Self-Fulfilling Prophecy

I just remembered that during one of the NM Gaming tutorials, one of the group presenters spoke about the idea of the self-fulfilling prophecy. I find this concept rather interesting so I went to look it up. Basically, it's about a person who somehow has knowlegde of what is going to happen in the future, but having this knowledge actually makes the person to cause the incident to happen.

From Wikipedia:


A self-fulfilling prophecy is a prediction that, in being made, actually causes itself to become true. For example, in the stock market, if it is widely believed that a crash is imminent, investors may lose confidence, sell most of their stock, and actually cause the crash. Or, if a candidate in an election openly declares they do not believe they can win, this may increase voter apathy and result in poor support for their campaign.
Self-fulfilling prophecies are often seen as similar to the predestination paradox, in which a person travels back in time to prevent an event, but ends up causing it. These two phenomena differ on a key point however. A self-fulfilling prophecy is when a person with belief of future events alters his behaviour in a way that ends up causing these events. On the other hand, a predestination paradox is when a person with knowledge of past events goes back in time, and ends up causing the events.

Psychology

Self-fulfilling prophecy is sometimes seen as a manifestation of positive feedback in human society. In short, because a given prophecy was known, and was sufficiently credible, it affected people's actions and caused itself. Robert K. Merton is usually acknowledged as the originator of this phrase.
Examples abound in studies of cognitive dissonance theory and the related self-perception theory; People will often change their attitudes to come into line with what they profess publicly.

Other specific examples discussed in psychology include:
• Clever Hans effect
• Observer-expectancy effect
• Hawthorne effect
• Placebo effect
• Pygmalion effect

Modern

Spoiler warning: Plot and/or ending details follow.

In more recent arts, the plot of the 2005 movie Star Wars Episode III: Revenge of the Sith was based around a self-fulfilling prophecy. The main character, Anakin Skywalker, has a premonitory dream about the death of his wife Padmé Amidala, and searches for a way to save her. However, his solution is what ends up killing her.

In Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban, Harry sees his "father" save him and Sirus Black. After traviling back in time with a time turner, he tries to meet his "father" but realize it was himself standing there that he saw as his father.

In Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix, a prophecy was made at Harry Potter’s birth, saying that neither he nor Dark Lord could live while the other survived. To protect himself, the Dark Lord attempted to kill Harry Potter while he was an infant, but his curse backfired on him. Because of the transfer of power that occurred as a result this, the prophecy now has to be fulfilled in order for them to live in peace.

In the computer game Guild Wars, it is prophesied that some Chosen will destroy a race called "Mursaat". To prevent the prophecies from coming true, the Mursaat and some of their worshippers, the White Mantle, kill as many Chosen as possible. However, when a group of heroes see the Chosen being killed, they turn against and eventually destroy the White Mantle and the Mursaat to prevent further killings, only later to discover that they are Chosen.

Series Eight of the British comedy Red Dwarf sees a self-fullfilling prophecy started by the words "In twenty minutes all the Canaries will be dead, except for Rimmer. Rimmer will die in forty seconds of a heart attack from the shock of being told he's going to have a heart attack."

Several classic episodes of The Twilight Zone used a self-fulfilling prophecy. One example is What's in the Box, in which a man sees himself (on television) killing his wife because she had an affair. He tries to confront his wife about it, but ends up killing her.

The movie The Matrix heavily incorporates the idea of self-fulfilling prophecy. One recognizable scene that directly references it is when Morpheus takes Neo to see the Oracle. When Neo walks in to speak to the Oracle, she says "I'd ask you to sit down, but you're not going to anyway. And don't worry about the vase." Neo then says "What vase?" and knocks over and breaks a vase that is sitting on a counter next to him. Neo apologizes and the Oracle tells him not to worry about it. Neo asks how she knew, to which the Oracle responds, "What's really going to bake your noodle later on is: would you still have broken it if I hadn't said anything?"

Spoilers end here.

Final Exam Paper 3

Today's exam is rather interesting because the questions can be rather open-ended. Most of the questions have been structured close to what we have done during the tutorials, so I see no reason why it cannot be done.

Exam questions:


1a. Core words borrowed from Scandinavian to English because they were less sophisticated culture.



1b. Stable word order lead to loss of inflexions.



1c. Non-Anglo Englishes are simple and basic and cannot represent detailed nuances.



1d. Standard varieties are the best varieties.



The passage for Shakespeare's Much Ado About Nothing from Act 3.2.91

Enter Iohn the Bastard.

Bastard My lord and brother, God saue you.
Prince Good den brother. [1280]
Bastard If your leisure seru'd, I would speake with you.
Prince In priuate?
Bastard If it please you, yet Count Claudio may heare, for
what I would speake of, concernes him.
Prince Whats the matter?
Bast. Meanes your Lordship to be married to morrow?
Prince You know he does.
Bast. I know not that, when he knowes what I know.
Claud. If there be any impediment, I pray you discouer it. [1290]
Bast. You may think I loue you not, let that appeare here-
after, and ayme better at me by that I now will manifest, for
my brother (I thinke, he holdes you well, and in dearenesse of
heart) hath holpe to effect your ensuing mariage: surely sute ill
spent, and labor ill bestowed.
Prince Why whats the matter?
Bast. I came hither to tel you, and circumstances shortned,
(for she has bin too long a talking of) the lady is disloyall.


2a. Core vs Non-Core words.



2b. 2 grammatical features that are different from PDE.


2c. Use of pronouns and addresses and the relationships between Prince, John and Claudio.



3a. Englishes has endured knocks but it has been able to survive, explain how and why this is so. (Using any one episode in the history of English)

Cannot finish this question. Only used 2/3 pages.

