Is Social Media really BS?

As we know, people nowadays communicate through social media sites. There’s Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, +google, WhatsApp, Hangouts, Wechat and so many others. These platform enables us to constantly keep in touch with our friends and family and it is proven to be very convenient when the people we are communicating with are worlds apart. With social media, there are no gaps or boundaries between us.

            Apart from that, social media sites also enable budding or established entrepreneurs to carry out their activities and communicate with customers and clients with ease. We can see right now that there are a lot of online stores popping up on social media websites such as Facebook and Instagram. It is very convenient to shop online, hence the amount of online vendors and shoppers are on the rise.

Students communicate with each other or with the educators on matters pertaining to their studies such as discussions on lessons or giving information about assignments, tests, events and much more. The working professionals are also able to communicate with their employer and keep in touch with clients or fellow colleagues. These communications are mostly done in Facebook, Twitter and WhatsApp.

            Despite that, there are also elements that agrees with the notion by B.J. Mendelson that social media is bullshit. The creation of social media as the modern tool to interact across the world has brought negativity within the society and threatens the safety of a nation. Intensified debates can escalate and create chaos based on their personal agenda. Not to mention how politicians play their games in persuading and inculcating the public with their ideologies through social media. This can sometimes prove to be too much. Those who wishes to have privacy can forget about it if they have social media accounts for they are the places where privacy is almost non-existent.

            Social media is often a place where people took freedom of expression to their hearts. It is the main tool for irresponsible individuals to jibe statements that hurt others without acknowledging the consequences of their actions. Sometimes, social media is also a place for people to steal away other’s money. These are called scams and it can be done in so many ways especially with the availability of the internet. An example would be through online shopping, where fake vendors would accept money from people who wanted to buy something but the vendor deliberately failed to deliver the item.

            As a conclusion, social media is convenient but the amount of downsides exceeds and is more malicious than its upsides. It has made us slaves because whether we liked it or not, we often bow down our heads to look on our smartphones’ screen. The addiction to it erodes interpersonal communication in real life. The contradicting nature of social media agrees with the notion that it is bullshit.

Cars Submerged by Flash Flood at Seksyen 7 Shah Alam

SHAH ALAM, 15 Nov – A large number of vehicles were damaged in a flood that occurred at Seksyen 7 here, today.

Residents of Pusat Komersial Seksyen 7 where most of them are students woke up in shock after finding their cars half-submerged in flood water.

According to one of the car owner and residentMohamad Izzat Anuar, 23 said that the flood was unexpected and very damaging.

“I have lived here for almost three years and I don’t think that this had ever happened before.”

My car was submerged up until the car seat and It also cost me around RM2000 to get my car up and running again which as a student, was a burden,” he added. 

Apparently the authorities did give out warnings to car owners about the incoming flood but it was done at such an inconvenient hour.

“I was asleep and slightly awoken by the warnings but I was too sleepy to pick up what was said and went back to sleep,” said a resident, Shafiqah Shaharudin, 23.

For those who were awake, they chose to ignore the warning because they did not think it was urgent enough.

“It was four in the morning and I was still awake doing my assignments when I barely heard the warning. They only said to ‘move your vehicles’ without saying why.”

“At such an hour, many were sound asleep and did not hear the warning,” said Ameen Azizul, a resident of Pusat Komersial.

Ameen, 23 also added that the authorities could have carried out a more thorough and specified warning system such as going from block to block, ensuring everyone knows about it.

“They could also have said that there was a flood coming so that the warning could have been taken seriously and residents not hesitating or ignoring the seemingly unimportant warning,” added Ameen.

​The flood covered almost the entire area of ShahAlam’s Seksyen 7 with views such as lake water spilling out onto the jogging track apart from submerged vehicles.

​It is unknown whether the flood was a result of poor sewage management by the authorities or happened due to unusually heavy rain that night.

There's No Escaping The Law.

A man with a religion knows that everything that happens in this world is in God’s power. We do not have the ability to predict what will happen to us in the future but we can plan for it and strive to be the best by obeying the His commands. A man without one is still bound to the laws and regulations of a country. No matter how strongly they oppose it, at the end of the day they can’t escape it.

