If you're wondering what happened to playwright Huzir Sulaiman's regular Sunday column in Starmag has got to, well, it has been spiked.Huzir sent round this message via Facebook :
I am bemused to learn that my editors felt unable to run this fortnight's Wide Angle. I find it very funny because this week's column is much lighter and more frothy than some of the other things that have gone through. ... I have therefore taken this opportunity to use this spiked piece to inaugurate my blog.Go read the piece the paper didn't carry. And welcome to the blogosphere, Huzir!
6 comments:
Just as some of us were noting that the Star was more free in reporting. Can't open the link tho.
Animah
fixed. yes. you think things are changing and then you get slapped in the face by the reality of the situation.
It's a very funny article. Loved it!
- Poppadumdum
I LOVED the article too. And this is what will continue to happen as long as the government controls the newspapers: those with interesting/exciting/meaningful stuff to say will keep moving out onto the internet. The pool of people who actually want to keep writing safe articles for the papers gets smaller and smaller because it's neither challenging nor rewarding work, and the standard therefore drops further and further as the newspapers scrape the bottom of the journalism barrel. Eventually the papers will consist entirely of recipes for mee siam, weight-loss advertisements, and articles about Hotel X's one-month Hairy Crab Promotion or Hotel Y's spectacular Ramadan buffet. Censorship doesn't just affect political journalism; it affects standards throughout the newspapers, and you can see this very clearly if you compare the standard of writing on the internet (or in the few print publications that have managed to remain independent) to the average standard of writing in the sanctioned press.
It's fascinating to sit back and watch this happen.
-- Preeta
Indeed. Is the professional journalist going to be extinct? is local news going to be written by people like RPK? it's interesting to consider. No longer will we hear about people who bravely rescue others from drowning or burning houses. We'd not know what the GDP is, or what the inflation rate is. We'll all be stupider. Like Preeta mentioned earlier, the world is composed of stupid people, how's a law-abiding smart person to survive? you'd just have to work for a stupid person, because, well, they all are or are going to be. Either that or start another website that tells people what they want to hear, regardless of how stupid it sounds.
The inmates have really taken over the asylum.
Incidentally, I think I've mentioned this in another post, but H.G. Wells' "Country of the Blind" is an interesting read. What happens to an intelligent minority in a country of stupid people? that piece answers the queestion better than I can :)
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