Re: Always A Fighter

I read this article in the Sunday Times today. It's a very inspiring story of a girl's fight against cancer. The point is that no matter what we set out to do, just don't give up hope.

Her blog can be accessed at here.



The Article is as follows:


Lifestyle - Hot
Always a fighter
Sandra Leong
3547 words
23 April 2006
Straits Times
English
(c) 2006 Singapore Press Holdings Limited
The story of a young ex-RGS student Joan Chan (left) battling the final stages of tongue cancer moved her alma mater so much, it raised $130,000 for her medical treatment
ON CHRISTMAS Day last year, a 19-year-old girl suffering from Stage IV tongue cancer moved many readers to tears by declaring to this paper: I will not go quietly into the night.
The exact words of Joan Chan were: 'I'm not going to let cancer have its way so easily. If I'm going down, I'm not leaving without a fight.'
Her one wish was to beat the debilitating condition and then attend university. A place at the National University of Singapore's architecture faculty was waiting, but study plans were derailed when cancer struck in 2004.
Today, the health of this spunky, doe-eyed former Raffles Girls' School (RGS) and Raffles Junior College (RJC) student has taken a turn for the worse.
The cancer, which has spread throughout her neck and face, has taken a life of its own. It has affected her spinal cord, and even holding her head up has become a challenge.
Friends, who keep vigil at her bedside in her four-room flat in Yishun, say the doctor has given Joan just 'a few weeks to three months more' to live.
In her last entry in her blog on March 22, the 20-year-old says plainly that options for treatment are 'limited'. She adds, with the lucidity of one whose fate is beyond control: 'I just want to say my dear friends, I am prepared for the worst.'
But the story of Joan Chan has also brought out the best in people.
After LifeStyle ran her story - together with that of two other young cancer sufferers - nearly 100 readers wrote in to ask if they could help in one way or another.
Some wanted to recommend alternative treatments; others simply wanted to tell her that things - bleak as they seemed - would work themselves out. One reader sent us a copy of a Buddhist scripture that she hoped would help Joan tide through trying times.
Then last month, when her alma mater RGS learnt that her condition had worsened, students, teachers and old girls of the school quietly rallied to raise funds for her.
The target was $36,000, but in a matter of weeks, $130,000 was amassed to help her parents - her father is a taxi-driver and her mother a former childcare teacher - meet hospital bills and other medical expenses.
Current students of the school who had never known Joan offered money from their own pockets and sold T-shirts to raise funds.
With help from Joan's friends, they set up a PowerPoint presentation to share her story in the hope of inspiring their peers to donate.
The fund-raising effort was carried out without fuss, fanfare or any request for media publicity. LifeStyle only learnt of it when we were doing this story.
Says RGS principal Deborah Tan: 'I told the girls 'once a Rafflesian, always a Rafflesian'. I saw Joan as one of our flock and that motivated us to do something.'
Cancer shocker
IN JUNE 2004, Joan, then in her second year in RJC, discovered an ulcer on her tongue. As her examinations were then nearing, she thought little of it until a hard lump the size of a marble appeared on her neck.
She was referred to a specialist in January last year, who told her that the ulcer was a cancerous tumour. The cancer was in Stage IV, one stage away from terminal cancer.
The news came as a shock to the active student, who was a member of the National Cadet Corps (NCC) in RGS and captain of her softball team in RJC.
Dr Ang Peng Tiam, a consultant medical oncologist in the private sector, says tongue cancer is fairly rare.
According to the Singapore Cancer Registry, there were 214 cases of tongue cancer here from 1998 to 2002. It is not among the top 10 cancers here.
Dr Ang says it occurs in people who often experience forms of irritation on their tongue.
Smokers or people with ill-fitting dentures, for instance, may be at risk. But tongue cancer also develops among those with no risk factors, adds Dr Ang.
'Very often, these turn out to be young female patients.' In such cases, the cancer often becomes 'very aggressive'.
What starts out as a chronic ulcer on the tongue may spread to other parts of the body like the lungs.
Once this happens, there is 'no chance of a cure', he says, but medication can control the disease.
Joan's case came to light when LifeStyle contacted the Singapore Cancer Society last year in search of young people who had overcome hardships and was given her name.
Because of her speech difficulties, she shared her story via e-mail, conscientiously answering every question we posed.
She also sent pictures of her room at home, where one wall had been adorned with a rainbow mural lovingly painted by her friends.
Three months after our story came out, we received an e-mail from Joan on March 15.
She told us that she was no longer responding to chemotherapy and the one hope left was a new cancer drug called Iressa.
Though we learnt subsequently that it later proved to have little effect on her, she had to take the pills - which cost $110.35 each - twice daily.
The cost of treatment came up to a huge burden of over $6,000 a month.
Her mother had quit her job to care for her and her father did not earn enough to cover expenses for both her and her 24-year-old brother.
'My family is now faced with a serious financial problem,' she wrote. 'I was just wondering if you know of any organisations that I can ask for sponsorship?'
We called the Old Rafflesians Association, which suggested that Joan's friends put together a fund-raising proposal.
Rallying around
BUT help was already on the way from old friends and her former school. In early March, RGS principal Mrs Tan got an e-mail from one of Joan's former classmates, NUS arts student Tan Li Ling.
Li Ling, who attended the same Secondary 1 and 2 classes as Joan, had read of her friend's plight in LifeStyle. The two had lost touch when Li Ling went to Anderson Junior College and Joan RJC.
She felt compelled to do something.
The first step was to contact some of Joan's former NCC platoon mates and, together, they sent an impassioned e-mail to Mrs Tan, asking if she could help in any way.
