1.Bella has only one goal in life.

Yep, you guessed it! Have Edward’s babies. This totally destroys what our mothers and grandmothers have fought for years ago: equal rights for both men and women, which is what we wish to promote to teenagers of this generation. The protagonist in the series is a weak-willed damsel in distress who can’t live without the strong, handsome man of her life. Pwoah! And the thing is that this book is targeted at 14-year-old girls, who are influenced to believe that having absolutely no life goals is perfectly fine, as long as your hot boyfriend still wants to be with you. Twilight is (fictional) proof that girls do not need to get a life to enjoy a comfortable living with a rich, handsome (and dead) dude.

2.  All encompassing love means physical attraction.

I’m sorry, but this is not something we should show to teenage girls experiencing their first puppy love. In the book, the two main characters liked each other first because of Edward’s looks and Bella’s smell. A few chapters in, after a monotonous words exchanged, they declare their love for each other and go off to a deserted forest so that Bella could see his sparkle. Even if the declaration had been too soon, this bit was probably pushing it. The book actually promotes girls to go to far off, deserted places with the man they just started dating, and one that claims himself dangerous at that. No logic at all. What is worse is that teenage girls, blinded by Twilight and its fallacies, would want to copy that and get themselves in all sorts of sticky situations.

3. Twilight promotes self-harm/suicide

“When you think that your dangerous ex, who has lots of mental issues, will never come back to you, go jump off a cliff.” It perfectly fine, because someone will always save you and your love will rush back to your side and wanna marry you. /sarcasm

4. Race issues

It does bother me quite a bit that Stephenie Meyer portrayed the ‘ethereal’ vampires as whites and ‘beastly’ werewolves as a native-American tribe. The vampires are rich and own nice cars, while the wolves are stuck with average houses and an average life. Discrimination, much?

5.Twilight is one piece of literature that should be flushed down the toilet
a)Bella is obviously a Mary-Sue, and an idealized version of SMeyer.

b)Vamps and humans who can’t coexist but still give in to their crazy desires of looove and live happily ever after. Sounds familiar? Plotline is way overused and makes the entire series so corny we’ll need a bucketful of butter to eat it all.

c)No element of mystery. Bella was going to find out slowly about Edward’s real identity, so I don’t think slapping “Edward is a vampire” on the back of the book is a good idea.
d)We don’t need to read about a middle-aged woman’s fantasies about dating both a vampire and a werewolf. We have better things to do.

Amen.

images from http://fuckyeahtwilightsucks.tumblr.com/

POLL:

What do you think of Twilight?
(polls)

Oops, sorry folks if that picture scared you guys quite a bit! By the way, if you’re still unaware of the Ris Low’s April Fool’s prank by now, you MUST be living in a… holeeeeeeeee.

You can’t deny that even after such a long time, Ris Low has remained a hot topic in Singapore. You know her – horspritalility (Hospitality), Boomz, Shingz, name any Singlish and you can most probably find all that in her. However, is Ris Low a good or bad influence to the teenagers in Singapore?

More than 1000 people have joined the Facebook group “We want Rozz back for the Shan and Ross show (without Ris Low please)!” (Okay to speak the truth, i joined the group too!) since she started to be a guest DJ on 987fm for a period of time. Rozz even mentioned about quitting her job as she didn’t want to host the show together with Ris. This has caused many heated discussion on whether Ris was suitable to be a DJ, what’s more on an Englishhhhh channel.

This April Fools’ prank has turned out as a disaster for Ris Low. It was meant to trick the listeners but instead, made many people angry, leading to countless negative comments. Despite that, Ris Low took all of them in – we should at least credit her for that, no?

Ris Low talking about how has the April Fools’ prank affect her:

http://sg.video.yahoo.com/watch/7263684/18949263

Putting this issue aside, how has Ris Low affected teenagers? Not only does she gives them the wrong impression that it make them gain fame (in the wrong way that is), it also encourages them the usage of Singlish. Teenagers might be proud of the language, but if they were to speak and converse with others the same way when they are overseas, nobody will be able to understand them. Minimal usage is acceptable but they must be able to understand that it will affect their command of English in one way or another no matter what.

