The Media, The Government and the Society
I recall reading a Times article on ecstasy 1 to 2 years ago. The story invovled a 20 something relating her first time experience of ecstasy. She related to the journalist how ecstasy induced in her a state of mind that made her cross examine her life and her relationships with her family. This subsequently led to her appreciating and valuing life so much so that she grew out of her troubled teenage life and made changes for the better.
The objective and honest examinations of news magazines such as Times and Newsweek highlights the true value of journalism in our society. It is an objective, organized relation of factual phenomenon as observed in reality. Conversely, other forms of media such as government sponsored anti drug campaigns, commercial advertisements, subjective reporting, and materials taught in school textbooks are generally twsited and reformed to suit the agendas or tastes of the issuing government/organization and/or the consuming society/body/community. It is 'made by' an entity for a reason, and 'made for' an entity for a reason. It is not objective, nor factual. It is not the truth.
And in such reporting and media communications, generalizations are commonly employed and used to such a degree that any sensible and educated objective person would regard as grotesque. It is generalization on the same level and extent as the generalizations used in racism, sexism and nationalism. Which reminds me of a childhood event when i was in secondary school.
When we were in secondary and primary schools, the government held anti drug campaigns. Students were made to relate drugs (called 'dadah' in the Bruneian national language, malay) with skulls, blood and death. Poster competitions were held to distinguish which entries best related drugs with death and no distinction or definition of 'drugs' was made. The government also brought in prison officers from the national corrections department who in turn, brought in mannequins and canes. For reference, i implore you to read these 3 articles: caning, caning in singapore and Michael P.Fay - a caned US teenager. And as a citizen, permanent resident and resident of Malaysia, Brunei and Singapore respectively, i would like to respectfully add that the articles in wikipedia are an understatement to the true cruelty and indignity of caning in these countries. Prison officers were trained to rupture skin and thus by definition cause bleeding on every stroke of the cane; a prison officer would not be allowed to perform caning if he could not fulfill such a requirement. After caning, victims of the state -, i mean criminals, would not be able to sleep per normal as their arse would be wounded, all of them would have difficulty walking for upto a week or more and all of them would develop disgusting lateral physical scars on their butts after the ordeal. And i thought scarification was only used to brand animals. Some also report permanent damage to their peripheral and nervous systems. Furthermore these corporal punishments are applicable to lesser crimes such as vandalism (in the case of Michael P.Fay) and rioting.
So we have some secondary school students and little primary school children - most of them barely or just approaching their pubes - watching on as prison officers with the builds of arnold schwachzenegger caned the poor mannequins. It was one of the most intense experience in my pubescent life. I'am sure a few little girls cried. Perhaps a small price to pay for the nations antidrug campaign. But fuck that. As a society we'ved developed further than that. Corporal punishment is not required in a developed country.
... per usual, i digress. I have long suspected that i have a mild form of ADD. My antics are ironic as i'am procrastinating from my work to do this entry, and even within the entry, i am procrastinating from my topic to do another sub-topic.
Back to journalism and the media. The correct portrayal of phenomenas in reality is important as the incorrect portrayal of it equates to gossiping and rumour-mongering on a state, national and global level. The channels by which it moves through results in further exageration and misconception. The product finally produced at the end of such a journey is something that is distorted and different from reality. And this distorted information is consumed by a society which builds upon it. A cycle of distortion and lies is finally created. A free and unprofessional media is one that distorts the truth.
Thus when little children pubescents are told that drugs = blood, skulls and death, and is then subsequently shown imagess of a humanoid being physically abused for being related to drugs; The little children and pubescents grow up to be incessantly paranoid about anything 'drug' related, not even truly knowing what 'drugs' are. The same thing is applicable to other concepts such as sexual discovery of self and between genders, personal opinion on authority and religion, religion itself, uniqueness or self identity (apart from what is considered the norm), homosexuality, racism and anything that has already been established as the norm by the society and/or government and not just drugs.
What is ultimately created, is a culture of fear on a national level, which is inturn used to keep such a newly developing, urbanized and industralized society such as Brunei, Malaysia and Singapore in check; which i guess is justifiable. But the governments have to realize that a new generation of educated folks (of which i may humbly be an example) are in the making, a generation which if less enlightened will not bode well with what they perceive as government propaganda and authoritarianism. This can be observed in the emmigration of the educated intelectuals. (of which perhaps i would be one too, weee linking yourself to your own arguments is such fun~)
On a side note, Its sad when teenagers and pubescents are ashamed of their own genatalia. Let us not even consider other themes like sexual orientation, social standing and physical attractiveness. To feel sorry for yourself, that must be the most wretched feeling available in the psychological spectrum. I wanted to draw parallels with suicide rates. But that'll be for another time.
