Or in this case, the past.
Or maybe we never really left that past.
Maybe we've been stuck in the same goddamn place for years and years,
with only our perception having been changed without our realizing it.
Or worse,
maybe we've actually regressed.
I know I have. My English is so bad,
that after only a few sentences,
I'm wondering if I've made any grammatical errors.
This is what happens when you quit sharpening your skills.
AND when you're surrounded by Singaporeans almost on a daily basis.
The latter is probably more damaging.
But I digress.
So MDA has decided that Hey! Online news sites should be thoroughly controlled by the government as well!
And what constitutes 'news'?
WHATEVER THE FUCK THEY SAY IT DOES.
I mean, check this out:
"A “Singapore news programme” is any programme (whether or not the
programme is presenter-based and whether or not the programme is
provided by a third party) containing any news, intelligence, report of
occurrence, or any matter of public interest, about any social,
economic, political, cultural, artistic, sporting, scientific or any
other aspect of Singapore in any language (whether paid or free and
whether at regular interval or otherwise) but does not include any
programme produced by or on behalf of the Government. "
Oh but hey, hey... no, no... you guys don't need to worry.
We're only looking at sites that publish articles more than once a week,
and get more than 50K views a month...
So don't worry, ok?
Yea, but that's not exactly what the new regulation says and-
SHUT THE FUCK UP OR WE WILL FUCK YOUR LIFE UP FOR YOU!
... but please, don't worry ok?
Great.
This is all just for the good of Singapore.
Yep.
We never really had freedom of speech to begin with.
Even before this new regulation came into effect
(which took all of what, 5, 6 days?
Who has the time to debate this shit in parliament, right?
Fuck that. Just implement it! Nobody really gives a shit),
the government already had the power to take down websites,
haul people to court for stuff they find to be... well, not nice.
For example, 'PAP no good!'
Oh shit you better start running motherfucker
because 5 mins later the entire SPF is going to be coming after your candy ass.
This begs the question.
If they already had that power,
why the need for this new regulation?
I could probably come up with the answer by digging just a little bit deeper.
But in the end, it won't make a difference.
Maybe the original law governing online 'news' sites wasn't enough to shut them down,
whenever the government feels like it.
Or maybe it didn't address the user comments (most of which are about how the PAP is full of shit),
I don't know.
It doesn't matter now.
The law has come into effect.
And in a few weeks (or less), most of the citizens would've forgotten about it.
They'll start railing against foreigners again (easy target),
or go off on minor things like how the bus stops around Singapore are not pretty enough or something like that.
They go for the easy targets.
Always.
One of the side-effects of our glorious education system: Compliance.
The sheep may get upset once in a while.
But in the end they always fall into line.
There will be no more protests. Not of the kind that matters, anyway.
Things won't change.
I need to get my act together. And fast.
The grass is always greener on the other side,
but over here on this side,
it's already brown and dry from being constantly stomped upon.
Fuck this shit.
Well enough of that.
