Archive for May 2014

Decision


The end begins.


First of all, all essay questions look really alien to me. Even though my related course hasn't stretch the studies that far yet, I pondered on the titles word by word and did some quick minor researches, still, finding nothing fathomable and interesting to that dry brain of mine.

Tis' tedious!

Anyway, life's about making decisions. A long psychological warfare has already yearned me some fruits; here are a lists of questions that I might pick and work from:

1. Analyse in detail the coverage of a single story, comprising of text and images, in two contrasting newspapers or magazines, one of which should be South East Asian publication. Compare and contrast the techniques used and the target market for each example.

Grab a story from two contrasting publication of any kind but, limited to newspaper and magazines and yeah. This one needs a big load of researches.

3. Explore either realism or fantasy in an era of your choice. Show how your examples reflect/ed the sociology and cultural changes of their time.

This is probably the easiest question out of the rest, but I can't tell if I will choose this. Fantasy is no longer my thing, but I'll save this as my last resort.

7. Explore the definition of 'celebrity' in Malaysia and compare with another culture of your choice, choosing relevant examples to illustrate your argument.

Short and clear-cut. It may sound easy, but there's much to explore in this one. Usually shorter question means lesser constraints.

3 out of 7. Ain't that indecisive after all.





Profanity, Yes or No?

People should not be censored or worry about using swear words when communicating. Do you agree?

Hell yeah.

Since aeons ago, language has been working very well when it comes to identification. Ironically, however, some words we speak are always used against ourselves as a fodder of criticism, or worse, judgement during communication. The F word you just spoke might even earn yourself some really cool titles like 'uneducated', 'rude-and-vile', 'disgrace-to-humanity', well, you name it.

But isn't this where everything starts contradicting with each other? Are you seriously giving me a bone to pick?! Swear words are, without a shadow of doubt, a part of the language and racial culture. What's with all the beeps and worries anyway?

It's a piece of linguistic mechanic that not only spices up the conversation and lessens the pain in our head, it also soaks up emotional connotations! It's like farting right away without taking off one's pants - no signs, no hints, no double meanings, when I say it, I mean it! 

In other words, it effectively changes listener's behaviour.

Likewise, censoring profanities leaves us less prepared for what is it to come in the reality. Since life itself is also a four word letter (if you know what I mean), I believe we should at least know how swear words work in communication. The more the beeps, the less we learn about the language and the world.

Censorship has never made any fucking sense don't you think?