'We knew the school would help in some way, just how much we didn't know,' Li Ling says.
As it turned out, there was no cause for worry.
Led by the principal and teachers, the school's Student Leader Network - comprising about 40 prefects, class chairmen, house captains and heads of co-curricular activities (CCA) - rose to the occasion.
They targeted $36,000 to support Joan's treatment for six months and were floored by the eventual amount raised. 'We never expected to raise $130,000... the spontaneity of the effort was remarkable,' says Mrs Tan.
The amount, collected in just a month, makes the charity drive the largest ever organised for a single student, she adds.
Head prefect Nadiah Hashim Arrifin, 16, helped to rally the 1,800-strong student population behind Joan, a senior whom none of the girls had gone to school with.
Still, Nadiah says, 'we felt a certain affinity to her as she was a former RGS girl... That got our emotions riled up'.
A PowerPoint presentation, with photographs charting Joan's life in RGS and RJC to her frail condition now, was shown to the students during their respective hall assemblies. Each cohort was then given letters of appeal to take home to their parents.
Donations started pouring in. 'Some parents even called to ask if they could help by looking after Joan's Mum by taking her out,' says RGS teacher Lim Soh Khim.
Everyone got involved, with individual classes devising novel ways to raise funds.
Nadiah's Secondary 4 class, for instance, gathered all the loose change they had after recess time to be put into a kitty.
CCAs like the school band sold concert programme booklets to the public during their performances, says band major Loh Yun Yiing, 16.
Even non-teaching staff chipped in, selling muah chee and guava fruit during recess time.
But most touching was how some students stepped forward to initiate their own mini fund-raising projects.
At the ORA Walk-a-Jogathon and Rafflesian Family Day, an annual carnival event organised by RGS, Raffles Institution and RJC on April 8, a group of Secondary 3 girls designed special Rafflesian T-shirts to be sold for $10 each.
Says Mrs Tan of her students' initiative: 'The day after they approached us, they already had the T-shirt designs and pricing plans.'
Word spread via the Internet, with dozens of student blogs helping to publicise efforts. As a result, all 500 T-shirts at their booth were sold out.
Other RGS-run booths also pledged a portion of their profits to the Joan Chan fund.
With the target well surpassed, fund-raising activities stopped on April 17.
But the care hasn't. Almost every week, Mrs Tan, teachers and student leaders visit Joan's flat to cheer her up.
They deliver dozens of colourful posters and hand-written notes, all lovingly made by students to remind her that hope is still in sight, even when the frightening reality of her condition may seem otherwise.
Asked about Joan's grim prognosis, Mrs Tan says poignantly: 'I really feel for her and her Mum. She has so much zest, such a strong personality... I visited her yesterday and I can see the goodness in her.'
Close call
A HORRIBLE scare took place over the Easter holiday last week.
Recounting what happened, long-time friend and former NCC platoon mate Thong Peiqin, 20, says Joan was rushed to the hospital after complaining that she could not breathe.
'The doctor said she was going to go either on Saturday or Sunday.'
Joan's battle-weary mother gathered her friends and asked them to 'get a funeral photo and dress prepared'.
Peiqin, an NUS arts student, remembers going 'around the whole island to pick out a nice dress for her'.
They picked a flowery sundress for her final journey that, thankfully, was not yet to be.
Peiqin says, a heaviness to her voice: 'It was so surreal. I couldn't believe I was doing that for my friend.'
Because of her current condition, Joan's parents and her brother declined to be interviewed.
But last Friday, one of her friends, Cherylene Aw, 20, passed LifeStyle this message from Joan: 'I am touched by all the fund-raising efforts that have been carried out and am happy that so much money could be raised in such a short period of time.'
When Joan got news from the school that $130,000 had been raised, she flashed a 'V' for victory sign and said 'Yay, I've done something good today', recalls teacher Ms Lim.
She also told her friend Peiqin: 'If I have to stay on to suffer for a few more weeks to do this, I would.'
For now, it's the little things that count. Like spending time with friends and family. Or getting to celebrate her 20th birthday earlier this month.
Her friends visit every day, even rostering times to make sure she always has company.
Mood swings are inevitable, but 'she throws tantrums only in front of us and not in front of visitors', says Peiqin.
When depression hits, her friends are by her side encouraging her to 'let her frustrations out'.
The apparent finality of the situation does not escape her. Much of her time is spent 'lying in bed and waiting', says Peiqin.
Living legacy
THE next few weeks of her life may be fraught with uncertainty, but one thing is for sure: Her legacy will live on.
While some of the $130,000 raised will go towards paying off outstanding medical bills - the final amount is still not known - Joan has said that she wants the rest of the money to go to a fund set up in her name.
Though details have not been ironed out yet, the fund will help other young people suffering from critical illnesses, says Mrs Tan. A panel will be set up to decide how best to organise this.
In her interview with LifeStyle last December, Joan, a Catholic, said she would not die soon as God had plans for her.
'That day is not near yet because I believe He wants me to help other cancer patients with my experience, especially the young ones like children with cancer.'
With the fund, her vision has become a reality.
And she will not succumb without a fight.
'I will not give up till the very end and I hope I will be remembered in your hearts as a fighter always,' she says in her last blog entry.
That sundress may be ironed. But for now, Joan's not ready to put it on yet.
sandral@sph.com.sg
Send your comments to stlife@sph.com.sg
Web of courage and hope
In a frank and moving last entry in her blog, Joan Chan says she has not given up, while messages of support spread on the Internet
THIS is an excerpt of the last entry, dated March 22, from Joan Chan's blog ( onlyskindeep.blogspot.com ).