(P/S: if you haven’t catch Ris Low on 987fm, you might want to visit Clicknetworktv to view some of her DJ videos! Definitely relieves your stress away~)

]]> http://skiddyrow.wordpress.com/2010/04/05/boomz-im-shing-ing-back/feed/ 2 mirrorbrigade rislow2 rislow http://skiddyrow.wordpress.com/2010/04/01/why-not/ http://skiddyrow.wordpress.com/2010/04/01/why-not/#comments Thu, 01 Apr 2010 14:11:06 +0000 mirrorbrigade http://skiddyrow.wordpress.com/?p=124 ]]>

In response to all the negative issues that our blog has brought up about the negative images which teenagers portray, I would like to shed some light on the reasons why we shouldn’t criticize teens too much just because of what they do.

Firstly, all of us are humans, and it is humane to slip up in life once in a while. However, a lot of negativity has been aimed at teenagers. It’s everywhere: newspapers report the astounding number of teenage girls who get pregnant a year, magazines discuss scandalous teen romances, and sex, drugs, alcohol, partying etc. etc. are seen to be related to youths all the time on national television.

Contrary to popular belief, teenaged offenders only make up to about 13 percent of the total.

It is also interesting to note that the crime rates of teenagers have not changed much in the past decade. This shows that the people who point fingers at teenagers –the adults, have committed the same offences they so condemn youths for, just many years ago.

So why should they have the authority to accuse us of destroying their perfect society, when most of these crimes are because of the adults themselves? Let’s face it: crime can never be resolved. I don’t see why people make a big hoo-hah when students don’t do their homework and go smoking and getting drunk, when adults are out fornicating (and basically setting a bad example for the youths around them) when they should be working. Both age groups commit the same crimes, but why do only teenaged wrong-doers are highlighted in the media?

Secondly, what makes a teenager is mostly what they see around them. If they see their parents and other adults around them being violent and unruly, there is a very high chance for them to follow these footsteps. To become used to the chaos and injustice, these teenagers are effectively desensitized and think that doing wrong is alright.

Can you blame them?

Lastly, teenage years are the most unstable years of one’s lifetime and it usually takes some time for people to adjust to the change. Children, who have been led around like sheep by their parents from young, find it hard to make their own decisions, especially the right ones. Many find it hard to say no, and that is where problems arise. Teenagers find it hard to say no to drugs, cigarettes, and following their more ill-disciplined peers (who may have come from abusive families).

Most things boil down to peer pressure at this point. Most go along with the flow. Forget the healthy lifestyle their parents have taught them, go to fast food restaurants to enjoy a meal with friends and to socialize. See everyone with branded bags, you can’t help but want one, too. You can’t just back out of a gang that easily, those people would be after your hide.

Perhaps that is why teenagers receive so much negative press these days.

Before I start, let’s watch a video on teen cosmetic surgery.

Shocking? Yes, this is what is happening to teenagers these days. In order to get the seemingly “perfect” bodies that they dream of, more and more teens are turning to cosmetic surgery (a.k.a plastic surgery). Even girls as young as 16 or 14.

But why, you may ask. To these girls, cosmetic surgery  is heaven-sent. They take it as a way to end all the misery that they have been going through, be it name-calling in school or low self-esteem. Like in the video, many girls are getting bullied in school, just because their bodies are not “perfect”, or they are not pretty enough. All these name-calling greatly affects the girls’ emotional well-being and how they view themselves. A girl who once thought that she was beautiful, might start resenting looking at herself in front of the mirror just because other people think that she is “fat“, “ugly” or have “small boobs“.

But not all teenagers turn to cosmetic surgery because of bullying. Teenagers face a lot of stress as they juggle school, peer pressure, and family while trying to  find their independence all at the same time.  And in the midst of it all, they may not like all the changes they see in their bodies and can become increasingly self-conscious about their bodies or certain facial features. And because of these, many teenagers opt for cosmetic surgery, hoping that it will be able to change how they look like, and that they would feel more comfortable after  modifying the undesirable body part(s).

