Article: Reality TV gets dose of reality
Category: Entertainment
Source: The New Paper, 25 Aug 2007
Article Transcript:
They can be rude, crude and controversial.
These are what keep viewers returning to their TV sets week after week.
But reality TV shows' very success may eventually be their downfall.
Yesterday, China said it has banned TV shows abotu cosmetic surgery and sex changes.
Meanwhile, a report by an Australian media regulator has called for a ban on reality TV shows that present participants in a highly demeaning manner.
In the UK, Channel 4 has decided to stop airing its highly-rated - and highly-controversial - Celebrity Big Brother from next year.
China's watchdog singled out Guangdong show A Date With Beauty, which aired plastic surgery live. The series was said to be "bloody" and "vulgar".
The State Administration of Radio, Film and Television (Sarft) said on its website that it had banned "shows about cosmetic surgery, sex changes that involve public participation".
Guangdong TV was accused of violating the privacy of participants by airing operations such as breast implants and liposuction.
Earlier this month, Sarft banned Chongqing Braodcasting Group's talent show, The First Time I Was Touched. The watchdog called the show coarse and lacking in artistic standards.
One episode had a contestant staging a bizarre gift-giving stunt, obtaining a ring from one judge and giving it to another, then calling the second judge "stupid".
In Australia, the Australian Communications and Media Authority (Acma) called for a ban following a notorious incident on Ten Network's Big Brother programme last year.
Two male contestants were thrown off last July after footage appeared one of them apparently rubbing his crotch in a female contestant's face. While the scene was not shown on TV, it was streamed live on the Big Brother website.
The Acma report recommends that changes be made to the Commercial Television Industry Code of Practice that "prohibits the broadcast of material presenting participants in reality television in a highly demeaning or exploitative manner."
Britain's Celebrity Big Brother will be axed next year as part of Channel 4's major programme shake-up, reported Guardian. The programme drew a record 54,000 complaints from viewers after at the allegedly racist bullying of Indian housemate Shilpa Shetty.
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Response:
One of the most interesting yet controversial concepts that has ever been brought to the world of the goggle-box, reality television is, safe to say, one of the biggest hits in the world today. It started off with reality game shows like Survivor, but in almost no time at all has developed into a wild variety of shows that have both stunned and pleased the general public. Guangdong show "A Date With Beauty", which airs patients' plastic surgeries live, is a prime example of this. People all around the world have always questioned the validity of reality tv and with so many of these ridiculous new shows appearing everyday, the problem is only getting worse.
Reality TV today seems to sacrifice quality for quantity; so many shows are produced daily, yet most of them are really not very appealing. In fact, even boring reality TV shows are becoming rarer by the day, for the latest shows seem to be more of a tick-off than anything else; frankly I would rather watch soap opera than see people go through the vomit-inducing process of plastic surgery.
Yet, are these "crackdowns" by reality TV watchdogs really the best way to settle the problem? Even if the shows are starting to get more controversial by the day, it is termed "reality" tv for a reason isn't it? If authorities are going to ban whatever they feel is "too inappropriate to be screened on television", or whatever they think can have a "negative influence" on the general public, what is going to differentiate Reality TV from the common drama sequels we see on TV?
Indeed, mindless shows that are controversial for the sake of being controversial should be taken action against, but what makes reality TV so special is the added level of meaning that they have in comparison with drama sequels; "Happily ever after" stories never teach us anything that we can truly apply to real-life scenarios. I as a teenager may not be mature enough to understand the true seriousness of the issue, and may not have watched enough programmes to know exactly how ridiculous reality tv is getting these days, but I am strongly of the opinion that instead of restricting the screening of these shows, we should instead work towards educating people about the right and wrong things they should take away from the programmes.
Reality TV opens our eyes, hearts and minds to the world around us, making us realise how small the little "world" we live in really is, thus imposing strict restrictions on it would really defeat its entire purpose. Granted, some of the content in these shows many not exactly be "good" for the public, but at the very end of the day, shouldn't we be rational enough to differentiate between right and wrong, and decide (for ourselves) what lessons we choose to take away from whatever we see on tv? Kids, one might then argue, will not be rational enough to differentiate right and wrong. Well, what are parents for?
(504 words)
Saturday, August 25, 2007
Sunday, August 19, 2007
Nothing more valuable than experience
Article: The Elderly CAN (not need) Help Category: Social Issues
Source: The New Paper on Sunday, Aug 19, 2007
Article Transcript:
Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong is expected to touch on ageing and retiring in his National Day Rally Speech. Here's Sylvia Toh Paik Choo's take on the issues.
I was 19 when Singapore was born as a republic in 1965.
I had sold my first article (to Her World for $40) on the perils and foibles of being a teenager.
