Personal Blather!

Exams are starting in a few days. I'm doing what I can to prepare for the test, but somehow it never seems enough. I think that if I want to survive next semester onwards I need to focus a lot more.

Anyway, just a short break to write a few things in here. I'm seriously dead bored with this design, so the long overdue major overhaul is going to arrive just about after my exams. I'm going to learn PHP, which should make this more interactive. I just hope blogspot allows people to actually do that... Otherwise, I guess it'll be back to the same old style... but design wise, it's seriously got to change.

I wonder why there are so many things about blogs which make people become so interested in them. The incident at NUS (about that guy declaring his love for a girl in the middle of lecture) wasn't that big an issue until the 'victim' started blogging about it. I won't comment about this matter, but it's evident that blogs have become more than just a private place to rant. In fact, if you actually vent your frustrations or personal opinions on the net, you may suddenly become the target of abuse. That scholar who was severely affected (by the media naturally) because he ranted a little in his blog, clearly shows that blogs are no longer 'private'. Anonymity was one of the key reasons people wanted to post their thoughts on the net instead of writing it in a journal. No, I do not condone racism (as in the case of the scholar) nor do I wish to comment on the 'love' issue, but obviously human curiousity has led to many strange phenomenons of late. That 'love' issue made the 'victim's blog suddenly flooded with visitors, all eager to pry into what happened after and to find out her reaction. Granted, it was a public confession which was filmed by the NUS webcast, but why the big fuss? The event was even sprayed on the front page of the Straits Times™ days later. Some say that it was allowed because the government is trying to promote marriage and hence the huge publicity, but even more endearing is the fact that so many people around the world were interested in the issue. The number of searches from Google™ for the girl and news about her was certainly plenty.

Blogs are meant for penning down thoughts, feelings, rants, anything that a particular person may want to write. Of course, being public, it is inevitable that people stumble across it once in a while, so a certain amount of discretion is expected. Essentially, I believe the author has a 'right' to write whatever he or she wants in his or her blog as long as it is according to the terms of service of whatever publishing or blog website host. As humans, we sometimes feel down or a certain dark side may emerge; we are weak in the sense that we have all fallen before. So assuming one does suddenly feel frustrated over a certain 'group of people' and in the heat of the moment write something uncharacteristic of a 'good, mature, understanding, perfect human' in his or her blog, is it grounds enough to condemn the person? It would be different if the entire content of the blog is to condemn a particular group of people or person, but if it was just a reflection of what that person felt at that time, is it wrong? Can we truly say we have never fallen into the same pit before? Is the fact that every other post written in the blog had nothing threatening save a few rants simply void because of ONE post? I certainly wonder. I do not hope that I would fall into the same trap, but I do believe that if I were to post in my blog, and truly state my feelings, it may sometimes make certain people unhappy. That is life. I don't think we have a right to judge a person like that. The only thing we can do is control how we react to that person and his or her actions.

So what's my point? What I write, is what I want to write, because a blog to me is an avenue to release emotions. That said, the responsibility to write what is edifying and that which is 'good' lies upon me. The only thing anyone ought to do about it is react positively to it. Understand that a lot of times, people make mistakes because they do things on impulse. Also try to understand that people do a lot of things because they just didn't know better at that time. It's not our job to condemn them. Spamming and sending hate mail will only harden that person, not change him or her. Making comments like, "This person doesn't deserve to be human" or anything similar in no way makes that person come to his or her senses. I say unless the blog is repeatedly going against morality and ethics then leave the author who wrote that one post be. It was a slip and ignoring it would be far better than condemning him or her for it.

Blogs are public, but also remember that it is the avenue a lot of people choose to speak out whatever they feel inside. We all make mistakes, as long as we learn from them, it's fine. There's no need to keep harping on it. For me, I think I'll keep personal posts in another place where NOONE but me can see it.