Believe it or not, according to statistics, the average number of cosmetic surgery done on teenage girls is 11,000 per year! (watch the clip)

After watching that clip, I can’t help but agree that the media does play a major role on how teenagers view themselves. Look at Angelina Jolie, Jessica Alba. Which girl wouldn’t kill to have a body/face like theirs?  I mean, seriously! All the TV shows(i.e America’s Next Top Model) we watch, all the magazines we read, even the YouTube videos, contain pretty and flawless people. By being exposed to all these for too long a period of time(which most teens are), teens are wired to think that “if I was that pretty/handsome/sexy/macho, I would be able to make it big like xxx star!”. But no. Because of teenagers starting to think that way, they’ll want to change a certain body part of theirs, and the whole vicious cycle starts again.

You know, I can’t help but question, does undergoing cosmetic surgery solve every single problem? In my opinion, I don’t think so. Having undergone cosmetic surgery might help boost one’s self-esteem but think of it in the long-run. Is it worth getting your body parts improved, just to have  more confidence, and in return, you get called “fake” or “plastic” in your face? Obviously the answer is no.

I myself is not perfect and I know it. I have been called names before and yes, I have contemplated whether I should get cosmetic surgery. But after thinking it through, it is really not worth it to get cosmetic surgery just because you don’t like a particular body part or feature. If you’re fat, why not opt for the natural way of exercising to slim down, rather than go for liposuction? If you’re not happy with your flat/big/skinny nose, why not try to accept you for who you are, what you are? It can’t be that hard as there are friends who have already accepted that. If they can, why can’t you?

A picture to end this off..

Cheers (:

Pure souls purged.

Child prostitution in lesser developed countries is a lucrative and booming industry, especially in brazil and Thailand. Children are often forced by social structures and individual agents into situations in which adults take advantage of their vulnerability and sexually exploit and abuse them. A customer may negotiate an exchange directly with a child prostitute in order to receive sexual gratification, or through an intermediary (pimp) who controls or oversees the prostitute’s activities for profit. The provision of children for sexual purposes may also be an object of exchange between adults. A UNICEF survey concluded that 35 percent of Cambodia’s 55,000 prostitutes are children under the age of 16. How serious is this? And this is only Cambodia alone. There are many places in the world that share the same problem.

 Even affluent countries like the United Kingdom are not spared of this. Contrary to popular belief, most child prostitutes come from middle class families, and unlike prostitutes in the developing world, are not running away from poverty, but from a dysfunctional life, after suffering physical, emotional and often, sexual abuse. According to the US Department of Justice, the vast majority of juvenile prostitutes are children whose parents are divorced, deceased, drug addicts, alcoholics or mentally ill. The absence of a safe home, together with the expectedly low self-esteem these children suffer from, make them far more vulnerable to exploitation from pimps.

 The emotional scars are unable to heal for some of the victims of child prostitution; their memories would constantly shadow them, causing them extreme trauma should any of them evoke. This would be detrimental to their everyday lives. So what can be done?

 An ideal solution to the issue of juvenile prostitution should not only consist of punishing those guilty of prostituting a child, but also take care of the victimized children, as well as preventing other from falling into the trap in the future. The government should heavily impose punishments on the people who are the leaders of the prostitution syndicates. Punishments of which are strict and severe must implemented as they have inflicted much pain and sufferings on those young, once un-purged souls. Parents and teachers should also be educated to communicate with the child. This makes sure the child is developing healthily(physically and mentally) so as not to become psychologically weak and therefore vulnerable to child prostitution.

 Child prostitution is like a pest. It brings out inhumanity and the dire consequences which come with it. It must be eradicated.