And so, when news broke out a few years ago about a man who died in police custody and that a police officer was found guilty of causing his death, things got uptight due to a number of reasons. One of it was the fact that the deceased was an Indian man and this of course made way to racial accusations until everyone was pacified with the revelation that the police officer responsible for his death was, too, an Indian.

Other than that, people were arguing and debating about a few issues regarding this matter. Some were for the actions of the police officer, citing that the deceased was a criminal and also a suspect for a number of possible rape cases. Some were against it, saying that he should have gone through a proper trial with a proper verdict.

For me, I do agree that a person like the deceased could have been a dangerous man if left out and about but I believe that our laws and the judiciary system would never let that happen. Furthermore, some might say that it is normal for criminals to be tortured in police custody in order to gain crucial intelligence information, but it should never cause any deaths. Also, nothing good ever comes in killing a person. It does not solve everything and will only create a chain of unfortunate events.

The results of this one man’s actions go both ways but leans more towards the negative side. Yes, there became one less criminal in the society but a mother lost a son. And, this particular case tarnished our police enforcement’s name and reputation apart from the nation losing its trust towards them besides questioning their credibility. This is what happens when people think that they are above the law. Here’s news for everyone out there – no one is.

Cyber Balkanization, Causing Us to Segregate in a Place for Congregation.

I have been an avid fan of the British rock band, Muse since 2007 and my love for them and their music never wavered even after I have grown up quite a bit ever since. Whenever I am bored, I would listen to their songs or Google the internet to keep myself updated on their activities. I have found that there weren’t that many Muse fans around me that I can share my interest with, so I go on the internet and found a forum called ‘Muse Fans from Malaysia.’ I found so many new friends with various backgrounds on this forum, and we chatted as if we’re old friends. We formed a positive bond over our undying love for Muse and even went to their concert in Singapore in 2009 together. Afterwards, small meet-ups were still held and we kept on chatting with each other on the forum.

This is an example of the internet as a ‘Global Village’, a term first coined by communication theorist, Marshall McLuhan. In his books such as The Gutenberg Galaxy: Making of Typographic Man, he described available technologies made this big world smaller and smaller through the vast inventory of information available and its rapid transfer from one to another. Nowadays, the internet is what popped into the mind when people talk about global village because it is now one of the fastest and most used medium of communication and information sharing throughout the entire world.

Now, when internet becomes a global village, where people can ‘meet’ and talk with each other, hold discussions and share information with each other, it is bound to create a smaller group of people who shares common interests and thoughts. People usually filter the information they received on the internet according to their preferences and are attracted to like-mindedness. Cass Sunstein describes this phenomenon as cyber balkanization. Cyber balkanization segregates people into specific groups of common thinkers who have the tendency to be quite critical of those who oppose their views.

Regrettably, the internet holds a plethora of people who possess these characteristics of cyber balkanization, taking their opinions to the extreme especially when political issues are involved. One can find so many blogs, profile pages and forums especially dedicated to politics with so many people forming groups of discussion in it. The bad news is that most of it is one-sided and very hostile in nature, so much so that searching for a politically neutral blog on the internet is hard work.

It is more saddening when the internet causes the people to be segregated according to their race and ethnicity where an ethnic group bashes another group of different ethnicity. This polarisation of groups surely dampens the government’s initiatives to form a 1 Malaysia nation where the Chinese, Indians, Malays and the Bumiputeras be known only Malaysians instead of their respective races. Despite that, it can be said that everyone is at fault for this case and not just any one particular side.

During the 13^th General Elections, the media including the internet exploded with so many opinions, commentaries and discussions revolving around it. People were taking sides and were desperately trying to influence others by using the internet both to good use and also negatively. And then came the aftermath; a famous mainstream newspaper wrote a front page headline that caused an uproar throughout the nation. The internet was full of hostile bashings and condemnations, sides were taken, and the nation divided. Personally, I think that the effects still lingers on until now because I still find myself feeling quite awkward and embarrassed with what had unfolded.

