There are stereotype for everyone, don't deny it because you hear it all around you. The Chinese are kiasu (afraid of losing out), the Malays are lazy and aimless, the Indians are violent and uncouth. Have you not seen a lazy, violent and uncouth Chinese? Have you not seen a Malay who's diligent and full of drive? Have yoou not met an Indian who looks like a giant but is as gentle as a feather?
Problem is, we usually meet the "bad" ones first; or rather we remember most strongly our bad experiences. That paired with our handed down stereotyping of people by their colour leads to prejudice.
Why do we decide how people are by the colour of their skin? It's not as if they were given a choice. It is not fair to segregate people by the colour of their skin, look beyond the skin, what is inside there?
I am not a person who has not encountered people of other races who have acted less than civil and behaved shamelessly in public. In fact, it is precisely because I have just experienced such an audacious act that I began thinking about the way I thought of people.
The story is, two Indians stepped on the bus and headed all the way to the back of the bus, and one exclaimed that he was going to play the music that he likes and proceeded to blast his player loud enough to cause the person who is in front of the bus (note: 2x long SMRT bus) to turn back and glare. But did they care? Not. They just cursed in the typical F*** ing.. %&£^@(. Insulting everyone insight,
I won't deny that for a moment I thought, "bloody Indians again..." Then I stopped myself. I thought of all my Indian friends, they weren't like that.
Later on in teh journey, another Indian sat in front of me, and as he grabbed the hand rail of the chair to sit down, he flashed me a smile. Not in the hamsap (note: perverted) way, but just a, "Good morning, nice to see you at 7.40 am on Deepavali" smile.
So in conclusion, the next time you see a person that fits a stereotype of a certain race, imagine him/her in a different colour. Does that change your opinion?
I think I can fairly say that I still do judge people by their colour, but am not ignorant to people who are of those colours of prejudice that have been wonderful to me. One great example is my baby sitter.
Anyone who knows me well enough will know that for the first part of my life I was taken care of by my malay babysitter. Her family became mine, I call her "mak" (note: mother in malay), her mother and father grandpa and grandma. When my "grandfather" passed on i could clearly remember all the things we did together and how he loved me. Till today, of my maternal grandfather I have nothing good to say.
You really don't have to be related by blood to be family and you really don't have to be a certain colour to be a certain way.
Monday, October 27, 2008
Wednesday, October 8, 2008
levels
It's scary to understand the fragility of life but lose the desire to protect it. It's frightening to know that a person can lose all hope in life, all desire to go on. It's petrifying to realise that, that is the person you're turning into.
Thursday, September 25, 2008
lovely
Just getting a random SMS from you, talking to you, seeing pictures of you; it makes me smile. It's a random feeling, something new not even vaguely romantic.
It just settles me, you give me something I don't even care to describe. Thanks for being a friend. Thanks for appearing in my life.
It just settles me, you give me something I don't even care to describe. Thanks for being a friend. Thanks for appearing in my life.
Saturday, September 6, 2008
There is a place I often escape into, a place which often appears when I'm bored, tired, sad, happy, it appears at almost all junctures.
It's called my imagination.
In that place the world revolves around me, in that place I can live, die or want to die without "bothering" the people around me.
In that place I can cry for a reason that is detached from reality, I can cry without "bothering" people.
In that place I can love and be loved mirroring an alternate reality, I can love and be loved without bothering other people with the burden of loving me back.
In the alternate reality of my imagination I can live out a life fast forwarded past this troublesome stage I am at, or this difficult juncture where the journey to where I want to be I so long that I can't even see the finish line.
In the alternate reality, the "ending" can be multifaceted, it can change every time.
It's called my imagination.
In that place the world revolves around me, in that place I can live, die or want to die without "bothering" the people around me.
In that place I can cry for a reason that is detached from reality, I can cry without "bothering" people.
In that place I can love and be loved mirroring an alternate reality, I can love and be loved without bothering other people with the burden of loving me back.
In the alternate reality of my imagination I can live out a life fast forwarded past this troublesome stage I am at, or this difficult juncture where the journey to where I want to be I so long that I can't even see the finish line.
