Category: Ranting Is a Right

This is a month of social faux pas.

I’ll probably get even more flak for writing this but I have to get this off my chest.

This month is really a bad time for people who are not voting. Day in, day out, they’re being bombarded with questions from friends, family and acquaintances on whether they’re voting or not, whether they have registered to vote, which party they’re crossing for and many other politically related questions.

Being a person who has not registered or intend to vote this year, I feel that these questions are starting to become a little offensive. Just because you have filled out some forms at the post office and “exercised your democratic right”, doesn’t make you fit enough to chastise and insult those who have chosen not to do so. Do you even know these people? Do you even understand what goes through the minds of these people who have chosen not to vote? So stop making assumptions and leave them in peace. Leave me in peace for goodness sake.

I can’t help but feel that lately, the left wing has sort of become the trendiest club in town. Everyone wants to be a left winger. People who can’t even tell who is the current Prime Minister is a friggin left winger. Left wingers will keep the government in check…yay, we’re better than everyone else. Well, piss off.

Someone told me that I shouldn’t complain about the government if I don’t intend to vote. Hey, I absolutely agree with that but you know where does that put me at? It seems that I can’t complain about anything at all, because EVERYTHING bad is caused by the government. Wah roti canai so expensive…..it’s the government! Tiu my client pay so late….it’s the government! Urgh, my period so pain this month….it’s the government! So first they insist that I have to exercise my democratic right, then they take away my right to complain whatever the hell I want? That’s armchair left wingers for you.

I understand that some of you may be very passionate about the political situation in this country and would like nothing better than to convince someone to vote and make a change bla bla bla. I understand that because I also understand that politics determine almost every aspect of our social and economic growth. But I also understand that there are some of us, the cynics, the paranoids, the self-preservationists, the ignorant, the fence-sitters, the i-dont-give-a-flying-f*-am-leaving-this-gawdamn-countrys, heck even the lazyasses don’t sit very well with the idea of voting.

Seriously, stop it already. Enough of the “one vote also makes a difference” story, the check and balance story, the conspiracy theories and all those other yap yappity yap that I’ve heard for the hundredth million times. I’m not stupid and so stop implying I am before you even care to listen to MY story.

The thing is, I don’t even feel like telling you. Why would I jam my opinions and beliefs down your throat when I expect the same from you? So yeah, give me and other like-minded people a break.

In my opinion, it’s already suffice to ask “What do you think of the coming elections?”.

If you’re faced with the “I don’t like to talk about it…lets talk about other stuff”, don’t be a stupid shit and asked why. Just stop the nonsense, give someone his or her privacy and talk about something else.

On the other hand, if that someone responded with an enthusiastic analysis of the voting system, well good on you!

Dumbing down the 18 and above.

I saw this letter to the Editor of The Star and was gobsmacked reading it!

Censorship lax because of lack of understanding of language

I AGREE with Celeste of Ampang (The Star, Feb 12) that the quality of censorship provided by the censorship board has deteriorated to alarming levels.

It is evident now that many censors have a poor command of the English language or are unaware of societal norms and standards.

This could be due to the fact that most censors are retired officers of the administrative and diplomatic service who have little knowledge and understanding of movies. For the benefit of society at large, the board should recruit more members from the mass media, educationists, writers and film producers.

I recently saw the movie, Rambo 4 in a local cineplex and was astounded when I distinctly heard the words, “f**k off” twice, and the words “pain in the a**e” and “b*****d.”

These words should never have been let through and it is clear that the censor was either sleeping on the job, or worse, did not feel that these are swear words that are not used in polite conversation.

The movie was justifiably given an 18SG rating, but this should not have meant allowing extremely violent scenes through. For example, one scene showed an arrow shot by Rambo piercing the skull of a Myanmar soldier and exiting through his forehead. Another showed Rambo blowing away a whole truckload of soldiers with a machine gun with liberal doses of blood spewing all over the screen.

These scenes should have been censored, as they are extremely violent.

It is hoped that only censors who have a superior knowledge of English be allowed to censor English movies and the same should also apply to Bahasa Malaysia, Mandarin, Cantonese, Tamil and Hindi movies.

ENGLISH MOVIE FAN
Kuala Lumpur

Are you thinking what I’m thinking? This person CANNOT be a movie fan! A true movie fan will not allow his or her movies to be treated with such atrocity.

I don’t think movies should be censored at all. At most, censorship should be minimal! These people don’t understand that things that get snipped off are usually the most important parts of a movie. Yes they are provoking, offensive and even disgusting…but it is these very attributes that solidifies the premise of a film. It is this reason why international movie industries are so big and ours, still stagnant….churning out expensive laughable slapsticks at best.

This is also precisely the reason why many people get all too excited about an accidentally uncut nude scene and subsequently forget an entire story. The truth is, all the systematic and overzealous censorships all these years have effectively dumb down our audience and movie goers.

How on earth are you going to develop a thinking society if you’re going to cut off any remotely offensive thing from the screen? What are you kidding me…..do people get corrupted by every single thing they see on the big screen or television? Only if they are between the age of 2-8 maybe. This is probably the reason why I find so many teenagers so stupid these days…is it because they’re watching too many stupid, thought un-provoking shows on tv?

Take the show F-word on the Food Channel for instance. I mean, I don’t even understand why they allowed it to be showed here in the first place. It’s one hour of beeping if you’re into that sort of aural stimulation. Why bother? Perhaps Malaysia is the only place on earth where Gordon Ramsey is not a rude motherfucking genius….

I applaud the categorisation of movies into U, 18-SG-18-SX and so on. The thing is though, if you’ve acknowledged the fact that we’re 18 and above, give us a damn break and don’t dumb us down. For your information, piracy doesn’t thrive on cheap price alone, them pirates don’t censor.

Tiffany & Co @ Rodeo Drive
Since it’s a movie centred post, here’s my best Breakfast at Tiffany picture. Should have taken me grey jumper off hehehe.