Singer believes that freedom of expression is essential to any democracy and therefore should not be limited. On the other hand, Szilagyi believes that more focus should be placed on social responsibility.

In the context of Singapore’s multi-racial society, where cultural and religious pluralism, which author’s view do you think should be adopted?


Personally, I think that in the context of Singapore’s multi-racial society, Szilagyi’s view should be adopted instead. Peter Singer’s view is that freedom of expression is essential to any democracy and that everyone should be allowed to say whatever they want to say. However, on the other hand, Szilagyi’s view is that the practice of freedom of speech is a personal responsibility that everyone should take and that one should be able to note the sensitivity of a certain issue before commenting anything. Singapore has a history of racial riots in the past, the 1964 and 1969 racial riots that took away many lives or affected many. To prevent a repeat of the past, the government has emphasized a lot on racial harmony and that it’s very crucial for the economic and social development of Singapore. For example, in 2005, two ethnic Chinese bloggers have been jailed for posting racist remarks bout ethnic Malays on the internet.
(http://www.smh.com.au/news/breaking/singapore-jails-bloggers-for-racist-remarks/2005/10/07/1128563001603.html)


In this case, Singer’s idea about freedom of speech spreads to the issue on the provocative nature of the cartoons depicting the Prophet Muhammad. He thinks that the freedom of expression should be allowed and this includes the right to form opinions, to disseminate information and ideas without being altered or changed by public authority and frontiers. Thus, meaning that even though it might offend certain communities, in this case, the Islamic community, he believes that it is the right way to do. On the other hand, Szilagyi’s idea is of a different kind. His idea is that freedom of speech is an essential foundation of any democracy but not that the expense of media ignoring the consequences of their act of freedom expression. To him, the press needs to serve the ever-evolving public interest, but they need to do so by focusing on responsibility, and not just on freedom.

Once again, in the case of Singapore which is a democratic society, the freedom of expression is our essential basic foundation. However, we must understand that the price that we pay for the freedom of expression might be way more that what we can afford. For example, the bloggers’ racist comments. It might actually affect the dynamics of the country and this is not something that be fixed that easily. Hence, I think that Szilagyi’s view is better.

THBT the mass media is corrupting the society. Do you agree?

The mass media is a communication tool in modern society. However, it has many flaws - some of which are listed here.

1. Many of us are familiar with the advertisements we see everyday. Advertisements have become a norm in the society, and they play on peoples' feelings through bandwagons (you "lose out" because you do not use the product), sex appeal (because you use the product, people think you're more attractive and desirable), and other strategies such as visual imagery, emotional words (to play on peoples' feelings) and transferring positive feelings of people about that product. One example of advertisements would be slimming advertisements - they advertise on "sexy, slim and svelte" bodies to appeal to girls - but they create a wrong impression, as well as a sense of vanity. In fact, slimming advertisements encourage girls to diet excessively and become anorexic. The models that such slimming advertisements use are usually emaciated, "size zero" models. Other advertisements include cosmetics and facial ads - they use "fair, smooth and supple" skin to appeal to girls as well - while in actual fact, this creates a sense of vanity.


2. Magazines are also a form of mass media. Many women magazines we see today are packed with advertisements and fashion stuff. These create a sense of materialism in adolescents, and they would have the temptation to buy that set of accessories or clothes shown in the magazine, just to follow the in-crowd. Stuff such as teaching girls on how to engage in dates has also created a wrong impression in girls.


3. Music: It is with no doubt that music is ubiquitious in our lives. However, the lyrics of some rock music are full of vulgarities, sex, violence and even Satanism. Death metal band Deicide writes morbid lyrics on Satanism and violence, creating a wrong impression on adolescents. These are further portrayed in MTVs that are acted out from time to time, and this further influences adolescents negatively. In fact, MTV violence could be one of the causes of violent acts in the society nowadays. The lyrics of girl band Pussycat Dolls have also been a negative influence in young people - even girls aged 9 are singing the lyrics "Don't cha wish your girlfriend was hot like me" and "We'll be making love endlessly". Listening to these songs aren't the only thing - the raunchy dance moves, the revealing clothes they wear, as well as their skinny frames (adolescents might think they look great, and would diet excessively to get that "beautiful and hot" body) are also influential. Even fallen pop princess Britney Spears has turned from an innocent-looking young girl from the Mickey Mouse club to a scantily-clad "slavegirl", posing naked in a bath, dancing seductively, and even exchanging a lingering kiss with Madonna in one of the MTV music awards. This is definitely not morally right - youngsters are learning the wrong things - are these values that should be inculcated in youngsters nowadays? Definitely not!


