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[h=2]Netizens lampoon PM Lee’s comment on the Internet[/h]
August 25th, 2014 |
Author: Editorial
The TRE editorial, “PM
Lee: Internet has led to divisions in society“, has drawn an avalanche of
comments.
PM Lee
PM Lee spoke at a dialogue session at the IIMPACT conference on 22 Aug where
he said he was looking forward to meeting Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi
before the year was out. Was he aware that Narendra Modi is IT savvy?
PM also spoke about governing in the Internet age and he said that
knowledge is not free.
So why must knowledge come with a cost? People who attach a cost are those
that do not want to see the spread of knowledge. They are those who want to
maintain a divide between the elites and the non-elites and create a veil of
opacity so as to avoid questions from an increasingly enlightened citizenry. So
say our readers:
Potex:
Dictatorship and secrecy are afraid of the
internet whereas openness and transparency embraces the internet.
laoshi:
PM should lead by example, first get off
FaceBook and do not read anything on the internet!
Ah Beng:
If you have been telling the truth, there is
nothing to blame, not even the internet. You are just blaming the internet for
your deficiencies, definitely not deserving of the obscene pay you are getting
from the people! You have no bloody shame!
AnT:
We thank the Internet for exposing the duplicity
your party has been dishing out to the people and forcing your half baked
policies down our throats (like curbing our own repopulation and then using that
as an excuse to flood the country with foreigners from dubious backgrounds) and
it will also be the Internet that will bring about our liberation.
Internet Is Not “Noise”:
The Internet demands
absolute accountability from all wrong-doers. Only wrong doers condemn the
Internet, which wrongdoers fear most, and it gives them growing and unending
nightmares to come.
fattyzhang:
You brought the damages. Internet brought
the awareness.
Raky:
Are we moving toward a Totalitarian Government
???
Joker:
Quite the contrary, his old man divided and
ruled the country because he controlled all information and had anyone who was
went against him put away. Now people have a collective voice to show their
displeasure with the government policies and since the numbers are so huge you
cannot put everyone away. Freedom of speech is a democratic rule and despots
will never like it.
PM also said, “ …it’s more readily available, but so is
disinformation… misinformation…(and)
misunderstanding. … the Internet has not caused a great
convergence on universal truth…. It has led to divisions and
all kinds of different ideas being able to take root and germinate, which are
completely contradictory to one another, and groups which are completely
antithetic to each other.”
A great leader does not only look at one side of the coin. For reasons
possibly known only to himself, he has conveniently sidestepped the freely
available information on the Internet, the vast knowledge which is within the
grasp of most people today who would otherwise be left in the dark.
Technology has grown exponentially in the last couple of decades because of
the Internet with all that information available on tap. We learn about what is
happening in the far corners of the world because of freely available
international news sources and we make up our own minds about what is or is not
truth.
But truth can be a bane of politicians, can it not? Especially in a
third-world country where politicians have to conceal truth to stay in
power.
Ah, but you say, Singapore is first-world. Really? You think? Disinformation,
misinformation, misunderstanding – are these not the hallmarks of third-world
nations? And are these the reasons why our mainstream media are losing their
target audience to online media?
Our readers concur:
Luddite:
If it means
operation spectrum and the likes will not happen again.. Where rights are
trampled and the state apparatus is used to crush the opposition then it can
only be a good thing… Where power is kept in check so that liberal space and
individual rights are protected. The pre internet era are marked by the
transgression of these, if the govt cannot deal with these realities then it is
obsolete and should be replaced.
Good Will Prevail Over Evil!:
The Internet has a
worldwide reach hence it CANNOT be ill or e**l as such to divide caused for the
simple reason there will be good and wholesome beings and factors to put the
wrong to right in their own (internet) ways through exposures. You had been
exposed!
Caring:
Social media, more can speak freely with
their views but we are not stupid and follow blindly what netizens say.
Sanjuro:
What a terrible farrago of a speech. This
man really has a delusion that he is the sole possessor of the truth. Having
more divisions and different opinions is what makes the Internet such a vibrant
and dynamic social system. This is true freedom of speech. You get all the good
as well as the bad, but you have to trust that there is enough good to drown out
the bad, and that people are smart enough to know the difference.
Unfortunately, this Cambridge educated man doesn’t seem to be wise enough
to know this. Intelligent maybe, but still a deluded fool. Despite claiming to
be ‘flameproof’ (was that him or one of his minions?) – he cannot tolerate
dissent. Having a difference of opinion to him is ‘dangerous’ since everybody
must move in lockstep with him, at his pace and in his direction.
