Looking Around

When does a communication (a speech, a video clip, a piece of writing, etc.) become offensive? When does a communication legimately hurt the sensitivities and feelings of a particular group? One reason this is an important question is a lot of the cultural/political battles all over the world have to do with this. I’ve blogged previously about the absurdity of people being "offended" by the greeting "merry christmas". here’s another example of what may be construed as over-sensitivity .. a petition posted on a yahoo group ..

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Manager, Marketing
MEASAT Broadcast Network Systems Sdn Bhd
All Asia Broadcast Centre,
Technology Park Malaysia,
Lebuhraya Puchong-Sg. Besi, Bukit Jalil,
57000, Kuala Lumpur

Dear Sirs,

RE: ASTRO-ON-DEMAND ADVERTISEMENT CHANNELS

The questionable advertisement is frequently shown in Cantonese and depicts one highly driven Malaysian Chinese dreaming to be KING of pirated VCD/DVD seller by pimping VCD/DVDs to scores of Malaysian Chinese in various scenes such as in a food court/market/ saloon but having mainly Malaysian Chinese clients.

The advertisement should be withdrawn immediately as it portrays in the eyes of ordinary Malaysians or other viewers whether in Malaysia or elsewhere that Malaysian Chinese are active participants in the pirated VCD/DVD trade which by itself is illegal in Malaysia.

Therefore, unless Astro could manifest that the above portrayal is not fanciful and is acceptable characterisation of the Malaysian Chinese Communities in general, then the advertisement should be withdrawn as it is not only highly degrading but also demeaning of Chinese by being portrayed as active participants in an illegal trade or otherwise supportive of such vice.

Furthermore, it may even convey the message (whether cantonese is readily understood or not) to foreigners visiting Malaysia that pirated VCD/DVD are so common as to be possibly legal in Malaysia and could be found in markets or places frequented by its Chinese population as shown in the advertisement. Otherwise, the advertisement is in poor taste as it singles out a particular race for ridicule and should be withdrawn immediately.

I call on all Malaysians to turn Astro OFF in protest if the
advertisement is not withdrawn.

Thank you

Your Name

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ok, I haven’t actually seen the ad, but why be so sensitive? taken to the extreme, you’d have to censor/ban/cut out any scene on TV or the movies where anybody does anything illegal or unethical, because that will tarnish that person’s race.

One might suspect that in a lot of cases of supposed offense, it is
just a political ploy (a very commonly used one!) to push a particular
agenda and crowd out some other agendas, and that some of the people
claiming offense may actually therefore have ulterior motives.

to be continued..

This entry was posted on Thursday, August 9th, 2007 at 9:42 am and is filed under Culture. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.