4. Violence: Studies have shown that some videogames - packed with violence, and adult-related content, has led to youngsters thinking that taking drugs and drinking alcohol is acceptable - when in actual truth it damages health. TV shows such as WWE and other boxing matches give young children the impression that violence is "cool" - and they might even imitate the actions shown on TV. Even websites containing violence are popular amongst youngsters, who inevitably get influenced by the content shown. People are also very familiar with the violence shown on newspapers. Coverages on the newspapers nowadays are jam-packed with photographs relating to the violence caused, and the details of the violence itself - this also creates a negative impact on society. A recent study shows that crime rate has been increasing at an exponential rate - where do the perpetrators get their "inspirations" from? From reading articles concerned with violence, of course. Some of them even tend to be "copycats" and imitate the actions carried out by previous perpetrators - just because they look up to these people as "role models".


5. Drama serials: Most drama serials tend to beat about the bush, eventually arriving at a "happy ending" where 2 lovers get together, or where the lawbreaker finally receives his punishment etc. In fact, most of the drama serials on lawbreaking ramble on and on about how the crime is committed by the lawbreaker, portraying an impression that crime "is no big deal", as punishment is only implemented at the very last part of the serial. Also, the punishment portrayed in drama serials are very mild, and do not portray the actual thing shown, thus giving people the wrong information.


6. The news coverages done by the mass media nowadays are rather superficial and subjective, and some facts are even twisted. Clearly, this is morally wrong in the context of society - people will not know the actual truth and they would be mislead by the news coverages done by the mass media. Some of these are evident in news coverages of conflicts and riots, such as the Gujarat riots in 2002).Through the examples illustrated above, it is with no doubt that the mass media is corrupting our society.

The problem with the modern media is they do not have a sense of social justice.
Do you agree?



According to wikipedia, the free encyclopedia, social justice refers to conceptions of a just society, where "justice" refers to more than just the administration of laws. Modern media refers to the means of media that is offered to the world now. It is now in the form of radio, television, newspapers. Every one of us will definitely be in contact with such devices of media. Modern media has impacted us one way or another whether we like it or not. The modern media has no doubt helped us in knowing more about the rest of the world and has high entertainment value, but it seems to be providing entertainment at the expense of social justice.

One good example about modern media not having a sense of social justice is movies. There is the stereotype of Asians seen across as eccentric, mad characters. In the chick flick, Freaky Friday, that starred Lindsay Lohan and Jamie Lee Curtis. It is about the mother and daughter changing bodies for to step into each other’s shoes literally. The person that caused this whole incident was an Asian, the mother of Pei-Pei, the owner of the Chinese restaurant that they frequent, who is a meddlesome being. This stereotyping of Asians is one fine example of modern media not having a social justice. Just simply for comic relief, they are able to mock at one’s race. This might start off small, but it might have sparked a series of confrontations between races, causing a breakdown in diplomatic ties within countries and that the world would not be at peace anymore. Another kind of stereotype, is that the main character of the show has to be pretty, gorgeous, skinny and of course, white. In a study of prime time TV and daytime TV, roles for older men outnumbered those for older women, women are made older sooner, and an older woman who is cast is more likely than an older man to be stereotyped as bad, or "evil."

Another example of modern media not having a sense of social justice is how they portray a non-realistic and unhealthy body image of women on advertisements and television shows. Many actresses, pop stars and fashion models are seriously underweight, having a Body Mass Index of less than 16 which falls under the category of severely underweight. Many diet and smoke to keep their natural weight off, this is extremely unhealthy and it affects other young girls. To be like their idols, many girls suffer from eating disorders to lose weight. Eating disorders like anorexic and bulimic may take one’s life, or even cause damaging effects on the patient. Some young girls might even take it further by going for plastic surgery to be more like their super skinny models. Celebrities are also walking advertisements to plastic surgery. Pamela Anderson, Demi Moore, Mariah Carey are just some examples.

Lastly, it is the amount of violence being shown on television. Just to increase profits and the number of people watching, they can actually not think about how much harm they can cause to someone else. Media violence is exceptionally harmful to young children under eight as they are unable to differentiate between reality and fantansy. This might potentially lead them into becoming anti-social, aggressive. Similarly, making them less sensitive to violence and to victims of violence and increasing their appetite for more violence in entertainment and in real life. Thus, affecting them for life.

Therefore, I do agree that the problem with modern media is that they do not have a sense of social justice, all that they are thinking of is profits, increase ratings. Are these that important as till one might actually forgo simple moral values and willing to put society at risk?

http://crisisconnectioninc.org/teens/mediainfluence.htm
http://www.globalissues.org/HumanRights/Media/Corporations/Ads.asp
http://www.pbs.org/perfectillusions/eatingdisorders/preventing_media.html

The media is corrupting our society. Do you agree?

I do agree with that the media is corrupting our society. There are many instances of the corruption of society. But basically I am focusing on how the media is corrupting children’s’ childhoods. The media plays apart in everyone’s life. Magazines, television shows, music, internet are forms of media.

