Obscuring the painful truth...
Technorati tags: Malaysia, Media, Politics, Commentary, Press Freedom, Mars Attacks!
It's truly and amazingly mind-boggling the length some party leaders go to remain in denial. Loyalty to party must never be in question, no matter how irrelevant, rotten and stupid the mindset of the party members has become.
Reminds Walski of the old Malay saying, which translates to "because of one mosquito, the mosquito net is burned".
Obscuring the truth, not improvement, is the answer
Yes, the open access via live Astro telecast has opened the public's eyes - the world's eyes, in fact - to how low-brow the mindset of UMNO politicians can be, some of their leadership included. Anyone with the slightest bit of sentient intelligence would have realized that a live-broadcast would open up the party to criticism, particularly when racial hatred and blatant displays of xenophobia have almost become staple rhetoric at these annual them-bashing galas.
One would have thought that the televised GA would've been a golden opportunity for UMNO to show how grown up they've become, and how they are evolving to meet the real challenges facing the nation. Sadly, as witnessed by all last week, the reality of UMNO is that they remain mired in an antiquated rut.
And instead of a call for more constructive debate in the future (the intelligent sentient thing to do), we are now hearing calls for a stop to live broadcasts. Instead of curing the proverbial foul-smelling ulceration (pekung) on the chest, we're now hearing calls to simply hide the stench and blemish.
And what message does this send?
(more anti-xenophobic rantage in the full post)
Don't know about you, but to Walski the message he gets is that there's nothing wrong with the stupidity that UMNO, as is, exhibits. What's more important is that no one else gets to see the level of stupidity that UMNO, as is, exhibits.
The repercussions of the incindiary racist, testosterone-heavy chest-beating at the recent General Assembly is all too real. Almost immediately, reconcilliatory messaging could be heard from the UMNO ministers. Of course, the more-than-compliant other BN-component member ministers chipped in to the chorus of reconcilliation.
But sometimes, reconcilliation comes too little, too late. The damage has already been done, and the damage will last much longer than the lingering smell of durians left in the car trunk.
Listening to some of the delegates speak last week reminded Walski of the film Mars Attacks! The part when the Martians go on a rampaging killing spree, shooting their ray-guns and obliterating any humans in their path, while calling out "We come in peace, we are your friends".
Sometimes it's better to be on the giving end...
Ack! Ack! Aaack! Ack! Ack! Ack ACK ACK ACK!!!
All this, and claiming that the Malaysian media is freer than ever before? And it may just be that freedom on the information front may yet see tighter grips on it in the very near future (check out this post at Rocky's Bru).
Ack ack, indeed.
