It’s Thriller! 28/06/2009
Posted by tisarar in International and Mass Communication, Personal Thoughts.Tags: change, dance routine, dominating, global phenomena, Michael Jackson, MJ, moon walk, music, Spongebob Squarepants, thriller
15 comments
Original Video by Michael Jackson: http://tinyurl.com/b2olsm/
In the words of Jenna Rink, “It’s Thriller!”
Jennifer Garner played Jenna Rink in the 2004 movie, 13 going on 30. It shows how a 13 year old girl, wakes up the day after her birthday as a 30 year old. In that show, the most memorable scene to me was the one which showed Jenna bopping her head and dancing to Thriller and every single person followed her moves. Thriller is just one of the many hits from our legendary King of Pop, Michael Jackson. Watching that show reminded me of the past of the days whereby, I would bop my head to the catchy tunes, sing along with it and at the same time, imitate the way that he danced and even trying to attempt his signature dance move, the Moon Walk.
His recent passing shocked billions across the globe. The globalization of mass media allowed for all of us to learn about who he was. And he, himself, became an icon, a legend and a global phenomena. He contributed not only to the music and dance industry, leading to the development of pop culture; he also became a huge part of all our lives.
Born as the seventh child into the Jackson family, he made his debut in the music industry as a member of the Jackson 5. Later on, he begun his solo career with a very widely publicised personal life.
Instead of focusing on his music and giving him a chance to explain his actions, people started to think of Michael Jackson in a different way and label him as a weirdo due to the constant changes in his life and his bizarre behaviour, due to the way that he and all the information about him was being portrayed, through the eyes of the media. His appearance – his skin appearing to be so much more pale than before, his features changed, the accusations of child sexual abuse, child molestation allegations, having a surrogate mother give birth to one of his three children, dangling his baby outside of a window from a hotel room and even his constant usage of drugs such as painkillers to ease the stress that he was facing. People did not adopt the concept of the Spiral of Silence. The media and paparazzi especially, encouraged these allegations and messages to be spread throughout the entire globe. Our own thoughts instead, were then being dominated by theirs and thus, the media had the power to change the way we live, think and act as well. And they did influence our perceptions and made us develop a cookie cutter mentality. After which, these allegations sparked off so many controversies that they eventually provoked a decline in his health.
Michael Jackson passed away at the age of 50, on June 25, 2009 in Los Angeles.
But up till this day, his music still lives on.
http://tinyurl.com/27poze/
This video shows 1500 of the inmates in the Cebu Provincial Detention and Rehabilitation Center in Philippines, practicing the dance routine of Thriller, one of the many popular pop songs sang by Michael Jackson himself.
Even a fan of Spongebob Squarepants, a very popular cartoon, originated from the United States, had created this video using the same all time hit song.
http://tinyurl.com/nmdcmd/
Such acts that people carry out right now, remind us that even though he is gone, his music is still influencing the way that we live.
I know that it is a fact of life that people live and die for whichever reasons, but to me i really find this very fact that Michael Jackson is gone, a fact that is too hard for me to swallow.
We will miss you MJ. We will miss you.
High and Low Context Cultures. 21/06/2009
Posted by tisarar in International and Mass Communication, Personal Thoughts.Tags: communication styles, culture, high context, low context, social structures, soft spoken, vocal
5 comments
Hey everyone!
I have an avid habit of reading blogs and allowing for myself to see how others can think and stand on both sides of the fence when addressing the same matter. I chanced upon this particular blog when blog surfing and it was such a good read that I wanted to share it with you guys! 
http://edbarr.blogspot.com/2009/04/are-you-high-context-or-low-context.html
This blog post is from the blog of Edward Barr. His blog touches on many interesting topics and life experiences that he goes through. His current job as a consultant allows for him to have an active lifestyle and come into contact with many people from different cultures and societies. It also allows for him to learn much more about the art of persuasion and communicating with others.