Magazines are being read as a source of entertainment, there are many different kinds of magazines available on the market, catering to different age groups. However, many young girls abuse this easy excess to buy magazines that contain certain explicit issues that promotes promiscuity for teenage girls instead. One example is ‘Features in this month's Sugar include "How hot are you? Your pulling power revealed" and articles on how to dress sexy, "butt-loving denim" and "the sexiest make-up".’ This is definitely not good for young children who would get corrupted easily. One way of prevention that has been brought up by child protection groups was that such magazines should have 18-plus stickers so that newsagents selling such magazines to an underage reader will have to face prosecution.
The number of young children watching television shows is increasing rapidly; practically every child watches the television. But are the values being portrayed on the shows showed to the children the values we want to inculcate in our children? Storylines of revenge on the main character’s father who left them for another richer family. Pre-martial sex as seen in popular television shows like Desperate Housewives. It is true that sex sells, but is it worth it at the expense of eroding the moral values of our younger generation?
The music industry is another form of media that impacts quite a number of children. Previously, children looked up to Britney Spears, the fallen pop princess. She has transformed from a pouting schoolgirl to a scantily clad slavegirl, naked in a bath, or exchanging a lingering on-stage kiss with Madonna. Thousands of fans look up to her, and yet this is what they are learning from her? She is an idol to many, her actions, dressing are often imitated by many. However, it is getting from bad to worse; we would not want our children to learn such values from her. Not only her, the group, The Pussy Cat Dolls’ raunchy dance routines might be offending family valued campaigns, but surely, they are gaining more fans around the world. Their songs are also not really advisable for children’s delicate ears. For example, ‘At one of their recent concerts, girls as young as nine were in the audience singing along to their songs, which contain the lyrics "Don't cha wish your girlfriend was hot like me?" and "We'll be making love endlessly".’ Are these really the values we want to teach our children? Not only so, their skinny frames have caused many girls to suffer from eating disorders to be like their idols and to be able to flaunt their body. However, they do not realize that being anorexic and bulimic is not the way
Advances in technologies have allowed children to gain access to internet. According to a recent survey of 1300 pre-teens, children as young as nine talk about their sexual encounters in chatrooms. One example, ‘Some girls had webcams, others posted pictures. Of the girls who discussed sexual activity, almost a third were younger than 12, and eight per cent were under 10. One 10-year-old was reported as saying: "I've just kissed a guy. He was 11.’
As it can be seen from above, the effects of media is harmful and is indeed corrupting our society.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml;jsessionid=XSUW1E4WLACQRQFIQMGSFFWAVCBQWIV0?xml=/news/2007/02/20/ngirls120.xml

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml;jsessionid=XSUW1E4WLACQRQFIQMGSFFWAVCBQWIV0?view=BLOGDETAIL&grid=F11&blog=yourview&xml=/news/2007/02/20/ublview20.xml

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml;jsessionid=XSUW1E4WLACQRQFIQMGSFFWAVCBQWIV0?xml=/news/2007/02/20/ngirls220.xml

It has been two weeks since the terrible massacre that took away 32 lives. Many related issues have surfaced since then, for example, racial discrimination, censorship, immigration. However, the issue that I am touching on is gun control. This incident has once again put the limelight on ‘gun laws’ in America.

If you are an American citizen who is 18 years old or older, mentally stable and do not have a criminal record, congratulations. You are officially legal to purchase a gun. This is according to the laws in America whereby its stand is that the possession of guns is for self-defense. This is getting a little too ridiculous. Imagine, as you walk down the street of America, practically everyone that you have walked past having a gun in their possession. Freaky, isn’t it? There is no doubt that a gun by one’s side can bring much assurance to him or her. But is there such a need? Is there such a need for such extreme laws? The lax law of possession of guns has finally taken its toll. With the Virginia Tech shooting in mind, one would reflect back and question, ‘if perhaps the gun laws are stricter, Cho would not have a chance to purchase the guns, preventing the dreadful massacre.’ If guns are banned in the first place, people will also be able to live in assurance that the people around them do not possess such a dangerous weapon. Doesn’t this beat worrying about people having guns as everyone does not possess them?

Finally, in view of the Virginia Tech shooting, Virginia’s governor has said that he might be able to ‘close the loophole that allowed Seung-Hui Cho to buy the guns he used to kill 32 people on the Virginia Tech campus.’ It is sad that something dreadful like the loss of lives has to happen before action is taken. Not only so, at several Boston-area colleges, campus police are renewing calls to be allowed to carry arms in the aftermath of the mass shootings at Virginia Tech. One distinct difference between Singapore and America is that rarely do people die of gunshots which make it a safer place to live in as compared to American whereby guns are rampant.

http://www.boston.com/news/local/articles/2007/04/28/campus_police_renew_call_to_carry_arms/

http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2007/04/24/virginiatechshooting/main2721802.shtml

Nowadays, the mass media do not report the news; they make the news.Discuss this with references to recent events.