Yeah, sure that vulgarity does not hurt anyone physically, but emotionally, it could cause more than a little agony, especially for people who are over-sensitive and having low self-esteem. Just imagine scolding your friend ‘stupid’ for being not able to accomplish certain tasks that you’ve assigned him or her to do, he or she would probably feel bad about him or her self. Worse still, if that particular friend of yours is someone who tends not to “get over” your casual passing comment, well, he or she would then pick up on you the next when you commit a mistake, and you vice versa, and so keeps on going the vicious cycle.

As a teenager myself, I understand that sometimes we view vulgarity as a mean of expressing our utmost felt opinions, that in times of frustration, disappointment, surprise and anger, speaking vulgarity is the best way to let go of our pent-up emotions. It’s kind of healthy actually, not to take everything in our internal self, but the way we use is just wrong. We teenagers are still part of the society, the community, and hence we have to take care of other people’s feelings as well, and not to be so selfish in doing only the things that we are interested in doing. Therefore I suggest, instead of saying vulgarities, we can use diary as a substitute, to write our thoughts, and express our opinions in lines; or if possible, we can pour out our heart and soul to close friends whom we can trust. In doing so, we do not only reveal part of ourselves, but also let our friends know us better in the way that is beneficial.

Imagine, you sat there, laying comfortably in a soft crouch, chewing on potato chips and had your eyes glued to the TV screen, which, was playing a romantic drama; the story reached the climax, the male lead looked passionately into the female lead’s eyes; you breathed in deeply; then eventually they kissed, a slow one, full of longing; you gulped. You stared wistfully at the happy couple enjoying their (supposedly) best moment in the screen, and then you started to recall that you’ve never kissed anyone before, and before you caught up with it, it all sort of snowballed. You realized that all your friends had girlfriends already, so they always went out in pairs; while you stuck to talking about computer games and sports, your friends had already moved on to the other, more female-appealing topics; you always pulled on a T-shirt and a short for going out, and you deemed it casual and comfy, yet all you get is the sneer and snickering remarks from your friends, calling, “did your mum bought this for you?” The next moment you would break out in sweat, while internally making up your mind to improve on getting more updated.

Yeah, I’ve finally come to the point – getting updated. As mentioned above, teenagers who don’t follow the fashion trend, who don’t have girlfriends, who don’t have “interesting things” to talk about are considered outdated. In this materialistic world, what is on the surface is always valued more than what is the inside, for that’s all our too short-sighted eyes can see. What was traditionally deemed as good virtue, such as good manners and proper conducts, are seen as jokes that only nerds would care. Our sense of judgments turns twisted, for we no longer know what is really morally right, and what is morally wrong. We just go after our instincts, following our interests, while in the heavy influence of the multi-media we scorn at anyone who differs from ourselves.

Louis Vuitton, Burberry, Miu Miu, Prada, Chanel or even Hermes, you see them almost everywhere. Different types of woman strut down the roads of Orchard, in well-known hotels, high-class restaurants. You definitely wont leave the town area without at least spotting someone with one of these designer bags.

However, do you think it is healthy for teenagers to be dreaming for these designer bags? As the standard of living of the modernised cities increases, the fashion industry becomes more affluent with woman from all walks of life walking into the flagship stores to get one of the high demand bags.

But for teenagers, the money come from their parents. They do not even have the ability to sponser themselves for their shopping trips, let alone earning thousands to afford one of the bags. Although it might be a personal prefence of whether a teenager should get a designer bag on their own, it brings about negative impacts on their lives.

For example, for those teenagers who come from lower income families whereby their parents are unable to afford a designer bag for them, they would hence feel desperate and may do things that one may never even expect themselves to do. In Japan, research have shown that is a drastic increase in the crime rates by high-school girls over these few years. In order to earn a huge sum of money at one go, these teenager girls might even sell their bodies and pursuade their “customers” to buy a bag for them.

This is a good example of how extreme one can get to attain their desires. It might be good that teenagers are able to aim for high achievements in their lives so as to afford these goods, but it is obvious that the negative impacts outweigh the good ones. Stealing, robbing, prostituition – you name it.

