Blog 7 - The month of baby related train incidents. Coincident?

Besides the big natural disasters--earthquake, that caused many to be frantic and worried, these baby related train incidents are shocking events as well, at least to me.

On the 16 October 2009, a six-month-old boy had miraculously survived a train that was seen slamming into his stroller after it rolled off an Australian railway platform. The collision happened when the train pulled up to Ashburton station, in a Melbourne suburb. It was captured that the boy's mother actually took her hands off the stroller's handles and failed to notice as it slowly edged towards the tracks.


Credit : MrCapellad, youtube

Another event which dated 8 October 2009, reported that a newborn baby had slipped through the discharge chute and falling onto the tracks after being delivered in the toilet of a moving Indian train. Fortunately, she survived and remained unhurt.

Media as always, consists of the agenda setting function; for these cases, it is to caution people of such incidents so as to prevent them from happening again. There are actually ways for the media to set their agenda. In this case, an unobtrusive issue is chosen as it will have a great effect on the public, especially relating mostly to those families who have babies. Another method to act upon is the tone of media coverage. For these issues, it is essential that the tone must be serious in order to highlight to the public that this is not a joking matter since it concerns life and death.

Personally, I think that it is evident to a large extent that the application of theory of media determinism founded by Marshall McLuhan is appropriate here. Although I agree that these issues themselves are sufficient to grab people’s awareness, if the avenue used to send this message across to the public is not sufficient or good enough, the majority will most likely remain unaware. For instance, if the medium, in this case, television and online videos, were to put these 2 incidents side by side, then the importance of the message will be intensified and thus, it will be more effective in increasing people’s awareness of such incidents. Hence, it is very true that the medium is vital as the saying goes “The Medium is the Message”.

Blog 6 - Culture in the eyes of different people

How to promote world peace? Through international, intercultural, interracial marriage? Well, there is such a marriage in South Korea, not one, but a whole lot of weddings.

Recently, Reverend Moon, the Korean religious leader of the Unification Church, paired the 45,000 people in the global mass wedding which was the largest in the decade. Personally, I was stunned by this huge number of people marrying to another party of another country that they did not know of. Isn't this a scary thought?
"My wish is to completely tear down barriers and to create a world in which everyone becomes one," he wrote in his recent autobiography. Mass weddings of people of different countries has been the culture of the Unification Church.


Credit: AssociatedPress, youtube

Physical appearance is one thing, personality is another. Talking about communication, I really wonder whether the couples are even able to communicate with each other. How then are they able to break up the cultural barriers which is the main purpose of the mass weddings? What about attitudinal barriers due to intercultural communication? I believe not all couples are able to accept each other's culture totally, perhaps resulting in culture shock and ethnocentrism. How are they able to live with each other peacefully and eternally? Most probably, Reverend Moon assumed that members of the Unification Church will simply accept their lifelong partners without complaints. Despite these, I am surprised that some people are happy with this arranged marriage. "I'm so happy," Choi In-seok, the English teacher said. "Today's wedding doesn't only mean our happiness but also our entire families' happiness." Kim Shin-ah who was married to Choi, broke into a smile as she described her new husband as "reliable."

In my opinion, this is the culture of the Unification Church, and it is evident that this is a collectivist culture. Social behaviour is very much determined by the views, needs and goals of the ingroup rather than the self, for this case, it is all for the sake of world peace. However, I really pity those who are not in favour of such a marriage which can be very tragic for anyone who has to be forced to do against his will. One bride in South Korea sat forlornly in a lawn chair with a black jacket thrown over her white wedding dress, tears streaming down her face. "I came here against my will," she said. "I'm too young to get married. I don't understand why I have to do something like this." This is only one of the many who are complaining.

Culture can be positive in the sense that it helps to build a collective programming in our minds else we would be very lost of the way to behave, of who we are and in what kind of groups we belong to. However, in this case, it is evident that such a culture is not a very promising one, or should I say that in a culture, there ought to be people who will not be conformed to a particular culture due to the difference in their thinking.

(Quotations)Credit: http://sg.news.yahoo.com/ap/20091014/tap-as-skorea-mass-weddings-4th-ld-write-601b9ad.html

Dedicated to SOULMATE!

MySpace Music Playlist at MixPod.com

Blog 5 - What a busy yet interesting week I had!

This week, I was so exhausted. My group had to prepare for our CSE111 project presentation which I felt that we did an excellent job! XD Yeah! Before the start of the lesson, Pathma was joking about how she would flip her hair and present her part in a very sexy(said in a slang way) manner. Yenling was there trying to talk and act in a cute manner. You should check it out, seriously! And there left Yu Han and I with the dots dots dots. Both of us simply left them in their own world. Yet, this had helped to reduce our nervousness. Even before our presentation, like 5 minutes before, we were talking about some girls' stuff. It was totally hilarious! XP.. Attempting several times to pronounce the word 'retinal' correctly before our presentation, I still made the error of pronouncing it as 'retainer' during our presentation which made my group members laugh at me. I was so embarrassed. :( To my surprise, the listeners did not laugh a single bit. Were they even listening? Hmmmm...(No offence) Actually, it was more of a relief for me that no one realised my mistake.