Mass media reaches out to everyone. It has branched out into different means of communication, such as television, radio, newspapers, magazine and many more. Therefore, mass media has a huge impact on everyone’s life and affects every single one’s life in one way or another. To everyone, mass media has been THE source of information on issues happening around the world. However, recently, this image of mass media has been scrutinized. The idea of bias media is gradually rising among free societies. It seems as though now, rivalry between rival media companies have placed economic interest before reporting the real news which have been their motto.


There are quite a few recent events to back up this rising trend of media bias. The capture of British sailors by the Iranians has caused quite an uproar in the country. A first hand exclusive account of the whole ordeal would have brought much revenue and exposure to the mass media company that has brought over the rights. When the sailors were finally released from Iran, Defence Secretary Des Browne allowed the sailors to sell their accounts. Various TV stations offered huge sums of money to get the exclusive rights. One sailor, Faye Turney sold her account to ITV1’s Tonight with Trevor Macdonald and Sun newspaper. The amount she earned because of this ordeal is reportedly 6 digit sum.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/6537555.stm

Another issue is about NBC putting their trademark logo on the videos and photos that were given by the Virginia Tech mass murderer. Even though NBC did not do anything additional to the videos and photos given, they gave the citizens something to vent their anger on. This is similar to the Al- Jazeera. These bunch of terrorist do the same thing, by showing the world videos to terrorize the people. In this case, the NBC is using the same tactic. Just to boost their sales, they can actually not think about how the families of the victims or the families of the suspect would feel if they see the videos on national television. Is the mass media going to be that unfeeling and insensitive to the feelings of the people and continue reporting such news just to obtain the profits?

http://www.aim.org/aim_column/5399_0_3_0_C/

Another case of mass media making the news instead of reporting the news is whereby they totally missed the complete story on the 1995 Oklahoma City bombing. There were concrete evidence suggesting the bombing that killed 168 innocent American men, women, and children had been ordered by Saddam Hussein—then in power in Iraq, and possibly with the help of other Middle East terrorists. However, the mass media covered it up as there were political issues involved.

http://www.aim.org/aim_report/5408_0_4_0_C/
The above three examples are just the pick from many more such cases. It is saddening to know how the mass media has reduced from an ideal source of facts and reliable information with integrity to desperate reporting of stories to boost their sales.

1. “YouTube has no ethics, it's been created for the sole purpose of entertainment and money.” Do you agree?



As much as I love YouTube, I have to sadly admit that Youtube has no ethics, it’s been created for the sole purpose of entertainment and money. Youtube is a popular video sharing website that allows users to upload videos, view videos and share videos. Not only so, it still allows users to comment on the videos, to give ratings on the video. YouTube is also extremely user-friendly and has a wide variety of genres of videos, ranging from Japanese anime to self-directed videos. Furthermore, YouTube has absolutely no restrictions on the video content that is being uploaded by its users unless another viewer has viewed the content and flagged it as inappropriate then will YouTube interfere and ban the user.

Due to the wide variety of videos being uploaded on YouTube, it has attracted quite a number of netizens especially teenagers who spend most of their leisure time on the computer. As the restrictions are pretty liberal, these teenagers can be exposed to inappropriate content like extreme violence, pornography. This is causing an increase in the number of juvenile crimes and juvenile delinquents as the wrong values are being taught here. In this case here, shouldn’t YouTube screen what the users upload before actually allowing millions of teenagers all over the world to view it to prevent underage people to view such content? But no, YouTube only takes action when other users have flagged the video as inappropriate content. That is probably only after a period of time and I wonder how many teenagers have viewed that particular video. It is not a small matter as it can lead to social problems like pornography addiction, which can affect a teenager pretty badly and might even be a problem till his or her adult life. The effects can be damaging.

Besides this issue, another is the infringement on copyright. YouTube is currently facing a civil lawsuit against them by Viacom for unauthorized video clips. They have demanded $1 billion copyright lawsuit. “Before that they demanded that YouTube remove more than 100,000 unauthorized clips from its website, and since that time the company has uncovered more than 50,000 additional unauthorized clips.” (http://biz.yahoo.com/ap/070313/viacom_youtube_lawsuit.html?.v=19). It seems as though YouTube does not care about its surroundings. An infringement of copyright can cost the jobs of many whereby people no longer purchase television shows to watch and instead just catch it a few days later.

However, YouTube is not all that bad either whereby some videos are of good use. For example, there is this whole range of self directed videos about this father taking care of his autistic son and it shows people about how autistic children are and how to take care of them.

It is obvious now that YouTube is created for the sole entertainment and money as they would have taken more precautions to prevent explicit content videos to be uploaded. But instead, they would only take action after other users has flagged it as inappropriate.