Pwnager~Black God~

Tuesday, March 17, 2009

Regulation of political commentary on the Internet in Singapore

Political podcasts had been rampant in Singapore since political campaigning had become a prevalent use of spreading political ideology. Political podcasts are also a regnant way of spreading influence over the general public and members of the parliament over their decisions. Furthermore, through the growth of the technological industry, the regulations of political podcasts are much more prominent on the Internet and other sources of media. Through this evolution of ways to spread new ideology, political podcasts had been a controversial topic of debate in the part of the government.
I agree to a certain extent that political podcasts may indeed be an excellent and convenient way to spread political ideas to the general public. It would provide the public an overview of what is happening in the political world, as citizens of a nation would want to know for sure how the nation is being ruled. They would not want to be kept in the dark about what is happening in the political society and would also want some insight in the political system, so they can be assured that their nation is ruled properly. Political podcasts on websites like www.mrbrown.com or www.talkingcock.com could serve as excellent platforms for the sharing of certain political ideology with the general public. The public can also view political issues in a more relaxed and casual way instead of always treating them as grim matters.
However, I also think that political podcasts on the internet is justifiably not politically ethical, as it ruins the ability of freedom of choice for the people. Certain people who despise a certain political party would premeditatedly distort the truth and perhaps even post apocryphal information about them up on the internet for other netters to have misconceptions about that certain political group and hence develop the same assumptions about them. Some people may even abuse this function of the internet to post information that may contain offensive insults to other political parties, and hence tarnishing their reputation. This in turn would cause the whole political system to break down as people are robbed of their own personal opinions and decisions which are covered up by these artificial facts which masked up the truth behind the political system.
Dr Lee once said: "Political campaigning should not be turned into 'info-tainment', where the line between fact and fiction gets blurred, and people get worked up emotionally without understanding the substantive issues." I agree thoroughly with this statement as political podcasts frequently do not acquire the permission of the mentioned party before putting words into their mouths. For example, shortly after the People’s Action Party introduced its new candidate Zaqy Mohamad, there were political podcasts who claimed that he was the nephew of Speaker of Parliament Abdullah Tarmugi. This is definitely untrue and is just a tall tale that was made up by someone. The integrity of elections and political issues should be held up high in regard and should be treated with priority.
The Internet has become such a wide necessity for people right now that almost everyone in the world could access information that is posted on it. Hence, people would usually believe what rumours may there be on the internet, be it true or false. Political podcasts are an example of abusing the use of the internet for such purposes, as once information starts going around in the internet, it spreads like wild fire and it is impossible to put it right. Such materials may masquerade as objective documentaries, but are in fact are slanted propaganda to draw attention and score political points. Such videos also should not be treated seriously as they evoke visceral emotions and are not conducive to a calm and dispassionate treatment of politics. Hence, I agree to the governments ban of political podcasts.

Pwnager
9:21 PM