QoTW8: And That's The Bottom Line Coz The Rock Said So!

My Adopted Blog

My adopted blog is ‘Mr Wang Says So’ by Mr Wang. It was an easy choice as Mr Wang is undoubtedly one of the most popular political bloggers in Singapore. On his blog, Mr Wang talks and criticizes about current affairs and government policies. The choice of adopting his blog was an easy one as his writing is fluent and thoughtful. Apart from his keen writing abilities, he also manages to write in a way most political bloggers are unable to do. Most let their emotions get the better of them, but not Mr Wang. You can see that he is rational, and that is for me, his most outstanding trait.

No I'm Not The Rock, I'm Mr Wang

Blog Profile

Title: Mr Wang Says So (mrwangsaysso.blogspot.com)

Name: Mr Wang (pseudonym)

Blog’s Date of Birth: Mr Wang actually moved to this new address from his old blog called Mr Wang Bakes Good Karma. If we were to look at his old blog, the date of birth would be January, 1, 2000.

Type of Blogger: Citizen Blogger

Technorati Rank: 27,401 (328 links from 139 blogs)

In discussing the tone as well as readers’ comments of the blog, I would like to refer to Mr Wang’s article “What We Believe”, which talks about the National Council of Churches of Singapore (NCCS). If you are unaware, the NCCS is seeking to criminalize lesbianism.

Mr Wang’s second paragraph “Because freedom of religion exists in Singapore...” is a clear demonstration of his rational writing and logical thinking. Using a common form of logical reasoning, modus ponens, he says that:

If freedom of religion exists in Singapore, I can practice any religion I want.

Freedom of religion exists in Singapore.

Therefore I can practice any religion I want.

He builds on this by logically asserting if we can practice any religion we want, it makes sense then, we should not impose our religion upon others.

Using this as the main premise, he builds on it and argues that it is wrong for the NCCS to call for the criminalization of lesbianism.

There is a wide range of readers’ comments and they are often fascinating to look at. Most readers left comments to show whether they were with or against Mr Wang’s point of view. Some were argumentative and critical and some downright nonsensical.

whybegay said...

jimmy mun,

if you think that homosexuality/lesbianism is natural, then why aren't most people doing it since it is natural for the majority of people to do something natural?

March 16, 2007 11:21 PM

What follows after are rounds of debate, which I will not go into in detail. However, I would like to point out Leela’s rebuttal, which I thought was pretty fantastic.

Leela said...

whybegay,

You seem to be labouring under the delusion that homosexuals have the onus to prove that their inclinations and behaviour are natural. They do not. YOU made the claim that they are not natural, so prove it. Merely stating your malformed, unsupported opinions that they are a "perversion", or that they are "misusing" their sexual organs, doesn't help your case.

Btw, natural does not mean practised by the majority, as you seem to imply when you said "why aren't most people doing it since it is natural for the majority of people to do something natural?" Natural means what comes according to nature, and different people have different natures. Some natures may be in the minority. According to your absurd logic, being left-handed is also something unnatural, because most people are not left-handed.

March 17, 2007 12:39 AM

How Now Democracy?

Ah... The good ol days

Do blogs allow for greater democracy in Singapore? Before we answer that, we have to ask what is democracy? Democracy, simple put, is the rule of the people. Power in the people’s hand. Is there democracy on the Internet then? No, I don’t think so. However, can blogs help in advocating and promoting greater democracy here in Singapore? The answer I think is yes.

The Internet is not democratic mainly because access to it is still large restricted to those who can afford it – the digital divide. Furthermore, according to Thornton (2002), the Internet is still largely dominated by males. These two are amongst the many other inequalities faced by Internet users. Hence my question is how can there be democracy if the demographics of the Internet are so skewed?

Despite this, I do think that blogs have a part to play in allowing for greater democracy. The government, in banning the podcasting of explicit political content, has clearly shown themselves to be aware of the impact blogs have on citizens. Such prohibitive actions were reported by Oblak (2003) in her study on political institutions and Internet technology. Furthermore, the last election we had, which was not only closer than expected but also documented by so many bloggers, goes to show that perhaps blogs are capable of promoting a greater sense of democracy.

At the end of the day, we must remember that the final decision still lies in the government’s hand. What happens in cyberspace stays in cyberspace, if they are unwilling to open up to new channels of communication. At the moment, blogs have only shown themselves to be effective in promoting public discussion and conversation. Whether or not it will eventually lead to a more democratic Singapore… Only time can tell.

List of References

Oblak, T. (2003). Boundaries of Interactive Public Engagement: Political Institutions and Citizens in New Political Platforms. Journal of Computer-Mediated Communication, 8(3). Retrieved March 24, 2007, from http://jcmc.indiana.edu/vol8/issue3/oblak.html

Thorton, A. (2002). Does Internet Create Democracy. Retrieved March 24, 2007 from http://www.zip.com.au/%7Eathornto/