Another interesting event took place in the lecture venues, especially in the sociology class. Is it earthquake? All of us were joking around. The vibration of the entire lecture class happened so suddenly and stopped very quickly too. During friday's lesson, Professor Debi Street associated the vibration to having a massage. The entire class was having a good laugh at her humour. :)

Outside of school activities, I attended lessons, had appointments and watched a performance too! Although I am very worn-out as I had to run about places, it was a fulfilling and satisfying week for me! It just makes life more purposeful.

A little note about me: I enjoy experiencing different things and learning the different aspects of life. I am open to new possibilities. Last but not least, music is my life. :))

Blog 4 - Too quick to judge, too slow to forgive

This week I have decided to share one of my personal reflections.

This week I have just started learning driving which is so interesting and fun! :) Before I get to learn driving, I was not interested at all, and had the mentality that being driven around is always better than having to drive around myself. This is obviously not the case. After my first lesson, I had the desire to proceed to the second lesson to learn more driving techniques. I guess this is just human nature. Before we experience it and ponder about it, we tend to judge a situation or event critically and quickly, and often against it.

Ris Low, the popular Singaporean figure for the wrong reasons, was recently being criticised so badly by people, especially Singaporeans. Her english was just too horrible and was a disgrace to us, as many agreed to be the case. However, before we could even judge, perhaps we should reflect upon those times where a majority of us also made serious blunders in life. In my opinion, she should be forgiven for her bad english, just for once. :) A serious mistake, for most cases, should not be forgiven the second time it is committed.

It is always good to think before acting; verbally and nonverbally. Who knows the next one to be targeted for the wrong reasons might be you? I hope not.

Blog 3 - Is a blessed relationship easy to achieve?

Look at these pictures. Don't they look loving and blessed? :) (credits of pictures: http://www.lakopi.net/fann-wong-christopher-lee-wedding/)

Their wedding is the hot issue right now. So if you are unaware of this, you seriously need to check it out! No worries, I will provide some snippets of their relationship and the progress of their wedding here.

Both Fann Wong and Christoper Lee are currently 38 years of age, the older is Fann Wong. (oops.Did I just expose something that I am not supposed to? My bad.) Fann Wong was proposed by Christopher Lee with a $50,000 two-carat solitaire ring in February this year. How lucky is she! They will be tying the knot in a spectacular star-studded wedding on September 29. And with Fann expected to don an estimated $2.5million worth of jewellery, there's always plenty of reason to be plum with joy.

It is evident that both of them are attracted to each other by their physical appearances. I am sure this is so for all other couples too, but to a different extent. I believe this is how they want to get to know each other further. However, over time, perception of physical attractiveness changes.

In order to form a relationship, people often based on the similarities between them and their partners. Similarities such as attitude, values, preferences, beliefs, and many others, lead to the beginning of a relationship whereas social preferences help to sustain a relationship. Imagine having a relationship where your partner has many differences from you, my personal opinion is that it will be distratrous. Using a typical example, the male is a Christian and the female is a buddhist. Initially, no problems may arise as they are both alright with having different religions. However, as time passes, the distance between them will increase. Buddhists' and Christians' practices and way of thinking are very different. Hence, this tend to lead to quarrels very easily since their views are very different from each other. In fact, I have known of many couples who broke up due to their religious differences. I truly empathise with these couples. Thinking that all may work out, but in the end, break-ups and divorces are still inevitable. My take is a happy ending is not that easy to achieve afterall.

Having shared social contacts can also help in improving one's relationship. If you want to know your partner better, you should mix around with his/her circle of friends. Take Fann Wong and Christopher Lee's case for example, since Fann Wong often hangs out with the famous hairstylist, David Gan, it would help Christopher Lee a lot in getting to know Fann Wong better. Furthermore, when Christopher Lee was unsure of the types of diamond rings to get for Fann Wong, he approached David Gan's help.

All in all, I am very happy for them and wish them all the best! :D

Blog 2 - Interpretation matters a lot!

In this US Open 2009, Serena Williams was said to have threatened to kill the line judge. However, this conversation could only be heard and known clearly by the two of them. Hence, Serena Williams might be accused, but to find out the truth would be quite impossible.

In this case, the line judge might have oversimplified the content and omitted the critical information of Serena Williams' conversation to her. Thus, this led to a huge uproar amongst the judges. Serena Williams might have used some harsh words but not to the extent of "I will kill you!". Who knows? This might just be a made-up by the line judge. Also, with Serena Williams pointing her racket at the line judge in such an angry manner, which is an example of a nonverbal cue, one would based on their past experiences that her words might relate to something very unpleasant which further influenced their selection process of information. Hence, this had undoubtedly led to the judges' beliefs that Serena Williams did threatened the line judge with "I will kill you!".

Personally, I felt that it was unwise of Serena Williams to point her racket at the line judge. Firstly, this would most probably led to others' misconception that Serena Williams mentioned some harsh words, thus, it would be difficult to save herself from all the accusations. However, I understand that she might have hated herself for all the mistakes she had been making in this most important match of this game, the final round. Also, with the foot fault on the second serve which caused her to be a step towards losing the set, it was understandably that she would be in a very foul mood. Needless to say, It would be a totally different story if Kim Clijsters did this action as she is known to be a less-of-a-temper lady. People and other judges might just forgive her and give her another chance. Unfortunately, Serena Williams had portrayed a fierce image and foul temper whenever she lost or made mistakes in the past, for several matches.

At the end of the day, it boils down to interpretation of the situation by different people. Interpretation is very subjective and can lead to a very problematic issue just like this case.