This man does not impress me. Born to power as an elite heir to the
throne, he never had to work to succeed in a career. He is an affront to
Oxbridge, with his sloppy thinking and disingenuous
statements.
Then came the bombshell – Mr Lee said his personal view is that human
society was not designed with the Internet age in mind.
(We bet many almost fell out of their chair when they read this! Tell that to
the millions across the world surfing the Internet at this very moment.)
Our readers, who were still safely on their chairs, retorted:
Susan Seet:
If he had had a Singaporean first policy
and his motto is TO SERVE, AND NOT BE SERVED, he has no fear of the
Internet.
frankoold:
Mr Lee is assuming that the citizens can’t
think for themselves and will somehow, “short circuit collectively” with the
information transported through Internet at lightning speed…
Internet is anathema to PAP:
Wrong, PAP is not
designed with the internet age in mind.
albino bastards:
The great PM Lee is always right by
saying Internet is not good for society but why he setup his own facebook page?
So which one is the real him? When the wrangler speaks, Singaporeans has to
wriggle…..
PM Lee continued his critical assessment of the Internet by saying that in
the pre-Internet days, there was lag – information disseminated over a period of
time. He said, “You have time to think it over, (let it) sink in, discuss
it, and gradually form what we hope is a wise consensus.”
Now did any of you imagine you heard him say instead, “You have more time
to sugar-coat the harsh realities before the truth can even get out. So the
citizens are none the wiser.” Don’t think you could be blamed for that,
judging by these comments:
singaporean:
Internet has also led to true analyses
of national budget and statistics, discovery of half truths and deceit of CPF,
sharing and airing of common problems faced by Singaporeans brought about by
incompetent governance, and many other benefits which would otherwise never see
light of day in any other local media.
Lee Kan You:
No Internet, No AIM
No
Internet, No Brompton Saga
No Internet, SP Michael affairs with PA
Lady, we won’t know.
Toast Bread:
Before the arrival of the internet, LKY
launched operation cold store and no one knew what happened then. He did another
Operation Spectrum (marxist conspiracy) and the State Media publicised their
“forced” confessions.
With the internet, LHL could not cover up Mas Selamat’s escape. With the
internet, Singaporeans saw first hand of the Little India Riot in Dec 2013 &
the bonfire of police cars & SCDF Vehicles.
Tell me LHL, is internet good or bad? Either you stay online or better
still go offline. You decide.
If you were waiting for our PM to put his foot in his mouth, you would not be
disappointed:
“In Singapore sometimes, you have a case where somebody says something
outrageous – tomorrow, everybody knows about it, and everybody expresses great
outrage and we spend a long time calming ourselves down. Yes, it was an
outrageous statement, but do we need to get worked up every time it
happens?”
Does he remember the guy who wanted to sue a blogger for saying something
outrageous? He got really worked up, didn’t
he?
These readers remembered:
Then why sue Roy ha ?:
So, even if you found that
Roy’s statement/article was outrageous, do you need to get so worked up and sue
him ?
N.Jungne:
Eventually these FOREIGNERS thinks it is
alright to say outrages things and get away with it. What sort of Government is
this? What kind of Prime minister are you? Are your fit to be in the
PMO?
Tell That to 5 arrested kids:
who scold the PAP with
graffiti at the top of the Toa Payoh HDB block . . . “Yes, it was an outrageous
statement, but do we need to get worked up every time it
happens?”
It would be unfair to completely ignore the comments which supported our PM.
There were few. Here is one (with a prompt reply from another reader):
Jman:
PM Lee is right. The internet is filled with
garbage. And too many are so undiscerning they think the garbage is gospel truth
just because it is there. This mindset is dangerous and sets many at each
others’ throats for nothing.
Cat:
Now Jman has admitted his
comment is nothing but garbage.
Finally, some pointed, perhaps caustic, but probably true comments:
Harry:
Not a wise thing to say, Lee Hsien Loong. For
you betrayed your failure and blamed it on the internet. Why don’t u just admit
that u are just not good enough. The Internet enlighten the world. The internet
shines light into dark corners like those dark closets in the pap. That is why u
don’t like it. U r slow that is why your government cannot cope with the speed
of change. U like to hide information and truth from Singaporeans, and the
internet take that away from u.
Dosh:
If we are to forge ahead as a nation we must
leave the PAP government behind!!! Heaven help us if we still stick with this
greedy, supremely and disturbingly incompetent government under PM LHL.
