Will we see the truth in online diaries any more?
Letter from Berton Lim
340 words
29 September 2005
TODAY (Singapore)
AM N PM
36
English
(c) 2005. MediaCorp Press Ltd.
Sceptics may have always felt that online diary entries are written for an intended audience, but an online diary has always been a medium of expression by an individual to put his or her thoughts into words.
Given the recent events revolving around racism and flaming of teachers in web logs, will we ever get to see the truth in what web loggers feel and think again?
If we impose regulations on what people should believe in or say in their web logs, it is an infringement on democracy.
I do not advocate irresponsible individuals who spread untrue material that could threaten racial harmony or defame an individual.
Stern action should be taken by the Government so as to preserve the sanctity of this nation and ensure that our peace and prosperity is not threatened.
But we also have to realise that if we were to expect only good words from one another, the world would be absolved of conflicts of different scales.
It is simply impractical to try and limit people to think a certain way.
For example, we can prevent people from typing racist comments in their online diaries.
But does that mean these people will not be racist any more?
At best, we will only be preventing such opinions from being printed or going on the Internet, but the root problem will still not be solved.
Similarly, if students are not allowed to criticise their teachers objectively in their own free space, we will only be suppressing their negative sentiments, which can only do more harm than good in the long run.
No doubt, the relevant authorities have to exercise control if matters get out of hand.
Nonetheless, we have to embrace the beauty of free speech because that is how we find out about the thoughts of our fellow people. If we were to regulate thoughts just to see words that please our eyes, we will only be deceiving ourselves further.

Comments:

I agree with a lot of what this article says, it is true that even if we arrest all the people who post racist remakes on the net, we still won’t can’t stop people from having racist feelings. However I feel that if you have racist feelings, you should not post your feelings on the net for all to see. Rather, I feel u should discuss your feelings with other people, in a live group discussion. The writer mentioned, “if students are not allowed to criticise their teachers objectively in their own free space, we will only be suppressing their negative sentiments, which can only do more harm than good in the long run.” Even if a student was to post bad things about his teacher on the net, it might not solve anything; the only way to solve this problem is to confront the teachers themselves. Maybe what we need to do is deceive ourselves for now, so that the next generation will not learn the wrong things from the net. What i'm trying to say is that if you have something to say, u should not do it on the net. There is still freedom of speech in Singapore, its just that people ave to learn how to articulate their views in a way that will not hurt our society.

Posted by
Shen Boyuan