'Hey guys, this is just an update for all who want to know how I am now. I just talked to the doctor and I asked him to be totally honest with me about my condition.
Apparently there is a big patch of cancer cells on the left side and the back of my neck. It is impairing the blood flow from my face to the rest of the body that's why my face is swollen.
The nerves controlling my left hand start from the neck, that's why my left hand trembles and the finger tips are numb.
The cancer has eaten into the small bone near the left ear and it's blocking the tube that connects the ear to the neck. It is causing fluid to build up behind my ear drum.
This has resulted in tinnitus, which is this buzzing sound in my ear, and mild hearing loss in the left ear as well.
The cancer has also affected my spinal cord, causing one section to be loose, which is why I always have to hold my head as my spine can't support my head anymore.
To fix this problem, I have to wait till the cancer's gone then go for surgery again to fix it. I cannot be operated on as the operation would be too dangerous. Radiotherapy is out of the question as I just went through one cycle of it.
Therefore, my options are limited and I just want to say my dear friends, I am prepared for the worst. But I want to thank all of you for your love and care. I will not give up till the very end and I hope I will be remembered in your hearts as a fighter always.'
Excerpts from an article 'Confession of a teenager cancer patient' that Joan wrote on online undergraduate portal Funkygrad.com in mid-2005 before her condition took a turn for the worse.
'Imagine having to cope with cancer at 18? This is one lesson no one will ever learn in school but it turned out to be the lesson of my life....
I have always been a fighter. Whenever I have a problem, I do not whine about it nor do I cry. Instead, I think of the best way to tackle the problem and put the solution into action.
I am a firm believer of the notion that as long as I try hard enough, nothing is impossible.
All of a sudden, I felt anger in me. Why should I bow to cancer? Why should I be sad? At that moment, all I wanted was to fight. I wanted to punch the lump in my neck with my own bare fists. If cancer wants a fight, I will take it on any time, any day...
It all ended in April 2005. I officially turned from cancer patient to cancer survivor. Victory never tasted so sweet.
From now, I know I will only get better and better. I was finally going to get my life back... I can live to see my future, I can live to realise my dreams, I can smell the flowers, I can feel the cool wind on my face, I can see the faces of my loved ones. The fight was worthwhile. Every single moment of it.'
Word of Joan's plight spread via the Internet, with many RGS girls writing about her in their blogs. Here are some excerpts. From I'm The Next Best Superstar ( superficiality-.blogspot.com ) on April 1.
'Yesterday during assembly a few students gave a talk about Joan Chan Shu Fang.
She is an ex-RGS girl who went to RJC and then NUS but forced to quit school because she was diagnosed with cancer and it was the 4th stage, I think.
First they showed this picture of her before she had cancer and then towards the end of the presentation they showed another picture of her. She was bald and all that. It was really saddening.
She's so good at her studies, CCAs and everything and she got cancer... It will be like wasting her talents and intelligence if she can't pull through...
Her family's not very well-off so the school's appealing for donations. Wish her all the best. Mrs Tan said that if the whole school population donates $3 a month then it'll be enough. Well, I think donating $3 a month is all I can do.'
From My Friendship I'll Treasure For Sure on April 8 ( just-keep-sweeming-and-sweeming.blogspot.com ).
'Just wanted to share this story with all you pokies... there is this girl called Joan Chan Shu Fang.
She was an RGS and RJC girl... sadly, when she was 18 and about to take her A levels, she was diagnosed with tongue cancer, but she still took her A levels and got AABBC... and she managed to get into a course in NUS but she was forced to back out because of her condition.
Doctors say she has less than a year to live. But there is still some glimpse of hope. The doctors are going to try this new medicine called Iressa...
Her friends have appealed to RGS to help her through this turmoil... Like I said, once a Rafflesian, always a Rafflesian. We really hope this really successful young lady will pull through and help in the society. She's only 21 this year.
And lastly, jia you Shu Fang!! we're always behind you!'
I'm thinking long term now, says cancer girl Sham
SHAM Van Boonstra-Nasution, the 27-year-old Singaporean breast cancer patient featured in LifeStyle last December together with Joan Chan, is recovering well.
For the past few months, she has been undergoing a new clinical trial treatment in London to treat her condition - stage IIIB breast cancer, which is a stage away from stage IV where the cancer has spread to other organs.
On the phone from Sydney last Friday, she said: 'Everything is going well and I have got much better.'
She said she is reacting well to the treatment, which has stopped the spread of cancer.
By the end of the year, she hopes to be '100 per cent in remission'.
Born in Singapore, she and her family migrated to Sydney, Australia, in 1996. She studied at the University of New South Wales and was a gregarious and popular student leader who organised events and parties.
Rather than wallow in misery when she was diagnosed with cancer in May last year, she devoted her energy to raising funds for cancer research.
The last time she visited Singapore, she was spotted at the premiere of local film Singapore Dreaming on April 12.
Her striking good looks caught the eye of a photographer, who captured her smiling radiantly.
She said that for now, she needs to get back to work to pay for her next round of treatments later this year.
The owner of her own business consultancy, she has a three-month project awaiting her attention in Kuala Lumpur, where she will be moving to this month.
'The last time I spoke to you, I wasn't making any plans for the future. Now I live every day like I'm not sick anymore.'
Sounding contented, she added: 'Now, I'm thinking much longer term.'
Sandra Leong
Document STIMES0020060422e24n0000r

