Conversations (II)
Working in the media can be REALLY bad! lol.
An SMS conversation with a very good friend:-
Friend: Dear all, after xx years, it’s time to say goodbye to xmediax. It’s been a pleasure knowing you and do keep in touch.
Me: You got the job! Congrats! I’m gonna miss you so badly! Big hugs!
Friend: Actually, I haven’t yet. I just couldn’t take it anymore!
Don’t we all feel this way sometimes? But how bad does it need to be before we call it quits? How much crap can we tolerate? And how much are we willing to dish it back and tell our bosses, “Screw you! I’m worth more than that pittance you pay me!”
lol.
It got me thinking. For some, employment is a choice. For those less fortunate, employment is a luxury and a necessity.
I met up with two girlfriends yesterday. They are what I would casually term as ‘high-flying’ lawyers because that is just how I simply envision life in their famous law firms would be. Ternyata I was very wrong. Turns out they pull in six days of work in a week, late hours up to 2am to pacify demanding clients and partners. I’m sure their pay scale is easily more than twice if not triple of mine but at what price? To sacrifice personal time with loved ones, hobbies, weekend activities, hidden passion or even activism?
What needs to happen before they snap and call it quits? Or will one be enslaved into a culture where your job demands more out of you instead of the other way around? Capitalist theories comes to mind. Long live capital but how much are our souls really worth?
Another friend quit practice a few months ago and wanted to join the NGO line in working with refugees. The NGO - prominent one at that - could not afford the pay she is asking for. She did not get the job in the end. So what does this show? That bottomline, money is your master, economics is your boss. Happiness and all that jazz is just a figment of our idealistic imagination.
I’d like to think I’m a fighter. Just like that media friend of mine that quit her job. I am convince I have passions and dreams. I just need the balls to make them all come true :)
* * *
On an unrelated not, there’s a blogger versus journalist debate out there right now. I’m unclear whether this debate deserve publicity but it is safe to say this is not the first blogger vs journo debate around.
I remember how Haris Ibrahim named a colleague of mine for a story that was allegedly misreported. Haris did so based on his source, Lil’ Hummingbird. Turns out later, my colleague’s piece was spot on and there was no misreporting. Haris apologised in the very next post. Question remains, all the harsh words used against my colleague by random commentators with random nicknames were not retracted. About 40 seemingly rude and uncalled-for comments targetted at my colleague and Mkini, were never apologised for. They remain to be seen to this day and I guess we can all judge for ourselves - the level of maturity and wisdom that my colleague, Haris, Lil’ Hummingbird and the random commentators have.
I’m a blogger and a journalist. Is it hard to reconcile? Let’s just say some bloggers do give the blogging community a bad name. But that is just like a controlled media giving press freedom a bad name. When bloggers attack journalists, I often plead for them to understand what a journalist goes through and what actually goes on in a newsroom. When journalists attacks bloggers, I then plead for them to see that it’s just conversation or an opinion and not a conviction.
When I see the two at loggerheads, it reinforces the fact that Malaysians are truly not ready for responsible freedom of speech. And civility will often eventually spiral into personal mud-slinging because of clashed egos. So who’s right between the two? Nobody. And it stings cos both involved are friends of mine. I can only pray that cooler heads will prevail.
June 7th, 2008 at 9:48 am
” When I see the two at loggerheads, it reinforces the fact that Malaysians are truly not ready for responsible freedom of speech.”
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No! It is precisely that M’sians DO NEED the freedom of speech!
Respect is mutual & is an ongoing learning process. Without openness through whatever means these learning processes are death!
Humanity needs challenges in any form to progress. More so for a multi-racial M’sia !
U never learn if U don’t articulate truefully & within these processes learn what’s respects, ignorances & disgusts! AND most of all HOW the other parties feel. These CANNOT be happened IF everyone is trying to be civilised, which DOES NOT reflect true feelings, always .
Of course one cannot use the opportunity to blasphemed. But then how do U know one is blasphemed if the source is not been counteracted via opposite views?
This is where FREE SPEECH comes in.
June 7th, 2008 at 9:52 am
i did not say whether we NEED freedom of speech or not, but how are NOT READY for it.