Tryst:
This man fears the
truth.
So has the Internet created divisions in our society? The netizens beg to
differ, judging from responses on the Internet itself.
The Internet has merely awakened society, Mr Lee.
The TRE editorial, “PM
Lee: Internet has led to divisions in society“, has drawn an avalanche of
comments.
PM Lee
PM Lee spoke at a dialogue session at the IIMPACT conference on 22 Aug where
he said he was looking forward to meeting Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi
before the year was out. Was he aware that Narendra Modi is IT savvy?
PM also spoke about governing in the Internet age and he said that
knowledge is not free.
So why must knowledge come with a cost? People who attach a cost are those
that do not want to see the spread of knowledge. They are those who want to
maintain a divide between the elites and the non-elites and create a veil of
opacity so as to avoid questions from an increasingly enlightened citizenry. So
say our readers:
Potex:
Dictatorship and secrecy are afraid of the
internet whereas openness and transparency embraces the internet.
laoshi:
PM should lead by example, first get off
FaceBook and do not read anything on the internet!
Ah Beng:
If you have been telling the truth, there is
nothing to blame, not even the internet. You are just blaming the internet for
your deficiencies, definitely not deserving of the obscene pay you are getting
from the people! You have no bloody shame!
AnT:
We thank the Internet for exposing the duplicity
your party has been dishing out to the people and forcing your half baked
policies down our throats (like curbing our own repopulation and then using that
as an excuse to flood the country with foreigners from dubious backgrounds) and
it will also be the Internet that will bring about our liberation.
Internet Is Not “Noise”:
The Internet demands
absolute accountability from all wrong-doers. Only wrong doers condemn the
Internet, which wrongdoers fear most, and it gives them growing and unending
nightmares to come.
fattyzhang:
You brought the damages. Internet brought
the awareness.
Raky:
Are we moving toward a Totalitarian Government
???
Joker:
Quite the contrary, his old man divided and
ruled the country because he controlled all information and had anyone who was
went against him put away. Now people have a collective voice to show their
displeasure with the government policies and since the numbers are so huge you
cannot put everyone away. Freedom of speech is a democratic rule and despots
will never like it.
disinformation… misinformation…(and)
misunderstanding. … the Internet has not caused a great
convergence on universal truth…. It has led to divisions and
all kinds of different ideas being able to take root and germinate, which are
completely contradictory to one another, and groups which are completely
antithetic to each other.”
A great leader does not only look at one side of the coin. For reasons
possibly known only to himself, he has conveniently sidestepped the freely
available information on the Internet, the vast knowledge which is within the
grasp of most people today who would otherwise be left in the dark.
Technology has grown exponentially in the last couple of decades because of
the Internet with all that information available on tap. We learn about what is
happening in the far corners of the world because of freely available
international news sources and we make up our own minds about what is or is not
truth.
But truth can be a bane of politicians, can it not? Especially in a
third-world country where politicians have to conceal truth to stay in
power.
Ah, but you say, Singapore is first-world. Really? You think? Disinformation,
misinformation, misunderstanding – are these not the hallmarks of third-world
nations? And are these the reasons why our mainstream media are losing their
target audience to online media?
Our readers concur:
Luddite:
If it means
operation spectrum and the likes will not happen again.. Where rights are
trampled and the state apparatus is used to crush the opposition then it can
only be a good thing… Where power is kept in check so that liberal space and
individual rights are protected. The pre internet era are marked by the
transgression of these, if the govt cannot deal with these realities then it is
obsolete and should be replaced.
Good Will Prevail Over Evil!:
The Internet has a
worldwide reach hence it CANNOT be ill or e**l as such to divide caused for the
simple reason there will be good and wholesome beings and factors to put the
wrong to right in their own (internet) ways through exposures. You had been
exposed!
Caring:
Social media, more can speak freely with
their views but we are not stupid and follow blindly what netizens say.
Sanjuro:
What a terrible farrago of a speech. This
man really has a delusion that he is the sole possessor of the truth. Having
more divisions and different opinions is what makes the Internet such a vibrant
and dynamic social system. This is true freedom of speech. You get all the good
as well as the bad, but you have to trust that there is enough good to drown out
the bad, and that people are smart enough to know the difference.
