Pesuvom Rewound

So, we DID send representatives to attend the recording of Vasantham's Pesuvom yesterday, April 18th. Keling Kween and Praba sat in on one half of the assembled panels to point out that restricting blogs and bloggers is downright nonsense and that everyone has their right to discern credible information and opinions. Everyone that is except the whiners who still insist we must all "not hurt others' feelings". Oh! What a cruel world. Did you also remember not to hurt that poor ant-you-crushed-in-the-kitchen's feelings?

Before it airs on 2nd May at 8 pm, we've the inside scoop as usual. Our KLKillahs will let you know how it went for them in the next post. In this one, we give you a member of the opposing panel:

The show started out with topics such as the importance of tamil speaking and pre-marital sex. The very next debate was on blogging and if it should have its limits. A few of us got the chance to be in this episode, on both sides of the panels. One panel that was up for blogging totally and said that writing whatever they wanted was their own choice. Another panel, not against the idea of blogging but did have the idea that blogging should have its limits; ie we must know where not to cross the line.

Having to meet Miss Kalpana(the host) at 4pm, off to the makeup room where it was the boys who were made up in the end. Pretty sure they enjoyed it! The guests for that debate were the Miss Vasantham Girls; Barathi and Yuvaneswari.

Well there was only one main reason these girls were the guests. They were out to get answers for all the trauma they had been through during the Miss Vasantham period. These girls were all written about in many blogs especially one in which they were made very famous. And yes readers, im sure we are all aware of which blog we're taking abt. None other than the all famous KLK blog. So yes who were they going to get their answers for, the reasons to why they were targeted. We had two representatives from KLK, Aarthi and Praba.

The issue on Miss Vasantham got the debate heated up. The vasantham girls were defending themselves while our klk representatives reasoned out everything they wrote. Everything they spoke was thrown to our klk representatives. Explanations flew from one corner of the panel to the other. The opposition panel threw in questions such as social responsibility and the usage of language, how what one writes affects many others. The key idea was that yes you can write, no one is stopping you in that aspect but yet you should know your limits. There is that line to where it should stop, a border each one should have. Points such as the freedom to write and such were mentioned in which they were then questioned that if one could think twice when he or she speaks, why is it then when it is written it does not become such a case.

Things got heated up at certain parts of the shoot and people were shooting each other off. At the end of the day we know we are not going to take things personally. Well hard to say the same thing for the vasantham ladies who throughout the entire show kept going on and on about how they were so badly affected etc.

Overall the show came to a point where it looked more like the debate was on the vasantham girls. But points were made clear in the end. Blog all you want. Yet the key is to structure your words in such a manner that it is not going to affect a certain party in a certain manner. That was something everyone definitely agreed on. We never know how old our readers are. Examples were given such as the usage of the FUCK word. Western influence has definitely changed our society. Yet there is one thing we had to understand. We are not America. Singapore does not provide that basic infrastructure to write all we want. And maybe the day we are given the key to freedom in what we write, this aspect of blogging may definitely change.

Link



And another one whom we are not too sure if was part of the panel. Still the crux of the matter was on her post:

It would be completely unfair of me to define yesterday as just interesting. An experience that was eye-opening and refreshing. The freedom to write and express. Do we have the space to pen down what we truly feel? If iterating our concerns spurns its consequences on others,then what are the limits to freedom of speech? Is freedom of speech, the liberty given to an individual to mention what they wish to? Or is it the liberty given to one to say what they really feel, but with social and moral responsibility a more apt definition to it?

I believe that the ability to express oneself freely is a necessary option. There's no use having the freedom to speak and act when there is no freedom to think. When we have the freedom to process thoughts, we should also contain the ability to act and speak freely, when it concerns others, but with social responsibility.

In the blogging world, personal concerns and experiences do not provide the platform of vulnerability to others except the blogger themselves. When they are ready to face the repercussions, then why is there a need for others to worry? Too much has been said.

Link

Needless to say, just reading these 2 accounts without physically witnessing the recording has got me a tad incensed.

1. The debate was set out to be on whether blogs/bloggers should be totally restricted or not. Clearly, the bringing in of Miss Vasantham finalists was instead setting the scene for a debate of a totally different nature: "Whether we should have spoken about them or not?". Illogical.

A debate of the intended nature would best have been between bloggers, where the community speaks up on what ARE clearly defined limits and what should be left to interpretation. Even if one of those girls had owned a web log, it would have been a fair platform as on their blogs, their opinion, presumably condemning our opinions would have been stated a long time ago.

2. And this is why the proceedings got more heated up than a normal talk show discussion would have been. The stage was already set for one accusatory group and one defending group. This shouldn't have been the crux of the discussion.

3. "Yet the key is to structure your words in such a manner that it is not going to affect a certain party in a certain manner. That was something everyone definitely agreed on". I take great offence at this statement and am appalled if any of the KLKillahs actually agreed.

This be the reason. Brad Pitt, Aishwarya Rai, Shilpa Shetty and Richard Gere may have scores of fans around the globe but yet their detractors still have a voice. The theory is simple, you have a negative opinion, you state it; and vice versa. We did not go out and pluck a virtual unknown we saw at the wet market to relay our comments on. All our chosen "subjects" have come to us! In the form of nationally televised programs, national newspapers and over-the-Internet sources.

Simply put, if I think something is crap, I will state it. It might affect you, you might agree with me, you might not, it might make you cry or even land you in depression, but it's your call to shrug it off or to whine about it. True? "Structuring" of words smacks of unnecessary self-censorship and do we really need to do better than the Censorship Board we already have in our beautiful nation?

4. Usage of "Fuck". We have yet to proclaim that we are a PG or god forbid NC-16 site. If need be, set your parental controls on your PC so your children need not view a word they already would have had at the tip of their tongues since Primary 3. Ask anyone who's anyone, there's a big and satisfying difference between saying "That was fucking pain man! What the fuck did you do that for!" as opposed to "Ouch, that was pain. Whimper."

5. What infrastructure what? You mean to possess freedom of speech without crossing the lines of defamation we would require infrastructure? What infrastructure pray tell me does not exist in Singapore that does in USA where apparently people speak freely?

If the statement was meant to state that culture is still different here and people must hold back on their opinions, then I say, culture evolves with time and space. If not now, in the age of everything "E-", then when? Please don't include us in the group of folks who believe in mass conspiracy theories like "Oh, the gahmen knows who you voted for because of the serial number on the ballot slips". I think this group should best stay away from the Internet. It's bad for their psychological health.

6. And now the praise. The 2nd excerpt points out exactly what we feel. If bloggers are responsible for their words and bear full repercussions for those words, why worry? And even then, KLKillahs is not an anonymous post-it-up site. We each have our identities, and have never taken steps to hide it. This is of course in stark contrast to the detractors who pop in when their Prozac has worn off to post up anonymous comments. I say restrict those blokes. They're the menace to the blogosphere.

Cheers.

pesuvom, vasantham central, blog, blogging, freedom of speech, restriction
Generated By Technorati Tag Generator