Today's library, tomorrow's 'googlary'?
Since the advent of the internet, search engines are probably the foundations of what makes up information on the Internet. Without them, anyone could get lost surfing countless web pages and not knowing what web addresses to go to. Since the amount of information in the web in enormous, many people have reverted to using the internet as a main source of information to fund them for research, studies, etc.
In essence, this article is critical on the overuse of technology nowadays, especially one which we refer to as 'Google', which most netters use as their dictionary, encyclopedia, or even life catalogue. It has became almost a necessity in most people lives to have at least one of this kind of ‘search engine’, that you can dump whatever information into and get the solution in a matter of seconds. While it might be bliss that we could obtain immediate answers instead of working our brains out in the library, relying too much on this saintly-portrayed system called ‘Google’ have certainly much drawbacks.
Google not only contains information for study and research purposes, but materials from every aspect. Too much exposure to such information could be detrimental to a child’s development if he relies on Google too much as a main source of information. Quantity does not triumph over quality. Who knows how much fabricated information there lies in this massive search engine that links to websites worldwide. Getting wrong information may not only affect the child’s understanding of a certain topic or subject, but also may lead to false accuses and misunderstandings. Hence, sweating it out in the library actually produces much more efficient results then a ‘google’ search.
Furthermore, the amount of quality information on Google is barely tantamount to the amount of information in books put together. Google, which barely existed for a few decades, could not possibly match with the existence of books thousands of years ago. Certainly the knowledge books contain far outweigh the information that can obtained from the internet. Books are the basic foundation of how we even exist today. Without them, there’s no way people could spread knowledge. Therefore, we should not be relying too much on Google as a source of information.
Pwnager
8:41 PM
How advertising informs to our benefit
Advertisements are so rampantly found in our country today that the bombardment of them in local newspapers, magazines or websites is no longer a rare sight. Advertisements use the basis of visual appeal, along with the splendid layout and overture of it to attract consumers, mainly to buy their products. However, advertisements also work on the basis of selling information and artistic appeal along with products, which provides much scepticism for its authenticity. Although much doubt is on the trustworthiness of the advertisement, people are still willing to spend money of these products.
Advertisements are both the result of market forces and the nature of information itself, which could in turn be viewed as a marketing strategy. The ability to create advertisements would require a great arduous amount of thought process and consumer market understanding, in order to create an advertisement to win over the acceptance of the public. Not only must it be arrestive in the structure of its words, advertisements must provide a dazzling overview of the product, and consumers would not like to see their would-be car presented on a monotonous piece of newspaper.
Claims that are compelling in human nature are almost always true, not to mention that many companies in the urgency to provide their products with publicity, go to the extent of falsely acclaiming their products with qualities that it is deprived of, and marketing them with unmoral standards. Yet, many of a time consumers who are not observant enough often get mesmerised by the superb standards of the product, but fail to realise what truth may lie behind these conspicuous information. We, however, as consumers do not have the authority and obligation to prevent advertisements from popping up in our newspapers.
However, advertisements also benefit the consumer society as much as it defeats its purpose. It allows transparency and interaction between the consumer and the medium, in which case is the product itself. It allows the consumers to understand the product better , enabling them to grasp the functions of the product, hence considering the options of buying it.
We however cannot rely on everything we see. As the saying goes,” Do not judge a book by its cover”. There are countless companies out there who would go to various depths to polish on the fallibility of their products, hence making up false covers. I feel that this is a serious case of integrity, and any marketing business should not be given the exception to fabricate a claim, no matter how trivial. This would affect the whole nation’s marketing industry, tarnishing our nations name, and worse of all, make other business partners lose trust in us. To prevent such business disasters from happening, all marketing agencies should always proceed with candor.
Pwnager
8:46 PM
Science-A Menace to Civilisation?
Since the advent of science technology, it has influenced almost every occurrence that has happened on this planet, be it big or small. As technology, have brought us both catastrophes and benefits, the real problem boils down to whether the good of science really outweighs its ability to inflict harm on the human population. Such controversies have many a time sparked hot debates about the abolishment of nuclear weapons, clone research etc.