In this particular post however, he mentions about the way that Asians and Americans speak and discusses the difference with his students.
This post allows for us to see the differences in our social structures. Based on Edward T. Hall’s model, culture is being divided into 2 categories, as high context and the low context. Asia, Africa, the Middle East and southern Europe are all high context cultures. The Americas, England, Australia and northern Europe form the low context cultures. From his Classic Dimension of Cultures, we learn that people from the high context culture focus on information preprogrammed in the receiver and the setting. Whereas for people in the low context culture, they focus on the transmitted message in order to make sense of the context. Like the example given by Edward Barr, are companies. Companies are more willing to hold out for their Asian counterparts as they would not be as demanding. An Asian company would be less forceful on them. American companies would expect to be corrected for whichever they might say.
So the main question is how do people from a low context cultures, instead of having subtle cues and “saving face”, become more explicit and use much more unambiguous verbal communication styles?
Asian societies are more reserved and tend to show less aggression when it comes to speaking in words. We learn to adopt and live by strict coded and contextual cues. In high context cultures, when an employee spots a mistake this his/ her boss made, instead of correcting the boss, we would prefer to appear to be more polite than talk back. The truth is then less important. Nods, smiles and silence play a part in the way that we communicate. If we were to be more explicit with how we feel, it would then be perceived to be rude and insensitive.
The opposite can be said for people from low context culture. They do not mince their words for they see no need for that. I suppose this trait of theirs can be attributed to the way that they are being raised. Since young, they are taught to be clear with their words and express themselves when need be. In classes, their opinions towards certain issues discussed in the class would be voiced out.
Ask a class of say 40 pupils from Singapore, and another from America a simple “yes” or “no” question. You would be more likely to get a response from the American class. Silence to them would be interpreted as incomprehension towards that particular subject, whilst the class of Singaporean students would most likely just nod their heads or keep quiet.
If we were to attempt to try and adopt this basic part of their culture and integrate it into ours, since young, I am sure that many of us would learn to be more vocal. We would speak up much more than before and be able to express ourselves in a much better and effective way, instead of always keeping our own views to ourselves, due to the fear that we might be sneered at or due to the fear that people might disagree with us. This way, our culture would then be one in which we are more open and receptive to new and unusual things, added with the way in which we write and express ourselves on paper. Wouldn’t that be perfect?
Bye for now, Tisa!
Would you eat this? 14/06/2009
Posted by tisarar in International and Mass Communication, Personal Thoughts.Tags: altered, balut, bias, communication, control, cultural relativism, culture, culture shock, ethnocentrism, food, image of self, perception
8 comments
Hi everyone!
First off, I would like to pose a question to everyone, would you eat a balut egg?
For those that don’t know what a balut egg is, here is the definition:
A balut is actually a fertilized duck or chicken egg with a nearly-developed embryo inside that is boiled and eaten in the shell. They are very common and are taken as an everyday food in countries in Southeast Asia, such as the Philippines, Cambodia and Vietnam. To the locals in these countries, it is popularly believed to be an aphrodisiac and is even considered to be a hearty and light snack which is high in protein. Balut are mostly sold by street vendors and they can be consumed when the egg is 2 weeks old till 18 days old.
Here is a video of the infamous egg and people in Pateros, Philippines snacking on it happily:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EpUW0b8G9Dk
After seeing this video, I am very sure that 85% of you would have answered “no” to my question above. As we all know, our cultures are our “templates for living”. These templates tell us who we are, what groups we belong to and how we are to live our lives. It is also the way in which we can distinguish ourselves from another group of people. In the video, the way in which the Filipinos have eaten eat may have caused us to have a shock, a huge culture shock that is. Why is it that we would react in this way? In the words of Edward T. Hall, our culture is an invisible control mechanism operating in our thoughts which kicks in only when we are severely challenged. In the context of our modern Singaporean society, eating a half developed egg is just beyond us and simply an act that is very wrong. It is not part of our cultural norm to consume Balut. Thus, we would tend to experience these strong emotions and develop such a biased judgement. In countries such as Vietnam, since young, the children are being fed with Balut and they are also taught that Balut is a healthy snack. It is something in which they live by and has been passed on from different generations.