Unfortunately, this Cambridge educated man doesn’t seem to be wise enough
to know this. Intelligent maybe, but still a deluded fool. Despite claiming to
be ‘flameproof’ (was that him or one of his minions?) – he cannot tolerate
dissent. Having a difference of opinion to him is ‘dangerous’ since everybody
must move in lockstep with him, at his pace and in his direction.
This man does not impress me. Born to power as an elite heir to the
throne, he never had to work to succeed in a career. He is an affront to
Oxbridge, with his sloppy thinking and disingenuous
statements.
society was not designed with the Internet age in mind.
(We bet many almost fell out of their chair when they read this! Tell that to
the millions across the world surfing the Internet at this very moment.)
Our readers, who were still safely on their chairs, retorted:
Susan Seet:
If he had had a Singaporean first policy
and his motto is TO SERVE, AND NOT BE SERVED, he has no fear of the
Internet.
frankoold:
Mr Lee is assuming that the citizens can’t
think for themselves and will somehow, “short circuit collectively” with the
information transported through Internet at lightning speed…
Internet is anathema to PAP:
Wrong, PAP is not
designed with the internet age in mind.
albino bastards:
The great PM Lee is always right by
saying Internet is not good for society but why he setup his own facebook page?
So which one is the real him? When the wrangler speaks, Singaporeans has to
wriggle…..
the pre-Internet days, there was lag – information disseminated over a period of
time. He said, “You have time to think it over, (let it) sink in, discuss
it, and gradually form what we hope is a wise consensus.”
Now did any of you imagine you heard him say instead, “You have more time
to sugar-coat the harsh realities before the truth can even get out. So the
citizens are none the wiser.” Don’t think you could be blamed for that,
judging by these comments:
singaporean:
Internet has also led to true analyses
of national budget and statistics, discovery of half truths and deceit of CPF,
sharing and airing of common problems faced by Singaporeans brought about by
incompetent governance, and many other benefits which would otherwise never see
light of day in any other local media.
Lee Kan You:
No Internet, No AIM
No
Internet, No Brompton Saga
No Internet, SP Michael affairs with PA
Lady, we won’t know.
Toast Bread:
Before the arrival of the internet, LKY
launched operation cold store and no one knew what happened then. He did another
Operation Spectrum (marxist conspiracy) and the State Media publicised their
“forced” confessions.
With the internet, LHL could not cover up Mas Selamat’s escape. With the
internet, Singaporeans saw first hand of the Little India Riot in Dec 2013 &
the bonfire of police cars & SCDF Vehicles.
Tell me LHL, is internet good or bad? Either you stay online or better
still go offline. You decide.
disappointed:
“In Singapore sometimes, you have a case where somebody says something
outrageous – tomorrow, everybody knows about it, and everybody expresses great
outrage and we spend a long time calming ourselves down. Yes, it was an
outrageous statement, but do we need to get worked up every time it
happens?”
Does he remember the guy who wanted to sue a blogger for saying something
outrageous? He got really worked up, didn’t
he?
These readers remembered:
Then why sue Roy ha ?:
So, even if you found that
Roy’s statement/article was outrageous, do you need to get so worked up and sue
him ?
N.Jungne:
Eventually these FOREIGNERS thinks it is
alright to say outrages things and get away with it. What sort of Government is
this? What kind of Prime minister are you? Are your fit to be in the
PMO?
Tell That to 5 arrested kids:
who scold the PAP with
graffiti at the top of the Toa Payoh HDB block . . . “Yes, it was an outrageous
statement, but do we need to get worked up every time it
happens?”
There were few. Here is one (with a prompt reply from another reader):
Jman:
PM Lee is right. The internet is filled with
garbage. And too many are so undiscerning they think the garbage is gospel truth
just because it is there. This mindset is dangerous and sets many at each
others’ throats for nothing.
Cat:
Now Jman has admitted his
comment is nothing but garbage.
Harry:
Not a wise thing to say, Lee Hsien Loong. For
you betrayed your failure and blamed it on the internet. Why don’t u just admit
that u are just not good enough. The Internet enlighten the world. The internet
shines light into dark corners like those dark closets in the pap. That is why u
don’t like it. U r slow that is why your government cannot cope with the speed
of change. U like to hide information and truth from Singaporeans, and the
internet take that away from u.
Dosh:
If we are to forge ahead as a nation we must
leave the PAP government behind!!! Heaven help us if we still stick with this
greedy, supremely and disturbingly incompetent government under PM LHL.
Tryst:
This man fears the
truth.
differ, judging from responses on the Internet itself.
The Internet has merely awakened society, Mr Lee.
