Racism and the Internet

Recently, our class began discussing the novel "To Kill a Mockingbird" during LA lessons.

This book is a coming-of-age novel set in the 1930s, in the fictional Maycomb County of Alabama, where racism and several other social problems exist. It is about a girl named Jean Louise Finch aka Scout and a boy named Jeremy Atticus Finch aka Jem who goes through life in Maycomb County whereby they experience racism, discrimination and many other social life problems. Through their father Atticus, who teaches them morals, they learnt to view from someone else’s perspective and to understand others better; maturing into sensible children with stronger wills.

Racism is something that almost everyone would experience throughout their life. It’s when one party feels that they are more superior and want to rule or even control the lifestyles of the so called “inferior” party. They bear hatred and intolerance to those races which they look down on and discriminate against them. In Singapore a multi-racial country, most may say that racism can’t possibly exist. However, I feel that racism actually occurs in Singapore; although it’s rarely voiced out some people do express their discrimination on other platforms for them to appear anonymous. It’s inevitable for one to feel that its race is superior probably as a sense of national pride, however, its best to keep such feelings under control.

During lessons, there would usually be someone who will randomly shout out random yet humorous comments, sometimes racist comments, to break up the tense seriousness to make lessons amusing and more captivating. I am certain whoever shouted out such comments didn’t have any other intentions other than humor.

However, the platform whereby such comments are expressed is extremely critical. For example, if such a comment were passed in a classroom, we will simply treat it as a joke with no hurtful intentions; but if such a comment were expressed on the internet for example on a blog or Facebook whereby almost anyone can view such comments it would have been a grave mistake as it could result in a flame war which could even lead to arrest.

Indeed some time ago, there was an article in the papers about some Chinese teens who posted racist remarks on Facebook who were then arrested. This link will provide additional details:
http://www.straitstimes.com/BreakingNews/Singapore/Story/STIStory_486005.html

This tells us that racism is actually a major issue worldwide such that a racist remark ended up in these teens being arrested and that a social networking area can be dangerous if one doesn’t consciously think before he acts.

Blogging

The only reason why I am only blogging is because it’s part of Language Arts and there’s ACE to obtain. In fact, my views on blogging are mostly negative as I personally dislike blogging.

Firstly, from my perspective, it’s a waste of precious time due to the fact that I have CCA everyday from Monday to Friday 3-6pm, normally by the time I get home it would be at least 7pm then after dinner etc it would be almost 8. The time from 8pm till I sleep would mainly be used to finish off the huge workloads that are given almost every day, sometimes I have to stay up till 11 or 12 to finish all these homework, thus, I have absolutely no time for blogging regularly.

Secondly, blogs are publicly open for anyone to read and comment. I definitely wouldn’t want to post my personal thoughts or feelings for someone else to read would I? Well, that’s from my point of view. Although just like an online diary, any post that contains sensitive topics such as racism could probably spark off an online “war” whereby one gets criticized repeatedly for making such posts etc. This could possibly lead to disastrous outcomes. I certainly wouldn’t want to risk that.

Thirdly, I am wondering is there even a point to blogging? Besides posting about your life/something interesting that you witnessed/your perspectives of various issues etc, what else is there? Will I gain insights by blogging? Will I improve in any way by blogging? Will I find blogging interesting or fun? In fact I don’t see why people like to blog. To me a blog is simply an online journal which others can read and comment on, like a diary which isn’t personal, nothing else.

Finally, for those of you who like blogging please understand my standpoint. I admit that blogging is a way for one to express their feelings freely on a seemingly online journal but I am just not interested in it due to time constraints. Blog posts that consists in-depth thinking generally require a significant amount of time to “come out with”. For someone like me who barely have the time to relax, I would prefer not to blog if possible. From my perspective, people blog because they have the time and not everyone has the time to blog regularly. I may sound cryptical to some of you but those who find blogging a waste of time and a hassle will understand how I feel. However since blogging is part of school work I am left with no choice but to blog.

Once again I emphasize that the posts in this blog may appear lame compared to my usual self and sometimes lack in-depth thinking due to limited time (although I will try my best). This blog is purely for school work and nothing else also I don’t have a personal blog.