#FollowFriday Ver. 1 - The Classic

#FollowFriday is a Twitter meme where you recommend people to follow to your followers. I have not been an active participant for the past three weeks, mainly because I've been wondering about the effectiveness of the meme, and more importantly, the relevance of it. I rely more on searches and trawling the following lists of people I follow for that purpose, because after all, if that person is worth following for you, it's gotta mean something right?

That said, I am going to take a page out of @MariKurisato's book, and write a blog post for #FollowFriday every week. She's right, 140 characters does not do enough justice to some of these people. I will try to keep it to a maximum of 10 people per week. So here we go!

First off, @MariKurisato. She's a kick-ass digital artist and writer, and loves coffee, napalm, robots and zombies. And Shirow Masamune. Don't be fooled by her online persona, she is probably one of the nicest people you'll get to know, and a great conversationalist to boot. Her recent artwork on the Iran Presidential election saga gave me the chills, in a good way, and you can check that out here. It was also featured on CNN's coverage, but the bastards credited the work wrongly. Most importantly, to me anyway, she gives a damn about a lot of issues that I think we should all give a damn about, and she isn't afraid to show that. That moral courage and honesty is what we so sorely lack around here.

Next up we have @RayBeckerman. He holds a day job as a lawyer who battles the RIAA and their frivolous lawsuits, which makes him a hero to me. To add on to that, he interacts with all his Twitter followers, all 4000+ of them, never missing a tweet, and his coverage on the struggles of Peru's indigenous people to protect their lands in the Amazon jungle is very moving. He is also featured as one of the six most badass lawyers ever, and not surprisingly, the only one on that list who is a real person. (No, Judge Dredd is not real.)

@RedheadWriting is a writer whose blogs make me laugh without fail. Besides being outrageously funny, she's also quite the looker, which once prompted us to wonder on Twitter why there aren't hordes or men and women all chasing after her to ask her out. She never answered that question convincingly. On a serious note, she is one hell of a writer, with a purpose and clarity of words that is rarely found in the millions of blogs available today. That alone is worth the follow.

@JosephLane is an awesome Canadian whose Irish roots show through proudly. A fellow coffee lover, much like @GrowlyBear / @bruincoffee, he is also an ice hockey fan, but I forgive him for that because he is a genuinely warm person with a great personality. He kept me sane during my many night shifts, and for that, thanks must be given.

Speaking of Canadians, @missbossy probably changed my life by involving me in the Twitter coverage for the AWARE saga. She continually amazes me with her energy and organisational ability, as well as how quickly she gets things done, without being pushy or bossy. Also, she can do stuff even while the dentist is torturing her on the chair. THAT is dedication for you younger folk.

Another favourite of mine is @savagemike, who tweets a lot of weird and funny stuff throughout the day, and never fails to elicit a reaction from them. He also is not afraid to stand up and speak his mind, and once famously tweeted "For too long liberals have had a reputation for being pussies; I am here to change that". His thoughts pretty much parallel mine, so much so that I'm beginning to suspect that he is a twin of some sort, only that he stays in the US.

For the 10 years of friendship, as well as countless coffee and lunch sessions at my local coffeeshop, you can't go wrong with following the PAWS OF MADNESS: @GrowlyBear / @bruincoffee. The insanity must be experienced first hand, for words fail to describe the awesomeness of the sight of them talking to each other. Fellow geek, coffee lover, and Vulcan logic addict, we await the day when we can say everyone we had to deal with had been very logical. That day may never come, but we live in hope.

Now for two of the nicest people I have met on Twitter and in real life: @inrsoul and @Wolfgang_. The former is a fellow photography and strobist fan and Canon user, whose skills I admire; in addition to being a nice chap who knows when to take things seriously and when not to, he also has his feet firmly on the ground and is really helpful. As for the latter, his disposition despite his difficulties shows a courage that not many can understand. And he keeps dropping his iPhone, which somehow mysteriously survived all the 57 or so times it crashed mercilessly on to the concrete. maybe his iPhone is picking up a thing or two about his owner's resilience.

Last one for the week is @colbertobsessed; seriously, who doesn't like Stephen Colbert? Maybe the religious right and the neocons, but still, they don't count. She also loves The Nanny, and 24, introduced me to the word "bromance", and her tweets are laugh-out-loud funny because she doesn't hide her emotions. Can't get better than that.

OK, I lied. One more: @mizhalle aka June. She is a writer (I love writers don't I) and "professional lunatic". I consider it a badge of honour when she calls me "crazy". She routinely constructs decapitation scenes with her toys, loves Gundam enough to dress her gunpla in frilly dresses, and isn't afraid to kill a cockroach in her office while yelling "DIE MOTHERFUCKER". She also gives a damn enough to wear a green headdress to work in support of the Iranian people. What's not to like?

