Amoebafied?
Before I lunge into my intended topic, let's just wax lyrical a little about my weekend and other lil inane things/errands that I intend to run...
Did a nail session with Apple on Friday. Its been months since I let myself indulge in that so I must say I thoroughly enjoyed it, though the guilty feeling and lighter pocket after did not feel so good. Dinner after at Din Tai Fung where as usual, we gorged ourselves silly with dumplings. Paul was left clueless as to why the 2 girls were giggling non stop when he asked what "Dan Dan mian" was, thinking it was some funky dish and proceeded to order a bowl full of noodles and beancurd skin despite my warnings.
Saturday was spent spectacle-shopping in the heartlands, before proceeding home to watch Mr and Mrs Smith on DVD. (I would have never paid $8.50 to watch that crappy movie. Wassup with the John Woo-like shots and the Spanish music everytime something supposedly romantic happens?) Snacked on chips, juice and tuna sandwiches before heading to Gardens for beer and wings and 15 mins of the World Cup Qualifiers between Germany & Brazil. Note to self: Proper meals instead of unhealthy snacks!!
Sunday was spent at church as usual followed by a very long rehearsal, messing about with song arrangements and working out transitions - its the first time the worship team, and church in fact, are attempting to have a revival worhsip with abt 15-20 songs...almost non-stop. Singing 5 to 6 fast songs consecutively in G can be quite a challenge, ha.
Today's my last day. I came in to clear up some jobs and basically pack some shit up. The feeling is near-euphoric.
Tuesday will be a busy day, picking up my I/C at Lavendar followed by a social visit to Hudson at Suntec. Prolly poke around a lil at the Bugis flea market in between. Aye Bugis people (you know who you are)...Lunch ai mai?
On to my topic...I never thought I would have to talk about this...again, after Year 2 in Poly...or was it Year 1. Remember when blogs first became popular? There was this whole discussion about defamation on blogs, bitching on blogs, name-dropping on blogs etc. It opened up a whole new area in terms of security and disclosure of information on the net and the like. First there were email laws and then now people started wondering if those applied to blogs. The idea of sharing your thoughts on the World Wide Web is not novel, but blogging opened up a new dimension for expression with blogger, livejournals, movable type etc. People could post pictures, links, rant daily, have their blogs searchable on the internet, tune in to RSS feeds, its a whole new ball game now.
I remember at that time, some people started to get angry at what other people posted on their blogs, be it their opinions, their daily rants, their very direct bitchings or even now, their naked pictures. (Ha Ha Ha)
I would think that every self-respecting blogger would understand the power conferred to them as they post words on a platform that has a mass reach. I would also think that every self respecting blog reader would respect the content posted by the blogger and know when to draw the line between getting upset over a post based on truths, safeguarding the intended with anonymity and getting upset over an outright violation of the above mentioned, i.e malicious name-dropping etc.
I always reserve a lot of amusement for those who abhor bloggers, citing that bloggers are a bunch of pretentious, attention-seeking lot who have nothing to do but write gibberish and post pictures of their happy pseudo glam lives, but still religiously visit them, keep bookmarks and hang on every sentence posted. Irony indeed. The reason why you keep visiting so and so's blog is because although you abhor the person/the person's posts, some sadistic, perverted reaction in you makes you want to keep on reading. I mean, c'mon, I've read blogs filled with "gibberish", sexcapades, smoochy-mushing gooo, perrenial bitchings, gloomy "I'mma topping maself" rantings, goth-freak poetry and I've come away thinking "What the hell is wrong with these people?!" but the next morning, I go back to view them again.
Like it or not, blogs, bloggers and blog-readers are here to stay. If you do not like the rantings of one's post, you can (1) Not read it in future, saving yourself the distress (2) Post an apt retort if the said blogger is, in your perception maligning you (3) Sue him/her if you think your good name is being defamed
If you choose to remain silent, then deal with it. Public opinion will always be there. If you have a perennial obsession with public opinion, then you've got to rise out of it, instead of looking for someone to blame. Not all opinions about you are good. Its that simple. Everyone has a right to voice their opinions about a topic or person, whether good or bad. If it does not do harm to you professionally, or cause you grievious pain, especially since a sensitive blogger has protected the subject with anonymity, what's the fuss?
I got a call in the evening about an option (2) as mentioned above, posted by a defensive boyfriend, outraged at the association of him with a certain type of motor vehicle. Hey, at least the said boyfriend has the balls to post a retort on his own blog. However, I don't think you're really getting the point/dig at you buddy. Reading the retort makes me want to launch into the defense of my profession...but that's another story for another day.
So a simple rule applies: Don't like, Don't read lah. Not say people post your name or talk bad about you in an obvious way or say you no good to your professional contacts right. Haiya.
Aye wait, you still reading ah? ;-)
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