Think carefully, is there really a need to own one of these designer bags? Maybe it might look good and make one look richer by carrying it, but what really matters is whether one have enough money to live their life next time and feed for themselves. Why desperately starve yourself to save up money just to buy one bag, which doesn’t even mean anything?

It is almost impossible to change the society’s concept that just by looking at one’s appearance, one determine how rich or educated a person is. These luxuries, are gradually being deemed as necessities whereby it is a need instead of a want. It becomes part of the life of one living in the modernised cities. People are willing to spend even more than $10,000 on a designer bag although the money might be put into a much better use such as donating to a charity foundation.

Teenagers must get it right that it is NOT and NEVER a need to own a designer bag because your manners speak all. You can drool and dream or even stick millions of pictures of designer goods over the walls of your bedroom, as long as you know the limits and understand what you can afford and not. Even if you’re carrying a bag worth a thousand dollars, but without the right values and behaviour, you will never look good with it.

Remember, your manners shine from within.

Taking the above picture for reference, it is clearly shown that there are almost 31,000 Macdonalds restaurant in the whole country. And by the way, thats only one fast food chain. So, what’s sooooo extraordinary of these fast food chains that have made themselves so successful in the food industry?

1. Standard of living is higher, hence causing the working class people to work more, resulting in lesser time spent on other areas. During lunch hours, people tend to be on a rush and would prefer places whereby food are preferably fast and affordable. That’s when fast food restaurants come in since they fufil all these requirements.

2. It is a place where teenagers can chat and have lunch together with their friends. Most of them can catch up with their old friends or have a reunion lunch together with their ex-classmates without having to worry about food preferences of each individual. However, in other places such as food courts or high-class restaurants, sitting at the tables for too long is deemed as inconsiderate since many would be waiting to have their lunch.

3. Its just too tasty and yummy to resist. ADMIT IT. Seriously, who can withstand the temptationof having deep-fried chicken, tasty fries and soft ice cream? Try finding one that doesnt like these finger-licking food and i’ll give you a thousand bucks.

Although many know that fast food brings harm to the body, everyone still remains ignorant and continue to consume them. But do they really know the consequences of eating too much fast food? Some examples would be increase in the chances of getting heart attack, obesity, diabetes, and the list goes on.

So, have you ever wondered what about the fast food you’re consuming that’s causing you to become fat? Look at the video below and well… be shocked. LOOK. AT. THE. FRIES. CAREFULLY.

Still not surprised enough? Look at this video then. This is what Macdonalds can do to a person body in just within a month. It would probably help if you’re on a major getting-fat plan someday.

So guys, think twice before stepping into any fast food restaurants to have a bite. Imagine the fries staying in your body FOREVER even if you’re dead. Interesting much?

P/S: if you’re interested in the doccumentary called Super Sized Me (SSM), do go to Youtube and watch it! Its about an American guy testing out the impacts of eating Macdonalds for a month every single day for every meal.

But most of the time, these comments do not stop at just one. Normally there would be hundreds of people commenting on this certain person, making the victim unable to carry on with his life normally as he would be constantly tortured by all the comments that netizens posted on his account. Research has shown that the aftereffects of cyber bullying is much much stronger than physical bullying as on the net, no one really knows who started the abuse trend and no one can really stop it once it has started. This causes the victim to be tortured mentally, by all the comments every single day. Those who cannot take it will either start getting depression or even worse, commit suicide. Here is a case of a victim who has committed suicide because she was unable to accept what was being told to her.

But the question is, why do people cyber bully? Is it because no one can find out who the bully is? Or is it because it is fun and its the ‘in’ thing now? One reason could be that, netizens really do not like the victim or what he/she posted and therefore have to voice out their ‘opinions’ by flaming victim. But most who cyber bully do it just because they find it amusing to see the victim being tortured mentally, without actually knowing who is torturing them with all the horrible comments. This really shows how perverted and disgusting the thinking of our society is now.

So can cyber bullying be considered as the ‘new generation of bullying’? You decide.

More examples of cyber bullying cases in SG: HERE & HERE