Is science really a menace to our civilisation? In many a ways, it is. For instance, two of the most world-shaking events that happened, undoubtedly the two World Wars, were made possible because of the effects of science. They provided knowledge for the constitution of what we call weapons of mass destruction today, which are regarded as the most dangerous objects that science have ever created. Yet because of the harm that science has brought to us, the world has learnt the ways to acclimate and improvise on their shortfalls, to create the blooming economy that we are experiencing today. Yet we realise, without the occurrences and calamities science has brought us, without destroying our homes, taking away countless peoples lives, humans would still be as ignorant and nonchalant as before. It is thus because of these many faults science have brought upon us that humans were able to learn to adapt.
However, we could not just blatantly use this excuse for the progressing abuse of science for countless acts of menace. Many examples could be brought about from this issue, the most prominent being the 911 incident which robbed many lifes in just a few split seconds. Not only has this incident taken lifes, it has also robbed the hearts of family members close to the victims, hence robbing them of their will to live. Even without nuclear weapons, the harm that could be done towards people is already intensifying.
Even though this incessant progressing of science does indeed make humans develop more solutions to its faults, it also brings out the devil's side of us humans. With new technological enhancements, humans start craving for more. This endless craving brings out the greed and lust in all humans, making them utilising the advancements in science for the fulfillment of their individual self-interests, which in the long run leads to the total collapse of basic moral ethics, hence harming us humans.
As Albert Einstein once said,"I cannot predict what breed of weapons will be employed in the waging of the Third World War; what I CAN predict is that the Fourth World War shall be fought with sticks and stones". This brings about a salient point that all of us humans must look upon-that if science and technology was not porperly controlled and surveyed, it might bring about a worldwide apocalypse.
Be it whether the faults or triumphs of science outweigh the other, one thing we know for sure is that if science were to fall into wrong hands, it might indeed spell the end for us.
Pwnager
9:24 AM
Why we should/should not exercise any form of censorship on pornography
Pornography has been defined as obscene writings, drawings, photographs, or the like, esp. those having little or no artistic merit. They could also come under sub-categories such as sexually explicit pictures, writing, or other material whose primary purpose is to cause sexual arousal. However, they may also mean lurid or sensational material which might evoke sensational feelings within an individual. For a great some time now, public authorities and opinions have been controversially discussing about the censorship and violation of sexual morality. Ironically, American courts have not yet settled on a satisfactory definition of what constitutes pornographic material.
Firstly, pornography acts like a social manipulating device that degrades people to the standards of those of animals. They completely rob human beings of their privacy, the basis of human moral ethics. Regardless of the person’s age, beliefs or gender, putting up obscene images of him or her is tantamount to the amount of humiliation he will receive. Even if the individual would willingly accept himself being constantly defamed on the Internet, that does not give him or others the right to post outrageously licentious stuff of him on the Internet.
Though some people may not find it repulsive to come into contact with such topics dealing with sex, many others are highly sensitive to such topics. In order to maintain, social equality and respecting the rights of all others around you, putting pornographic stuff may indeed be deemed as socially and morally unethical. However, who could be the one to eloquently crystallize whether pornography should really be censored?
Countries like Japan and a gargantuan and thriving sex industry, and a significant amount of the countries income would come from it. However, the ironic fact is that countries such as Japan have one of the lowest cases of rape in the world, much contrary to public belief. If we truly enforce the rule of censorship over pornography, a huge economic disaster would strike these countries, which would in turn affect other countries as well.
However, if censorship were not to be implemented, it would cause a snowball effect where everyone in the future generations would be exposed to such obscene stuff at a young age and get corrupted in the minds. As statistics have shown, most criminals of sex have all come into contact with it at their adolescence’s year and have become influenced by the materials on the net. Thus, a complete non-censorship over pornography would also be infeasible.
Pornography's whole purpose would seem to some as to treat human beings obscenely, to deprive them of their specifically human rights and dimension. Imagine a well-known man in a hospital ward, dying an agonizing death. His bladder and bowels empty themselves of their own accord. His consciousness is overwhelmed by pain, so that he cannot communicate with us, nor we with him. Now, it would be technically easy to put a television camera in his room and let the whole world witness this spectacle. We cannot do it, because we regard this as an obscene invasion of privacy. And what would make the spectacle obscene is that we would be witnessing the extinguishing of humanity in a human animal.