Final Exam Paper 2

Today's paper is certainly interesting. The first question focuses on the concept of remediation itself.

Here's a website devoted to explaining this issue:

"The Self-Perpetuating Vicious Circle of Media Chasing Reality Chasing Media"By Nell Farrell

Remediation: Understanding New Media
By Jay David Bolter and Richard Grusin The MIT Press, 1999

http://www.zonezero.com/magazine/articles/nell/remediation.html

The 2nd question is on Tomb Raider, how it caters to both male and female audiences in order to make this game a bestseller.

Final Exam Paper 1

One of the most important advice that was given to me by a lecturer during the 2nd semester of last year was that first impression always counts. Today, I apply that into the exam. I hope that it can help in some way.

The Pressures of Our Society

Just some comments on this article in Straits Times today. Why did the student kill himself over such a matter? This issue shows that people are very sensitive to issues that affect their self-esteem. Coupled with the pressures that society enforced upon people, and also the misinformation that information technology(internet) provides to people, those people that cannot conform, can only resort to such an action.

Singapore
JC student kills himself, convinced his private parts were too small
Stephanie Yap
800 words
19 April 2006
Straits Times
English
(c) 2006 Singapore Press Holdings Limited
Suicide highlights importance of sex education in schools, sayscoroner
HE WAS a second-year student at a top junior college, a member of
the school volleyball team, a 'cheerful and energetic' boy who was
doing well enough in his studies to take Special Papers.
Yet on March 3 this year, the 18-year-old jumped to his death from
a Bedok housing block, because he was convinced his private parts
were too small.
Delivering a verdict of suicide yesterday, State Coroner Tan Boon
Heng was sufficiently concerned by this 'tragedy of
misinformation' to recommend that the case be forwarded to the
Ministry of Education (MOE).
'The importance of sex education to our young people in schools
cannot be over- emphasised,' he wrote.
'The case study is useful for relevant MOE officers to appreciate
the problem of the severity of misinformation even among the best
and brightest in our schools.'
The boy, who cannot be named, had confided in his mother in
October last year that he was worried his private parts were too
small.
She took him to a neighbourhood clinic, where the doctor told him
his penis was of a normal size for an Asian man, and prescribed
him multivitamins.
Despite strong emotional support from his girlfriend and his
mother, he remained convinced he had a problem. He also had a
history of being stressed over schoolwork.
In January this year, he told his mother that his life was 'boring
and meaningless' and that the only thing stopping him from suicide
was his family's love.
On March 3, after his usual volleyball practice, he took a bus
from school to the Bedok interchange, but did not take his usual
connecting bus home. When his sister sent him a text message at
around 7pm to ask if he was coming home for dinner, he replied
that he would eat out.
The next and final message she received from him was at 8pm,
telling her and their mother to take care.
They realised something was wrong, but he repeatedly failed to
answer his phone.
He jumped from a housing block near the Bedok bus interchange at
around 8.30pm.
He was semi-conscious when he was taken to Changi General
Hospital, but was pronounced dead at 10.40pm from multiple
injuries.
In his suicide note, written in a notebook he had bought 40
minutes before his death, he apologised to his girlfriend and his
family for killing himself.
'He said it was not due to the stress of his examination, but it
was more about his physical development...He still knew there was
something wrong with his body parts,' the investigation report
said.
In his judgment, State Coroner Tan said the boy's death showed
that even intelligent young people can be victims of
misinformation.
'While we are the beneficiaries of this Internet age that hails an
era of information and knowledge enriching our lives, the
less-informed also become victims to junk information and worse,
untruths,' he said.
'The deceased was so tormented by his unfounded (belief in his)
inadequacy that it drove him to end his life.'
The case highlighted the importance of sexuality education, both
in and out of school, he said.
'It may have helped if the deceased had the benefit of counselling
now widely available. If parents are aware of their children being
tormented in this way, they should seek professional help lest
such tragic deaths should happen again.'
Sex education, usually termed sexuality education, usually takes
the form of a short series of lessons.
One secondary school teacher with five years' experience told The
Straits Times that at his school, sex education covers three
periods a week for three weeks.
Students write reflection logs on topics like boy-girl
relationships, different levels of intimacy, as well as legal
issues.
However, he said teaching students how to be comfortable with
their physical and sexual development is not in the syllabus.
'But this is something that should be looked into because it is
definitely part of the students' development,' he said.
ADDITIONAL REPORTING BY LIAW WY-CIN
ysteph@sph.com.sg
Getting help
FOR help, you can contact:
Samaritans of Singapore: 1800-221-4444
Seniors Helpline: 1800-555-5555
SOS Befrienders E-mail Service: pat@samaritans.org.sg
Singapore Association for Mental Health hotline: 1800-283-7019;
www.samhealth.org.sg
Family Service Centre: 1800-838-0100
Care Corner Mandarin Counselling Centre: 1800-353-5800
Touchline (Touch Youth Service): 1800-377-2252
Institute of Mental Health Community Addictions Management
Programme: 6389-2387/89; camp@imh.com.sg
Credit Counselling Singapore: 1800-225-5227, Monday to Friday, 9am
to 6pm
Tinkle Friend: Children can call 1800-274-4788 on weekdays

What Is Life?

Sometimes, I just wonder what is life for. Life seems so meaningless. It's just like living in a cage. Besides studying, there is no other life than that. What is the use of studying? What is the purpose of life? What is the use of gaining knowledge if in the end, we are still living under the ideology of the powerful.

Where are friends? Friends that are true, and not friends that only use you for a purpose, or only to share a common interest.

What is this world? It's a world where only the powerful can survive, all other people are just slaves to them. What is the use of saying that you want to help the poor? It's just a fake way of pacifying the people. What is the use of staying in that powerful position if only to serve your own purposes. This is a selfish world where only the fittest survive and the weak perishes.

Our Future Is In Their Hands

While doing the readings for the finals, I find this article very interesting because it provokes me to critically assess our technoculture society.

- Robins & Webster: "Prospects of a Virtual Culture." In: Times of the Technoculture. From the information society to the virtual life.

In this article, it is said that capitalists are engineering our future and financing it into existence. They promised to give us a future using information technology, but what they want is actually to ensure our compliance in their schemes. It is Microsoft emperor's virtual new clothes. Technologies change, but society stands still. What capitalists find exciting are the vast commercial possibilities inherent in a new technological product - the internet or digital broadcasting or virtual reality games. Change is really the last thing they want. They want a future that just perpetuates the past. What they express is the drive to subjugate more and more elements of social life to a logic of rationality and control. This has made the world a more closed and diminished space - a space of constriction and even incarceration. The information society is obsessed with the future, but the future is merely the endless continuation of the present. It just manifests the desire of those in power to control and secure the future for themselves. Information society in fact works to foreclose the real productive possibilities inherent in the future - the capitalist enclosure of the future.

