Media and its beneficial effects on the less privileged

My last and final entry would be on the power of media and its beneficial effects on the less privileged people.

Just this month, there was the president star charity show. These fund raising shows aim at helping the disabled, lower income families and even orphans. Though there has been a lot of commotion about the NKF staff misusing the funds, it doesn't seem to have affected a huge percentage of singaporeans. People are still donating generously to help these people.

The media has been a great help to these people. Without the media, I believe that many people wouldn't even bother to help the less fortunate. Maybe it's even right to say that many wouldn't even be aware that people are in such situations. Thus I feel that using the media to spread the idea that the more privileged people should help out, whether it is by volunteering at homes or just donating a small sum of money. No matter how small the amount of money it would still be helpful to them.

Another show that caught my attention was this series on channel 8. 心晴大动员 Life Transformers which is hosted by Christopher Lee and Quan Yi Fong. For this week's episode, the 2 hosts and a group of volunteers helped to clean up and redecorate a house that housed 4 adults and 2 children. And out of these 4 adults, only 1 adult is working and he is supporting his 3 other siblings who are mentally disabled. The 2 children are his nieces. The volunteers then helped to clean the very very dirty house and the hosts helped the adults to get jobs to support themselves.

I don't know if you would understand my description but I personally felt very affected by this show. It was disturbing in a way as I can't believe that such situations existed in Singapore. And the very fact that only 1 adult is working to feed 5 mouths is pretty sad.

Which brings me back to the point of how media helps to increase our awareness of the less privileged. With shows like this, some might say that it's to gain the pity of the viewers, but for me it justs makes me feel like going the extra mile to help people like them by volunteering whenever I can.

Thus to conclude my final post, I would like to say that I'm grateful for the media for increasing the awareness of the less fortunate and I hope that more people would volunteer to help these people whenever they can! (:

Learning A Third Language

In today's society, learning a third language isnt such a huge deal. In some schools, learning a third language is actually compulsory. But does learning a third language benefit us in any way? Well for me, i believe that learning a third language is beneficial to a person in many many ways.

I have been learning japanese for almost 1 and a half years and I think I have benefitted from it. I am able to use the language to talk to my japanese friends and also learning the language has allowed me to understand japanese shows.

Learning a third language will allow one to widen their social network. With the knowledge of another language, one will be able to talk to a wider range of people without having a communication barrier. Besides that acquiring a new language would reduce the possibilities of miscommunication between people who speak different languages.

Knowledge of a third language will also allow people to enjoy more media that are available in that foreign language.Through these shows we are able to enjoy a different kind of entertainment and at the same time learn about the different cultures that others might have.

Thus i believe that learning a new languagae is beneficial to a person indefinitely!

Media - Good or Bad?

We had a discussion about media on monday during lecture. I guess it can be said that many will have mixed feelings about it. I for one believe that there are advantages and disadvantages to media, depending on which aspect of media you talk about.

Advertisements. A widespread media. Advertisements help people to be updated with what is being sold in departmental stalls. It also helps people to know what is the 'in' thing to use nowadays. Like advertisments for laptops allow people to know what model is the latest and its functions.

However, there are disadvantages too. It would make people very materialistic. For example if a teenager were to see their favourite celebrity advertising a product, they would definitely want to get the product that is being advertised. Thus advertisments do make people more materialistic.

TV shows. Many different TV shows are being shown on TV now. And with cable, many are able to watch a huge variety of channels. People are able to get to watch shows from Korea and Taiwan. There are documentaries from Discovery Channel, National Geographic Channel and Discovery and Travel Channel. There are movie channels like Star Movies and HBO. With TV being such a common commodity in every household, I'm sure that many would have access to these shows. TV can educate and allow people to know more about what's happening in other countries without traveling out from the comfort of their homes.

Though there are many advantages, there are still disadvantages. With TV programs, people are more exposed to many different cultures making them think that certain behaviours, that are frowned upon in our society, are acceptable. Youngsters might think that tattoos are "cool" with shows like miami ink. Some might think that plastic surgery is the only solution to get rid of their "ugliness" with shows like extreme makeover.

That's what i think of the media today. People can rely on media for entertainment and education but they have to understand that too much is unhealthy - to anyone regardless of age.

(:

Fedex Advertisement

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4VRrR-WJLWA

Today i'm going to talk about the above Fedex advertisment.

This advertisement has very little use of words and it plays about with the common stereotype of dogs being a man's best friend and its loyalty to mankind. It starts off showing a man hiking with his dog and the man unfortunately falls into a "hole". The man then sends the dog to get help. But it turns out that the dog meets another dog and fell in love with that the other dog. And in the end the man has to get help on his own even after injuring himself.

The aim of the advertisement is probably to show that Fedex is reliable and also more reliable than dogs who are supposedly the most loyal animals around.

I like the way they used dogs in the advertisement and the music does play a huge role in creating the ambience for the advertisement.the use of words is minimal but it is essential to get the gist of the advertisement since dogs cant talk. The background that they used is also very unique in a way. It is not everyday that you see people doing advertisements in the green fields of mother nature.

This advertisement really caught my attention. First the music attracted me then the use of dogs and seeing them fall in love at first sight made me laugh. And it being used to advertise Fedex delivery made it really interesting.

