Most exhilarating

First time I saw a snatch-thief in Orchard Road (or anywhere else, for that matter). It was a young and well-dressed man. Who could have guessed.

Was in TCC in Centrepoint munching on the nachos of my dish when someone shouted “Hey” many times. The man was running with a handbag in his right hand (cliche, but true). A security guard was about two seconds behind him, running. He would soon be passing by TCC. There weren’t a lot of people at that time, strangely; it was about 7.45pm.

Out of my chair and towards his path. He smashed against the automated door. Side-stepped him and tugged the bag out of his hand. He darted out as the door opened, but realising he no longer had his loot, he dashed back in towards me. There was a struggle. The guard was trying to restrain him, but the next thing I knew, I lost the bag and was on the floor. As I stood up, some more security guards were in the chase as he got out of the building.

I must have concussed. But that, and some minor bruises, for the cause, is a small price to pay.

*A check with the security a few hours later assured me that my effort had not been wasted: they nabbed him.

Most infuriating

A good day ruined by the most annoying incident on the bus so far in my life.

It was after my dinner at the hawker centre across the SAFTI compound. On bus service 193 back home, a man intentionally stepped on my foot and yelled that I was standing too close to him when he was sitting down. I asked for his name but he turned away, mumbled something and alighted. It was an embarrassing situation for me.

I would have provoked him into hitting me if the bus were not so crowded, but then again, people here probably enjoy a free show and they might not mind wasting some time witnessing a brawl. Anyway, I need to rush home to plan for the Promo exam; I don’t really want to waste my time on an idiot.

I would have punched him if I were not on the Civil Service payroll.

This reaffirms one of the five reasons why I made the crazy decision to get a car.

Even though the ERPs may become crazy one day.

Seriously, when the government isn’t doing enough to ease the human jams on MRTs and buses, loyal citizens like me do what we can with either of the two options: live with it (as I had for many years) or get a car.

I hope I have time before the Promos this year to post the comments I had during the Transport Minister’s seminar in the college last year: I failed to post them before the Promos last time round.

Of Prejudice & Discrimination

This post serves as a complement to the supplement to the Group Presentations on the topic, Prejudice.

CAVEAT: Clips shown here can be offensive in nature, but critical to the learning process.

To: the three whom I got out of my class on Tuesday, 22 Jul. It had to be done. You had the chance to explain yourselves. You have to take ownership in your own learning especially e-learning and i-learning (independent) tasks because I will be away on course for quite a few days this term. It was a decision made known to me at the eleventh hour (literally; it was 12am on the previous Friday). If I had known this earlier, I would have planned the lessons in another way.

You have seen the newspaper reports in class–0408 and 2208, please find someone in 1508 and borrow a set of the “non-black” (is this discrimination against white?) copies from them. In the meantime I’ll try to get the photocopier to apologise to you for the inconvenience caused.

When we talk about prejudice, in many societies it is almost natural that the first thing to come to mind is the talk about racism and religion sensitivity. Some feel that that is a limit to jokes, some feel it’s a way to express ourselves, and yet some feel it is bad humour altogether.

This is the infamous “No pork” sound clip. Some say it’s a prank, some say it’s staged. You decide. But more importantly, compare it with the Russell Peters act. Is one more offensive than the other? Why?

Yet, do not forget that there are other forms of prejudice. Discrimination against class is one. It may be the case that people behave or act in a particular way as a result of their upbringing or education level; it may be that they have a medical condition. The same goes for speech behaviour.

This next clip is from a popular radio station in Singapore.

Is this more acceptable than “No pork”? Is this worse than Russell Peters? Why do you feel so?

For those who want to watch the Russell Peters clip again, here it is–but I’m warning you: the language used can be very offensive, even for the segments that I recommend (if you experience discomfort at the content, you may stop the clip altogether):

Segment 1: 6min-16.08min

Segment 2: 17.35min-19.35min

Segment 3: 20min-45min

(Russell Peters performance has been rated NC16 according to the DVD I own.)

Is any one of these not discriminationary practice? Is any one of these not considered humour, not even low-brow comedy? Can we use humour to embrace differences? What is the role of globalisation here in terms of what we deem to be acceptable and what are not?

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What defines a more palatable racist joke, or do racist jokes have no place in a multi-racial society like Canada or Singapore? Does a racist joke become more palatable if the speaker demeans himself or his race/religion/gender first?

Post all your comments here and share with us how you feel! There is no right or wrong: it’s solely your own opinion & if any visitors to this site has issues, please contact me at akbywerkz@hotmail.com.

For those who’d watched the videos but had not posted any comments here, we now know how selfish you are. So share your insights.

Research on Countries

Hi Classes,

The IVLE has been experiencing bad connection. It is in a world of its own, so I’m going to bank on this blog to get the job done in style.

1) Refer to the attached powerpoint slides for the list of 80 countries to choose from: here

2) Each student to pick one out of those 80. If you want to do more than one, by all means! We all thank you for your commitment in making this work in due respect. But, do so after everyone has picked a country so that you don’t monopolise the league and kill the interest of others. Thanks!

3) Reserve your adopted country by posting a Comment here, at the footer of this post. (Since this list is first released here, make your reservations here to be fair. I will refer to this post and comments if there are future disagreements over the adopted country. I know a lot of you will be fighting over SINGAPORE! lol)

4) When you have done your research, and when the IVLE is finally up, post them there.

5) I will put up a thread on IVLE when it has decided to start work.

I’m happy that almost everyone is just as enthusiastic in this Semester as before! =)

Cheers,

Mr K