Last year, two bloggers were charged under the Sedition Act due to very strong racist remarks in their blogs. Recently, there was a letter written to the Straits Times on racism on another level, ie people who are so sensitive that they think everyone is discriminating against them due to their race.
The writer of the letter stated that times when he tried to do the right thing, he was accused of being racist. I can relate to that to a certain extent, as I had been accused by the parents of my students for being racist, like punishing the kid because he / she is of a different race than me.
Anyway the writer said that there was a time when he saw someone about to be knocked down by a cyclist, so he shouted at the person to look out. The person then shouted back at him, saying that he is of a different race, thus got shouted at. The person continued to abuse him verbally and even spouted a whole lot of vulgarities.
There was another time when he was in a taxi queue and a group of guys were smoking behind him. He could not stand the smoke, and at any rate, there was a sign prohibiting smoking in the taxi queue.
So he turned behind and politely asked if they could refrain from smoking since he was finding it difficult to breathe with all the smoke around. They swore at him, and kept saying that he picked on them as they were of a different race.
Must people be so sensitive? No wonder the locals are so reluctant to do a good deed, since all they get are insults and accusations. And if this continues, more trouble may ensue. Afterall, many a war has started due to racial discrimination.
No doubt those two bloggers were charged so as to make examples out of them so others would think twice about saying anything defamatory or insensitive. I am not saying it is wrong to charge them. They were in the wrong in the first place as they have no right to say things about other’s races.
But on the other hand, by making an example of these two guys, it may trigger problems like what I mentioned above, where a simple kind gesture may be misinterpreted and blown up into a racism issue. People of my race got charged because they wrote remarks about people of another race.
Now, if other races verbally abuse people of my race for being racist just because things were done out of goodwill, will they be charged then? Will any action be taken? Or can any action be taken?
So if nothing is going to be done, does it mean these people can then get away scot free thinking they can accuse just anyone of racism? Then that will be so unfair. Every race is equal, there should not be any discrimination amongst others so an inter-racial society like ours can function properly in harmony.
The writer of the letter stated that times when he tried to do the right thing, he was accused of being racist. I can relate to that to a certain extent, as I had been accused by the parents of my students for being racist, like punishing the kid because he / she is of a different race than me.
Anyway the writer said that there was a time when he saw someone about to be knocked down by a cyclist, so he shouted at the person to look out. The person then shouted back at him, saying that he is of a different race, thus got shouted at. The person continued to abuse him verbally and even spouted a whole lot of vulgarities.
There was another time when he was in a taxi queue and a group of guys were smoking behind him. He could not stand the smoke, and at any rate, there was a sign prohibiting smoking in the taxi queue.
So he turned behind and politely asked if they could refrain from smoking since he was finding it difficult to breathe with all the smoke around. They swore at him, and kept saying that he picked on them as they were of a different race.
Must people be so sensitive? No wonder the locals are so reluctant to do a good deed, since all they get are insults and accusations. And if this continues, more trouble may ensue. Afterall, many a war has started due to racial discrimination.
No doubt those two bloggers were charged so as to make examples out of them so others would think twice about saying anything defamatory or insensitive. I am not saying it is wrong to charge them. They were in the wrong in the first place as they have no right to say things about other’s races.
But on the other hand, by making an example of these two guys, it may trigger problems like what I mentioned above, where a simple kind gesture may be misinterpreted and blown up into a racism issue. People of my race got charged because they wrote remarks about people of another race.
Now, if other races verbally abuse people of my race for being racist just because things were done out of goodwill, will they be charged then? Will any action be taken? Or can any action be taken?
So if nothing is going to be done, does it mean these people can then get away scot free thinking they can accuse just anyone of racism? Then that will be so unfair. Every race is equal, there should not be any discrimination amongst others so an inter-racial society like ours can function properly in harmony.
0 comments:
Post a Comment