Friday, May 30, 2008
13:32 by FoxTwo
I read through some posts, notably Endoh's and Krisandro's (and Krisandro's again). It's sad to see things like this actually happening. However, one must bear in mind, it's human nature to have differing opinions. Otherwise there'd be no wars on the planet, and everybody will be living in utopia (or like the Borg in Star Trek, one collective hive mind). Who the protagonists or antagonists are, is actually kind of irrelevant. You don't need to know who they are to resolve the issue at hand, if any.
Personally I have no problems with "shallow" or "deep" posts. I read both types at my whim. If I don't feel like exercising my brains on that particular day, I'd probably read those light-hearted, shallow posts. If I want something deep and meaningful to chew on, I'll read some really though-provoking posts. The only trouble is, thought-provoking posts are hard to come by. Even harder are thought-provoking ones not lashing out at the government or presenting some form of government conspiracy theories. Yeah I'm politically agnostic.
What does that say? To me it means Singaporeans are more concerned with mundane stuff than what makes the universe tick. Besides, some of these bloggers might be doing just the right thing - write shallow stuff to cater to the majority of the audience. It's every blogger's aim to get more readers, is it not? It's kinda like Hollywood, which kept producing those "doomsday movies" at one time back before 2000. Armageddon was a hit, and soon other movies followed in similar vein because audiences at the time were perceived to be hooked on doomsday movies (Day After Tomorrow, The Core etc).
So when a blog post about a topic suddenly gets a lot of hits, other bloggers will jump on the bandwagon to try to get hits too, it's only natural. Just look at the Mas Selamat escape, it's a very good example. Blog after blog kept writing about it so much so that it seemed like the whole Singapore blogosphere was clogged up with just Mas Selamat and his escape. I was sick of seeing "yet another Mas Selamat post" at the time, and didn't bother to read anymore. After all, everyone was just be regurgitating what was given in the official statements. Hardly anyone offered their own opinions.
I was originally going to write about the Phoenix Mars Lander mission in this post, but I guess that's too "deep" for most Singaporeans. After all, Mars is so far away. Success or failure of the mission has no bearing on their cost of living, their salary, their bills and so on. They are detached. If the Pheonix doesn't tell them where to get the next meal, they're not interested. Such is the Singapore mentality. Exploring another planet doesn't excite them. We are now ON ANOTHER PLANET, you see? We're not on Earth anymore. Do Singaporeans care? Hardly. Did life exist on Mars at one time? Singaporeans don't care.
All I can say is - don't dwell on this. Life goes on. The people who do not like shallow posts won't read them. People will not write "deep" stuff if there isn't an audience (or perceived to be no audience) for them. It's just the law of economics at work here.
If I ever get disillusioned like some people already have, I'll leave on my own, and I doubt anyone will miss me and my little blog here. For now though, I'm staying.
13:32 by FoxTwo
The Big Hoo-Haa In Ping.sg Recently
I read through some posts, notably Endoh's and Krisandro's (and Krisandro's again). It's sad to see things like this actually happening. However, one must bear in mind, it's human nature to have differing opinions. Otherwise there'd be no wars on the planet, and everybody will be living in utopia (or like the Borg in Star Trek, one collective hive mind). Who the protagonists or antagonists are, is actually kind of irrelevant. You don't need to know who they are to resolve the issue at hand, if any.
Personally I have no problems with "shallow" or "deep" posts. I read both types at my whim. If I don't feel like exercising my brains on that particular day, I'd probably read those light-hearted, shallow posts. If I want something deep and meaningful to chew on, I'll read some really though-provoking posts. The only trouble is, thought-provoking posts are hard to come by. Even harder are thought-provoking ones not lashing out at the government or presenting some form of government conspiracy theories. Yeah I'm politically agnostic.
What does that say? To me it means Singaporeans are more concerned with mundane stuff than what makes the universe tick. Besides, some of these bloggers might be doing just the right thing - write shallow stuff to cater to the majority of the audience. It's every blogger's aim to get more readers, is it not? It's kinda like Hollywood, which kept producing those "doomsday movies" at one time back before 2000. Armageddon was a hit, and soon other movies followed in similar vein because audiences at the time were perceived to be hooked on doomsday movies (Day After Tomorrow, The Core etc).
So when a blog post about a topic suddenly gets a lot of hits, other bloggers will jump on the bandwagon to try to get hits too, it's only natural. Just look at the Mas Selamat escape, it's a very good example. Blog after blog kept writing about it so much so that it seemed like the whole Singapore blogosphere was clogged up with just Mas Selamat and his escape. I was sick of seeing "yet another Mas Selamat post" at the time, and didn't bother to read anymore. After all, everyone was just be regurgitating what was given in the official statements. Hardly anyone offered their own opinions.
I was originally going to write about the Phoenix Mars Lander mission in this post, but I guess that's too "deep" for most Singaporeans. After all, Mars is so far away. Success or failure of the mission has no bearing on their cost of living, their salary, their bills and so on. They are detached. If the Pheonix doesn't tell them where to get the next meal, they're not interested. Such is the Singapore mentality. Exploring another planet doesn't excite them. We are now ON ANOTHER PLANET, you see? We're not on Earth anymore. Do Singaporeans care? Hardly. Did life exist on Mars at one time? Singaporeans don't care.
All I can say is - don't dwell on this. Life goes on. The people who do not like shallow posts won't read them. People will not write "deep" stuff if there isn't an audience (or perceived to be no audience) for them. It's just the law of economics at work here.
If I ever get disillusioned like some people already have, I'll leave on my own, and I doubt anyone will miss me and my little blog here. For now though, I'm staying.
