Journey into the next chapter…

UPDATE : Thx to HuiChieh, here is a link to an interesting article that talks about blogs and annonymity.
How to Blog Safely (About Work or Anything Else)
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This will be my final entry on anything even remotely related to the CZ issue.SingaporeAngle provided an excellent summary of how it started and how the issue have ballooned out into the Singapore blogoshere.I think thus far, most of the bloggers, have been reasonably fair in their entries, with most of us expressing disdain and anger against the VERY distasteful, shocking and discriminating comments Cheng Zhan made on his “private blog”. Rather it is the comments by others and in SPUG that borders on witch-hunting.Ever since my entries got picked up by google and yahoo, I have been linked from multiple blogs around the world. >400 people found my blog by searching “PSC Scholar”, “Cheng Zhan racist”, “chua cheng zhan” etc etc.

As such, my blog has now come under the radar and while most of the comments made on my blog has been decent enough, I have had a friend of CZ email me and call me some pretty unkind stuff.

I am not too bothered by it because I know where I stand and my self-worth in God will not be determined by that email. Apart from the ill-advised use of the word bigot, I think I have been pretty fair in my comments about CZ.

Back to the intent of this entry.
Should a blog be private?
CAN a blog be private?

I think that recently, bloggers have been thrust into the limelight all too often as the “old media” have pounced on this new rich source of newsworthy information. Computer Times even has a blog of the week section!

AcidFlask (who himself came to limelight recently on the issue of scholarship bond breaking) and SingaporeInk talks about the power and influence of the blogosphere.

Is it scary? You bet it is.
Not as scary as a Casino in Singapore but scary nonetheless.

I think what people need to realise is, blogs can never be private.
It goes against the very concept of a blog and the underlying technology that makes blog such a powerful tool of communication in today’s society.

It is no hidden secret that google loves bloggers.
I have had friends complain why people find their blogs through words like “sex toys, S&M, kinky baby etc etc”.
Just say a single F-U-C-K in one of your entries and soon, people who search for that word will find your blog.
THAT is the power of the internet. You do not have exact control over who reads your blogs.

Tools like technorati makes it all the harder to keep your blog private.
The concept of blogging is like Friendster - well connectiveness.
It is built on the foundation of technology and protocols that promotes this.

With the sudden push towards “tagging” as the next big thing now, the influence of blogging will only increase.

So what does this mean for the average blogger who wish to just have an online PERSONAL and PRIVATE diary?
Go offline OR implement proper password protection. (even the latter is no gaurentee of privacy).
The internet is not a private medium. If you wish to say anything that is not suitable for public consumption, hold that tongue.
After all, the bible tells us that our tongue can be a venomous snake (paraphased) and that we should rein it in.

I have seen blogs by lawyers who spout so much vitrol in their blogs that I fear it will come back to bite them one day.
It will be a matter of time before your prospective employer might do some investigative work and find your blog. I think it can be so much more effective than psychological testing as a blog can be the window to a person’s soul and character.

Recently, a student on attachment with my company got me in trouble with a client when she blogged about that client. Private thoughts in a public domain just does not work.
I lost that client for being unprofessional. ANd I agree with my client.

I get resumes sent to me by people looking for a job. The amazing thing is some of them proudly put links to their blog in their resumes.
So i thought “He must be trying to show me he is a good writer or he is a witty and sharp intellectual”. Imagine my horror then when I start reading blogs filled with grammatical errors, angst-filled thoughts, vulgarities and just show off their immaturity.

Trust me when I say that your prospective employee will not be impressed by how you wax eloquent over your heartbreak of losing your gf, nor by how high you score in lame online quizzes or tests.

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It is gonna be some time before the whole CZ issue blows over.
Everyone wants their pie of the attention and their own 2 cents worth.

Whether he loses his scholarship or not, I think it will be equally a tragedy if he does not change and learn. THAT should be the focus of concern here.

Well, this will be my last two cents worth because I think I have made my point and I think CZ and his family should be left alone now for them to sort out their son’s problems.
I think that we can all learn a lesson from here.

LATEST UPDATE:
You will not believe some of the vitrol that has been unleashed against him at SPUG and this blog .Even worse, the outrage against Cheng Zhan has spilled over from the Singapore blogsphere to the Sunday Times today.Large pic of him with interviews of his friends, former classmates and his parents defending him, saying it is not his nature, that he volunteered in Nepal etc etc.
They all say he meant it as a joke.
A joke? I know a joke when i see it I seriously doubt he is joking.
I am praying his parents do not overlook this and treat it as a folly of youth. I honestly think their son has serious issues and its best they face up to it and address it.

That said, I do feel sorry for the guy. Yes, I was equally out-raged by his racism and bigotry BUT to turn it into a witchhunt? I was totally stunned when i read the article in Sunday Times. Apparently one enraged blogger collated all his posts and sent it to the media. Scary.

This will be a really hard lesson for him to learn. (i am hoping he learns)
While the people at SPUG are crying for the PSC scholar to lose his scholarship, my point is, what will that achieve?

To all the youths at PP, learn from this. What you blog reflects who you are.
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[original entry]

I am amazed by how so many people think that they can stay hidden on the internet. As such, they blog with wild abandon and with half-baked thoughts and incriminating monologues, thinking that they can hide cowardly behind a password protected page.

Well, in a continuation of my previous post, more gems from his blog. (several other blogs and local forums are having heated discussions about him now. It’s a matter of time before he will be forced to shut down his blog).

Urgent: please return to the river ganges.
Dear Vivek,
you’re an utter pain in the arse.
i request that you ugly species vacate this planet. moreover, since your surface area is so huge yet your brain so small and useless, you are a mere waste of precious resources.

if you sincerely believe that our miraculous miracles is Cleopatra and you are Mark Anthony reigning in the Caesar Forum in Rome, by all means, go forth and propose your “constitutional amendments” to your “populous.”

if not, i suggest you smelly goon return to Madras. (oh yah, you aren’t even from singapore…and you’re running for Singaporean club president~). back in your alleys, you can stink and rot for all you want and be the “forefather” of your own generation of indian bah boo singhs who irritate the hell out of me.

i pray to the god of vishnu that you will be washed into the abyss of the river ganges, where its so dark that even you cannot be seen!

vanakam~~

(help…who turned off the lights)

ahhhh~ that was a good break from my thesis.

reading xangas…n came across some entries where my friends were talking about serious stuff and how they feel about things. n looking at it all…i’m like “wooo…these ppl are really accomplished. the true PSC scholars who have brains and can make a difference to the world and to the causes they fight and stand for”….
so in response, of course i have to demonstrate how frivolous i am and how stupid PSC has been to give me the scholarship…heheheh. being frivolous is just so me…

My point is, WATCH WHAT YOU DO OR SAY on the internet.

In our Christian walk with God, we are asked to live our life in a “Fish Bowl” where we have to be consistent.
Well, that is certainly the case with the internet.

I just hope and pray that ChengZhan will realise how wrong he has been learn from this experience before he gets censured by PSC.

It’s times like these that the application of “Love thy neighbour as thyself” is really tested.
Man, I sooo wish i could slap him a few times and get his PSC scholarship revoked and have him publicly shamed.

But *slaps myself*, I know I should not be having such thoughts.
Guess that is one more entry into my prayer journal.