But it all boils down to each individuals perception in the end. And each individual might have different points of view of whether or not this is an effective advertisement, What do you think about it? (:

Survivor Gabon

I was watching the new season of survivor just this afternoon.

It was the beginning episode today whereby the contestants meet each other for the very first time. Just from the first episode there are many different forms of communication present.

One example is interpersonal communication. There is a lot of face-to-face communication between 2 people. They have these kind of communication to build bonds and get people to form cliques within each group.

First impressions also play a huge role in this reality tv show. Before the game actually begins, the 2 oldest contestants are separated and they are asked to choose the members they would want in their group. Obviously the stronger people get chosen first. Besides that, friendliness plays a huge role. The expression that a person has definitely plays a huge part in determining what others perceive them to be. The last person to get chosen was a lady who may possibly be the skinniest of the lot. Maybe her appearance was the main reason why she got chosen last.

At the end of each episode of survivor, there is like a tribal counsel thing where someone gets eliminated. For this episode the skinny girl got elimnated probably because of the way she communicated with people - giving the impression that she arrogant in a way. Her attitude was probably the main reason why she got eliminated.

In gameshows like this, first impressions and the way people communicate matters alot. Well i guess choosing the right way to communicate is probably the best way to survive on this game.

This season of survivor should be a nice one as there is a wide range of people from different ages and there's also like many wild animals living with the people in the island! It would be fun seeing how people actually live in the wild away from technology and all.

(:

Blood Donation Advertisement

WHAT ATTRACTS YOU TO AN ADVERTISEMENT?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rdZM0_u6lpM

This advertisement is about donating blood in Singapore. I saw this for the first time last night on channel 5 and it caught my attention immediately.

It starts out with people holding out flashcards with phrases like "because 'm afraid" and "because i'm too busy". It caught my attention because it had a degree of mystery. I kept trying to guess what the advertisement was trying to advertise and i couldn't put my finger to it. The concept of not having people talk is really interesting and it makes a person put their concentration on the advertisement.

Besides the technique of communication, the colours they used were outstanding. Like white for the background and capital letters for the words on the flashcards. The music also made the advertisement more impressive. I considered it as very suitable for advertising blood donations.

I guess truth plays an important role in this advertisement. The reasons that the people have given for not donating blood are quite true. Like for me I'm quite afraid of donating blood. And for others it might be true that people might believe that there is already enough blood in the blood banks.

Blood donation is really important in Singapore. And sometimes with insufficient blood in the blood banks, it might be a matter of life or death for a person. So why not just donate blood in future?

(:

Newspaper Forums

Today, I'm going to talk about the letters that people send in to the forum.

As I flip through the pages of the Straits Times, I see a few articles that have been published in the forum. There are at least 2 pieces on an article that was published previously. Just from this section of the newspaper, it is evident that everyone has a different perception on every issue.

From yesterday's newspaper, The Straits Times, Saturday, September 13, 2008 there are a few articles that are being discussed.

So let me start with the article that i wrote about last week. There are both positive and negative feedbacks from 3 of the writers. One feels that the government will be able to solve this issue and that Singaporeans shouldn't be mean to these foreigners as our ancestors were once foreigners too. Another goes on to say that this shows "an underlying disturbing snobbish attitude". The final writer goes on about his worry about his maid getting involved with the foreign workers that will be staying near his place.

Just from this article there are so many different views from the different people that are affected. Each person is affected to a certain level. For instance, the resident will definitely be more affected than the others as he is staying in the environment that is affected.

Another article that was talked about would be on kidney transplants. There are 2 writes on this issue. One is a professor while the other is probably just a reader of the Straits Times. The professor wrote about how he felt about the transplants and he was rather pleased with the happenings. Also he hopes that the law on kidney transplants should be adjusted soon. The reader, on the other hand, wrote about his feelings on an article written by another reader on thursday. It says that there is "scant consideration for the sufferings of a fellow human being".

So it is really good evidence of perception at play. I guess it is right to say that perception is at play every single day of our lives. The environment and the status of a person in the society can be seen, in the things I've mentioned above, as a huge factor in affecting the perception of a person.

Newspaper Article - Serangoon Gardens Issue

I was flipping through the Sunday Times today and the article on foreign worker caught my attention.

The article is mainly about the residents in Serangoon Gardens protesting against the idea of a foreign workers dormitory in their estates and how these foreign workers feel about Singaporeans.

I personally feel that a dormitory should be built in several estates so as to provide homes for these foreign workers in singapore. These foreign workers deserve a home as they are human beings too and besides that they have left their countries to work in singapore. If singaporeans were to be mean and go against the idea of buildng dormitories for these workers, what would the impression that the foreign workers will have on Singaporeans?

Lets put it this way. If Singaporeans were to be the ones working in a foreign country and the citizens in the foreign country were to go against the idea of making homes for Singaporeans in their country, how would you feel about it?

In the article, it shows how foreign workers feel about Singaporeans. And the groups of people include the chinese, thais, indians, myanmar nationals and bangladeshis.

The bangladeshis basically have a good impression of singapore and they enjoy working in such a nice country. On the other hand, the myanmar nationals are disappointed that Singaporeans do not trust them.

It is sad that Singaporeans are stereotyping foreign workers as bad and unwanted. I hope that the residents of Serangoon Gardens will rethink their decision of going against the idea of building a dormitory for these foreign workers as they need a home that is affordable to them.

(: