WTF is up with KOSMO?
Technorati tags: Kosmo, Utusan, Yasmin Ahmad, Insensitivity
If you’ve been following Walski’s neck of the Twitterverse woods, you’d probably have heard the totally insensitive front page (and page 2) story about the late Yasmin Ahmad that Kosmo! decided to run today.
And for what? Circulation? Ok, they got to sell one extra copy today, but only because Walski needed to see exactly how insensitive these Utusan fucks can be. And what did the front page and page 2 say, exactly? Well, read it for yourself (in PDF – alternatively downloadable from here).
Walski really wonders what goes thru the minds of these idiots sometimes... and if you haven’t already, isn’t it high time you stopped buying any Utusan publications?
(the insensitivity of Kosmo!, and more, in the full post)
Granted, the article wasn’t written viciously – it was, in its own twisted way, a tribute of sorts. But that’s not the point.
Thankfully, though, the rest of their coverage on Yasmin was full of praise – they should’ve been sensible enough to have kept it that way throughout. But, hey… this is, after all, the spawn of Utusan we’re talking about. Intelligence is not exactly what Walski would associate Kosmo! with. Or, for that matter, sensitivity.
Truth be told, this is not the first time Walski had heard of such stories regarding Yasmin, and if you had bothered to look, there are quite a few blogs writing stories and posting pictures of Yasmin Ahmad along the same tired storyline.
But seriously, true or not – who the hell cares? Walski doesn’t. Because it doesn’t take anything whatsoever away from the fact that Yasmin Ahmad, through her work, inspired the nation. It’s as simple as that.
And that, folks, is what matters in the end – how you lived your life and contributed to the betterment of those around you. That’s how Walski chooses to remember Yasmin – for the wonderful films she made, her positivity, and her ardent hope that one day we can all live together as one people.
Let’s face it – we all know the kind of dirtbag journalism Kosmo!, and it’s sister-publication Utusan, choose to practice. Running the story the way they did comes as no surprise to Walski whatsoever.
What can Walski say… dirtbags are as dirtbags will be. They can print all the crap they want, but it doesn’t mean that Walski – or anyone else – has to buy it.
Kosmo! and Utusan? Well, the solution is actually quite simple: if the buying stops, maybe the lying will, too…
Perhaps it’s high time the MSM hartal got back into gear (via The People’s Parliament)… Well, count Walski in, for sure…
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12 comments:
There are still so many people out there who buy these newspapers daily and being fed with all the crap they called news.
I wonder too, sometimes, how these writers/editors/publishers could sleep at night knowing that whatever they write could have a big influence in the people's mind and in one way or another affected people's life. Such a big responsibility, yet so much ignorance and stupidity, hastiness and fallacies.
I agree with you. They are so insensitive and well, ignorant.
*sigh*
This Kosmo is bloody bangang. Like Walski, I've also heard of this before but who cares whether Yasmin was male, female or green person from Mars? She was great. I feel really sad because Malaysians were just warming up to our own home grown films when Yasmin started to make her films. It hurts to speak of her in the past tense.
Lo and behold. While everyone that care, in the blogosphere including me, sending a strong message to the public that what KOSMO did is not right, the other side of me came out with this idea : Is this tabloid actually try to cease the people's stigma towards gender transition?
Maybe, the tabloid is trying to tell to the people that anyone can choose to be whoever they want to be and work for what their aspired on. In digging on facts after facts about Yasmin, the writer indeed having his/her article completed without realizing the 'damage' it may cause.
Nevertheless, I still stick on my opinion that it is wrong to firstly, "embarrassing one who already passed away " and secondly, claiming a sensational mileage on those facts with the reason of business competency. Maybe they can do it later, but not now for sure.
I invite everyone to read the article HERE (in PDF) and share with me any defamation remarks made to the late Yasmin. Surely, none is found as insensitive except the bold sub-phrase of the headline that sounded like " Yasmin's fate - Die as a woman, grieved by all regardless race and belief " that surely will be reason of her fans' outcry.
Sometimes, it show us that, while we brawl for the media liberalism, we still couldn't accept some aspect of liberal reporting. That's why I never agree with the press freedom concept.
hope - Rags like Kosmo! are akin to the trash tabloids (like The National Enquirer, Weekly World News, etc.) - they specialize in one thing: over-sensationalization. It's a two-way thing, my dear - it's popularity is a sad reflection of how shallow their readership demographics is. Same with Harian Metro.
limfong - And that's my real beef - why now? It's like unnecessarily and sensationally capitalizing on Yasmin's death. Insensitive is a nice way to put it.
Afuw - as bangang as Kosmo! is, the reality is that there's an equally large bangang audience out there that laps up its crap without the least bit of critical questioning. I honestly don't know which is worse.