This could have been prevented should the government took the reins on the freedom of expression in this country. Former Prime Minister Tun Dr. Mahathir Mohamad once said that the freedom of the press is the same as other freedoms – it has its own boundaries, its limits. There is no such thing as absolute freedom, and people need to realize this and the government must take action upon it.

Apart from that, there are so many keyboard warriors out there. They wrote so many and so bravely on the internet but it stops just there. There are also those who claim themselves to be citizen journalists but their lack of ethics in writing proved otherwise. People must be educated that despite having bestowed with freedom of expression, a privilege possessed by few, they need to limit themselves and obey the ethics. If they keep on being ignorant, I am afraid that the escalation will spiral out of control, hence causing major problems off the internet that will affect the nation as a whole.

To put it simply, we are living in a beautiful country which canvas is colourfully painted. We should take a step back and try to admire and appreciate its beauty, even better if we do that to each other regardless of our skin colours, interests and backgrounds. No good will ever come if we keep on living with the selfish mind-set that ‘I am me, and you are you’. No one and nothing is perfect, so stop being so judgemental for it only reflects back to us and our integrity. We will be living with each other for many, many more years to come from now so we might as well try to make it a comfortable environment to live in. Just keep in mind that we live such short lives and when we are gone, our future generations will take over our place in this world. Do them a favour and leave them a place where everyone is one and the same for that might just be one of the greatest heirlooms they will ever inherit.

Must Watch : Into The Wild

Into The Wild can easily be summed up in one word; Powerful. It was based on a true story about a young man who feels that there is more to life than graduating college, working a decent well-paid job, all the materiality, hypocrisy, unfairness & unjust, dealing with troubled parents who seems to never care about anything else but living a mediocre life and shielding the dark side of the house away from judging eyes. It is a tale not about finding oneself; it has been found and is being pursuit.

I watch this movie with such an awe and respect for the young man. Chris must have been a brave person who kept true to his virtue without letting anyone tarnishing it. Almost each and every scene got me wondering, where the hell did this one 20-something guy found the guts and went on such a self-revolutionary adventure? Some might think that he had gone mental, which happened quite sometime towards the end of the movie, but I think that he is a genius. How many people are there who could have ever thought about hitchhiking through America and living life off wild animals and edible plants deep in the forest, and better yet, actually making it a reality?

By heart, Into The Wild was an eye-opener, awe-inspiring story told beautifully with graceful raw edges that should be told to everyone. It has definitely inspire me to better myself in this cruel, cruel world, but it has also made me realized that amidst all the hypocrites, there are a handful of genuine people that will teach us some of life’s important lessons and I hope that I will someday find my own. My only regret about this empowering movie is that I wish Chris had survived, and lived to tell his own beautiful story himself.

Social Networking : Effective or Destructive?

Social networking has now taken over the lives of people all over the globe. It is fast, convenient and simple to use to communicate among each other anytime, anywhere. A lot of people are able to connect with new friends and reconnect with old ones, so it can be said that social networks are platforms to bring people together. Marshall McLuhan has described the internet as a ‘Global Village’ where people congregate and pass information with speed and precision, and social networking sites works exactly that way apart from residing on the internet itself.

Despite its effectiveness, there are several downsides to using social networks as a mean of communication. Instead of bringing people together, there are cases where social networking has broken bonds and the numbers are rising. Also, some discussed that social networking has destroyed true communication as people nowadays prefer to communicate over the internet instead of meeting each other and having a more intimate face-to-face communication. This paves the way for lies and deceit, as people on social networking sites are free to either be themselves, or adapt a different personality than they actually are in real life. Items and statements posted on social networking sites have also caused misunderstandings that lead to arguments and the falling out of relationships.

           

So, is it really effective or is it actually destructive? Does it build or burn bridges? Think about it.

Try something new, go watch a theater performance!