Now it is 2007, our city state is 42 and my subject is ageing and retiring
Did I see this coming? Of course not. I thought one of the beatles would marry me and we'd make music together forever in Monaco. Lucky moi.
Singapore is poised to be the Monaco of the east with the F1 GP and the IRs imminent. And two of the fab four have permanently retired to join Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds.
This evening - with Help! playing softly in the background in my case - we the citizens of Singapore will be all ears as Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong delivers the most important political speech of the year, the National Day Rally biggie.
This NDR speech will particularly impact young and old; no guesses, one of its key thrusts will be about retiring and ageing in Singapore.
In other words, the Ah-Kong-Ah-Ma boom.
Or. How I Stopped Working (at 62) and became an Economic Burden
Here's a simplistic example:
Take a workplace like say the Istana. If MM Lee Kuan Yew and SM Goh Chok Tong were to quit gainful employment, it would leave PM Lee the one active person to support two inactive ones.
(Japan's future painful scenario has two working-age people for each retired one, Singapore's projection for 2020 is one-in-five above 60)
MM Lee and SM Goh are two of Singapore's most valuable assets in a country which as far as I can see worships youth. Take a weekday walk in the malls for confirmation.
Bright Young Things?
But look around you, most things of import have been invented or created by the not-so young. From rock 'n' roll, sex, drugs - okay not the finest example - to Apple, Java, iPod, iTunes, music, fashion, pop culture, Sun Microsystems, attitude.
Now that generation is no longer hip - hip replacements notwithstanding - what do we do with them, the greying dilemma?
From a Hollywood experience perspective, there's always the Soylent Green solution. Transform the elderly into bio-fuel. Think of the environment. Think of the factory jobs. Aiyoh, just joking only lah you!
Another option, deport the aged to retirement camps, for instance on Hainan Island. Picture the booming business in building these Club Meds (short for Club Medical). Manpower would be cheap, even with a little CPF you could lead a VIP rest-of-your-life.
And prepare for the Silver Revolution. This majority is unlikely to be silent. We are called Baby Boomers because our voice will boom; we gave birth to Attitude with a capital A. We won't go quietly. A little slower maybe, shaking the stick.
On a mature and more basic note, with our fecundity rate one of the lowest in the world, the elderly need to be kept in their jobs longer.
However fresh and dynamic for years in Kent Ridge have made you, you can't beat experience when it comes to the skills of surviving as a red dot in a large and tough world.
Besides, we need the old folks, or who's going to babysit the stories of early Singapore?
If you have read this far - without shortcutting paragraphs - thank you. It means I still have my job for the rest of today.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Response:
It happens all the time in Singapore. Bosses ignoring the contributions that older workers have made to their company and firing them just because they think that "age has caught up with them", and they are no longer "capable enough" to contribute to our nation's economy.
It almost seems like eugenics, the way the world functions nowadays. Age has never been an indication of competency, and it never should be. That is why such a negative attitude towards the aged of our society is wrong. We may have never realised it, but the young generation can never survive without the wealth of wisdom and experience the older generation has to offer us.
Sylvia Toh brought up two major contributions of the old folk to the youth of today. Firstly, they are the ones who keep many of our cultures and past traditions alive. Chinese New Year in the past used to be a grand event where people dressed in bright red traditional outfits would pray to their ancestors and have a reunion dinner with their family where the married would give red packets to the young and the young would give mandarin oranges as a gift of prosperity to the elderly. Such events are the very epitemy of the Chinese race, yet many today do not even bother to celebrate the occasion anymore, choosing instead to use the holiday to rest or hang out with friends. Without the old folks to inculcate in the youth a sense of pride and belonging towards their own culture, we could very well see a major cultural dilution in the people of today.
Secondly, the older generation possesses a huge wealth of experience that the younger generation can learn alot from. Having lived for so many years and having been through all the times of hardship that our nation had faced before we became the prosperous country we are today, the elderly carry with them valuable lessons from the past that we must never overlook. And who's to say the elderly are unable to contribute greatly to our economy, if they were the ones who had worked so hard to bring so many of us youth to where we are today?
That is precisely why we should treat the elderly as equals. No, in fact we should respect them as our superiors, for without the amazing contributions and hard work they had put into developing the tiny fishing village Singapore used to be in the past, we the young generation would not even be where we are today. There's only one word to describe the way the elderly are treated these days. Cruel. And although I am only a teenager who might not know enough about the world to understand what it takes for someone to be considered a "competent" or "capable" person, I strongly feel that the elderly of today should be given more opportunities to play their part in the community and earn themselves a decent living.
That's what meritocracy is about, after all.
(502 words)
Source: The New Paper on Sunday, Aug 19, 2007
Article Transcript:
Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong is expected to touch on ageing and retiring in his National Day Rally Speech. Here's Sylvia Toh Paik Choo's take on the issues.
