Seriously...

Bobo went to Lao Zha Bor's blog (loosely translated as Old Woman's Blog) and read her Saddest Day entry.

"Life is meaningless if I haven't start acting. Thanks to "Just Follow Law", I met a group of kind young souls who taught me how to blog. I finally found something I wanted to do besides acting! I am lucky enough to have a high viewership of my blog and that gives me the strength to continue doing it! I just want to spend my remaining days in a different way. I don't want to sit at home and wait to die. Is it wrong to do so? Am I not suppose to learn new things and live a younger way?

I wonder how her mum feels about her daughter abusing a senior citizen (and a lot of other people). I'm sad because she is not being taught well. It must be her growing up environment. She may have been abused by someone at young age or she is psychologically sick. She loves using words to abuse people to get thrilled. It's just like the serial killers. They kill and enjoy seeing their victims in pain.

I really pity her because it's not her fault. There must be something wrong with our Singapore educational systems. Are we giving our young generation that is too much for them to bare? Do we still teach morality at school?"

And some of the nasty comments in reply to her entry above...

"

Anonymous said...

okay, you can reject this comment (well i'm super sure you will anyway.. well that would probably mean you're guilty too. HAHA) so anyway, i feel that your blog is really disgusting. okay, like, you're SO OLD already still trying to act cute. i was laughing with my sis when we first saw ur blog. GOSH. i agree with xiaxue. (she's not good herself either though) seriously, you should be the one getting a LIFE. fancy trying to act young and all that your age. surely you know your own limits? LOL. geez. and it's not that we don't have morals now. it's just that certain pple (example, you) are really just so disgusting and annoying we have no choice but to express our thoughts about annoying (act cute) ppl.. besides, you're just an old ah soh la. go play with your grandchildren or smth. or probably they don't even want you to be near them.HAHAHA. luckily my grandma is not like you. you're just like an old ah lian anyway.
GROW UP MAN AUNTIE! tsk. BYE :D
i'm challenging u to accept this comment. but of course... why would a coward like you do that? :D"

"

Anonymous said...

don't act innocent and sweet la. ban zhu chi lao hu. whatever said bout xia xue she may be, but you are no any way better you know it yourself."

But amongst all that there of course nice ones too. You can see them here

Honestly? Bobo first started reading blogs becos of Xiaxue. The first few were definitely interesting and very intriguing. Then came all the controversial ones where she was talking about everyone from old people to handicapped people. Then Bobo started to visit less only visiting when XX appears in the newspaper for something juicy. When she wrote the recent post on 7 most disgusting people (no link sorry.) , it was Bobo's colleague who told her about it.

Bobo was quite taken aback when she saw that Xiaxue had chosen Lao Zhar Bor as one of her targets this time. Xiaxue also listed herself (which is undeniable). But LZB?

It's true that an elderly woman's body is not as attractive as a twenty-year old but Bobo's pretty sure that at some point or another you've seen very unattractive bodies being flashed around. (including the shooter herself in this case) If one wants to "show off" her body... why not? Just don't go and see? It's her right to show and yours to avoid seeing. It's pretty easy to stop visiting a blog isn't it? It isn't like someone parading in front of you at the swimming pool, in which case you can just leave the pool if it disgusts you so much. Why would one continually subject herself/himself to visual torture by repeatedly viewing what he/she deems to be disgusting?
It's absurd.

Secondly, Bobo wasn't informed that there was an age limit on playing pool and taking Neoprints. No doubt, it's mostly youngsters doing such things but why can't elderly people do it? What's wrong? Especially if it's not a health hazard to them Bobo'd say DO IT. Keeping themselves up to date with fashionable things/events/happenings keeps them sharp. Personally Bobo hoped that her parents could blog and experience such things too so that they would not have to watch mindless TV whenever they're not out with their friends. At least blogging and all these internet surfing etc keeps the mind sharp and it helps prevent them from being senile. A little like Mahjong really. As long as they're not highly addicted to it, Bobo thinks that they should teach elderly people to blog at the community centres or something. Actually they do but the course fees are quite high and the course is usually cancelled due to poor participation (which is essentially due to poor publicity and the perception that elderly and technology do not mix.)

