Straits Times on the News Again

The Straits Times has managed to get itself on the news again. The recent cases where they labelled thousands of schoolgirls in Singapore as “easy” and insisted on revealing the retirement of the CEO of some government linked organisation makes it seem like they have nothing left to write about and are making news up.

You can argue that’s all the Straits Times have been doing but they usually make things up at the request of the government, not against their paymasters. These two incidents seem to suggest that things are changing there.

Maybe it’s because they are losing readers and have no good writers anymore. The solution to this, to report the truth and keep the increasingly well-educated readers and journalists with souls, is blindingly obvious but obviously could not be done with their current masters. Since the last time they raked in money was from a lawsuit, they seem to think that libel was the way to sell newspapers. Pardon me when I say this because I seriously doubt that the courts would actually allow anyone to suggest that Singapore’s ministries run schools that turn girls into whores, even if, and I do not think this is the case, that it is true. We all know how the legal system here works. The editor would probably burn in hell for the balsphemous statements about Catholic schools but then again he’s probably headed for it anyway.

If that was misguided, the other step they chose was simply stupid. First off, I seriously do not think anyone would care about the CEO whose name I can’t remember wanting to retire. Going against the wishes of a CEO who blogs to write about something no one really cares about, is plain stupid. That’s how you tell the whole world about your lack of journalistic integrity and get nothing out of it. The issue on IJ girls might have attracted some readers but the only news here is about Straits Times. It screams to me saying Straits Times has no news left to write about because all the real and interesting stuff has been censored. Seriously, is 2 weeks too long to wait?

If the Straits times wants to keep its readers it has to wake up and smell the broadband connection. Without giving accurate news and good analysis, they would just send their readers to bloggers. Surely that’s not how you are going to brainwash future generations now is it?

Busy Busy

I’m really so very sorry for neglecting this blog for so long. I’ve been really busy. It’s been seven weeks (yes I counted) since I really went out to enjoy myself as well so you are not alone. This is all for the greater good, I hope anyway, as I will be able to critique from a different angle. I shall attempt to write something that will be enjoyable for all of us. Let me tell you a little about my life now.

I’m living in a dormitary where social interaction has been plentiful and has stopped my from referring to myself as thid person. Of course, another effect is that I’ve been pretty shut off from the rest of Singapore. This has been detox for my mind. My primary source of news has been Reuters and the BBC so you can imagine my surprise when I picked up the Straits Times the other day. It’s really hard to imagine how they spin pages and pages of propaganda saying how everyone loves us when the rest of the world is talking about the the ban on protests for this year’s IMF gathering here. This topic has been discussed to death though so let’s get back to me.

As you have probably guessed, I’ve been up to my eyes in work. That’s a heck of a way to shut me up I guess, and it’s actually pretty satisfying, but I will not stay quiet. Enough about my work, I will have to get back to it as soon as I finish this so I really do need my break. Let’s talk about the people who have been driving me nuts with their endless nagging about getting a girlfriend. Pardon me but I’ve just moved into a new environment and I really want to do well, I’m not really receptive to new challenges especially when it will not directly contribute to my networth in the next few years. I did not call myself The Capitalist Infidel for nothing you know. And in any case, is it that unreasonable to be quiet on this particular front for now when there really isn’t anyone who suits me? And why must the rumour mongers link me to different girls? I’m not even interested in playing the field. Stop messing with my head.

Enough about girls. Lets talk about project teams. I’ve haven’t exactly had the best of luck with my teams. Some are good but some have been horrible. The Capitalist Infidel does not like whiners. It really doesn’t help when we are stuck and people spend the time whining and complaining about how things are unfair. I know this sounds like what i’m doing now but hey, I’m not talking about how things are unfair I’m talking about how pissed I am about things like this. However, Kudos to me for jumping out of a potentially disasterous team earlier this week. I can’t release details, however, as there is a chance that one of them may end up reading this article but I can scarcely contain my glee. Humour me.

And finally, I will be having a week’s break soon. It’s just a break from lessons but I’ll probably have time to write a bit more, and maybe even have the luxury of going for coffee again. Let’s hope I get lucky.