Honestly, I have eaten a Balut before and it did not taste as bad as I thought it would be. I went on a community service trip with 19 of my peers to Cambodia. Along the streets were the many unique and ethnic snacks, so we decided to challenge ourselves and attempt to savour these delicacies. The Balut that I had was shared between 5 of us. My friend, Amanda, was the one with the most guts. She opened up the egg and spilt it into different portions, and she literally fed us so it would not be seen as “gross” on the visual and mental side. Initially we thought that it would taste repulsive and make us gag right away, but that is just a prejudice and negative interpretaion developed by others who have consumed it before. They exaggerated the very act of eating the egg. Eventually, all of us stepped out of our comfort zone and ate it.
The 18days in which we spent in Cambodia was very meaningful and this experience allowed for us to learn and internalised the way of how people from an entirely different culture lead their lives. It was also a fine example of how our culture influences as well as interprets our behaviour. Even though I’m sure that many of you would still find it very repulsive to eat a half developed embryo, we should still learn to practice cultural relativism instead of ethnocentrism. Our culture is in no way superior to theirs and using it as a yardstick to measure another culture just isn’t fair. Ethnocentrism acts as a huge communication barrier when we experience another way of life. Even though it might alter our perception of reality and image of self, seeing things from another perspective would undoubtedly help with any form of intercultural communication that we might experience in the near future. Definitely some food for thought yeah?
Tata!
-Tisa
One team. 07/06/2009
Posted by tisarar in Group Communication, Personal Thoughts.Tags: decisions, dragon boat, friends, goal, group, groups, important, push, rowing, synergy, team, team mates
12 comments
Hello everyone!
Robert Louis Stevenson mentioned this phase, ”Keep your fears to yourself but share your courage with others.”
I chanced upon this phase while browsing the web and this phase triggered a whole lot of thoughts and memories in me. This week my topic would be about working together as a team. This is one issue which I can relate closely to. I may not appear to be like the sporty type, but truth be told, I came from a Dragon Boat Team.
(This was against my parents’ wishes.)
Joining and being part of the team has been a major part of my life.
I had to learn how to juggle between my studies and the trainings as well. From the beginning, I went in, not knowing what to expect. I just knew that I would be challenging myself, both physically and mentally. Becoming a junior, I slowly learnt about how things were being run and about socialising in the group. There were many a times where I wanted so badly to fit in and be included. Unlike my peers from the same batch as me, I was not as good in my running and enduring the pain. I pushed myself to work harder to improve and challenged myself to I break my own boundaries. My batch of girls had 9 girls and only 2 of us stayed on.
Group decisions and group needs were some of the constant decisions to be made. It’s times like these where some focused more on their own personal goals, some adopted the idea of group-think, having mind guards, their own morality. Our differences in thinking, the tension and conflicts that existed at that point of time, led to a break point. Eventually, only my friend and I stayed on and even, stepped up to be seniors. The both of us, learnt how to communicate with our juniors and in time, bonded with the few of them, through our intensive trainings and many gatherings. For me, I even felt that there was a period of time where, we thought in the same way, the way that we talked and even in the way that we behaved were very similar. It sounds quite freaky and unnatural, but this is what happens when a group of people who pursue the same goals in mind and spend a huge chunk of their time together, behave. I feel very content to know that my friends feel the same way as I do.
3 years did indeed feel like 3 days. I can still remember how it felt to be a junior, pushing myself and crying my heart out. From being a potential member to being the current marginal member in the team, I learnt about myself, how to deal with others and most importantly, about group synergy. Working as a group or a team, requires support and commitment from every single member. A group would only be cohesive, if everyone works together, have the same ideals in mind.
