In multi-racial Singapore, more focus should be placed on freedom of expression or on social responsibility?

From Wikipedia, freedom of the expression implies that all people should have the right to express themselves in writing or in any other way of expression of personal opinion or creativity. The Universal Declaration of Human Rights indicates: "Everyone has the right to freedom of opinion and expression; this right includes freedom to hold opinions without interference and to seek, receive, and impart information and ideas through any media regardless of frontiers" This freedom of expression is the foundation of democracy and it is impossible for a country to be democratic if its populations are not allowed to express their views freely.

However, in Singapore, even though it adopts a democratic political system, it is a multi-racial country and thus more focus should be placed on social responsibility rather than the freedom of speech.

Freedom of speech is essential in a democratic country, but it is frequently abused by the people. Many people abused this freedom by stating mean remarks which often causing damage to individuals and even government. If everyone is given the freedom of expression, what about the freedom of the people whom have been affected by the hostile remarks some people make?

We should not underestimate racial remarks people make. Take the example of the cartoon drawn by David Irving , depicting the Prophet Muhammad, which have provoked rage in Muslim world. This issue had caused death of at least 30 people in Syria, Lebanon, Nigeria and other Islamic countries during the protest against the cartoon.

In multi-racial Singapore, racial harmony is one of the crucial issue in maintaining peace and security in the country. Without racial harmony, the country will fall into chaotic situation and it would not be able to develop properly. If a complete freedom of expression is allowed in Singapore, some people may abuse it and make racial remarks which would increase racial tension and eventually will lead to riots.

Therefore, in multi-racial country like Singapore, where there is cultural and religious pluralism, more focus should be placed on social responsibility. Thus freedom of speech should be limited. The people must be sensitive towards other people of different race or religion and should not be allowed to make any remarks which may stir up racial tension.

"prejudice is a disease we can never get rid of." Discuss.

The classic definition of prejudice is the one put forth by the famous Harvard psychologist, Gordon Allport, who published The Nature of Prejudice in 1954: "Prejudice is an antipathy based on faulty and inflexible generalization. It may be felt or expressed. It may be directed toward a group or an individual of that group". Prejudice has existed in our human civilization for many years. It’s just like a cancerous growth which destroys human race from the inside unknowingly. This disease is extremely harmful. It could lead to genocides. The extermination of six million Jews by Nazis during WW2 and the “Rape of Nanking” where the Japanese killed about 300 000 Chinese people are some consequences caused by prejudice. Prejudice is also a contagious disease as it could be passed from person to person and could also be inherited through generations. This deadly disease could be minimized but it is impossible to cure it completely.

The existence of prejudice in our human society is often due to adults who plant this seed of unreasonable hatred towards certain people in their children. Parents, probably due to their beliefs, tend to discriminate against certain people. They are likely to influence their children to do the same. Hence, they are growing a generation of people who hate and suspicious about each other for no reason at all. Thus to minimize this prejudice in our human society, we should start from educating parents and children so that they could accept others as what they are and there should not be any discrimination among people.

It is true that we can minimize prejudice, but it is impossible to completely eradicate it. The root of prejudice comes from the simple fact that everyone is created differently. This uniqueness causes one to be suspicious and prejudiced against certain people who are not like himself in significant ways. That is human nature of self-centeredness. Therefore, to have a world without prejudice is impossible unless everyone is created the same in every way, like genes, ideology, beliefs etc, which is impossible.

In conclusion, prejudice is a disease we can never get rid of. That is a miserable fact of life, but we should try to accept it. And we should also, through every possible way, minimize it. It is impossible to make this world the best place, but it is possible to make the world a better place to live in.

YouTube has no ethics, it has been created for the sole purpose of entertainment and money. Do you agree?

From Wikipedia, YouTube is defined as a popular video sharing website where users can upload, view, and share video clips. Videos can be rated, and the average rating and the number of times a video has been watched are both published. Some people may regard youtube as a place where anyone could publicise their videos, so the content is not regulated by law. Yes, it is true that some of the videos posted by people contain unethical contents like pornography and violence. On June 1, 2006, the evening ITV News bulletin reported that YouTube and sites like it were encouraging violence and bullying amongst teenagers, who were filming fights on their mobile phones (see happy slapping), and then uploading them to YouTube. Such excessive violent videos are indeed harmful to the society. However, I disagree that YouTube has no ethics and has been created for the sole purpose of entertainment and money. Even though videos uploaded on YouTube are usually for the purpose of entertainment or money, but there are some educational videos on the site as well. For example, there are videos which have BBC news content for viewers to watch.

Although most of the content on YouTube lacks an educational goal, the site could be educational in some other ways. YouTube allow us to be engaged in watching the video. This heightens our visual literacy, which is an important skill in this technological world. After watching the videos, we often rate and comment on them, This not only improves our language skills but also our analytic skill. With YouTube, people are encouraged to create their own videos. Many educators believe that the act of creating content—in virtually any form—is a valuable learning exercise, helping develop a deeper understanding of the subject matter and the tools used to create that content. Through video sharing and commenting, we are also able to gain more knowledge. There was a scenario when a girl uploaded the documentary project on YouTube. Surprisingly, viewers gave her some advices and tips on how to improve on her projects. A viewer gave her tips about using video software to better match the sound and picture channels. This is an example of how YouTube could be educational. Hence it is not just about entertainment and money. YouTube could have many other educational purposes as well.

Another purpose of YouTube is that it also provides a means of interaction among people. The sharing of videos encourages people to meet new people, read and share opinions. Thus the site also helps in developing this world into a more harmonious place.

In conclusion, I disagree that YouTube has no ethics and its sole purpose is to entertain and make money. The site also has many educational purposes and it helps people to interact with each other.

Sources : http://www.educause.edu/ir/library/pdf/ELI7018.pdf

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/YouTube

About Veron

Hi everyone! Welcome to my blog. Here's a little something about myself.

My name is Veronica, currently studying in AJC, class 20/07. I was born in a small town in Indonesia called Bandung. Bandung is a very beautiful city. The wheather there is cool and refreshing. I love my hometown. Thus I felt miserable when I had to leave Bandung and migrate to Singapore. That was seven years ago. I struggled to cope with my new environment for the first few months upon reaching Singapore. My studies suffered. But now I've already gotten used to living in Singapore. Now, I'm currently living with my two big brothers in a rented apartment in Sengkang. The house was extremely dirty as me and my brothers are too lazy to do household chores. There was dust everywhere, dirty dishes and laundry were piling up. It was in a complete mess. The apartment could be compred to a garbage bin. However, I made some effort to do spring cleaning during the March holiday. At least the place is more like a home now.

Some things other than my place of stay are my favourite subjects. I love all subjects except for language subjects. I'm weak in my languages. My grades in English and Chinese in secondary school were disastrous. I hope I could survive General Paper in college.
I have a lot of weaknesses. One of them is I could get distracted easily. I could not concentrate for too long. Hence it's difficult for me to focus during lectures. Another weakness is I'm not a very discipline person. There was a time when I came late to school for five consecutive days! My teacher was very disappointed in me. I'm also an unhygienic girl as you can see from the state of my house.

Even though I have many weaknesses, I have some strengths too. I have a cheerful, outgoing personality. I love to joke with my friends. It's fun to make them laugh.
Now, I'm still trying to overcome my weaknesses and develop on my strengths.
Well, that's all I want to share with you about myself. You'll get to know me better next time. Thank you for visiting my blog. Have a nice day!