Finally, a big thank you to the following people for showing me #FollowFriday love: @aureliom @robin_low @PheasantPhun @unfluff @RayBeckerman @colbertobsessed @rfmf24x3 @Goldenorckus @perthtones @therightblue @ProfBrendi @JosephLane @Wolfgang_; have a great weekend guys, and thank you! Also, thank you to my Twitter followers, new and old alike. I hope I do not bore you to tears.

Posted via email from trapper's posterous

Dude, where are the posts?

It's been more than a month since my last post, but I'm still around. It's been a really busy time, so I figured it's time to post some updates.

First off, I've been busy trying to reorganise and launch a new blog to replace this one. I've registered a couple of domains, and am playing around with a trial account on Squarespace; I'm pretty impressed with what they offer so far, since I'm a web design idiot and lazy to boot. When it's done, I'll let you lot know the new location.

The AWARE saga is over, but the activities continue. I'm involved in a volunteer capacity to help them sort out a few things, and there are a lot of work to be done in the coming months, much of which I can't really talk about, but it's pretty exciting, sometimes frustrating, but hopefully, ultimately fulfilling. I will also be covering their upcoming press conference, to be held on July 6th at 12.30pm at the AWARE Centre. To be more precise, I will be tweeting live from the event, together with @mizhalle, so if you guys have any questions for the AWARE Exco, please send them to me via Twitter, and we'll see if we get to ask a question or two. We also have a new website up at we-are-aware.sg, and are continually populating content like interview videos, news on RSS feeds, etc, so do pop by and let us know what you think.

Another piece of good news is that I passed all three exams for my diploma this semester. I have one more year to go, if everything goes smoothly, before I graduate with a diploma, so wish me luck.

That's all I guess, I got more posts to write, and hopefully post them before I return to work on Sunday night. TTFN.

Posted via email from trapper's posterous

The only agenda being pushed is the Anti-Gay agenda

This is my response to the letter written by Dr Thio Su Mien and published in The Straits Times on May 18th, 2009. The letter can be found in it's original form here and reproduced on the new We-Are-Aware forums here. Please feel free to respond to it at the forum posting, as my post will also be posted in response in the thread. I will not be sending this in to The Straits Times, simply because that will give her the attention she apparently craves. We've given her enough of the public limelight.

Dr Thio's letter is just another piece of evidence that points to her anti-gay agenda. She has insisted that AWARE "had veered towards promoting the homosexual political agenda". The only examples that she can point out are AWARE's sponsorship of the Spider Lilies movie premiere in Singapore, the listings that says "homosexuality is neutral and normal" in the instructors' guide of the CSE, and the "vocal and vociferous" homosexual women who supported the "old guard", also calling them "sexually challenged".

These "evidence" are, in my not so humble opinion, flimsier than the ones Bush & Cheney used to start a war in Iraq, and the words used are no less inflammatory. The letter is designed to spread fear, uncertainty and doubt, with scanty mentions of the law and a flip-flopping authority figure (MOE) in order to legitimise her false claims of a gay agenda, while providing no scientific or factual indication of why homosexuality is "wrong", or how sponsoring a movie premiere is the equivalent of promoting LGBT rights, or her equating homosexuals with "vocal and vociferous" and "sexually challenged".

This absence of proof, along with the absence of her personal motivations, makes her letter all provocation and no substance. Those familiar with the term "strawman argument" will see that it is what the letter is, and it is consistent with her views on LGBT rights. Her recent interview with Zaobao contains another manifestation of this strawman argument.

Letters like this one, and the recent astroturfing of NMP Siew Kum Hong because of the AWARE issue, shows that the only side interested in manipulating public opinion and pushing an agenda is the Christian extreme right. And the only agenda that is being pushed in the anti-gay agenda, with her fixation on attacking homosexuality, and the unsubstantiated libelous claims of her supporters against NMP Siew has tipped that same self-righteous, religious fervour into the political arena.

So who is promoting a "political agenda", again?

Posted via email from trapper's posterous

No context, no credibility

Still on the subject of the suspended CSE, there was an open letter penned by law undergrad Leon Ryan that truly hit the nail on the head. It is a pretty long one, so I'll suggest you pop over to the new We-Are-Aware website to have a look here: Leon Ryan's Open Letter to MOE. It is a remarkable letter, and particularly pertinent because he is still in the education system unlike most of the usual commenters like yours truly. It provides context and a view from the ground, which has strangely been largely ignored until now.

