SPG: Back Under Wraps
WELL, SHE's back under wraps.
As much as I appreciated her artistic blog, I sincerely respect and salute her for getting back into her sarong:
As much as I appreciated her artistic blog, I sincerely respect and salute her for getting back into her sarong:
"People I don't know out there can't hurt me with their opinions.[...] My parents didn't like the picture. And since they are the people who take care of me and love me, I am accountable for how they feel."
Shows, you can’t judge a book by its cover. Or a gal by her sarong. Or rather, the lack thereof.
Shows, our Asian values - filial piety and respect for our elders - are still alive and strong.
Whether or not you like it.
Then, the media wasn’t wrong to report it. It occurred. We shouldn’t want to pretend it didn’t. Then, the media did not judge, it reported public reactions.
Whether or not you like those reactions.
News is a cultural resource, whether found in the mainstream or on the fringes. We shouldn’t be afraid of what other people feel. Though, at the end of the day, we can and must judge for ourselves what we feel. And as it turns out, the cyber audience also strongly disapproved of SPG’s nudity. A strong reflection of how journalism (in this case) has engaged its audience in an activist, democratic sense.
Whether or not you like it.
Those are mainstream opinions. We may not agree. But there you go, those views highlight exactly just how permissive a society we are.
BUT.
Here's what I think is really VERY SARONG. The stark lack of journalism ethics:
ONE: her right to privacy:
"Any article about me as a 'nude blogger' after yesterday's ST does not come with my support or agreement."
TWO: sensationalizing the issue and judging the blogger.
Yanks?
*excalamation*
*gasp*
*splutter*
A Freudian slip on the part of the writer, perhaps?
Yanks is a most violent word for such a sensitive issue. Mind you, she's still a teenager.
Yanks. Psychologically, you could make a victim of her with this indecent word. You rape our sensitivities with your 'yanks'
Please just report the news. Please don't assault her (and us) with your indecent, violent and narrow minds.
posted by percolator | 12:45 PM
8 Comments:
you clearly have no ability to make distinctions. SHe still has a right not to be quoted without permission. Showing her nudity does not remove those rights. She removed the pics out of respect, love and consideration for her parent's feelings. That low blow is from the press is most undeserved.
Calentropus, we still live in a civil society, at least, I hope.
Bloggers' writings are a causative agent, and the reactions are the effects.
We must be prepared for consequences for going public -- of course, the use of language in any commentary reflects on the commentator's cultural bias or even religious bent, even bigoted ones. A writer has to live with the Good, Bad and Ugly.
I read a poetic piece by fellow blogger, to which I added a comment, at Yancorner.com on SPG -- go visit.
Oops, amend:
yancorner.blogspot.com; the
post title is Surrender Thoughtfuly on June 17.
Thanks Mudpond for using your blog to pass on the msg for sharing.
"She removed the pics out of respect, love and consideration for her parent's feelings."
she did that? but i thought she said her parents doesn't know she is blogging. her parents doesn't know she has a blog... a blog where she pose nude, so why all of a sudden have this respect, love and consideration for the parents? why didn't these feelings came in before she posted the nude pics?
and to look at that quote again:
"She removed the pics out of respect, love and consideration for her parent's feelings.", i wonder why people made so much a hoo-haa regarding one mr ng who said something about what she did reflect bad on her parents. SPG herself thought she better remove the pic out of respect, love and consideration for her parents... doesn't this sort of tell that she don't want her parents to think bad of her or doesn't want people to think that her parents has this kind of child (who put up nude pic on the net) - which is exactly what mr ng said. it's a fact, esp. among the chinese, the consequence of what a child did, will fall back on the parents.
i am not one to judge what she did was right or wrong. actually in a way i do agree with her that the nude body if done tastefully is an art form. and like many others had been saying, it's her blog, up to her what she wants to do on her blog.
though i agree with calentropus that she was inviting public comments when she posed the nude pic but i don't agree it was she who sensationalize the issue. it was the media. read what mack wrote about the media sensationilising on this issue. good read.
Folks,
My context is ethics. Just because the press can, doesn't make it right. What public good is served in sensationalising a 18-year old's regretted actions?
News can be reported factually and still be accurate. The negative consequence of her actions is that her nudity embarassed or hurt her parents. The good outcome is that she remedied the 'wrong' and ultimately subordinated her own impulses/desires to her parent's comfort.
As decent, caring and loving parents, surely this act of consideration and 'reconciliation' must count for something. It must count more than the mistake.
If we judge her so 'bad' are we so 'good' when we harp relentlessly on the mistake and not the readiness to act out of love and respect?
Public service or self-interest?
Given available options, MUST it always be a case of "... and here is the BAD news?"
calentropus,
My context is journalistic ethics. Not an 18-year old's so-called 'folly'.
If you read my posts carefully, you'll find I fully agree with the 'event' being reported. A nude blogger is news. It reflects a social development, perhaps unwelcome, but of public interest nevertheless. I am unambiguous about the need to keep the public informed on this.
At the same time,I am concerned about the undertones, about how this news is framed (albeit subtly), and the underlying politics of crisis. As a media observer, one with some understanding of the theory of mews and its construct, I read the nuances quite differently, perhaps.
We bloggers are as guilty as the media. We sensationalise our title, using catchy ones to get attention. So, using yanks seem ok to me. Frankly, I think our Malaysian bloggers suck 'cos they kept hunting down Mr Ngwhathisname and The Star when the story originates from Singapore Strait Times and that ANN (whatever it is). And that SPG is really none of our business. Again, our Malaysian bloggers are bordering on the sheeps mentality. All in all, there were many 'pot calling the kettle blacks' people. And you, T-Boy and I probably blogged on a different angle, which is good. I wouldn't dare to touch this topic had it not for your earlier blog and T-Boy's. Bloggers are so touchy these days, don't you agree?
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