In a dragon boat, for the girls, there would be 12 members. 10 would be rowing whilst, one would be the drummer, giving the boat a ‘heart beat’ and a soul to it, the other would be the coxswain. He/ she would steer the direction of the boat. Every single person here is equally important. If one of these ‘players’ were to be missing, the boat would not be the same and the boat would not be able to move at all. During a race, the above phase above comes into play. Sharing your courage would allow for you to push yourself and your team mate. We row with all we have, with the team goal in mind. Rowing together and thinking in the same manner is the ultimate objective of being in the team, while winning a medal is but a mere bonus to us.
I still go back for trainings with my team quite regularly. I guess it’s ’cause I still feel like I am part of something bigger and better, yet at the same time, I know that I would be able to contribute to them in my own way. I also loved the dynamics of being in a team, I could learn from so many people. We may not like every single person that we meet, but as time passes by, he or she is being accepted for the person that he is. In the team, I can always be myself and also be a team player as well. At the same time, I know that my friends and team mates would always be there for me; the very same people whom I have shared tears, blood and sweat with. The very people who not only were my team mates, but at the same time were my closest friends as well.
For the very people who have shaped, taught so many valuable lessons in life and made me who I am today (You guys know who you are!), I sincerely thank you guys from the bottom of my heart. You guys are the best! Keep going and pushing and always BELIEVE.
team shot
Go Team NYP!
I’ll be back for more posts soon! Bye y’all!
Signing out, Tisa.
Relating. 31/05/2009
Posted by tisarar in Interpersonal Communication, Personal Thoughts.Tags: another, communicating, complex, dayswithmyfather, expression, parents, relate, relationships
12 comments
Howdy everyone!
I chanced about this flash site.
http://www.dayswithmyfather.com/
I’m sure some of you guys have heard of this site already. This site was created Phillip Toledano – Sometimes, he takes photographs for the New York Times. His mum passed away some time ago, so he decided to record down the images of how he communicates with his dad on an interpersonal level. All the memories he had with his father, are being captured on this flash site. Unfortunately, his dad passed away not too long ago as well, at the ripe old age of 99. His father was a quite a star in the past, before he retired. The 3 years time spent with his dad, made Phillip realise a whole lot of things. Things such as success, achievements in life and how much relationships matter to each of us. His father had short term memory, this made him only remember what he did for a period of about 2 hours or maybe even lesser.
This site is so interesting, because photographs capture the moment. They allow for almost all of our memories to be captured. Our actions, our smiles, our laughter and all of the ways that we communicate with each other non verbally, are shown. The way that he relates to his readers, are based largely on his relationship with his father. His father has always been a very positive figure in his life and sticks true to his own beliefs. The way that Phillip snaps the photos are very real. Images of himself crying, images of his dad’s hand on his scalp, images of his dad smiling and even in anguish. Like the phase goes, “A picture speaks a thousand words.” These images of tears, pain, anguish, joy and laughter, allow for all of us to identify with him and feel how he feels, as we also somehow experience the same things as he does. In some of the images, he discloses personal information about his life and how things go in his family.
He appeals to both the sociological and psychological side of all of us - his readers. He not only shares some of the common experiences that we all face as kids to our parents, he also allows for us to learn much more about him by throwing in information in which most of us do not know about him.
These factors alone, draw readers to visit the site, time and again. The proximity in cyberspace, allows for all of us to venture into his site and allows for us to relate so much to him, even though in reality, we are miles and miles away from each other.
Relationships can be formed, even over cyberspace. Blogs, Facebook and even Twitter profiles, allow for us to learn about another person. How much we learn, base our perception on that person, depends on how much the other party is willing to share. How much the other party is willing to exchange his/ her information with you. Shared social contacts, would definitely allow for us to interact more because the factor of uncertainty is not there. Self disclosure is one huge factor played on here, on this particular site.
