Friday, January 1, 2010
Television; More than Meets the Eye (Reasearch Project Declassified)
Wednesday, December 23, 2009
Newspapers, biggest liars (Research Project Declassified 2)
A young professional picks up a newspaper at a local vendor and walks to the cashier to pay just a small amount for at least 50 A3 sized pages of extra knowledge. However, how much of this news is true? For this reason, researches have shown that the newspapers have adverse effects on the society; firstly, because newspapers can provoke unnecessary fear among the public about infrequent dangers; secondly, news presented by newspapers can have negative influences on the publics’ as it can change the public’s perception of events; and finally, newspapers can offer readers a “false choice” as the news can be chosen by other parties besides the publisher.
Firstly, newspapers have become such an influence on the public that it can provoke unnecessary fear in most people. These fears are mostly the fear of crime and the fear of natural disasters; both, in actual fact, are rare events. Most of the public now is ever fearful of the fact that they might get mugged or killed for money; being abducted, raped or killed by a big wave. Although these unfortunate events may be a rarity in reality, it is not necessarily the case for the newspaper readers. Williams and Dickinson (1993) revealed with a survey that newspapers tend to publish more articles on crime and dramatic events such as natural disasters and rape cases. This makes readers think that the dangers are close to home and happen regularly, as they are reminded time and time again. Hence, news articles project a perception that the events have happened seem to happen more frequently. For example, the newspapers published more about the likelihood of another tsunami hitting South East Asia, as the news was popular then. News is obviously exposed to misrepresentation, as everyday events cannot be reflected by newspapers (Williams & Dickinson 1993). Thus, the newspaper can instill unnecessary phobias in people.
Besides that, newspapers are often written in different ways and causes misinterpretation; as writers can plant emotions and biased views into its readers just by changing the style of writing. The way news is written can be so influential that Quinney (cited in Curran 2002) suggested that an individuals’ perception of crime may vary due to the different newspaper he or she reads. This can be harmful to the society when/as newspaper companies are owned by different radical groups or individuals, or sometimes opposing political parties in the same country. It is also stated in Curran (2002), that actions have been taken and put into practice to ensure the media’s support for the dominant government and private interests. Hence, newspaper companies can be used to bring about among the public, negative thoughts, anger or false impressions by articles. For instance, the demonstration that started due to the capture of Hindraf representatives; the newspapers produced news articles with pictures of water cannons firing at the crowd, which may have depicted the demonstrators as criminals. Therefore, it is certain that the newspaper can cause misinterpretation by the public.
Finally, most readers may think that the newspaper is a complete, precise and convenient source of information. Readers tend to think that all news are of truth and covered everything relevant to our world. This is false, because newspapers are often influenced and their posts mediated by the state government, in each newspaper. Curran (2002) revealed several ways that governments use to get broadcasting or the main advertisers they want, such as laws and regulations, censorship and licensing of a publisher. Advertisers too can control the newspapers as money and sponsorship is a key survival tool for newspaper publishers. For instance, if other companies are not comfortable about placing their advertisements in it; the publishers will suffer large losses, thus closing down due to bankruptcy. This forces publishers to overwhelm their newspapers with popular articles and do not have space for other unpopular news, which maybe crucial or important to a certain society. Important news, such as civil wars in Africa does not have much popularity or coverage because the publishers and its partners do not have influence over African countries. Therefore, it is true that newspapers have outside parties that control their posts and choose the posts for their readers; giving the readers a false choice.
The newspaper is more than meets the eye of an average reader. We can conclude that although the newspaper is a crucial source of information, nevertheless, it can also be of negative influence to our society. What is worse is that most of the public do not notice these ill effects.
Saturday, September 19, 2009
DID YOU KNOW?
Sunday, September 6, 2009
Autism: Minds in Puzzles
Autism is a complex neurobiological disorder that typically lasts throughout a person's lifetime. It is part of a group of disorders known as autism spectrum disorders (ASD). Today, 1 in 150 individuals is diagnosed with autism, making it more common than pediatric cancer, diabetes, and AIDS combined. It can occur any person from any community or society and is four times more likely to strike boys than girls. Autism impairs a person's ability to communicate, relate to others and also the ability to learn like an ordinary person.
Autism spectrum disorders can usually be reliably diagnosed by age 3, although new research is pushing back the age of diagnosis to as early as 6 months. Parents are usually the first to notice unusual behaviors in their child or their child's failure to reach appropriate developmental milestones. Some parents describe a child that seemed different from birth, while others describe a child who was developing normally and then lost skills.These lost of skills or difference described by parents are usually learning a social disorder.
Although parents may have concerns about labeling a toddler as "autistic," the earlier the diagnosis is made, the earlier interventions can begin. Currently, there are no effective means to prevent autism, no fully effective treatments, and no cure. Research indicates, however, that early intervention in an appropriate educational setting for at least two years during the pre-school years can result in significant improvements for many young children with autism spectrum disorders
And if you are living in the Klang Valley and would like to offer help leave a me a message...=)
Monday, August 10, 2009
What The Health?
The terrorists from the 9/11 incideny are killing more than intended!
Researchers have found new cases of cancer of the immune system. So, how does that relate to 9/11 terrorist strikes? Apparently the four patients diagnosed with the rare cancer had worked at the 9/11 ground zero.
