I am thoroughly sickened by the YouTube channel, cyberpioneertv. I sincerely BEG anyone who is reading this to heed my advice and NEVER EVER LAY EYES ON ANYTHING THAT COMES OUT OF THAT CHANNEL.
What lengths will the government go to to try and convince people to look at the army in a positive light?
I'm referring, of course, to the 213 (and counting) videos which serve to do one thing - feed the public an endless stream of LIES UPON LIES about this incredibly FUCKED UP organisation. There are many other ways to get people to understand what the army is about and what goes on inside. For example, you can give people the cold hard facts. Show them how field training is conducted in a raw video feed so they can see how the sergeants and officers bark and swear at the filthy, sweaty recruits as they are slaving away and curse and swear. Fact #1: Vulgarity is the first language in the army.
Some videos in the channel attempted to show the slop servicemen are forced to eat everyday. There are these three repulsive women featured in the video, going into camps to find out more about the food provided by the army. First mistake, since when are civilians allowed to waltz into any military camps with no purpose other than to get lunch? Secondly, they should show how food is unceremoniously dumped onto a plate and shoved to the recruits' hands. Thirdly, nice try glorifying the cookhouse into a "restaurant setting". I could seriously go on and on and on. But if people want to learn about the army, here's fact #2: The food tastes absolutely revolting. The rice is hard and clumpy, the eggs are overcooked, chicken is boiled through 99% of the time and served 100% of the time, everything is salty enough to send your blood pressure through the roof... To put it in a nutshell, the food served is one very fine and fuzzy line from INEDIBLE.
Now, they also did a seperate video on combat rations. With the same three women investigating why someone's son chose combat rations over home-cooked food. The answer is pretty obvious to me - the son has the IQ of Sarah Palin's son, Trig. But let us entertain them and assume that the answer is not so obvious. So firstly, they went into a camp, again, like that is allowed. This time they tried the combat rations and of course they claimed that it was delicious and there are so many varieties and the praise goes on. Don't believe a word of it. Fact #3: Variety is a myth in the army. All 13 types tastes exactly the same - disgusting. Nutrition levels are probably as high as mud. It's basically slop.
These are just a few examples. There are many more lies going on in their cursed videos. It's propaganda at it's worst and an abomination. It disgusts me to see how the harsh lives of servicemen in the army are romanticised and glorified. Not only because of the complete lack of honesty, but also because it seems to me that they are not giving due credit to the people who are forced to enlist and all the atrocities that they have to deal with every single day while they are enlisted.
Life in the army is tough. It's harsh. It even crosses the limits of the definition of the word "humane". That is what the army is about. It's about toughness. It's about getting your body covered in dirt and grime. It's about training to defend. It's about soldiers. If you want people to know more about the army, give it to them straight. Don't feed the public romanticised versions of the truth. How will anybody have any respect for the army if they have the misconception that soldiers are treated well? Maybe even bordering on pampered? Things are not pretty in the army. Show them the cold reality of things. I'm appalled at the lies. I'm more appalled because they trivialise the pains, struggles and difficulties that the people are forced to go through in an organisation that treats them like dirt. They show the glory and honour of serving the nation but not the blood, sweat and tears. This is an insult to the memories of those who have died or had a close brush with death because of military training. The ones that fell despite all the claims of "trained medics and medical officers". The 2nd lieutenant who was fought an excruciating battle with death for 45 minutes waiting for help which came too late. It is an insult to those who committed suicide because their superiors had a "firm but reasonable hand". I know I'm not one of those who are suffering from physical training every single day but I know how the psychological abuse feels like. Give the "tofu-soldiers" their due credit and not take it away because no one except those who have gone before will understand how the truth hurts.
Dolce et decorum est, pro partria mori.
- that's alright because i like the way it hurts.
Finally a blog post after almost 3 months. It seems that my writer's block has extended to cover mundane blog posts as well. Hopefully though, writing a post would help to jump start things in this crucial point in time. I shall try to keep this as simple as possible.
Kudos to the genius who invented photography. There's a certain beauty in being able to capture moments in the past to relive them in the future. While I was recovering from a bad cough, I decided to go dig up a huge photo album somewhere in my room.
There were neoprints, passport photos, class photos and random photos from various vacations. I felt a little surprised to see how much I have changed throughout my school days. From a short chubby little boy in secondary 2 to the early years of my acne scarred teenhood and finally, the graduating year of junior college. It's a little unnerving to see how my appearance changed from fat to, well, less fat. More so to look into the mirror and see how different I am now compared to a very short 2 years ago. In the photo, I was struggling to get through the last year of school and taking the all-important 'A' levels. Fast forward 2 years and I'm three months away from getting out of the army. Change has definitely come for me.
I don't wish to live in 2008. However, the prospect of living that life in the bubble that is school is still very tempting. A life where your biggest concern is to study and do well in academics. A life which is shielded from the rigours of society. Being ensconced in a fluffy child-proofed environment is addicting. It's so much more liberating when your worst nightmare is failing a paper and the only politics you know of are in articles and readings. It wasn't the perfect life. But it's a life more perfect than reality.