In my opinion, I think restricting overly-young audiences to view pornography might be a way to solve this problem, as the saying goes, prevention is better than cure. Parents and guardians of teens should also exercise strict control over the usage of the Internet, and make sure that their children do not become corrupted through the influence of pornography.
Pwnager
10:13 AM
Wednesday, March 18, 2009
President’s Star Charity Show- is there a need for artistes to perform stunts to milk the public’s compassion for more generous donations?
The President’s Star Charity show has been running for quite a long time. It has often been an annual event hosted by charitable organizations to raise funds for the group of underprivileged people they are serving. These people range from the elderly to homeless children or orphans, sometimes even mentally and physically disabled people. The organizations virtue is one that gives the right social treatment to this group of unfortunate people and help them survive in the outside world.
In order to compromise on this need, the organizations need to host annual events for the raising of funds for these people, which requires a large amount of manpower to put up performances, dangerous stunts, etc. The shows would then be broadcasted on television the whole nation to view as an effort to persuade the public to donate money.
This form of alluring audiences with jaw-dropping performances and eye-blogging stunts has its own advantages and disadvantages. Though the amount of labour is really huge to put up such a grandiose performance, the celebrities and workers are stilling willing to sacrifice their time to put up such an event, and that itself is motivational to the public. I think that this shows that most Singaporeans are generally benevolent to help those that are less fortunate than them. These would also benefit both parties as the audience would be more willing to donate money if they are treated to a performance instead of just asking them to just donate without knowing whom the money is going to. The common response from people who are asked to donate when charity shows are on is, “What for donate to these charity shows because I don’t know who are going to benefit directly from them? I might as well, donate to that homeless and destitute guy who’s begging for money at the train station.” The implementation of a performance by artistes would hence promote the organization more and more people would be willing to donate as they are assured that their money would not fall into bad hands.
However, all that glitters is not gold. What people and the charities really want is not a charity show that showcases different talents performing and flaunting their beauty and sexiness, (almost) ‘begging’ for donations and just plain wasting resources during the 2-3hours of broadcast. If one is to sincerely think that helping the less fortunate is an act of virtue, he should not be only tempted to donate only when there is a performance of some sort. Rather, we need transparency and accountability in place before we are thrown off with such entertainment which is in the name of a good cause. People who are all skeptical in nature would want to know how and who the money they donated is going to be used for, and hence they would not easily give up their money.
Before the charity show can begin seeing a spike in donations and overwhelming compassionate response from the public to donate during a 3 hour entertainment show, there’s a need to treat people who part with the money like shareholders of these charities - account for what they are being used for, how and well, who’s benefiting directly from it. For instance, the incident about the Ren Ci hospital monk scandal invoked many controversial arguments, and many people lost faith in the organization itself, and the fund raising event was no longer hosted.
In essence, the motivation to donate to a charity should come from one’s heart itself, if he truely and sincerely wishes to help those in need, and not through watching some fanciful performances.
Pwnager
4:47 PM
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
A Last Goodbye
It seems that this blog has fallen into its demise seen from the statistics in the tagboard. To bring an end to my suffering, let this last post be a tribute to my path to oblivion. Bye..
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All men are not created equal. Some are born smarter, or more beutiful, or with parents of greater status. Some, by contrast, are born weak of body or mind, or with few, if any, talents. All men are different. Yes, the very existence of man is discriminatory! That is why there is war, violence and unrest. Inequality is not evil. Equality is. What becomes of the individual that claims he is equal? It is in constant conflict because its tenets go against human nature! But I'm not like that! I put an end to equality and evolve throughout my conquest. I alone look forward and move toward a better future! Your death will only serve me as proof of my evolution. The future rests in the hands of its rulers! The world is full of lies! "Thou shall not kill. Thou shall not steal. Thou shall not bear false witness. Thou shall not commit adultery." There are all lies, all deceptions. "I don't want to be killed. I don't want to be a victim if theft." That is why they use lies like justice and morals to protect their weak selves. The original truth is the survival of the fittest. One must devour it all, whether it be other humans, wealth, power, or the world itself! I will destroy this world's lies and bring forth the truth!
~Lelouch Lamperouge
Pwnager
9:41 PM