Two of them spent many days in the rubble (one in the rubble "dumpsite" at some dumping island) and the other two, spent only a fortnight there. Unlucky they really are. Who would know helping the U.S. of A would kill them? Actually, I do, but hey, they're Americans..Though, I'd never thought such a thing would happen. Cancer of the immune system? They all have a condition called multiple myeloma..very rare in ppl under the age of 45. In fact, only one patient from that age group was diagnosed with this cancer ever, in the world's history. So, right now, there's five..
So, now I'm thinking, Jaya came crashing down, rubble, fumes, in my lungs? what's next? platelet cancer? Guys, be very careful, weird health issues are coming up; but don't live in a bubble either. I know the last sentence may be contradicting so therefore, count on ye blardy luck mates! =)
Friday, August 7, 2009
A Community Service Message
Goodness gracious, people who has flu or cough, wear a mask or stay at home and get screened. I know wearing a mask is not the most suitable and fashionable way to match your face with your clothes but its for the sake of others; especially ppl close to you (not including ur loved ones who are at home).
But somehow, Malaysians are just, -searching for a word- well, MALAYSIANS. I was in an elevator with another couple; this lady wearing a mask came in and the couple, got worried and moved away from the poor lady (who was just trying to be a good citizen); not only that, the couple covered their mouths and noses and staring at the lady as if she had bathed in piss.
I was annoyed. So, I looked at the lady, smiled and signaled to her to not bother about the couple. LMAO. When ppl use masks, you don't really need to cover your holes anymore, cause if the masks do not work, you think your hands would? -Jamie Oliver wasn't talking about H1N1 prevention when he told the TV world that "our hands are the best filters". -
I thought that the lady did her job as a civilized Malaysian; I shall not describe the couple...My point is, if you have the symptoms take precautions like wearing a mask or staying at home (not till the extent of infecting your family). Take initiative, we are Malaysians heading towards a brighter future and Wawasan 2020. Humans develope nations, therefore our brains must "develope" first or our nation won't.
Thursday, August 6, 2009
My thoughts on H1N1
This type of flu (Influenza A(H1N1)), is an a$$ of a virus, it spreads fast but kills rather few; so when the worldwide alert goes out, the chillin' and laid back Malaysian people took it for granted. Just like what most of us would do to fliers distributed in public areas; throw it in a recycling bin, no wait, -we don't do much recycling here- the drain or the closest place we find dirty enough for trash. So, when reported deaths hit the newspapers, everyone goes havoc and starts getting all worried. So now, a helpful group of young community loving teens cant get to do some "community helping". Yes, I was apart of that group, you caught me. Therefore, I repeat, its an a$$ of a virus, no wonder H1N1 looks like "HINI" when handwritten -which can be pronounced like "HINEY"-.
Influenza A(H1N1) .... People suffering from this virus attack can die of other diseases including a normal flu and guess what, there's great resemblance between the normal flu and this H1N1; so, ppl die thinking its just a normal flu. Yet, we Malaysians were so comfortable going around in public places making contact with random and likely infected ppl just a few weeks ago, while numbers for infected patients started to rise in Malaysia. Now, there are 13 deaths (06/08/09). Some people even thought their late family members were just having the typical flu, so they didn't bother to get themselves screened. They would have only lost ten points in a game show for a wild guess like that, but in reality, they'd lost a life and maybe caused others their lives too due to contageous infection. Kudos to them!
So, ppl living on Earth, please be notified, check yourseves and check again to see if you have the virus. Its just unfortunate and coincidental that there's another virus going round, it ain't Influenza A(H1N1) but its no reason for you to not check yourself; now please dont flatter yourselves in front of the mirror. Remembering the late Mike Jackson's song - Man in the Mirror; "if u wanna make the world a better, go and check yourselves at the nearest clinic".
I also read about the health ministry limiting throat swabs for suspected patients, great way to curb the virus eh.. this pregnant woman had difficulty breathing after catching a flu for a few days but the nurses told her she couldn't get a throat swab because she did not fully (100%) fit the criteria to get tested.. Way to go Doc's, you could have killed two there; how sick has the mother and her soon-to-be born child got to be to get tested? Sick enough so the test results would confirm their cause of death? Lucky enough, this family were a smarter bunch, took themselves to a private hospital for treatment and survived to tell TheStar their story. Quoting the article's last 3 paragraphs:
How ironic when I read last week that the Health Minister said the latest directive was to have all high-risks groups treated really fast although they had yet to be confirmed with the influenza A (H1N1) virus.
To improve the identification of patients infected with the virus, he said a new set of guidelines would be issued to doctors on how to “increase the index of suspicion of patients with influenza A (H1N1)”.
Only now after the disease has spread and the casualty number has increased are we talking about early detection!
Really, I'm just pissed at how Malaysia was handling this when it started, especially after hearing what officials had to say when the number of deaths started rising. Other countries would be laughing at us going "I told you so!". Where were the notifications? I didn't see it in the newspapers, I saw notifications around my college but is that enough? What about he schools that were closed down, did any information get through to students there? What's the use if our leaders controlled the media? All the news we got was about a man's death and how it suddenly relates to racial tension, and how one party disses the other (which disses me instead) but not about a worldwide pandemic...What The Fenomena ?(WTF?) Papers should have reached out to most ppl, if not, Astro would. The government licensed Astro, use it for the good of the country for Malaysia's sake!