The performing arts comes in many different forms but it has one thing in common : it is art. Whether it is acting inside a film, a musical performance or concerts or even ballet performances, they are all a form of art where people can embrace themselves in apart from being entertained.

Theatre is a great form of performing arts. The Americans with their Broadway and the British with their West-End productions. Theater originates from Greece - it started out by a Dionysian priest called Thespis. He started out by doing satyr and Greek tragedy plays. The term ‘Thespian’ that is currently used to describe and actor is derived from the name Thespis himself.

In Malaysia, it can be seen that theatre is slowly making its’ way up in the entertainment industry but it is slow. If you are in the mood for grandeur and performances that feasts the eyes and the ears, you can watch performances in Istana Budaya and KL Performing Arts Center (KL PAC).

These performances rely on the spectacle element of a theatre performance. The set, the lighting, the music among others are usually over the top and the actors are mostly well-known celebrities. Here, you can also experience an almost Broadway-like performance in a form of Musicals and Semi-Musicals. Musicals are where the script is fully in a form of songs or is delivered musically while semi-musicals include regular dialogues apart from songs.

The same goes for independent and underground theatre performances. These type of theatres are usually for those with a much opened mind as they touch on sensitive issues that few can handle. Despite that, it is extremely refreshing and can broaden up your mind with different perspectives that are interesting. You can find these type of performances at places such as Black Box at DBKL, The Actor’s Studio Lot 10, PJ Live Art’s Center and also performances by students from UM, UiTM and others.

The price for the tickets depends on the type of performances and where it is held. Those in Istana Budaya usually starts at RM30 for student price and can go to as far as RM 400. Independent performances such as at the Actor’s Studio tops at around RM40 while those by students costs around RM5 to RM20.

Places and stages such as Istana Budaya might be fully booked throughout the year by production companies and the shows are mostly quite good, but the reception by the public is still scarce and it is rare for a single show to become a full house. It might cost more than going to the cinemas, but it will give you a whole new experience that can be wonderful and put you in awed with what that had just commenced on the stage.

Wildlife Warrior, Steve Irwin.

     

A great hero is someone who has a willingness to do anything and everything to ensure that his voice is heard and the causes he is for fighting is successful. The passion that he has towards a cause almost overwhelms his entire being that he is willing to put himself in danger and even welcome death should his time is up. One fine example was Stephen Robert Irwin aka Steve “The Crocodile Hunter” Irwin, a great naturalist who cared deeply about preserving the wildlife that he had done numerous efforts toward the conservation of wildlife.

Steve’s most effective form of effort is through his world-famous television series, “The Crocodile Hunter”. The series is airing in more than 120 countries around the globe with a weekly audience 10 times the population of Australia itself. According to Steve Irwin in the Crocodile Hunter’s website in 1996, their aim with the show is to “continue producing more wildlife programs to entertain and enlightened… Our job in this world is to bring misunderstood and feared animals right into your house, so that we can share and learn about the world’s wildlife.” Steve has also starred in several movies such as Dr. Doolittle 2 alongside Eddie Murphy and his own full-feature movie, The Crocodile Hunter: Collision course.

Steve might have gained a lot of money through his media work, but he channeled most of it into wildlife conservation. He was the founder of Wildlife Warriors Worldwide (formerly named the Steve Irwin Conservation Foundation) which sole purpose is toward the conservation of animals. It protects habitat and wildlife, creates breeding and rescue programs for endangered species, and leads scientific research to aid conservation. Other that that, Steve also founded the Lyn Irwin Memorial Fund. It was to honor his mother who died in an accident in 2009. All donations made to the fund went directly to the Iron Bark Station Wildlife Rehabilitation Center which manages 3,450 acres of wildlife sanctuary.