In the alternate reality, the "ending" can be multifaceted, it can change every time.
Monday, June 9, 2008
Killing spree
Case 1
Case 2
It is sad what emptiness and loneliness drives people to do, how does someone wake up one day and say "I'm going to drive into town today and stab a couple of people."
Credits & Further Reading
Case 2
"He has reportedly told police that he took 10 times his prescribed dose of tranquillisers yesterday in an attempt to kill himself. He said he had attempted suicide many times and wanted to be executed."What do you say to someone like that? Is it enough that he is diagnosed with a mental instability. What and who made him become this way?
Takuma was unrepentant, telling the court: "If I had attacked a kindergarten I could have killed more than 30. Since I will get the death penalty either way it's a shame I only got eight."
It is sad what emptiness and loneliness drives people to do, how does someone wake up one day and say "I'm going to drive into town today and stab a couple of people."
Credits & Further Reading
Friday, June 6, 2008
Ethics vs Professionalism: Can you do it?
I remember clearly my first encounter with the words "killing fields" I was 9 in my mothers office crouched in a corner with a copy or TIME magazine. I remember the photo-louge and how often since then those two words have always fascinated me. I sought out many books mainly using photos to explain and then in documentaries where the memorials and the killing sites were filmed.
They say there is a strange coldness in the air, a discomfort from deep within and in a place where millions died not one thousand years ago, but a mere thirty odd years, it is not hard to see why. I remember dreaming of going there with a bunch of people holding the bones in my hands, this has yet come to pass.
I wonder if the sheer presence of history there will shatter me and I will remain standing outside unable to go in.
I was reading on The New York Times, on the highly reliable wikipedia; one link lead to another and soon I was reading up on the various photojournalist that have braved the war to record history. Both, dead.
One of them is Eddie Adams who is famous for this photo
The story behind this is that the general seen holding the gun here shot the prisoner on an open street and why Adams said that it was an unfair portrayal is his interview with TIME magazine, he said, "The general killed the Viet Cong; I killed the general with my camera. Still photographs are the most powerful weapon in the world. People believe them, but photographs do lie, even without manipulation. They are only half-truths. What the photograph didn't say was, 'What would you do if you were the general at that time and place on that hot day, and you caught the so-called bad guy after he blew away one, two or three American soldiers?'"
Other ethical issues surround 'famous' photo's.
Like this one by Kevin Carter in Sudan 1993. This photo was quoted to have epitomized the war in Sudan then, Carter won the Pulitzer Award for that photo, a few months later he committed suicide. He waited 20 minutes for a 'good' photo, shot this one, chased the bird away but left the child there.
Many questions were raised on why didn't he carry the child to the feeding centre? Why did he wait 20 minutes?
I have been toying with the idea of being a photojournalist or at least a journalist, but a sudden surge of reality has hit me. Will I be able to seperate myself as a morale human being to doing my job? Sure if I was Carter I would have taken the shot and then carried the child to the centre.
But what if it was something more than a starving child? What if it was the about to commence killing of someone? What if I was covering the war and one of the terrorist was but a 10 year old boy holding on to an AK-47 he barely knows how to use? Am I to take the shot of the boy waiting to be shot by the soldier or jump in front and stop it?
In all professionalism, I am supposed to take the shot, not take the bullet. Problem is, can I do it?
Quoting an article in TIME magazine, "Carter was painfully aware of the photojournalist's dilemma. "I had to think visually," he said once, describing a shoot-out. "I am zooming in on a tight shot of the dead guy and a splash of red. Going into his khaki uniform in a pool of blood in the sand. The dead man's face is slightly gray. You are making a visual here. But inside something is screaming, 'My God.' But it is time to work. Deal with the rest later. If you can't do it, get out of the game." Says Nachtwey, "Every photographer who has been involved in these stories has been affected. You become changed forever. Nobody does this kind of work to make themselves feel good. It is very hard to continue."
Despite being overused, a photo does say a thousand words. This photo below changed the lives of the people on that boat, Adams said he would have prefered to have gained fame over than photo than that of the general.
