase my question and ask them, "what's the race that is written in your ic" and they'll be like.."oh..malay". total retards.
the malay culture is basically a collectivist culture. we are highly interdependent. suppose, there is a wedding function or make that ANY function that one family were to hold, everyone else would help out. the immediate family, the extended family, friends, neighbours, everyone would get involved. this is what we call "gotong- royong" . people sacrifice their energy, time and money for the benefit of the family hosting the function. we practice self sacrifice for the ingroup members. It can also be seen as having mutual sympathy for one another, where the community goes through thick and thin together. when one is short-handed, there'll always be a helping hand. there is great readiness to cooperate with ingroup mmembers.
collectively, we believe that the women are the weaker sex (something i'm still rebelling against..but i guess, thats the individualist in me) and they are to stay home, and provide necessities for their husbands and family. the malay women are known for their soft spoken personality, their grace and their submissive characters. this is well portrayed by our cultural dance, that speaks of the characteristic of a traditional malay woman. on the other hand, malay man are portrayed as strong, chivalrous brave leaders of the family who hunt and fish as a livelihood to feed his family. NO WONDER i see a trend of MCP in many malay men. hmmm. These are just some of the examples of social norms and duties that are expected of a traditional malay person and are defined by a group rather than of self.
The malay culture can be considered a high context culture where there are restricted codes and contextual cues. places much emphasis on politeness and "face-saving" takes. in the old days, when presenting themselves in front of the king or "Raja", any gestures that showed one's behind or the sole of the feet to the king is considered as disrespectful and an insult to the king. Also, in cases like maybe, premarital pregnancies, malays usually don't hold any extravagant weddings as it is seen as something shameful and a disgrace to the family's name. they will usually proceed with just a minor ceremony involving only immediate families. it can be said that malays places much value in family pride and what the community thinks of them.
in my opinion, the malay culture is rich, vibrant and ever-lasting. it holds many values like humility, pride and respect. as much as modernisation has depleted many of its beliefs, ie. gender roles, it is here to stay and still influences many of the younger generations. in our very own words, "takkan melayu hilang di dunia" which means, malays (or the culture) will never cease to exist in this world.
so tell me, what's your culture? how has it defined you? have you ever been embarrassed by your own culture? SHARE
joke of the day!
Why men are like computers. (one for the ladies!)
10. They have a lot of data but are still clueless.
9. A better model is always just around the corner.
8. They look nice and shiny until you bring them home.
7. It is always necessary to have a backup.
6. They'll do whatever you say if you push the right buttons.
5. The best part of having either one is the games you can play.
4. In order to get their attention, you have to turn them on.
3. The lights are on but nobody's home.
2. Big power surges knock them out for the night.
1. Size does matter
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