With all the money and donations that he received, Steve Irwin also used them in his field work in maintaining the Australia Zoo. It was originally a reptile park owned by the Irwins, but Steve later renamed it as Australia Zoo after it has gained much popularity and housed enough animal species to be called a zoo. The zoo was expanded to accommodate various wildlife shows to entertain while educate the public. They are allowed to get up close and personal with a wide array of beautiful animals handled by zookeepers, whom they are able to chat with to gain more information about the animals. The property includes 83 acres of land, which houses 1000 species of animals with an in-house wildlife hospital to conveniently treat injured or ailed animals. Steve’s worldwide conservation program, Wildlife Warriors Worldwide is also stationed there, alongside a quarterly newsletter. Most of the crocodiles kept in the zoo came from Australian government’s Crocodile Relocation Program which Steve took part in during his younger days. The program calls for trapping crocodiles that strayed too close to population area where Steve either transferred them to suitable places back into wildlife or rear them at the Irwins’ park.

Steve may have done many methods in his effort to raise awareness among the public and conserve the wildlife, but his unique personality was the crucial thread that had sewn  all the pieces which are his media work, charities and causes, and field work into one colourful fabric of success. His passion for wildlife conservation convinces people while his loveable, charismatic manner and infectious enthusiasm attracts the public’s attention and made him a hero to millions. Steve also has a fun, larger than life personality. His childlike manner and Aussie larrikinism made protecting wildlife an easy and fun thing to do. It made him a figure of fun and adoration that has invited some criticism, but his sincerity, passion and dedication in saving planet Earth could never be denied. Steve Irwin died in his elements in 2006, but all his efforts through his media work, charity and causes, field work and the personality to boot lived on in the hearts of millions as a hero known and loved by all as the “Crocodile Hunter.

The Internet : Beneficial or Malicious?

Since the invention of the internet, the dissemination of information has been tremendously increased in speed. At the touch of the fingertip, literally, almost everyone who possesses technology can be fed with news and information from all around the world in mere seconds. They are also unfiltered and uncensored, adding to the novelty of technology and the internet when tinkering with.

Social networking sites such as Facebook, Twitter, Youtube and so much more gain thousands of new users daily, all of them constantly hungry for more information. Despite that, all good things must always have a few or more side effects. Not all information are beneficial to the society, for instance, false gossips and degrading acts of people caught on video and uploaded online reveals a backwards society that disgustingly finds comfort in other people’s misfortunes.

For instance, upon watching a video on the internet of two men fighting with each other over a small accident on the road reminds one of two cavemen from the prehistoric ages. One even took out a baseball bat which, sadly, got in the hands of the other who then proceeded to bleed his head with it. The two also caused a massive traffic jam on that particular road apart from being at risk of getting hit by the vehicles there. After a closer inspection by the ‘cameraman’, both cars did not have a slightest scratch on it, making the embarrassing fight more humiliating and should not have happened.

Alas, the deed had been done, recorded and uploaded on the internet and thousands across the country and the world have already seen the video and made their own perception. Family, friends, colleagues and strangers have seen their true colours which destroy their image and reputation. People from other countries will see the country and its people as very uncivilized.

Despite that, the situation raises questions not on the two men but on the role of the internet and its users. Isn't it morally wrong for the ‘cameraman’ to record such events and put it up on the web, further humiliating the subjects and also the country to others? Are people journalists now, reporting events on the internet despite having no formal education on ethics? Is the internet now more malicious than beneficial? Sadly, there is only one answer to these questions: Yes.

Welcome to Mumblings by Mel!

Salam and hello there!

Thank you for visiting my blog though I am quite curious on how you bumped into it. The blog is titled Mumblings by Mel, though that is not my real name (every writer needs a pseudonym, no? Yes? No?) Oh well, let me introduce myself very briefly. My real name, given on the day I was born, is Shafiqah Shaharudin though most people call me Mel. Why Mel? That’s a secret I’ll never tell, at least not here. I am from Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia and I live in Gombak with my family. I am in my early twenties and am still a student. Currently, I am studying Journalism under the Faculty of Communication and Media Studies, Universiti Teknologi Mara (UiTM) Shah Alam.

I’m the type of person who has lots of interests and my blog will reflect that. It will be filled with various types of posts with very random themes and issues. My posts will either be in English or Malay since I am comfortable with both. I hope you will enjoy it and I will definitely appreciate your visits. Thank you again!