To provide the contrast, the first comment it drew was revealing. I will quote Mr Lawrence Ang here:

As a product of the Singaporean education system, I am fully supportive of the MOE’s suspension of the highly irresponsible position taken by AWARE in their stance towards sexual education. Moreover, it is absolutely nauseating that after being chided by the MOE, the response has been one of resistance to change and compromise with the MOE, who represents the interest of the majority of the singaporean students , their parents and families. As for Leon’s open letter, I am afraid to say that the majority of Singaporeans will not be able to grasp let alone understand the point Leon is trying to make.
I find it hard to believe Leon is a law undergraduate, and if he continues writing like that, I am afraid he may never graduate.

Zero context. Zero participation. Total armchair critic and dogmatic, unquestioning deference to authority. And here's my response (which is awaiting moderation, so you read it here first people).

Mr Ang, have you actually gone through the CSE yourself? Do you know that all sexuality education programs by all external vendors have been suspended, and not only AWARE's? And what "irresponsible position" has AWARE taken?

The only irresponsible position that is taken is the one by MOE. The suspension of sexuality education programs again mean that the students, who are the ones who benefit from the knowledge gleaned, have nowhere to turn to but the internet. While the information they can find are not easily verifiable, nor do they have the advantage of experienced trainers who will guide them in this potential minefield of confusion.

I do not believe MOE represent the interest of the majority of the Singaporean students, because if they do, then the suspension of the programs, which up until the suspension, have not received negative feedback from participants or their parents, is an action that goes against the practices of the scientific method, which is a cornerstone of a modern education and critical thinking.

An approach that advocates burying your head in the sand regarding any subject is detrimental to the development of our future minds and leaders. And this is where MOE, and where criticism aimed at the CSEs, especially from non-participants, have failed.

I also find your statement about the "majority of Singaporeans will not be able to grasp let alone understand the point" very interesting. Most Singaporeans are, as you said, a "product of the Singaporean education system". Even myself. But if this majority is assumed to not understand Leon's letter, then MOE has already failed generations of Singaporeans. That is a bigger issue than the CSEs, do you not think so?

As for your fear that "he may never graduate", I think we can all rest assured that if Leon can write such a letter, he is more than adequately equipped to do well in his field of study. More interestingly, your comment seemed to indicate a deference to authority without questioning, almost like the MOE is dogma. I believe that to be yet another failure of the MOE and our society in failing to produce students who can critically and objectively assess different issues and scenarios, taking into account the context.

I will not assume that your mindset is what I can expect from the majority of Singaporeans. But if it is, then the education system has failed in its most fundamental requirements. This country deserves, and needs, better than that.

I wanted to write a short response, but my brains and fingers took it and ran. Hope you guys enjoyed it, feedback and comments are welcome.

Posted via email from trapper's posterous

The MOE Flip-Flop

Singapore's Ministry of Education has always been a target of my anger, simply because of the important role they play in moulding the future leaders, and hence the future, of this country. A formal education may not be totally necessary, nor is it always relevant, to the individual receiving it; but education is so much more than exams and the paper chase. The emphasis on the quality of grades over the quality of education itself has always riled me because our youth deserve better. While we can propose solutions to improve the education system (and I have a few, which will be touched on in a future post), there are some fundamental weaknesses that MOE needs to address before changes can truly benefit the country.

And one of those weaknesses is the lack of moral fibre. A lack of spinal fortitude as it were. I say this because of their "it's ok, oops, now it's not" stand on AWARE's, and all other external vendors', sexuality education programs, as well as their caving in to an anonymous letter and forcing one of their GP teachers to remove a well articulated note on Facebook. There is no point in trying to educate the youth when they can clearly see the paucity of courage coming from the "educators".

The flip-flop on the CSEs have now become a running joke and a source of indignation. It is clear that the MOE has chosen to sway with the winds, not unlike a coconut tree, instead of sticking to its initial statement that the CSEs conform to their guidelines. It is telling that while participants did not raise complaints to the MOE, non-participating parents did, ironically under a banner of "concerned parents". One has to wonder where that concern was before this ruckus was raised. But I digress.

This episode is particularly insulting to the students of today, because it implies that parents do not trust their children to think clearly and intelligently or to be responsible for their actions, nor should they be equipped with the skills to objectively analyse issues or to be responsible for their own conduct. This is a very weak position to lobby for a suspension of the CSEs, and yet MOE has done just that, which is a further indictment to their poor judgment and dearth of moral fibre.

Which brings me to the issue of Ms Lisa Li and her now famous Facebook note. It has been taken down, but I will reproduce it here for everyone's benefit.

11 May 2009
I TEACH GENERAL PAPER, NOT HOMOSEXUALITY
Lisa Li

With all due respect to the well-meaning "concerned parents" out there, this is starting to sound like a dodgy GP essay to me.

