freedom of speech or social responsibility-

The current tourism brand in Singapore is "Uniquely Singapore". This branding illustrates the merging of the different cultures and modern worlds which is a distinguished aspect of Singapore and well known globally. For such a social cohesion to exist and be sustained, the different cultures and religions would have to co-exist peacefully.

That would only be possible if there is consideration, tolerance and understanding towards one another. Thus, a pragmatic approach for Singapore would be to adopt Szilagyi belief in focusing on social responsibility of individuals and organisations. When one is socially responsible, one's actions would not be detrimental to the collective interests of society. As a result, no parties would be provoked into staging protests marches or boycotts which may even escalate events to a repeat of the 1964 riots. Social responsibility is especially important in protecting the fragile peace in our current world where information is easily circulated. A single piece of information that contains negative connotations towards a particular group would quickly be the talk of the town and even spread to other countries. An example would be of the cartoons depicting the Prophet Muhammad which provoked rage in the Muslim world.

However, social responsibility should not be used as an aggressive approach towards preventing provocative articles to be published. It should be utilised as a form of education, making it a common and basic behaviour among people. For if the term " social responsibility" is used to condemn and punish people who write, draw or create provocative articles, it will only be pushing such issues aside and not eliminating it once and for all. This means that similar issues would occur in the future and individuals would be provoked and tempers would rise, and the cycle would repeat itself again. What is needed would be a similar concept raised by Peter Singer, freedom of expression. These views must be discussed wholly and evidence presented in a peaceful manner such that its author and any other potential authors would be convinced that whatever views they hold are false and see their mistake.

In conclusion, social responsibility should be focused on but the manner its used should be of an educational purpose.

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

As defined by Wikipedia, prejudice is an evaluation or decision made before the facts of a case could be properly determined and weighed.

As such, I agree that prejudice is a disease we can never get rid of. It is by human nature to form opinions about someone or something. However, it is usually based on whatever limited knowledge we have about the subject. Thus, its inevitable that the opinions formed would be biaesed to a certain extent. Moreover, the opinions we form are often in league with the general opinions of the society we are in. This did not occur as a result of coincidence but more due to the social pressure we feel that force us to alter our opinion to coincide as closely as possible with that of the society. Furthermore, such phenomenon is evident in every culture, organisation and community. An example would be racial discrimmination of the African Americans by the Whites in United States. The kids were brought up in a culture that deem most African Americans as crimminals and where it was alright to call them “niggers”. These childrem were brought up with this mentality and it is then passed down the generations. This cause the African Americans to be ensnared within the trap of prejudice and discrimmination, unable to break through it. Thus, prejudice is an undesirable trait of human that will stay with us just like a disease we can never get rid of.

Having said that, prejudice may never be rid of but it can be minimised that it is almost non-existent.. This can be achieved by cultivating one’s character to be more understanding, more objective in one’s thinking, more open minded and less egoistic. Till that goal is achieved, prejudice would be a disease detrimental to the health of the human race.

"The real innovation that Youtube provides is that --- individuals and groups can produce entertainment. The lawsuit is one of the Great Battles ov

The real innovation of Youtube is its ability to provide individuals and groups of people a platform to showcase their entertainment to a large group of audience across continents by simple few ‘clicks of the mouse’. Anyone with a camcorder can film a video. However, nobody will be able to view it. To achieve that, one would have to search for sponsors and the video has to pass various critics before it could be aired on television. But with the creation of Youtube, one can easily upload a video within a few minutes to a large group of viewers.


However, this innovation has brought about a phenomenon that may ultimately cause its downfall. As any average Joe can post a video, people could just post video clips containing racism content or insulting certain individuals or organization. An example would be the recent video clips posted on Youtube that showed graffiti drawn over the king’s head. This caused Thailand government to ban access to Youtube nation-wide.
If other countries follow Thailand’s course of action when video clips critical of prominent figures in their country is uploaded, Youtube would lost its functionality and lead to its downfall.

A more imminent threat for Youtube would be court cases on copyright issues, which boils down to the question of who will provide or control access to it. If Youtube is unable to retain its authority on who provide or control access, it might well lost its purpose of existence. The media behemoths that acquire it would probably place many restrictions on the usage of Youtube, require memberships to be paid. This would eventually cause it to lose its popularity among users and the history of Napster might well be repeated.

Introduction

My name is ping kee. As you would probably know, i'm currently studying in Anderson Junior College, Jc1. Its like a continuation of the 'Anderson' life as i graduated from Anderson Secondary School. I was in St John Ambulance Brigade and must say that it had been quite an experience. The trainings that we went through and footdrill, first aid that we have learnt!

Basically, i'm just an average person. I guess that's about all there is to it for my character. As for my hobbies, i would say that they are really extreme! i love to play sports like basketball, badminton, table tennis, etc. Sports are so fun. They gives me the thrill, strains you physically and mentally. All in all, it keeps one fit, healthy. Did i mention that its a good way to relieve stress, make more friends and bond with your classmates? well, at least now you do.

now for the other extreme, i have an interest in reading novels and interesting informations. i also like to play chinese chess, reversi and chess. although i must proclaim that i am really bad at it!

Basically that is all i have to say for myself. so see you guys around!


p.s hope this entry passes the criteria =p

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