Happy Learn From Lei Feng Day

Today, 5th of March, is... "Learn from Lei Feng Day"(学雷锋日), since 1963." Interested in the intrigue art of propaganda? Meet the grandfather of political propaganda mascot, Lei Feng (雷鋒). While Captain America will always be remembered as the outright propaganda mascot(they called it "Patriot") who don't just literally wear his ideals to his sleeves but his whole freaking costume, Lei Feng is the Out-And-Out real freaking deal, a living, kicking personification of Maoism and Communist Socialism. Or is he? Talks of Lei Feng being an utter creation to promote Mao's Cult of Personality had been around since way back. Born in Wangcheng, Hunan (near the Town of Leifeng, Changsha, Hunan, named in his honour), Lei was orphaned at an early age and raised under the wings of the Communist Party. He became a member in the Communist youth corps when he was young and joined a transportation unit of the People's Liberation Army at the age of twenty. Lei died in 1962 at the age of 21, when a telephone pole, struck by an army truck, hit him while he was directing the truck in backing up. After Lei's death, his diary was published, and Lei was built up as a good example to the Chinese people to be cheerfully selfless and noble in thought. That is, on the basis on the strength of this particular propanganda, which in short, equals to most probably make-believes. Even if this figure did existed, the background must had been heavily edited. While fanfare had most definitely diminished in this time and age, there are still many serious following, judging from my earlier entry where an online game was actually created. By the by, check the man out in his favourite past-time activity. Damn this is a Wacko who seemingly gets a kick out of wiping a car bonnets.

It's That Time Of The Year Again, Jackass!!!

Wobbly wriggling while withering in the ever-as-efficient-as-it-is-goddamn-overloaded morning train to whore myself yet again, I find myself incapable of wiping that silly smirk off my face when I saw this ad. Wondering what time of the year had delighted this merry family of three generations gathering in front of the X-Box 360? Wonder no more. Ahhh, the delights of drunk driving, are just one of the many vices that you can indulge in Grand Theft Auto IV, a fact made famous by a stark-raving organization with a strangely appropriately named acronym, MADD, Mothers Against Drunk Driving.