June 7th, 2008 at 10:52 am
Now that’s something contradicting!
NEED &/or NOT READY which one comes first within the context of FREE SPEECH?
THEY ARE NOT MUTUALLY EXCLUSIVE!
And please don’t buy into the calling of NOT-READY-for-this-&-that because of the socio-political of the country! This is so often used by the politicians as if THEY are the sole ‘enlighten intellectuals’ to determine WHEN the populace as a whole should achieve the next stage of nationhood!
Do give credits to the populace at large even though the driving force for changes usually come from a few individuals whom so often only have given the ‘belated hindsights’ by historians. The momentum of change is instantaneous. These few individuals are just the sparks, they create the WHEN but the need is there LONG AGO!
In fact WHEN should follow NEED in close step. The quicker the better. Any delaying will only play to the advantages of the scrounged politicians, like M’sia now.
For the record, the so called developed nations of the world have achieved fine art proportion in playing these NEED/READY games. If U r a SF fan then there r many examples there.
Anyway this weekend is not for heavy discussion. Rising fuel price is already a big H, (-.-,)”’
June 7th, 2008 at 11:29 am
well, you and i could be damn well ready but look at what happened to jeff and rocky … look at what happened to RPK. i’m not suggesting that we sweep matters under the carpet, heck, slug it out for all i care. the WWW has plenty of space to be filled with truths, untruths and half-truths. but in the context of my blog post between two of my friends, i can safely say say that both of them, aren’t ready for free responsible speech.
if we are truly ready for free speech then i can safely say your mother is a cunt and i have no reason for apologising. but that’s the thing, why would anybody need to call anbody’s mother a cunt? why does it need to rude and uncouth? as much as we’re ready for dialogue, free speech cannot prevail unless we are more matured about it. and from the things i’ve read, there are days i have hope and on other days, i think we still have miles to go.
i don’t see how anything not being mutually exclusive can necessary contradict each other. so give the people free speech. whether they will become more responsible or start a culture of uncouth verbal wars, the consequences doesn’t matter?
i think it does. it matters greatly to race relations and nation building. but i’m totally in support for trying to advocate free speech. my focus was on the level malaysians can be responsible about it. hence responsible free speech. nowhere in my post did i suggest that we don’t need free speech or we shouldn’t champion it etc. do take time to reread the post again please.
good weekend!
June 7th, 2008 at 12:50 pm
Promised myself NOT to indulge in ‘heavy’ discussion this weekend - well, the promise is definitely going down the drain.
In fact I intended to left go of anymore reply.
The era of Jimmie Hendrix or even Alanis Morissette is long gone, together with their way of expressions. Get angry -OK, be offensive -OK. But vulgarity is no NO. In many cases thats where all reasonings gone down!
I read yr write-up clearly. AND I believe I understand yr context very well, thank you!
“..as much as we’re ready for dialogue, free speech cannot prevail unless we are more matured about it..”
Now how do one become more mature UNLESS one goes though the lesson of fire? So to speak in the line of firing for the call of duty.
One needs to express in order to get one’s reason/logic through to other parties. Speech maturity comes with tryings. If one doesnt first expressed, no matter how illogical/under-qualified, then the current views stand, again no matter how illogical/under-qualified.
So where is the order? Free Speech or Maturity in speech expression? Same thing as NEED &/or NOT READY!
Jaxtapositioned these concepts with the fact that there r one-rice-thousand-kinds-of people U have the current scenario.
Or do U means that those who cannot expressed themselves ‘maturily’ have NO RIGHT to free speech?
Come on - even fool can occasionally comes up with brilliant ideas while the so called intellectual sacrifices thousand in the name of understandings!
So U want free speech - THEN prepare to take what comes with IT, responsibility or not.
Dont just throw the dirty bath water out together with the baby. And please go figure which is which.
Have a nice weekend!
June 7th, 2008 at 2:45 pm
this discussion ain’t heavy at all! thanks for checking in and sharing your thoughts! we can all take a lesson at what’s truly - in your own words - “respects, ignorances and disgusts”.
:)