Thursday, July 11, 2013

Not Clear At All

Can someone explain what Information Minister Yaacob Ibrahim meant by his Facebook post, "But let’s be clear – doing good offline does not mean one is excused from acting responsibly online"?

The usual turn of phrase is to say doing something good is no excuse for doing something bad. The context of his rumination was one blogger purportedly suggesting online that the supply of N95 masks was controlled by the Government (bad), and same blogger had distributed free masks to the community (good). Perhaps the Minister was suggesting the blogger was irresponsible for not making a profit by charging for those scarce N95 masks, which would have been more consistent with the "no free lunch" mandate from above.

Yaacob may or may not have cleared his writing with the Chief of Government Communications at the Ministry of Communication and Information (CGC), the son of former president Devan Nair who is salaried to vet communications from official channels. Same guy who Teo Ho Pin apparently depended on to compose his long winded spin on the A.I.M. sorry saga, another installment of gobbledygook verbiage to plaster over the dirt.

The irony here is that we are told online material should be licensed to ensure that we read the right stuff. The haze from Indonesian fires may have cleared, but the lines between right and wrong are still awfully blurred. Even George Orwell may have to rewrite doublespeak, the language that deliberately disguises, distorts, or reverses the meaning of words, first introduced in his book, "Nineteen Eighty-Four".

Edward S. Herman, political economist and media analyst, describes in his book, "Beyond Hypocrisy", the principal characteristics of doublespeak:
"What is really important in the world of doublespeak is the ability to lie, whether knowingly or unconsciously, and to get away with it; and the ability to use lies and choose and shape facts selectively, blocking out those that don’t fit an agenda or program."

We are glad Low Thia Khiang will not deign to engage with the other slippery customer, still spoiling for a fight instead of focusing on saving lives from the Aedes mosquito. "That's why I've stressed... in our press release that it's important for us to work together to forge some understanding and thereby we can do a better job for the benefit of the residents and the hawkers and we stand by what we say and we intend to work along that line, in a good spirit." Well said, Mr Low, and good luck with those numb skulls who are so difficult to understand.

9 comments:

  1. So, a good debater, but lacking in humility and unable to see the triviality of the issue and a good politician who knows when to draw the line. Who will do a better job?

    This reminds me of the old man during an election rally daring Low to debate with him in English on some issues. Low told him why not debate in Mandarin. The old man backed down.

    Would Bala dare to dabate with Low in Mandarin?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Would Bala dare to contest in a SMC against Sylvia ?
      Or debate with Chee SJ on any international media ?
      This scumbag knows he can only survive an election through the GRC scheme and with backing from the father and son.

      Delete
    2. Would Bala dare to contest in a SMC against Sylvia ?
      Or debate with Chee SJ on any international media ?
      This scumbag knows he can only survive an election through the GRC scheme and with backing from the father and son.

      Delete
  2. How come they keep emphasizing that free masks will be distributed to poor families ? So on the spot how they can they ever check if a household is poor or not ?

    I stayed in a 3 Rm flat but nobody seemed to have issued any free mask to my household. Unless they are also judging I cannot be poor by their standards ?

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    Replies
    1. They omitted to mention the poor who are also RC members. Just like how they try to paint a picture of poor hawkers who are actually rich towkays to make a mountain out of a molehill.

      Delete
    2. please remember last time they tell you that "GST is increased to help the poor", and it turns out that the minister refers to the poor minister. Immediately after GST increase, they increase their salary to million dollars, the highest in whole world. How disgusting and shameless can they be ?

      Delete
  3. PAP non profiteering, clean politics, be truthful, etc. Want to lie, don't lie with the hard truths contradicting the bare facts mah !

    Only make the ministers look more like fools, tuek boh ?

    ReplyDelete
  4. I'm glad Workers' Party is focused on helping Singaporeans. Instead of wasting time arguing with Millionaire PAPig Minister Bala.

    “Never wrestle with pigs. You both get dirty and the pig likes it."
    George Bernard Shaw

    ReplyDelete
  5. what the statement a direct translation from some mother tongue or language?

    for a daft like me ... it's too profound, sorry to "cheim" for me, me no understoOd

    ReplyDelete