Doraemon & Socialism

Damn, you got to read it to believe it...The hidden message behind the good o' big fat blue cat, Doraemon...the propaganda cat? All this theories really cracks me up... "金主席說過：“階級鬥爭是貫穿整個人類歷史的主線，是被壓迫階級與統治階級之間無可調和的必然產物，是歷史發展的動力與車輪，在我們的文藝作品裏一定要很好地反映出這一點。”《機器貓》是由日本的藤子．F．不二雄與藤子不二雄A合著的一本偉大的、具有深刻時代意義的巨著。作者通過書中主人公野比康夫一生悲慘的遭遇，將那個時代殘酷的階級鬥爭景象生動地展現在我們面前，讓我們了解到勞 動人民在封建社會中那種暗天無日的生活以及統治階層的血腥暴力本質。 該巨著的情節很簡單，野比康夫是一名處於社會底層的窮苦少年，經常受到剛田武（大胖）、骨川強夫等所謂的貴族的剝削欺壓，雖然對貴族少女源靜子抱有戀情，但卻因為森嚴的社會等級束縛而無法實現。正當他窮困潦倒之際，出現了一位從未來過來的機器貓，利用各種道具來幫助野比來反擊社會的一切不公平待遇，最後如願以償地與靜子結婚。 分析一部著作，要從它裏面的人物著手。金主席說過：“人物是一篇小說的靈魂，作者的思想與理念都是通過人物來進行表達的。”只有仔細分析書中各個人物的性格特點與階級地位，才能更好地理解《機 器貓》的社會與哲學意義，進而準確地把握本書的中心思想。 首先是主人公野比康夫，這個人是作者塑造的勞動人民的典型，處於社會的最底層，經常受到地主階級的盤剝與壓搾，終日過著膽驚受怕的日子。野比這個人的人物特點是，既有勇於反抗大胖的進步性，表現出了勞動人民要求解放的樸素願望，也有將希望寄托在一個來自未來的虛幻人物身上的迷信思想，這是他的局限性。當階級矛盾還轉化到無可容忍的地步時，他一直對殘酷的壓迫隱忍不發（書中很多地方都表現了這一點，比如幫大胖拎書包）；當矛盾激化的時候，又因為沒有先進的思想進行指導而無法從根本上動搖剝削階級的統治。（經常挨打）在他身上充分體現出了廣大最底層勞動人民的兩面性：對剝削階級的鬥爭性與妥協性。而且這種鬥爭性因為缺乏先進思想的指導而往往為統治階層利用，用來進行剝削階級內部的權力鬥爭（強夫就經常和野比聯合起來對付大胖）。機器貓贈給他很多強大的寶物，而他的最終目的不是推翻剝削階級，而是想要與貴族少女靜子結合的庸俗目的，還對剝削階級抱有幻想。這就是他的歷史局限性。總之這是一個矛盾的悲劇式人物。 其次是書中的兩個反面角色，剛田武與骨川強夫。強夫和大胖可以看成封建統治階級內部的兩個基本集團：掌握政權的士大夫階層和掌握軍權的武將階層。他們是互相利用的，後者需要前者的富裕的經濟力來支撐自己的龐大開銷，前者需要後者強大的武力來鎮壓被統治階級（大雄）的反抗。又是相互鬥爭的，經常會因為利益分配不均而發生軍人推翻文官統治的情況（強夫也挨打），甚至有的時候強夫還會聯合野比等勞動人民進行反抗。但是在對付人民（野比）的基本方針上，這兩者又是始終一致的。所以我們看書的時候不要被強夫與野比的暫時聯合假象蒙蔽了眼睛，以為階級鬥爭是可以避免的，其實強夫與野比的連手反抗大胖不過是統治階級的內部權力鬥爭而已，只是每隔一段時間決定一次由大胖和強夫中的誰來壓迫人民，剝削階級的反動本質是不會改變的。任何抱持階級鬥爭調和論觀點都是極端錯誤的，勢必要被歷史所淘汰，大胖和強夫的倒逆施行只會加速剝削階級走向沒落的步伐，以野比為代表的勞動人民必將站在歷史的舞臺，以主人翁的姿態出現。 源靜子是書中主人公所崇敬的偶像。從源這個姓氏我們推斷出她也是日本貴族階層中的一分子。這個人有女性的善良、美麗，對受壓迫階層的人民具有同情心，但又始終局限於本階級立場。一個被封建禮教毒害了的少女，始終無法衝破階級身份的藩籬，去追求真正的愛情。當野比闖進她的浴室，以大無畏的精神去向她表白，要求她一起與腐朽的統治階級做鬥爭時，她心裏固有的階級意識卻促使她露出了統治階級的本來面目，以潑水的方式表明了自己與勞動人民敵對的立場。靜子雖然同情野比，但她畢竟屬於剝削階級，不可能從更高的角度觀察事物，不可能具備超越階級的覺悟，也就不可能對野比產生真正意義上的愛情，所謂的“愛情”只是小資產階級情調庸俗愛情觀的表現。從這一點，也可以充分地體現出野比這個人物的悲劇色彩，說明在封建社會裏，在森嚴的吃人等級制度下，不可能指望剝削階級有更高 的覺悟，為了自由與幸福，勞動人民唯有自己努力。 機器貓則是作者理想化了的一個人物。它來自未來，又有無數神奇的道具。這個人物其實是勞動人民渴望求解放的心願的人格化產物。在先進的革命思想出現之前，勞動人民往往把解脫與翻身寄托在神化了的神仙佛祖身上，希望能通過超自M的力量謀求幸福。古代的種種神化比如刑天舞戚，精衛填海都是這種樸素思想的體現，這裏作者不過是又塑造了一個無所不能的機器貓，通過機器貓對野比的幫助，讓野 比得以與大胖和強夫對抗，進而達到徹底解放。 The above contents was in turns, sourced from the "中央電腦" entry from 海虎第一城 on 24th November 2003.

Dreaded Drama Of The Day

The Dreaded Doctor Chee Strikes Again! This time at both the Myanmar Embassy and the Istana, which of course, happened to be his final destination, as he got arrested by the Singapore Police for "staging an unlawful demonstration at the Istana Park facing the main entrance of the Istana". The below drama got unfold, according to this article at the SDP site... SDP's chairman, Mr Gandhi Ambalam, began to read out the letter of petition, "Dear Sir, It is with disgust that we learn about the murderous assault on the Burmese people..." Before he could finished reading the first sentence, the staff abruptly interrupted him and said, "No. We cannot accept this petition." He then turned his back and walked straight back to the embassy.

Propaganda Invades Gaming Scene

"For beginners, sewing and mending socks is the only way to increase experience and to upgrade," said Jiao Jian, a six-grade pupil in Yuexiu District, quoted by the newspaper. "Every time you are promoted to a higher level, your clothes will become more average," he said. "You have to do good deeds in order to upgrade, such as contributing and volunteering on building sites. The more you do, the better and higher you get. Thus boosting your reputation." The game also sets up tasks like a treasure hunt, which can be found in many online games. But the treasure here is a copy of Chairman Mao's Collection, unlike the usual swords or jewels. "It's a novel idea, very interesting." Jiao said. He also said he likes to battle against the secret agents mainly. "Sometimes the enemy was very strong. The fight almost exhausted me, so I would go to talk with the Party secretary to replenish my vitality at once." "As long as my experience, reputation, skill and loyalty satisfy the game's criteria, I will win and meet Chairman Mao," Jiao noted. "I still have several tasks to go through. I will 'work hard' and strive to obtain the Chairman's autograph as soon as I can." Really, would you feel any more comfortable letting your kids play this than GTA? As for Lei Feng, well, talk about drastic transformation. Wait till you see my plans for him.

