Signs of a regressive society..So sad..
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Isn't it the saddest thing in the world when your voice is smothered by irrational fear?No one is asking you to shoot your mouth without justification.It is a tragedy when reasoned debates and differences of opinion are silenced either by oneself or through a mistaken belief that any dissent is liable to be crushed.The day we truly fulfil this damning self-prophecy(quite easily I might add), I believe we have no right to exist as a civilised and mature human society.Don't you think so?
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whining about fire doesn't make it go away.
throwing water at it does. -
Oh chill out dude.
If you see clearly, we haven't really progressed that much. -
What if the fire has already surrounded you, and those around you think that fire is there to keep them warm and safe? And there is no water to spare?Originally posted by nismoS132:whining about fire doesn't make it go away.
throwing water at it does.
The fear is not irrational LazerLordz. It has already been made clear that there are rules (OB markers) that speaking out in Singapore must live under. The problem is that the OB markers were not spelt out clearly, there have been numerous calls for the government to spell out where those OB markers lie, but the calls have so far been steadfastly unheeded. We are just told that they are there and only when you've crossed it, will the government know you've crossed it.
Can you blame most people for taking a kiasu stance and steering far far away from where the markers would lie?
This is just another example of the government talking the talk but not walking the walk. They talk about a more liberal society, where people are encouraged to speak out without fear, to participate. Yet on a practical level, the rules are tailored to go right against it
Its like playing football against opponents twice your size, where you are attacking their goal uphill, they tell you the goalposts are there and point you in the general direction but with no physical indications of it, as the size and location of the goal is set by them depending on their mood. And the price of missing the goal (straying from the OB markers) is to get pummelled into the dirt.
Can you blame most people for not even bothering to try and play? -
In the past they have bad experiences of not controlling the media and free speech. At tat time, the press was rule by each individual editor thus there r chinese newspaper, malay newspaper and english newspaper, each publishing things tat each races want to see. And because of tat, lots of riots and uneasiness occurs and subsequently the press was controlled by the gov. Remember the Maria incident ?
Free speech is also very powerful in the sense tat people get emotional after hearing these talks. Such talks were predominantly before WW2 against Jap and after WW2 from talks by communists. To the governing people, these 2 areas had caused Gov a lot of security problems.
Hence now comes to the point tat whether singapore can afford totally free speech now without fear of any punishment. In forums such as tis, we have sort of achieve tat isn't it ? There is also the setting up of the free speech area in some park too. (utilization is another prob) Also regarding to press freedom, we r not the only nation. A lot of nations too has started controlling it to a a certain extent (russia, china, malaysia, some european countries, others which do not declare openly)
Singapore is quite a sensitive area... there r many races and religions around, and there r of course people (like me) who is totally biased against certain religion and races. This may start another round of racial riots and undermined all gov efforts for a stable and safe environment.
However I do encourage people to say more about Gov. Thus the suing of opposition is something I dislike about the Gov and hope will change in the future. -
Pardon me for being so philosophical, its just that i feel IMHO that it is not right for us to be subject to unfair rules that we have no say in. You are right, religious and racial sensitivities are strong sources of violence in the world today. I truly wonder what it will take for us to look beyond the colour of our skin or what deity we pray to and break free from the chains of childish behavior.This cannot happen if there is a barrier to critical discussions about our issues towards one another.Greater liberalisation of speech with clear regulations outlined will serve us better, rather than the muddy waters that dirty our collective future with stains and ambiguity