I can't help but think of what will happen in 2015 when I look back on my life once again. What would I see?
I would see someone who was afraid to cross the threshold from teen to adulthood. I would see someone who held on to some irrational hatred and was never truly happy for 2 whole years. I would see someone who longs for the "good old days".
The question is, would I look back and regret to see how that destroyed me?
I will remember that in 2010, I made sure the answer is No.
- on the day that you were born, the angels came together and decided to create a dream come true.
I think that one of the requirements of the complex process of growing up is that the individual needs to learn to choose for him/herself and live with their decision.
One of the favourite things certain people in my life like to say about me is that I have no opinion. It's their go-to case against me whenever they feel like complaining about me. To them, I can never choose where to go on a night out, what to have for dinner and even whose side to take in a heated argument. Maybe there are others who have met the same situation before where someone asks you where to go, you say anywhere and when they choose a place you start whining. As a result, there's this perception that I can't make my own decisions and apparently that annoys people because they feel like they're oblidged to make the decision for you. This is exacerbated by the fact that the same people believe that they have your best interests at heart.
Don't get me wrong though, I'm not saying that they don't. But still they did choose to make the decision for me afterall. I didn't force them to do it. So what's with all the bitching about having to make decisions for me after that? If you ask me, they brought it upon themselves. So am I saying that these people should just not bother with me at all? Absolutely not. All I'm saying is that you can choose to make a suggestion and move on with your own life.
But what really gets me is not the bitching about me being indecisive and dragging everyone's life down with me and having to choose my path for me. Rather, it's what happens when I "finally" make a decision all by my little self. The same people who complain about me being indecisive suddenly starts to complain about the decisions that I make and stand by. So I'm either wrong by being indecisive or I'm making the wrong decisions. Either way I'm in the wrong and they "have" to choose the "right" choice for me. What's amazing is that they like accusing me of being a Peter Pan? How am I supposed to mature if I'm not allowed to choose my own path, make my own decisions.
Honestly, I've had quite enough. It's high time I started learning to make my own choices. Instead of trying to surpress me, these people can jolly well respect whatever volitions I make whether they like it or not. Even if I'm making a mistake, it's my mistake. Not yours.
- if you're the one for me, like gravity, i'll be unstoppable.
I've been trying this for a while now. It has absolutely nothing to do with me forcing myself to follow in anyone's footsteps of course. I'm just curious and dabbling. Also, this is definitely not something that I'm particularly proud of; quite the opposite. Anyway, my conclusion is that as of now, I am honestly nothing like that person who chose to leave my life more than a decade ago. This also means that any reference relating me to that person in anyway would be cause for a totally negative response which could range anywhere from an acidic look to a frown to complete awkward silence.
This has been going on for a little while and I simply cannot bring myself to commit fully to this bullshit. It's all good and fun while it lasts of course. Enjoyable even. But still, when I step back and process it, something just doesn't feel right. That's why I find it so strange that people like that are actually quite commonplace. All this nonsense and drama behind closed doors.
What makes this WHOLE thing really freaky is the whole geographical isolation going on in my life and STILL I cannot bring myself to do such things. I just can't.
- you're the one that i want.
Today, I was having lunch with my besties at McDonalds after a sleepover. We were all exhausted due to different reasons and so it was kept relatively short compared to the multi-hour meals we usually have. Towards the end, the conversation somehow managed to steer itself into relatively foreign territory. Quite literally so too. We, or rather, two of us were talking about Taiwanese drama and actors/actresses while the other two (which includes me) were looking on with an expression that you usually see in mentally-ill patients or Sarah Palin.
My first reaction was something along the lines of, "What kind of ancient foreign language are they talking in?" Then I realised it's just Chinese and they were just blurting out names of the "celebrities" and titles of shows. That made me think of how much of the Chinese language has been lost in the last 4 years since I stopped studying it. Let's put it this way, apparently there's some definition in the great motherland China that people who don't know more than 500 Chinese characters are considered illiterate. I'm one of those people. No, really. During dinner, I asked my mom to test me on some words and idioms that I have learnt before and apparently, 95% of it was lost to some blackhole within my mind. Naturally, the blame has to fall on someone other than me. This time, it's this little stint in this wonderful little organisation infamous for it's bureacracies and inefficiency. Obviously, some star in my cerebral cortex decided to turn into a supernova and collapsed into itself to form a gargantuan blackhole. Screw you, assholes.
Now, I have decided that in a time of boredom so absolute it makes death seem like a fantasy, I should pick up the lost language again (no not Latin) and at the same time get back in touch with my sawed off Asian roots. So I dusted off the covers of this essay book they forced us to buy in school and a huge dictionary which I had to use twice within the first page of the first essay. I'm going to read one everyday until I finish the book so that at least I'll no longer be considered illiterate in China. That can't be too hard right? I mean, I did get C6 for my Higher Chinese paper in the 'O' level.
Who the freaking hell am I kidding. Seriously.
- stealing through the night's uncertainties