Last but not least, going through this site, has allow for me to learn a whole lot about how to communicate better with others. Even though there is no verbal communication here, he is still able to put forth his thoughts into words and images. Non verbal communication also plays a very big part of our lives. It allows for us to learn and determine how another person is feeling, or what feelings he/ she is going through. Our choice of words and expressions are important when we want to talk to someone else. People might choose to express themselves differently and be pretentious. Thus, the art of engagement, management and disengagement becomes a much more complex theory as time progresses.
All in all, I do hope that we all would be able to form good and lasting relationships, especially with our parents and family members. They are the ones who shape us and raised us and made us who we are today.
Buh-bye!
-Tisa
You be the judge. 24/05/2009
Posted by tisarar in Impressions, Judgements, Personal Thoughts.Tags: Adam Lambert, American Idol 2009, being open, first impressions, Kris Allen, Simon Cowell, winner, Youtube
14 comments
Hey ho everyone!
I’m back again for another post in here! This time I found a Youtube video, which features Adam Lambert. *cues in the screams of the many girls out there* He was the first runner-up in the latest season of American Idol 2009 (AI), which ended about a week ago.
How many people actually did take notice of Adam when it was during the auditions phase of the show? He only managed to gain the attention of the media, press and basically everyone, only when he clinched the top few places in AI.
Here is where you guys can watch his audition video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rhD2VKNCZ4A (This video was only posted on May 5th of this year. This really shows how much our impressions of someone can change over time.)
After the song he sang in his audition, the judges would pass comments on him and his song or attire, etc. Not all of the judges had a good impression of him, the song that he sang and the way that he sang it. All of them passed comments based on their first impression of him.
Simon Cowell said this, “I think you are very theatrical.”
Kara DioGuardi, “Theatrical or not, it is a yes for me.”
Ironically, Simon Cowell was the particular judge, who actually went onto The Oprah Show and he even predicted that Adam Lambert would be the winner. Our first impressions, may not always be the right impression.
I was and I still am a really faithful viewer, close to every season’s American Idol, and no exception for this season as well. Even if I were ‘too busy’ to watch it, I would go onto Youtube to search for the videos or wait for the reruns. Alas, Adam only caught my attention when he was in the top 12. He was such an oh-so-dramatic and colourful character on the show.
When people really started to take note of Adam, even more impressions were formed on him. Pictures of him kissing another guy surfaced and he eventually brushed off the comment. Some people were more supportive of him and the rest not so. Some audiences reacted quite strongly and even labelled him as ‘gay’. But as time passed, these rumours slowly died down and people began to accept him for who he was.
People more often than not, are being judged all the time. Either by appearance, by facial features, verbal movements and even by the way that we speak. These are just some of the many, many factors that we are being judged by. For example, you might be able to impress a girl on the first date whereby you bought her flowers and was a gentleman. But on the second date, if you forgot to change out of your sweaty shirt and turned up on the date, her impression of you might immediately change.
In this case, even the AI judge, Simon Cowell, had to eat up his own words, because he passed judgement on Kris Allen so easily. Kris Allen is the winner of AI. (As you all already know!!!) He was considered as the ‘dark horse in the competition’. Not many people thought he posed much of a threat to Adam.
This is really a perfect example of impressions laid out front of us. There were so many people willing to pass judgement on Adam Lambert, when all they really saw was snippets of the reality show. Just because of the way he paints his nails and dresses fashionably, people’s first impression of him, is that he is gay.
How can we be sure that, what and who we see, are real? For reality television shows, they draw audiences by portraying a certain portion of the show to us – the more interesting part. So, how much of what we see is real and not biased?
How many of us, actually see things from a different point of view and are willing to not judge someone, but rather, keep and open mind to what ever and whoever we come into contact with? How many of us are willing to learn the full story first, then decide on what should and should not we take in? The way that we see and intepret things are based what we know and what we may have experienced. In this modern time and age, most of us, when meeting someone new, we would assume that ‘he or she is a bit quiet?’ or ‘i think she is so weird!’. It would take some time for us to change our views. Just because someone is not as vocal or as pretty as someone else, does not give us the right to judge her. We should always be more open towards everything, instead of always assuming this and that. Like the phase goes, ‘There is more than meets the eye.’ Thus, we should always get to learn more about everything and keep an open mind first, then come to a conclusion.