Therefore our postmodern society will just reflect the notions of Western society:

1. Captalism - The characteristic and obsession with spending money in order to consume products. (consumerism)

2. Cartesianism or the notion of transcendence - Western's concept of the mind that is valued over the body. This concept is superimposed onto information technology, making more products that appeal more to our experiences, then to physical needs. Hence, the creation of the hyperreal - empty signifiers that connotate several irrelevant concepts that correlate with capitalism and consumerism such as MTVs, pop idols, fast foods, etc.

We Are Merely Pawns In The Larger Scheme of The Powers of the World

Quoting From the famous play by Shakespeare "As You Like It"

Act II, Scene 7 features one of Shakespeare's greatest monologues, which begins:

"All the world's a stage
And all the men and women merely players;
They have their exits and their entrances,
And one man in his time plays many parts,
His acts being seven ages..."

This famous soliloquy is spoken by the melancholy Jaques. Comparing life to a play, it goes on to catalogue the seven stages of man's life: infant, school-boy, lover, soldier, justice, pantaloon, and second childhood, "sans teeth, sans eyes, sans taste, sans everything".

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/As_You_Like_It

I just want to say that we could just be the helpless pawns of the powerful who control us in this world. The large amounts of extent that they are able to influence our thoughts, actions, behaviours and also economic behaviour.

In this postmodern society that we exist in, where television and constructed images pervades our lifestyle, all the world's a computerised stage. Remediation of images, that copies image from another image that eliminates the idea of which source that the image originates from (or simply that this images are merely constructed according to the point of view of those in power), homogenises society, making them easier to control by the powerful. As similar to Agent Smith in Matrix Reloaded and Matrix Revolutions, the copying of Smiths onto everyone else in the Matrix world, homogenises every thoughts of the humans plugged into the Matrix, making them conform to the overall ideological system of the dominant powers or the powerful at play.

Take for example beauty ads, it comes to show woman that they must beautify themselves, and be slim and sexy, in order to be able to exist in our society. Those woman that deviates from this rule, will be either not be looked at with equal respect by others, or else, they will become a social outcast. This media constructed image of the ideal woman, is actually ideologically, because firstly, it is considered a marketing ploy to promote beauty products, in order to earn money for capitalism when woman buys the products, and secondly it may actually be used as gratification for guys. The male gaze which is a concept that woman are beautiful just to satisfy the innate desires of men. Again, this is a construction imposed on woman from the overaching perspectives by the powers( patriarchical) existing in our society. A construction is created in order to constrain and restrain women, in order to make them subordinate in relation to the more powerful people who are in charge of our society, which determines their overall social conduct. This is also an overarching construction, because women plays into it, not aware that it is actually a "prison" for them.


Below is some interesting read that I found at the website:

http://www.avolites.org.uk/jokes/male-rules.htm
http://www.kappa-psi.org/webmaster/mensrules.htm

Rules from the male side (No offence intended):

GIRLS OUT THERE.. PLS READ THIS!
We always hear "the rules" from the female side.
Now here are the Rules from the male side.
These are our rules: - THEY ARE ALLTHE "ONE" GOLDEN RULES...

1. Br*asts are for looking at and that is why we doit. (a,*,i,o,u)Don't try to change that.

2. Learn to work the toilet seat. You're a big girl. If it's up, put it down. We need it up, you need itdown. You don't hear us complaining about youleaving it down.

3. Saturday = sports. It's like the full moon or thechanging of the tides. Let it be.

4. Shopping is NOT a sport. And no, we are nevergoing to think of it that way.

5. Crying is blackmail.

6. Ask for what you want. Let us be clear on thisone: Subtle hints do not work! Strong hints do notwork! Obvious hints do not work! Just say it!

7. Yes and No are perfectly acceptable answers ..to almost every question.

8. Come to us with a problem only if you want helpsolving it. That's wha we do. Sympathy is whatyour girlfriends are for.

9. A headache that lasts for 17 months is a problem. See a doctor.

10. Anything we said 6 months ago isinadmissible in an argument. In fact, all commentsbecome null and void after 7 days.

11. If you think you're fat, you probably are. Don'task us.

12. If something we said can be interpreted twoways, and if one of the ways makes you sad orangry, we meant the other one.

13. You can either ask us to do something or tellus how you want it done. Not both. If you alreadyknow best how to do it, just do it yourself.

14. Whenever possible, please say whatever youhave to.. say during commercials.

15. Christopher Columbus did not need directionsand neither do we.

16. ALL men see in only 16 colours, like Windows default settings. Peach, for example, is a fruit, nota colour. Pumpkin is also a fruit. We have no ideawhat Mauve is.

17. If it itces, it will be scratched. We do that.IBS=Itchy Balls Syndrome is common among allmales. With the exception of batty boys cos it'suncool haha

18. If we ask what is wrong and you say "nothing,"we will act like nothing's wrong. We know you arelying, but it is just not worth the hassle.

19. If you ask a question you don't want an answerto, expect an answer you don't want to hear <--yeah! don't get pissed when you asked for theanswer

20. When we have to go somewhere, absolutelyanything you wear is fine. Really.

21. Don't ask us what we're thinking about unlessyou are prepared to discuss such topics as Sex,Sport, or Cars.

22. You have enough clothes.

23. You have too many shoes.

24. I am in shape. Round is a shape.

Thank you for reading this

Effort Does not Equate to Rewards?

