Freedom of speech VS. Social Responsibility

In a country like Singapore which is both multi-racial and multi-religious, we cannot afford to allow people give irresponsible comments, which will cause the different races or religions to go into tense relations with one another. Hence, I think that Singapore should actually adopt Szilagyi’s view--social responsibility but this does not mean that freedom of speech is abolished.

We cannot deny that freedom of speech is essential to any democratic society, because it IS a basic foundation of democracy. Furthermore, as what Singer had said, without this right to speak freely, “human progress will always run up against a basic roadblock”. This is because under no circumstances are people allowed to criticize one another. Yet it is these criticisms that will spark off people’s motivation to work harder. It is these criticisms that will make people look at their mistakes and try to improve thus allowing progress. Hence the freedom of speech is actually important in allowing human race to progress.

However, there is a price to pay if people want to practice freedom of speech and this price is “social responsibility”. People are free to say what is on their minds but there is a limit to this. They should not say things that will hurt others, or ruin relations among different groups of people. This is especially important in Singapore because irresponsible comments regarding sensitive issues can actually send the different groups of people targeted into a state where quarrels and fights thrive. This will in turn affect Singapore’s economy as tourists avoid coming to Singapore due to the chaos present. Hence, speakers, media and bloggers all have to exercise social responsibility. Before each statement they make, they must think through it carefully, making sure they can substantiate their stand and that it does not harm anyone because the world is like what Szilagyi said: “Media messages, films and art works cannot be addressed to specific cultural group-traditional borders of culture and nation no longer exist”.

By practicing social responsibility, we can prevent what happened in 2006 about the Danish cartoons. The cartoons caused a big hoo-ha as it was mocking at certain religious figures which “set off mass demonstrations, diplomatic rows and economic boycotts of the Danish products in the Middle East” and also strained the relation ties between Denmark and the Muslim communities. If this were to racial or religious discord was to happen in Singapore, the result would have been disastrous. The trust between the different communities would be broken overnight and tension will brew.

Hence, I feel that social responsibility should be adopted in Singapore.

Prejudice is a disease we can never get rid of. Discuss.

I strongly agree that prejudice is a disease we can never get rid of. Prejudice is the preconceived opinion that is not based on reason or actual experience. People often judge others by appearance, then form critical judgments in their minds and more often than not, stereotyping occurs and these are usually negative views of others, thus giving rise to prejudice.

There are many forms of prejudice and the most common form of prejudice is racism. Just because of the difference in skin colors for some, they are being discriminated and given unfair treatment. This is especially so in the USA, where the Blacks are often seen as the more likely criminals. The Whites on the other hand, are often seen as the civilized and law-abiding citizens. However, statistics have proven that actually, 97 percent of the crimes in USA are committed intra-racially. Even so, the people in the United States did not change their perceptions. This is because the idea of the Blacks being the bad guys is lodged so strongly in their heads already, and this is exactly why prejudice can never be removed completely.

Parents will always reinforce the idea that the certain parties are always the bad guys. One example would be that we will always associate terrorists with Muslims due to the September 11 incident. Thus children grow up with that specific mindset that some parties are just the bad guys. It will be hard to change their thinking as they have spent so many years accepting these ideas. Furthermore, they would have been taught that their parents are always right so they will accept those ideas of prejudice readily. These children will also reinforce these ideas to their own children and this then becomes a never ending cycle. Hence, prejudice can never be gotten rid of.

YOUTUBE QUESTION 1

Youtube has been very popular among teens and even adults now, as it has many drama videos and mtvs available for free. So the big question is does youtube really have no ethics and is created just for money and entertainment? The answer is a NO, though it does have some videos that are unethical.

In actual fact, youtube has not been making much money because, in order to turn youtube into a profitable corporation, the people who came up with it has to go through a lot of tedious work such as legal disputes. They also must find a way maintain their unique identity without getting swallowed up by Google. Hence, the owners of this web did not turn it into a profitable corporation. So how can it be said that youtube is created for the sole purpose of money? If that was really the case, I am sure the owners would have gone through all the tedious work just to earn large amounts of money. Furthermore, youtube is not just for entertainment purposes. The videos uploaded actually have educational values too. According to newscientist.com, YouTube has hosted a wide variety of clips offering tips about how to deal with medical issues. Hence people who wish to find out more about health issues can go to youtube and get these educational videos they need.

Also, youtube does not have overtly-sexual videos. They are being removed from youtube once they are discovered. So this shows that youtube does have some ethics. The argument for youtube having no ethics would be the recent issue regarding the video which was offensive to the Thai king. However, it would be very unfair to youtube by saying it has no ethics at all based on this one video and this sort of incidents do not happen often. Hence I feel that youtube is not created for the sole purpose of entertainment and money and does have some ethics.

INTRODUCTION

Hi people, Hui Kiow here. It’s like weird to do an introduction of myself over here? But I’ll just try anyway.

I’m basically a cheerful girl, always smiling and laughing. However I flare up pretty easily too, so I’m trying my best to curb this temper of mine. =) I’m one who values friendship a lot, so when I’ve made my friends happy, I’m happy too.

I love running, so while most people hate PE lessons, I tend to enjoy them. =). I also watch soccer matches and my favorite soccer player (my one true love!!) is none other than David Beckham. He is so good looking, and he plays well. I love watching him take his free kicks, because his shots are usually very accurate. Furthermore, he is a caring father and treats his wife very well! In conclusion, Beckham is just perfect. (So please don’t believe those tabloids reporting about his affairs with other women!)

My ambition is to be a psychiatrist. I enjoy listening to other people’s problems (not that I’m a sadist or anything), because I want to help them. I want to be the one to make their lives right again, to make them happy once more, and more so, to make a difference in their lives. It will be a difficult journey to reach this dream of mine, but with determination, I’m sure I can do it. =))

Lastly, I am obsessed with the color white. My biggest wish for now is to have a wardrobe filled up with only white shirts bearing black designs, which my mother objects strongly, saying that I can only dress up for funerals then. -.- But then again, white is really such a nice color, being pure and all. Oh, and I want a white coffin when I die too because I won't be able to part with my favourite color even in death. =)

So I hope you people know me better now and please leave some comments so that I’ll know how you all feel about my views and opinions. =)