ABGDARK - first off, thanks for the linkage. I think what I want to say I already have in response to hope above. I would add, though, that I for one support Kosmo!'s right to be stupid and insensitive. That said, free press also means that they're accountable for what they publish, and are therefore open to scrutiny and scorn. That degree of self-regulation is what makes press freedom work. Calling for a boycott is not calling for a ban/censorship - there's a big, big difference between the two. Thanks for your input.
aku keje metro ahad...
jgn la sebab mereka buat begitu, paper tmpt aku keje pon kene sekali...
sekurang-kurangnya aku tahu penulisan aku masih jaga tatasusila...
ni pasal org dah takde, aku pun rasa terbangang bila baca...
For a country like Malaysia, it's sad to see that some Malaysians still possess such degrading mentality. True, a spade should be called a spade, but why the hype over the hermaphrodite issue?
Such people wrap issues of taboo and hypocrisy so tightly around their little pinkie fingers and exploit the dead only when the person is dead and gone. How low could one possibly be??
For once, please respect the dead and appreciate her for being the great storyteller who inspired us all.
Kosmo!, a little sensitivity in the time of mourning would be greatly appreciated in the future.
Kita perlu sedar apabila seseorang itu meninggal dunia, beberapa perkara dituntut oleh Islam terhadap seisi keluarga, sanak-saudara, rakan-taulan dan sekelian peminat yang masih hidup. Ia adalah jenazah perlu dimandi dan dikapankan, disembahyangkan dan akhir sekali dikebumikan.
Islam pula telah menetapkan cara dan bagaimana ketiga-tiga tuntutan itu perlu dilaksanakan. Kalau jenazah seorang lelaki tentunya tuntutan dimandi dan dikapankan, disembahyangkan dan dikebumikan berbeza dengan jenazah seorang perempuan/wanita.
Misalnya, kalau jenazah itu seorang lelaki, hanya waris atau orang lelaki boleh memandikan dan mengkapankan jenazah. Begitu juga kedudukan imam dan niat mengerjakan solat jenazah berbeza antara jenazah lelaki dan wanita.
Fardu kifayah itu adalah tuntutan kepada semua yang hidup terhadap mana-mana orang Islam yang meninggal dunia.
Bayangkan balasan yang akan kita terima dan roh si mati jika tuntutan-tuntutan ini tidak dilaksanakan atau salah dilaksanakan.
Setiap kebaikan dan kelemahan seseorang itu di bumi ini akan dibalas setimpal dan seadilnya oleh Allah di hari akhirat nanti kerana itu janji-Nya.
Namun sebelum seseorang itu memasuki alam barzakh, apakah kita telah menyediakan hamba Allah itu sebaik-baiknya dan sesempurananya.
Apakah aib di dunia lebih utama daripada aib di akhirat nanti?? Cuba fikirkan.
For all you guys yg amat amarah dgn Kosmo!
Sila check this out:
http://mstar.com.my/hiburan/cerita.asp?file=/2009/7/26/mstar_hiburan/20090726011625&sec=mstar_hiburan
In the said article it is stated clearly that she was the “1975 Naib Johan, Bintang RTM '75”. If you do some checking, the “1975 Naib Johan, Bintang RTM '75” was Zulkifli Ahmad. So mstar and The Star also concluded that Yasmin Ahmad is Zulkifli Ahmad. The article was published on the 26 July, 2009 - much earlier that Kosmo!
Even though it is a Bernama article (should we also now send the letter to Bernama and boycott the news agency?), mStar and The Star published it with all eyes opened.
So, let us also send the same letter to mStar and The Star. What say you guys? Marina? Rose? Fatimah? Anyone?
Thanks to Kosmo, many people were able to understand Yasmin' s past. Seriously speaking, what is it so shameful to be know as transgender? They are 'born this way' and should be proud be one so. I admire her for her to be able to carry herself upto this level. Stop all nonsense and prejudice about LGBTs folk!
First off, yes, I fully agree - stop all nonsense and prejudice about LGBTs. Is there anything shameful about being transgender? Absolutely not.
My key points are:
1. What was Kosmo's intention of publishing the piece, and did it have consent from Yasmin's family?
2. Right to privacy - while there is nothing to be ashamed about being transgender, our society and certain institutions within it thinks otherwise, and have been known to act against transgender individuals. If Yasmin did not want this fact to be made known, then all should also respect her right to privacy, while alive or posthumously.
3. Yasmin was often chastised by the Malay entertainment press for the subject matter of her films, particularly "Sepet" and "Gubra". Somehow I doubt Kosmo's intention of publishing the piece was to endear the late great director (granted, the piece was quite neutral in its verbiage). And to help endear the LGBT community as a whole? I wouldn't hold my breath, if I were you.
My admiration for Yasmin is for her work (yes, I still admire her even posthumously), which speaks for itself, even after her untimely demise. Whether or not she was transgender is, quite frankly, immaterial.
That said, the LGBT community should take big pride in what Kosmo revealed. Further, the LGBT community holds every right, as equal citizens in this country, to be what God has decided that they be, without facing the risk of discrimination and consternation.
But this post was not about being LGBT - it was what I perceived as Kosmo overstepping the bounds of decency in revealing what it revealed. Again, whether it was with Yasmin's (while she was alive) or her family's consent is suspect.
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