This is a very enlightening argument that I found in an article by Nicolas Yee while reading up in preparation for writing a project. The article is A New Disorder is Born and the full article can be accessed at here:
http://www.nickyee.com/daedalus/archives/001494.php

"After 6 years of fairy tales and then 16 years of school, we are then exposed to the real world. In the real world, goals are seldom well-defined, More importantly, the amount of effort you put into something isn’t guaranteed to get you any closer to your goal. Sometimes, you put in very little effort and hit the jackpot. Other times, you work week after week to get an incredibly small payoff. One of the disillusions of being an adult is that the framework of goals and rewards we learned the first 22 years of our lives suddenly stops working."

I think this is rather true. For example, some people can get to a certain positions by pulling strings, or just by their charismatic outer appearance, etc. What do you think? In a sense, this just comes to show that our world is an unequal place and the meaning of meritocracy is just an illusion to bind the unprevileged to their original positions.

Bigs Bunny (Monster Rabbit??)

Caught this interesting giant rabbit photo. Read more about the story here.

Unsettling the Military Entertainment Complex

I like this article. It talks about how video games can actually be propaganistic tools of the powerful, in order to elicit ideological consent in order to legitimize their actions in the real world.

Video games and war: Discussing propaganda and pedagogy

While I use video games in general to introduce students to a spectrum of concepts and issues, from minstrelsy and cultural appropriation to patriarchy and ideological production, the most effective pedagogical introduction to the militarization of American society has come through discussion of war games. Given the historical moment of 2002-2004-when war was at the center of the national consciousness and where support for foreign policy merged with entertainment in a number of media-it seems prudent to provide tools toward understanding the images, ideology, and meaning of video war games. In the classroom, it is especially apparent how powerful these games can be in promoting an ethos of militarization. I use class time to allow some students to play these games, and I make other students critically analyze what happens to their peers as they play the games. As students scream at their enemies and shout racially tinged epithets that serve to perpetuate ugly stereotypes-and as all things military are adored, glorified, and revered-the classroom becomes a fishbowl where one can see how racial, gender, and national identities are created and reinforced against a backdrop of Manichean violence and Social Darwinism. [12]
Paralleling the shift in American foreign policy from containment and reaction to pre-emptive war, the video game industry has shown its patriotic support with the release of numerous war games. While commentators cite a post-September 11th climate as the basis of widespread support for the U.S. military, it is important to underscore the many ways in which the state garners support for the military. In discussing video games or the role of the military in contemporary American society, students can be led to think about the ideological implications of patriotic support. Whether talking about national holidays or military hardware on display during the Super Bowl, the classroom can be a forum for conversations about the interconnections among foreign policy, popular culture, and patriotism. Video war games reflect a powerful medium to explore the ways in which images elicit consent for the U.S. military. [13]
Games such as Desert Storm and America's Army allow their players not only to become soldiers from the safety of their own homes, but also provide exposure to the technological marvels of the U.S. military. Players pilot a Huey helicopter in Desert Storm or use an Uzi in America's Army. In effect, these games are venues for displaying the technological marvels of military hardware. But we also come away from these games with the sense that our tax dollars have been used productively and wisely to buy the technologically sophisticated military hardware on display-hardware that we, moreover, have been allowed to use. For all intents and purposes, Desert Storm and America's Army exist as virtual advertisements for the present and future glory of the U.S. Armed Forces. [14]
One of the most popular war games is Operation Desert Storm, a game that retells the story of the Gulf War. You are John Conyers, a Rambo-type white infantryman and lone wolf beset with the task of winning the war on your own. As the game progresses, three other soldiers join you (two white and one black); all four players form a small unit that battles the entire Iraqi army. This game allows players to feel as if they were "defending the country" and enables them "to get out frustrations" (Napoli, 2003). The power in this game is not solely in the ability of its players to occupy and conquer foreign lands, in the ability to transpose one's real fears into historically-based combat, or in the virtual ability "to cause mass carnage on a grand scale . . . through a carpet bombing" (Stallabras, 1993). Rather, it lies in the promotion of war as a legitimate industry whose product is national safety and security. In addition to being fun, war is also portrayed as being safe. In Conflict Desert Storm, death is presented as bloodless: you are able to heal yourself and others from virtually any wound. Moreover, the killing of Iraqi soldiers generates very little blood. While others may commend the game for its child-friendly images and the lack of graphic detail, the bloodlessness contributes to an increasing acceptance of war. Within this virtual world, you have the potential to die and kill others without having to face the graphic realities of war. [15]

