Sunday, November 26, 2017

Sarcasm, rudeness and personal attacks on social media


By Teo Kueh Liang

TODAY/VOICES

23 November, 2017

In today’s context, technology has made it instant and convenient for people to get information and news.

Everyone is able to read news online, and readers may express his or her views on any particular issue or topic on social media.

However, on these platforms, including Facebook and Twitter, the common but unhealthy experience for anyone reading or taking part is that when online users do not agree with someone’s opinions, they often resort to personal attacks by using sarcastic comments and vulgarities on the other party.

[That's because your opinion is STUPID! Oh. Was that rude?]

To me, it is not necessary and meaningless to use such an approach in any discussion or debate. It only reflects the person’s character, personality and his or her level of civility.

It seems that people have lost their emotional intelligence (EQ) or even just their intelligence (IQ) in these public spaces.

[No. I suspect they lost their patience with unthinking boors who have an over-inflated sense of the importance and intelligence of their half-baked opinions and who think nothing of inflicting their ignorance and ignorantly-conceived opinions on others and expect others to be unthinkingly grateful for their "pearls" of swine droppings. Oh. Was that rude too?

Did wild boar in Punggol die needlessly?

By Sivarajah Nathan


TODAY/VOICES


I refer to the report, “'Rampaging' wild boar in Punggol euthanised after gunshot wound to neck” (23 Nov).

More could have been done to save the wild boar before it was shot by a police officer. Was the animal sufficiently tasered?

As the Animal Concerns Research and Education Society (Acres) said, the boar could have been stressed and became defensive after sustaining injuries from the road accident and then found itself cornered.

I am not sure that the police have the right training to handle wildlife and the right specialists should have been called in instead.