Apparently, because my students and I "discuss topics such as the legalisation of gay marriage and parents of the same sex forming families through adoption" in class, I am guilty of promoting homosexuality.*

Right.

But never mind. MOE has already come to the rescue with their statement that "GP lessons are meant to promote critical thinking" and GP teachers "should also adhere to social norms and values of our mainstream society".*

Oh yes, apparently one can facilitate critical thinking, that is, the reasoned questioning of assumptions, norms and values AND fully reinforce and adhere to social norms at the same time.

And wait, I see this again, in the debate on sexuality education and just what should be said about homosexuality:

1. Homosexuality is against the social norms and values of mainstream society.
2. Homosexuality is illegal and considered unnatural under Singapore law.

The first thing any student of GP (or indeed, any human being who knows anything about world history) will realise, is that social norms change.

Secondly, if you insist on going by "mainstream" values and beliefs, you may like to follow 43% of Singaporeans and look to Buddhism, which views homosexuality on neutral grounds, as opposed to Christianity (15%) and Islam (15%).

In any case, the legal argument will only hold as long as homosexual acts are considered illegal in Singapore.... and judging from the force of change in the world, frankly my dear, you can't hold the dam for much longer.

Singapore's law criminalising homosexual acts is based on British law - which decriminalised this in 1967.

Other countries which have decriminalised homosexuality include France (1791), The Netherlands (1811), Brazil (1830), Ottoman Empire (1858), Germany (1871), Japan (1880), Italy (1889), USSR (1922), Denmark (1930), Iceland (1940), Switzerland (1942), Sweden (1944), Greece (1951), Thailand (1956), Israel (1963), Chad (1967), Canada (1969), Kosovo (1970), Australia (1981), South Africa (1994), China (1997) etc.

This shows an increasing acceptance that personal preferences that do not harm anyone else should not be governed (in this case, criminalised) by the state. As with the wearing away of all other forms of inequality, I believe this discrimination of homosexuals cannot last.

So what are we left with?

Are we justifying a brand of education with reasons that won't hold weight for much longer?

You may argue that making something legal doesn't make it right, and you have a point.

But then that would depend on what you consider "right", which really is a moral issue and one that concerns personal belief.

So I have two points for you:

1. Personal beliefs - religious or otherwise - should not influence the laws of a secular society. The onus is on parents and preachers to educate their children in these beliefs. Say what you want at the pulpit, not in Parliament, and certainly, do not foist this responsibility onto your child's teachers in secular schools.

2. It is unfair, impractical and dangerous to insist that youths be given only the old rules when they live in a completely different world. Parents, if you insist on a black-and-white moral education for your children, you only drive them into secrecy when they need you most. If teachers cannot teach openly and factually, rest assured that the internet will.

As an educator and maybe future parent, I admit I am less concerned about whether my children are homosexual/transsexual/(fill in the blank) or not, and more concerned that they should always respect others and themselves, never discriminate, always critically examine issues, always feel free to share their thoughts with me without fear of condemnation, always love and always be loved no matter what.

This is my hope.

PS. If you think your children will rush to become homosexual/transsexual/(fill in the blank) because of my words, I THANK YOU for crediting me with such influence! By the way, your children are smarter than you think....

* Quoted from "AWARE sex guide suspended" (ST, 7 May 2009)
http://www.straitstimes.com/Breaking%2BNews/Singapore/Story/STIStory_373422.html

I have to thank Lisa for writing this note. This is written from the perspective of a teacher, with first-hand knowledge, in touch with her students. This is a valuable contribution from a person who is on the ground, doing the work that others have the luxury to criticise but not the gumption to perform. And yet, MOE forced her to remove that post after they received a complaint letter from an anonymous source.

Our government have constantly stressed that we should not hide behind the veil of anonymity as it is an act of cowardice. If we are to apply that logic, then this letter is nothing more than that: an act of cowardice enacted from behind the comfort and safety of anonymity. But MOE still bowed to the might of cowardice, forcing Lisa to take down her post, as if that letter was no different from an imperial decree and defiance will result in the massacre of entire family lines. It betrays the trust that teachers have with MOE, and, much like the flip-flop on the CSEs, betrays how MOE truly thinks about their teachers.

This loss of moral courage from the MOE is dismaying, and conveys the wrong message to students, teachers and parents. And the biggest losers in the debacle are the students, which is the real problem. We may be so strong in math education that the US wants to learn from us, but they won't be queuing up to listen to how MOE handles sexuality education. The Obama administration has moved to remove the budget funding abstinence-only sex ed programs, because it has proven to be ineffective. It's high time we got on with the program and let the CSEs be continued in schools, where the only people who matter can benefit: the students.

Posted via email from trapper's posterous