Subscribe in a reader | Subscribe by Email He also described the culture of “believing everything one read in blogs to be the truth” as unhealthy and what made it worse was that the inaccurate information was passed on to others. Now, why would one believe the blogs blindly? People can also choose to believe newspapers, TV, radio, politicians, neighbours, mamak stall owner, forwarded emails and voices in their head. I think one should evaluate the things they read, regardless of the source or form. Some may sound true, others more fictitious. Some are reliable, others are not. Some by experience, others by opinion. So, one should read from all variety of sources – to widen their knowledge and views. Trusting one source (like newspapers for example) can lead to misinformation and closed minds.
Says the minister:
One post may say a person stole RM10 and that amount might end up being RM100 when it got around. That is how inaccurate blogs can be.
I remember a game in which the participants are asked to stand in a line. The first person is told a statement, and is asked to whisper it into their ears of the next person. The seconds does the same to third person, and so on until the message reaches the last person. When the last person is asked to say out the message he/she heard, it most likely to be not same as the original statement whispered into the ears of the first person. This exercise is to highlight communication barriers and problems. This can happen in all sorts of media, not only in blogs.
Poobalan
You got a point there in the point that manipulations,falsehood and lies can be found in both MSM (main stream media) and blogosphere or AM (Alternative Media).
However, the fact remains that the blogosphere has failed to adhere to basic tenets of journalistic ethics and standards that MSM are subjected too. They tend to claim that they are beyond censorship and that they are not subject to the laws of the land.
In Malaysia, due to the control on the MSM during TDM’s time, had been rather staid and muted in their reporting. This gave rise to rapid rise AM since the late 90s. This I think is a healthy development since it prevents the government from manipulating the media to cover up issues or push political agenda.
However, AAB has relaxed some of the controls and we can see that the MSM has woken up and now being more vocal and responsive to rakyat’s aspirations.
But on the other hand, the AM has deteriorated. It is now filled with some much misinformation that except for a few, the rest have lost their credibility. This is not peculiar to Malaysia but also to more advanced countries like the US and the UK.
The democratisation of information has effectively has prostituited quality and truth.
In Malaysia, we can see how people like RPK can freely make such slanderous accusations and then hide behind the so-called immunity of the internet. Even in the US such behaviour would elicit condemnations.
Sites like Malaysiakini for example, tend to claim their impartiality but anyone who read will know that they are far from being nuetral. Blogs of people like Jeff Ooi and LKS are totally intolerant of criticism. The moment you question them, you get banned for life.
The politicians concept is very simple , ie if you write accusing oppo
than you are right and if your accuse ruling party than you are wrong
beyond reasonable doubt .
DRM even tried to control cyberspace but was stopped by MSC participants.
AAB is not different either. MSM only giving extra coverage on oppo just after the GE12 .
They are all the way biased . Known fact . Those refused to accept should ‘mandor BN’ .
We’ve seen calls for boycott of MSM in cyberspace which actually gained momentum among ‘rationale’ readers . It makes sense .
We know how MSM promoted ruling coalition during past elections . They deserve the boycott .
When existing platform is biased what we do ? Of course alternate news portals will emerge such as blogs and M’siakini . Well , is M’siakini biased ? Before asking this stupid question ask first whether MSM is biased . Every action has an equal and opposite reaction .
Is blogs fabricating news ?? We leave it to the intelectuality of readers . If you read thru article by Haris Ibrahim , DrHsu , RPK and others….. they blend facts that hidden by MSMs . To me the citizens have the right
to know them .
If you buy a car , the manufacturer has to tell you the possible defects. If it didnt tell and you suspect faults you
have to dump the car at manufacturer site to get them corrected . And not ‘tahan’ till it broke down in middle of the road and you claim ‘aiyo my horoscope is bad today!’ .
Remember , politicians are elected by us . We have the right to know their + and – .
If we dont have to know the negatives in politics and we’d rather be dumb and deaf and just sit down at home . And we dun have to have the right side of the brain . Just use left side of brain and dictate what
ruling politicians tell us . To me this what differs an intelligent from an idiot . Btw you dun need degree in political science for this .
Many of you would be working in a private company . Dun they assess you based on both + and – ??
Do you tell your manager that he doesnt have to know your -ve ?? In a society we are the assing Managers and the policians are the ones work for us ! Remember this always guys.
I like what LimGuanEng said in a ceramah ….. “kamu adalah tuan saya…”
So what’s my conclusion ?? The cyberspace should not come under BN’s control .
I like what LimGuanEng said in a ceramah “?kamu adalah tuan saya”? ====================================================Did he really said that ? This got to be a big joke since he behaves rather if it is the other way around…Just 4 mths and he is already behaving like a little Hitler….Anyway I need to remember this quote since I will be refering to this in the future I am sure…Thanks VJ for this “gem”…
“I’m your humble servant” = “kamu adalah tuan saya”