I was 19 when Singapore was born as a republic in 1965.
I had sold my first article (to Her World for $40) on the perils and foibles of being a teenager.
Now it is 2007, our city state is 42 and my subject is ageing and retiring
Did I see this coming? Of course not. I thought one of the beatles would marry me and we'd make music together forever in Monaco. Lucky moi.
Singapore is poised to be the Monaco of the east with the F1 GP and the IRs imminent. And two of the fab four have permanently retired to join Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds.
This evening - with Help! playing softly in the background in my case - we the citizens of Singapore will be all ears as Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong delivers the most important political speech of the year, the National Day Rally biggie.
This NDR speech will particularly impact young and old; no guesses, one of its key thrusts will be about retiring and ageing in Singapore.
In other words, the Ah-Kong-Ah-Ma boom.
Or. How I Stopped Working (at 62) and became an Economic Burden
Here's a simplistic example:
Take a workplace like say the Istana. If MM Lee Kuan Yew and SM Goh Chok Tong were to quit gainful employment, it would leave PM Lee the one active person to support two inactive ones.
(Japan's future painful scenario has two working-age people for each retired one, Singapore's projection for 2020 is one-in-five above 60)
MM Lee and SM Goh are two of Singapore's most valuable assets in a country which as far as I can see worships youth. Take a weekday walk in the malls for confirmation.
Bright Young Things?
But look around you, most things of import have been invented or created by the not-so young. From rock 'n' roll, sex, drugs - okay not the finest example - to Apple, Java, iPod, iTunes, music, fashion, pop culture, Sun Microsystems, attitude.
Now that generation is no longer hip - hip replacements notwithstanding - what do we do with them, the greying dilemma?
From a Hollywood experience perspective, there's always the Soylent Green solution. Transform the elderly into bio-fuel. Think of the environment. Think of the factory jobs. Aiyoh, just joking only lah you!
Another option, deport the aged to retirement camps, for instance on Hainan Island. Picture the booming business in building these Club Meds (short for Club Medical). Manpower would be cheap, even with a little CPF you could lead a VIP rest-of-your-life.
And prepare for the Silver Revolution. This majority is unlikely to be silent. We are called Baby Boomers because our voice will boom; we gave birth to Attitude with a capital A. We won't go quietly. A little slower maybe, shaking the stick.
On a mature and more basic note, with our fecundity rate one of the lowest in the world, the elderly need to be kept in their jobs longer.
However fresh and dynamic for years in Kent Ridge have made you, you can't beat experience when it comes to the skills of surviving as a red dot in a large and tough world.
Besides, we need the old folks, or who's going to babysit the stories of early Singapore?
If you have read this far - without shortcutting paragraphs - thank you. It means I still have my job for the rest of today.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Response:
It happens all the time in Singapore. Bosses ignoring the contributions that older workers have made to their company and firing them just because they think that "age has caught up with them", and they are no longer "capable enough" to contribute to our nation's economy.
It almost seems like eugenics, the way the world functions nowadays. Age has never been an indication of competency, and it never should be. That is why such a negative attitude towards the aged of our society is wrong. We may have never realised it, but the young generation can never survive without the wealth of wisdom and experience the older generation has to offer us.
Sylvia Toh brought up two major contributions of the old folk to the youth of today. Firstly, they are the ones who keep many of our cultures and past traditions alive. Chinese New Year in the past used to be a grand event where people dressed in bright red traditional outfits would pray to their ancestors and have a reunion dinner with their family where the married would give red packets to the young and the young would give mandarin oranges as a gift of prosperity to the elderly. Such events are the very epitemy of the Chinese race, yet many today do not even bother to celebrate the occasion anymore, choosing instead to use the holiday to rest or hang out with friends. Without the old folks to inculcate in the youth a sense of pride and belonging towards their own culture, we could very well see a major cultural dilution in the people of today.
Secondly, the older generation possesses a huge wealth of experience that the younger generation can learn alot from. Having lived for so many years and having been through all the times of hardship that our nation had faced before we became the prosperous country we are today, the elderly carry with them valuable lessons from the past that we must never overlook. And who's to say the elderly are unable to contribute greatly to our economy, if they were the ones who had worked so hard to bring so many of us youth to where we are today?
That is precisely why we should treat the elderly as equals. No, in fact we should respect them as our superiors, for without the amazing contributions and hard work they had put into developing the tiny fishing village Singapore used to be in the past, we the young generation would not even be where we are today. There's only one word to describe the way the elderly are treated these days. Cruel. And although I am only a teenager who might not know enough about the world to understand what it takes for someone to be considered a "competent" or "capable" person, I strongly feel that the elderly of today should be given more opportunities to play their part in the community and earn themselves a decent living.
That's what meritocracy is about, after all.
(502 words)
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