Except Xiaxue herself and few others, unpleasant people seem to like to hide. All the mean comments were written by people who are anonymous and/or don't provide links back to their own pages.

Aside from all this, Bobo thinks that being disgusting and rude to other people seems to drive traffic to their blogs. heh. :) Maybe it's a strategy one should start adopting.

---------------------------------------------------------------

On another note, also related to LZB's post but unrelated to the topic above....

"I really pity her because it's not her fault. There must be something wrong with our Singapore educational systems. Are we giving our young generation that is too much for them to bare? Do we still teach morality at school?"

This is quite a common perception amongst many in the society these days. You can hear this in most kopitiams or Condo BBQs when people gather and such. Children in Singapore formally attend school in Primary 1, when they are about six. Pre school is not compulsory and many do not have formal lessons where they try to bring the message of morality across. Moreover, They do not have formal group assignments where children have to work together. Most of the time if children don't get along with the other children they are left unchecked and can happily complete whatever it is on their own. By the time they reach Primary 1, they would have a mental image of how they are to behave, thanks to the home environment and whatever environment they have been immersed in. To undo this image is difficult. To undo this image while still trying to complete the syllabus within a small time frame is virtually impossible.

To say that there is nothing wrong with the education system would be inaccurate (NOTE: not "incorrect"). In this system, the children are taught according to what they would be tested and not tested according to what they are taught. Thus, when a "higher order thinking" question (a question similiar to those found in IQ tests for example) is in the PSLE, the pupils would break down and cry, many parents would complain and some would write to the press. Thus having a visual image of what may be tested in years to come sends schools in a mini frenzy cramming whatever the hell they can find into what little time they have in the classroom. This lessens the time to explicitly bring the message across.

Nonetheless, through social interaction and classroom activities, there are still opportunities for teachers to squeeze in mini moral-ed lessons. Take this little example...

Kid 1: *sobbing* Teacher nobody want to lend me colour pencil.
Teacher: Children, we must learn to share. *approaches one pupil* we must learn to share our things with our friends ok?
Kid 2: *nods and offers Kid 1 her colour pencils*
Teacher: *directed at Kid 1* You must take care of your friend's things okay?
Kid 1: *nods*

Upon reaching home, Mother notices that a few colour pencils were missing from Kid 2's box.
Mother: *quite sternly* What happened to your new box of colour pencils?
Kid 2: *innocently* I lent some to my friend.
(note: she may not know where the colour pencils are, they may be lying on the classroom floor)
Mother: NExt time don't lend!

This is just one example but with 30-40 pupils in a class and so many lessons in a week, can you imagine how often this happens? Not just to colour pencils but it could be anything from a book to a playful push in the playground during recess. When the message in school does not coincide with the one at home, children get confused. And it's hard to put the blame on anyone as everyone comes from a different background.

To the parent, it does seem right that if a particular pupil keeps losing her child's things, her child should not lend that child anymore, especially since no one really knows if it were on purpose.

To the teacher, she's trying to teach social cohesiveness by asking everyone to care and share.

To the child, she tells it as she remembers it, not knowing that her innocence leads to a false interpretation of matters. If the child can say "I did lend some to my friend but I do think she returned them to me. It's probable that the ones missing may have dropped out when I was packing my bag as the box is slightly damaged and we were in a great hurry. I will check when I'm back in school tomorrow." If he/she can say this, he/she should be on Saturday Night Live or something. No matter what age they are they can't tell the story as it is. Not even adults can express themselves the way they wish to, often bringing the wrong message across.

Also if you count the number of hours which the pupils spend in school and the ones they spend out of school, which is more? So the responsibility of moral teaching lies with?

And likewise, Bobo might not be bringing the right message across now.
The message is:

Be Understanding. The blame cannot lie on one person or factor alone. When something goes wrong, there are a number of factors. Solve the problem by working on those which can be helped.

So don't just blame the school or the education system.

---------------------------------------------------------

On the lighter side, see Steven Lim's response to being on XX's top 7 list...