Biased Observer

This is not an online diary.

It's awfully amusing watching the recent flurry of articles in the Straits Times try to describe what a blog is exactly. And the outcome is much like the four blind men trying to describe an elephant, each journo trying to summate to the general populace based on the blogs they've been given and how those blogs interlink.

Much as I snicker at the various descriptions, I actually do sympathise with the challenge they face. Blogs are everything and anything, and I've noticed that even the most tech savvy person may not know what exactly a blog is or does. Not knowing is one thing, there are many things I don't know. The more 'amusing' take-home message from the recent media scrutiny of blogs is how they ascribe so much power to blogs. As if blogs are at the cusp of some political revolution, as if blogs are poised to overtake the mainstream media. Hence the friendly reminder that blogs are subject to the same laws of defamation and if you don't believe it let's all watch a certain stat board chairman flex those powerful (ooh) muscles against some hapless bond-breaking student on the other side of the world.

Whoa, Kemosabe.

I guess it's the easy way out isn't it? Tar and quash what you don't understand before you find that you cannot control it. Brilliant. Brilliant, indeed. I'm trying that one with the kids next time. If I ever have any.

But they've barely scratched the surface of political blogs. No, no. They actually have not at all scratched the surface of the non-infantile blogs. Not because they haven't done their homework. The real irony is that they can't afford to point the public to those blogs. So it's rather odd to read of articles declaring the coming of hell and highwater and the holy trinity of blogs they continuously point to are by Xiaxue, mrbrown, and Mr Miyagi. It's like warning me of viscious rottweilers and then showing me a fluffy, white Westie.

Of course, the cynic in me wondered if perhaps the 'online diary' label is just a subsversive way of disarming blogs. Make blogs appear frivolous and nobody will take them seriously. Who knows really. At the end of the day, the blogging community will fluorish whether the press gets it right or not, whether the general public clues in, if ever.

And therein lies the true power of blogs.

A rubbish title, but a start.

One of my coping mechanisms for moving back to Singapore and surviving this past year has been a conscious effort to disconnect myself from any and all sociopolitical issues here. If I cared, I may just go stir crazy trying to argue my way out of a hermetically sealed, air-conditioned, plastic bag.

Not that I was some activitist prior to this, but years of hanging out with liberal Americans and socialist Europeans have warped my perspective quite a fair bit. I don't pretend to be right, but I do like to think that as a modern, open society, we are civil enough to accept and welcome diverse opinions.

This is an attempt to get back into the fray, one entry at a time. I haven't a clue where this is headed specifically. I have no agenda. Nor do I profess to be some arbiter of truth or fairness.

The handle Biased Observer is one I've had for more than 10 years, it fell into disuse the past years, and I am resurrecting it for this blog. These opinions are mine, as interpreted through my personal experiences. All which count for crap in the grand scheme of things.

But you know how it is. Some of us just like to talk, and even better if someone happens to listen.