Because of this photo, 200 thousand Vietnamese refugees stuck at sea were given refuge.
I want to be able to take pictures that will change the world, capture a moment in history, I want the courage to step up to the job. I want to meet people that influence, that I admire for their work:
But what I don't want is to say this at the end of my life: "The pain of life overrides the joy to the point that joy does not exist."-Kevin Carter
Credits & Acknowledgements:
A similar sentiment of confusion on ethics on this persons blog.
They say there is a strange coldness in the air, a discomfort from deep within and in a place where millions died not one thousand years ago, but a mere thirty odd years, it is not hard to see why. I remember dreaming of going there with a bunch of people holding the bones in my hands, this has yet come to pass.
I wonder if the sheer presence of history there will shatter me and I will remain standing outside unable to go in.
I was reading on The New York Times, on the highly reliable wikipedia; one link lead to another and soon I was reading up on the various photojournalist that have braved the war to record history. Both, dead.
One of them is Eddie Adams who is famous for this photo
The story behind this is that the general seen holding the gun here shot the prisoner on an open street and why Adams said that it was an unfair portrayal is his interview with TIME magazine, he said, "The general killed the Viet Cong; I killed the general with my camera. Still photographs are the most powerful weapon in the world. People believe them, but photographs do lie, even without manipulation. They are only half-truths. What the photograph didn't say was, 'What would you do if you were the general at that time and place on that hot day, and you caught the so-called bad guy after he blew away one, two or three American soldiers?'"Other ethical issues surround 'famous' photo's.
Like this one by Kevin Carter in Sudan 1993. This photo was quoted to have epitomized the war in Sudan then, Carter won the Pulitzer Award for that photo, a few months later he committed suicide. He waited 20 minutes for a 'good' photo, shot this one, chased the bird away but left the child there.Many questions were raised on why didn't he carry the child to the feeding centre? Why did he wait 20 minutes?
I have been toying with the idea of being a photojournalist or at least a journalist, but a sudden surge of reality has hit me. Will I be able to seperate myself as a morale human being to doing my job? Sure if I was Carter I would have taken the shot and then carried the child to the centre.
But what if it was something more than a starving child? What if it was the about to commence killing of someone? What if I was covering the war and one of the terrorist was but a 10 year old boy holding on to an AK-47 he barely knows how to use? Am I to take the shot of the boy waiting to be shot by the soldier or jump in front and stop it?
In all professionalism, I am supposed to take the shot, not take the bullet. Problem is, can I do it?
Quoting an article in TIME magazine, "Carter was painfully aware of the photojournalist's dilemma. "I had to think visually," he said once, describing a shoot-out. "I am zooming in on a tight shot of the dead guy and a splash of red. Going into his khaki uniform in a pool of blood in the sand. The dead man's face is slightly gray. You are making a visual here. But inside something is screaming, 'My God.' But it is time to work. Deal with the rest later. If you can't do it, get out of the game." Says Nachtwey, "Every photographer who has been involved in these stories has been affected. You become changed forever. Nobody does this kind of work to make themselves feel good. It is very hard to continue."
Despite being overused, a photo does say a thousand words. This photo below changed the lives of the people on that boat, Adams said he would have prefered to have gained fame over than photo than that of the general.
Because of this photo, 200 thousand Vietnamese refugees stuck at sea were given refuge.I want to be able to take pictures that will change the world, capture a moment in history, I want the courage to step up to the job. I want to meet people that influence, that I admire for their work:
But what I don't want is to say this at the end of my life: "The pain of life overrides the joy to the point that joy does not exist."-Kevin Carter
Credits & Acknowledgements:
A similar sentiment of confusion on ethics on this persons blog.
Thursday, June 5, 2008
A price to pay
I was reading the NY Times.com when I came across this article talking about how the 'young and fabulous' in the big apple are not living the "oh so fabulous life" after all. Call this what you may, but maybe it's just a little future planning a little insight into what I might be getting myself into.
Anyway for the full article go here.
Anyway for the full article go here.
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