Haben Sie gehört das Deutsche band?

Watched The Producers for a class. Not bad, not too bad at all. There's a single scene inside that cracked me up for 20 seconds. It was great. Some jokes are best when you first watch it. After that you can never attain the same amount of quality laughter again.

Here's a scene. No it isn't the scene that I like best. I don't even find it funny. Ok, it's mildly funny. I do, however, like one of the song inside. It makes me want to wobble my head left and right.

Arghumgamgr

Just read an article which shows, among other things, that there is a positive relation between use of news media and civic engagement. Some theoretical explanations offered are that news give 'voice to community concerns', and 'not only [do they] educate, they provide the basis for political discussion and deliberation that can lead to civic action' (pg. 371).

The writers are, of course, quick to re-emphasize that the role of news media in promoting civic participation may only be mediatory in nature (pg. 371). In other words, it could be the case that people who are already disposed to engage in civic activities merely use the news as a springboard to civic participation.

Now, I'm quite apathetic to the plight of the Haiti people, as well as most victims of natural disasters. Apart from interesting links friends sometimes insist I read, my only consumption of news media is The Straits Times, whose quality many would find debatable at best. I consistently skip articles on natural disasters, terrorism, military conflicts, the economy (especially Singapore's economy), and politics (especially Malaysian and American politics). What I'd like to know here is if I'd participate in fund-raising events for Haiti if I had actually bothered to read more about it, not just in The Strait Times but in weekly magazines, emails and websites. If there's an increase in my civic participation in this regard, then I'd be more inclined to think use of news media has a causal link with civic participation; if not, then I'll just be one more example showing that civic compassion is derived from deeper sources.

I remember going down to sign a petition by the SDP calling on the Singapore government to disclose her arms dealings with Myanmar, or something like that. Obviously I'm concerned over some issues more than others. My number one concern now is the warm weather. Buses taking 20 minutes to arrive is a close second, though whether we live in a matrix is an equally pressing issue.

2 responses

I'd criticise people who cherry-pick modules based on how easy they think it is to score in them, at the expense of intellectual or personal interest. This semester, however, I replaced 2 modules that had group project components with 2 that didn't, at the expense of some intellectual interest. How different am I then from those I'd criticise?

2 responses here. 1) I retract my impressions of such people and concede that I am just as pragmatic, or shallow, as them. Or 2), I argue that shunning modules which one believes one can't score in is more shallow than shunning modules that have group projects in them.

I'll give this issue more thought the next time the bus takes 20 minutes to arrive.