Great Fire Wall Of China

"Great Balls Of Fire" meets "Great Walls Of China". Google’ launch of its self censored search engine Google.cn in China has been another bolstering stone in the Chinese government ’Great firewall of China’, a network of government servers used to determine what Chinese internet users are allowed to see. By compromising its motto ’don’t be evil’ and bowing to the govt. policies Google has received a massive opposition reigniting the debate about how businesses conduct themselves in oppressive regimes. The launch of Google.cn is being observed as a black day for freedom of expression in China. Also the company’ act of taking a stand against the US govt. for securing the privacy of its western clientele and at the same time capitulating to the Chinese authorities is considered as a part of its’ Hippocratic strategies in China contrasting Google’ statements about respecting online privacy as stated by Reporters Without Borders (RWB) The very helpful B3ta.com has given us a very serious look at what's in store in the future for China's google users. On to the next "black day for freedom of expression".

Sometimes, It's Perfectly Alright To Just Shut Up

Sometimes, in life, nobody's complaining if you keep mum. Really. Within the plush comfort of the Raffles City convention centre, billionaire George Soros held court yesterday to an audience of 1,600 academics, government officials, businessmen and undergrads, enthralling them with his beliefs and vision for a global open society — and declaring that Singapore had yet to score in his book of liberal politics. Having made his wealth by the time he hit 50, Mr Soros is now into encouraging transitional and emerging nations to become "open societies" — open not only in the sense of freedom of commerce, but more importantly, tolerant of new ideas and different modes of thinking and behaviour... With Mr Soros's drive to bring about change in China, where he admitted failure, and Myanmar, where efforts continue, the focus inevitably fell on Singapore. Panel member Benjamin Lee, a third-year National University of Singapore student, asked Mr Soros how he rated Singapore as an open global society. Mr Soros was blunt. "Obviously, Singapore does not qualify as open society," he said. But Singapore is prosperous and prosperity and an open society tend to go hand in hand, he said. "I detect a desire of greater openness," he said, adding that he had great respect for the achievements of Singapore's energetic leadership. "But I hope they will be brave enough to take the next step in the development of an open society." Classic response to Soro's remarks, from a Ministry of Information, Communications and the Arts spokesman. "If we were not an open society, George Soros would hardly be able to make the comment at an open forum in Singapore, and be reported in the Singapore media." Nuff's said. Literally.

The Most Dreaded Local Film. And No, It's Not Directed By Jack Neo.

The recent "Singaporean-Doing-Hard-Time-For-Blogging" incident, despite casting a dark and gloomy cloud over the local blogosphere, was actually rather gratifying to me in some extent that it brought up some intriguing issues and cases that I never noticed earlier on, and that it has without a shadow of a doubt, raised some much needed awareness on both the blogging community and the Government stance on freedom of speech. For example, while browsing down the related stories, I stumbled upon an article on a film that I have only heard of earlier on (pros for being a devoted follower of Singapore International Film Festival (SIFF) since 1998), "Singapore Rebel". Come to think of it, it's rather funny that while the Censor Board's idea behind banning the documentary was to eliminate any chances of it reaching Singaporeans and the international community(the Censor Board told SIFF organisers that Martyn See, the producer of Singapore Rebel, must withdraw the film from the SIFF within a few hours, or else they would report him to the police and have him charged), all it succeed in achieving is blowing the trumpet out loud now that its existence has reach puny locals like myself. And now, the most dreaded local film has been screened in Australia, Malaysia, New Zealand, Sweden and the US, and has sparked petitions for its release from global entities such as SEAPA (Southeast Asian Press Alliance) and Amnesty International. Worth the ticket price just for its notoriety. Sorry, Jack Neo. The most dreaded local film is not "I Do I Do". Not "Money No Enough". And hell no, not even your latest magnum opus, "One More Chance" despite the fact that it remains as my single most 'skull-fuck-me-to-death-please' cinematic moment ever. And please don't ask me why I go in the first place. IT is that traumatic. But I'll be more than delighted to attend the screening of "Singapore Rebel".

Paranoia Down Under

Chinese defector Hao Feng Jun has provided further alleged evidence about the claims of surveillance and monitoring of Australian citizens and residents by China. Mr Hao told Lateline two weeks ago when he came into Australia on a tourist visa that he smuggled a computer file carrying hundreds of Chinese security documents that he had secretly downloaded from his police computer... ...A second Chinese defector, former diplomat Chen Yonglin, backs Mr Hao's claims. Mr Chen again maintained the existence of the Chinese 6-10 security office that defecting policeman, Mr Hao, had previously told Lateline he had worked for in China. "Yes, 6-10 Office was established in 1999 on June 10," Mr Chen said. "That was established to control the Falun Gong organisation and, in my view, to persecute Falun Gong practitioners." Mr Chen says it is common knowledge among Chinese officials, diplomats and consular offices that the 6-10 Office exists. "Every diplomat working in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs knows that existed, yes, 6-10," Mr Chen said. As unbelievable as it sounds, paranoia and suspense has definitely been kick into high gear down under.