One last thing, I am a huge Kris Allen fan!
Tisa, over & out!
Ugly Communter? 17/05/2009
Posted by tisarar in Influence, Judgements, Personal Thoughts.Tags: commuters, MRT, NS man, selfess, selfish, STOMP, ugly
20 comments
Hello World!
To kick start this web space, I’ve decided to start with this article that I chanced upon in STOMP, the Straits Times On-line Media Portal. This is a space where users can upload pictures of whichever incident that catches their eye or which bugs them.
The article can be found here - http://singaporeseen.stomp.com.sg/singaporeseen/viewContent.jsp?id=70474
As my title states, it is regarding a commuter on the train. He is an NS man, hogging a priority seat on the MRT train, whilst there were parents and toddlers nearby. He just literally sat down on the seat and stared ‘innocently’ as people who were more needy entered the train. Instead of offering them his seat, he was nonchalant about it and continued occupying the seat, and the worst thing was, the train came to a halt, the kids almost fell down. The STOMP user who posted this up was unhappy and disgusted with this NS man’s behaviour and so he posted up this article.
After reading this article, here is my two cents worth.
Being brought up in an environment where being selfish was not tolerable, in this case, I agree with this STOMP user only partially. These priority seats are mostly ‘reserved’ for those who are older in age, pregnant ladies and even small kids. The NS man is serving his national service, for goodness sake! He is fit and I am quite sure that the toddlers (however ‘fidget-y’ or active they get) would be needing the seats more than he does. But on the other hand, how does this STOMP user know that the NS man did not offer the seat to the parents and toddlers already? It is possible that even before this STOMP-er witnessed this scene that, the NS man did try to be kind and offer them a seat. It is really unwise to pass such mean and degrading comments and also to make judgements on someone, even before you find out the entire picture. I feel that this STOMP-er should not oversimplify some of the actions that he sees and instead of passing comments so quickly, maybe he should be more open in his perception. This happens so very often in Singapore that more than not, we tend to over look such unfriendly and selfish acts, and eventually tend to classify them as ‘common’. It is high time that we all wise up. Instead of being so self-centered, we can try to open up and be a much more selfless and kind nation.
The existance of such sites like STOMP should really be stopped and banned. STOMP is a means in which literally anyone of any age can access. The content that is found on STOMP is appalling. I, myself, admit that I sometimes do enjoy reading up on how all our ‘typical Singaporean behaviour’ and what news are being generated here. But what does it really say of us Singaporeans? Looking at the comments found on the site, I am very certain that close to 3/4 of the entire Singapore does know of the existant of STOMP and even visit it. Companies would even make use of this particular site to generate more news and publicity for themselves.
There is more than enough proof that we would be influenced by the way that we might perceive things. Our thoughts and actions would definitely reflect what we have learnt and come in contact with. The way we speak, behave and think, is so largely influenced by the media. If such ‘trash-y’ sites do not cease to exist, what would become of the rest of us? And even the rest of our society?
In a nutshell, I do hope that more would be done to curb such ugly acts in Singapore, plus throw in the point that, sites such as STOMP should not even be created in the first place. What is the point of complaining and putting someone else down? It does not make Singapore a much better place to live in; all it does is to make us feel even worse about overselves right. And would anyone be proud to admit that they are Singaporeans anymore? I personally would be reluctant to admit it myself.
NS man : Singaporean males of aged 18 and above who need to serve in the army for a duration of about 2 years.
STOMP user : People who uses STOMP to discuss issues
STOMP-er : Users of STOMP, referring to a STOMP user too.
Till next time!
- Tisa