Stereotypes and war

Racial stereotypes are an intrinsic part of video war games. Whether examining first-person shooters, urban-centered games, or sports games, stereotypical ideas about race abound. War games such as Desert Storm, America's Army, and Splinter Cell portray Arab-Americans as savages, uncivilized warriors, and terrorists. In a very real way, war games construct racialized meaning, thereby providing ideological sanction for America's War on Terror and its aggression in the Middle East. Accordingly, they can serve, in the classroom, as the basis for conversations about the haunting presence of stereotypes in American society. I begin class by listing a series of racial, national or gendered categories, asking students to write down the sources or bases of such stereotypes. I then have students play a series of war games, ask them to list and describe any stereotypes that may be present, and then link these stereotypes to larger ideological projects such as U.S. foreign policy in the Middle East and imperialism, broadly conceived. Not only does this lead to a discussion of why many of them enjoy killing Arabs in the virtual war game world, it also allows students to understand how stereotypical portrayals of national and ethnic groups were instrumental in their decision to support specific governmental policies or actions. Video war games force students to connect ideologies and institutions, images and material reality. Although war may seem harmless on the computer screen, this very harmlessness ironically elicits consent for U.S. foreign policy. [16]
Another central component of the war genre of video games is their presentation of civilians. Civilians are almost completely absent from these games, and only opposing soldiers can be killed by video game players. In general, Conflict Desert Storm portrays Iraq, Kuwait, and Saudi Arabia as countries without people. In this way, the allied war effort is shown not to hurt civilians. American foreign policy is thus portrayed as benign. As part of a pedagogy of peace, I pair these games with more critical glimpses at war, such as documentaries and articles that elucidate the social, cultural, familial, and personal impact of war. Games represent a powerful pedagogical tool in which students can be brought to think about their own imagination of war, its effects around the globe, and the effects of those views on their support for U.S. foreign policy. [17]
As Americans blame Saddam Hussain for 9-11 and forget the legacies of Vietnam, war becomes more and more viable and desirable as a means to conflict resolution. As either decontextualized virtual warfare or propaganda that paint the United States as a savior without blemishes, video games contribute to a historical myopia legitimizing colonial endeavors. Conflict Desert Storm is an attempt to rewrite history in very specific ways. For example, despite the fact that militaries from around the world, including many from Arab nations, participated in the Gulf War, the game chronicles the war as if it was a battle between American/British forces and Iraqi soldiers. The only choice for players is either to become a member the U.S. or British military. No Kuwait, Saudi Arabia or Turkey! Call to Duty and Medal of Honor, both of which allow players to return to World War II, also fall into a similar trap of erasure. In these two games, black soldiers are completely missing. Selective memory of this kind reinforces hegemonic ideas about western dominance, emphasizing white/western/non-Arab participation. White people are presented as praiseworthy fighters and heroes; blacks are simply missing in action. I like to compare these video war games with pictures and statistical tables that show all-black regiments in World War II and integrated Marine units of today. Again, the classroom becomes a powerful corrective space that inspires critical thought about virtual propaganda. [18]

Transformative knowledge and virtual reality: Teaching to transgress

Through their presentation of Arabs as uncivilized savages and terrorists, their glorification of the military, and their downplaying of the physical, environmental, and economic harm of war, video war games elicit consent for U.S. domestic and foreign policy. Antonio Gramsci's ideas are useful here. Gramsci argued that, as ruling groups attempt to consolidate power, "they must elaborate and maintain a popular system of ideas and practices, which he called 'common sense,'" ultimately garnering consent for their rule (Omi & Winant, 1994, p. 67). Video war games, in disseminating an image of war as bloodless play, consolidate an ethos of militarization under the guise of the "common sense" notion that American safety and security is of paramount importance. [19]
In Fugitive Cultures: Race, Violence, and Youth, Henry Giroux (1996) argues that, in a discourse of critical pedagogy, "images do not dissolve reality into another text: on the contrary, representations become central to revealing the structures of power at work in schools, in society, and in the larger global order" (p. 53). The power of popular culture-in this case, video war games-resides in its dominance of representation and its regulation of meanings. Our pedagogy therefore has to clarify these underlying relationships and hidden agendas. As virtual culture becomes a central source of information about the world for students, it is more important than ever that they clearly grasp the ways in which video war games construct images of race, nationality, and military prowess. As Turse (2003) observes, "We need to start analyzing the efforts of blurring the lines between war and entertainment. With more and more 'toys' that double as combat teaching tools, we are subjecting youth to a new powerful form of propaganda! This is less a matter of simple military indoctrination than near immersion in a virtual world of war where armed conflict is not the last, but the first - and indeed the only - resort. The new military-entertainment complex's games may help to produce great battlefield decision-makers, but they strike from debate the most crucial decisions young people can make in regard to the morality of a war - choosing whether or not to fight and for what cause." [20]
Cultural critics are not alone in noting the psychological and cultural impact of war games. Lieutenant Colonel David Grossman, a former Army psychologist, spoke of the way in which he used games to teach military personnel how to kill without hesitation, remorse, or fear. Because "blood, gore and emotions" are erased from such games, soldiers view life as a game and can thus be convinced to kill more readily. "We are teaching children to associate pleasure with human death and suffering. We are rewarding them for killing people. And we are teaching them to like it" (20/20, March 20, 2000). The development and utilization of video war games by the U.S. military is a testament to the pedagogical implications of war games. As games teach soldiers to kill and citizens to support murder without remorse, concerned educators must find ways to offer counter-arguments to a prevailing ethos of American hegemony, the militarization of everyday life, and the all-pervasive rhetoric of warfare. A pedagogy of peace that deconstructs the ideologies behind the images of video war games is one place to begin to find necessary counter-arguments. [21]

The entire article can be accessed at :

http://www.utpjournals.com/jour.ihtml?lp=simile/issue16/leonardfulltext.html

Super Mario Kill Bill

As per title, the fight scene between the bride and Gogo, superimposed with Super Mario background music.

One Sad And One Cute Ad

These are the ads that were shown in today's seminar class.



This ad is cute, because all the cute girls all have "male" voices due to the loss of their voice at the shouting and cheering in the stadium.



This ad is sad, because the dog's girlfriend has been raped by another dog. And he witness the scene, after he is bringing back food for her. The dog is so sad that he runs off and wants to be run over by a car.



An OSIM igallop ad with more explicit lewd references to the metaphor of sex. Look at how the models in the ad move their bodies.



A less and more neutral ad that connects the igallop to horseriding, over the lewd references.

Evolution of Lara Croft(Brainstorming)

While searching for information on writing for my gaming essay, I found this interesting image which shows the evolution of Lara Croft as the game sequels are released. What is the implication of this evolution? For one thing, what I'm thinking is that this is just the improvement of computing technologies that improve the visual image of the objects and characters created in the games. These only serves to increase the realism of 3D gaming experience, and adds to the immersive experience in gaming. But not necessarily as a result of feminist progress in succeeding to downplay the exaggerated features of feministic representations in games.