Chitchat Piss poor article in the main Broadsheet.

[scroobal]

Please stop this drivel. After the retrenchment, I am sure the SPH got rid of poor quality journalism and reporting and now this.

The country is besieged by a litany of errors, mishaps and poor leadership. Now is the time for the media to step up to the plate and contribute to a better future.

How the hell her editor allowed this kind of poor article to see the light is beyond me.

The night I was followed by a stranger

Denise Chong
PUBLISHED
3 HOURS AGO
UPDATED
1 HOUR AGO

I wish it were a walk in the park.

I wish men can sweetly flirt with their crushes without feeling the need for legal permission slips in their hands, and women thinking about having baseball bats in theirs.

I wish to write calmly about sexual harassment, but how do you do that? Actually, why be calm about something so outrageous? It should be abnormal that harassment quietly gets normalised - like, lighten up, lah, it's just a catcall here, a car honk there, an arm around everywhere.

NOT CALM
I went for a walk in a park, and it turned out to be anything but that.

I want to write calmly about that night, so I can appear and even feel as if I am in control.

I want to say that in the following social media post, this is already the calmer version of what happened: "the creep came up to my face in a park and harassed me with sick sucking noises then followed me for probably a kilometre no matter how i zigzagged to get rid of him including starting to cross a road then turning back when the creep crossed too following me on the opposite side of the road and appearing behind me to harass me again after i emerged from hiding in a petrol station #%^& may a pontianak ghoul cling to the creep's back and follow him straight to hell"

If you are breathless after reading that monstrosity of a sentence, it is because I was breathless during that kilometre-long low-speed chase. That night, my thoughts and I hurried on without punctuation or pause.

CALM
Slow down, the creep's words were just words. Sticks and stones, etc.

So what if you were afraid that if you twisted an ankle and couldn't get away, he might grab you. So what if you ended up crying by the roadside because you finally felt safer standing behind cabby uncles taking a break nearby.

You're being a big baby.

Right. I blew my nose, had tea, kept calm and carried on.

Then that horrific Weinstein story came up, and it kept coming and coming, splashed all over newspapers and social media walls.

The dam burst with a New York Times story last month about movie boss Harvey Weinstein, who was accused of sexual harassment. He has since been accused of raping multiple women and is now being investigated by different police agencies, reported NPR.

Sexual harassment allegations about other people and from other places started flooding in. As sex scandals hit Britain's government figures, politicians such as defence secretary Michael Fallon resigned. From Hollywood to Holyrood (Parliament in Scotland), women and men said #MeToo, they were victims as well.

NOT CALM
Out swung my metaphorical baseball bat. I vented some thoughts that were less than calm and more than provocative:

"Go on, trolls and self-anointed guardians of proper conduct, bang on your keyboard about women's 'asking-for-it' behaviour, like drinking at a club, and wearing clothes with hemlines perilously close to necklines. Harangue us on the ways women should behave.

PUBLIC PLACES, PRIVATE PARTS

Tell us, should women avoid:

•Trains and buses? Comparing the first nine months of this year and the same period last year, public transport molestation cases jumped 49 per cent, according to a report in The Straits Times.

•Offices? Someone told me recently over a bowl of Teochew porridge about her colleague openly watching porn in the office. When she went to talk to him about something, he - such a gentleman - paused the clip, so the porn star's private parts were frozen on his computer screen in all their biological glory.

PEOPLE

Tell us, should women avoid:

•Business associates? Government officials? Weinstein, Westminster… Enough said.

•Boyfriends and husbands? Global estimates published by World Health Organisation indicate that about one in three women has experienced either physical and/or sexual intimate partner violence or non-partner sexual violence in her lifetime. It said most of this violence is intimate partner violence.

CLOTHES

Tell us, should women avoid:

•Guy-style separates? I was dressed like a 12-year-old in a T-shirt, PE-style shorts and slippers when the park creep came after me. But even if someone was dressed like a 21-year-old stripper, no one should sexually assault her.

Why do women have to bend over backwards to avoid appalling rape-y behaviour?"

CALM (SORT OF)
Let's lower that baseball bat.

Talk dollars and cents. Perhaps the topic of money can calm and focus the mind.

It is likely that women literally pay for their personal safety.

In almost every country in the world, women walk disproportionately fewer steps each day than men, according to a recent Stanford study which analysed the smartphone data of 717,527 people worldwide over 68 million days of activity. The Guardian said last month that it heard from people all over the world saying the same thing: It is down to personal safety, not laziness.

The newspaper reported that resident Hannah Geyer of Washington, DC, had all but given up her walk through a park to and from the venue where she performs in a show because the men who loiter in the park frightened her.

She said: "They would get really, really, really close to me... physically putting their bodies into my path or getting into my bubble when I don't answer, or look irritated at them."

She switched to taking ride-share cars, paying US$5 (S$6.80) to US$10 each time.

The Guardian wrote: "Feeling forced to use transport instead of walking makes safety a privilege, according to Stop Street Harassment founder Holly Kearl. Women can only choose not to walk if they have the financial means to access transport - which means for teenage girls in particular, cost can be a barrier to safety."

Said Ms Kearl to the newspaper: "We know so many women feel they have to take public transit, or pay for a taxi, or drive and pay for parking wherever they're going. There are definitely ways in which women are paying to stay safe."

This report resonated with my experience with the creep. I like walking. But that park creep incident forced me to fork out money for a cab to get home safely.

How much have you spent recently to feel safe? Do you want your money back?

I want my $6.45 cab fare back, creep.

NOT CALM AT ALL
I was furious that I could not walk home that night. People were very kind to advise me to stop taking walks, but I deserve to be out and about whenever I want to. Creeps are the ones who should be made to pay to be in vans with bars on the windows and to head straight to jail.

That's why, the next night, I took my walk even though my nerves were shredded. It was worth it to take back the night even though when I got home, I ugly-cried again.

Women have got to reoccupy public spaces and the so-called dangerous times of the night because they absolutely deserve to walk the face of the earth as much as men. We have to learn how to work and play - and flirt - nicely together.

Meanwhile, I should be able to wear whatever shorts I want, walk in whatever park I want to go to, swinging my (maybe metaphorical) baseball bat.

 

[CoffeeAhSoh]

.

Erhh...very deep writing...what the moral of the story ??? :( thanks.

 

[scroobal]

She wanted to write an article around this new found term "ugly-cried" and included Weinstein, Michael Fallon, Stanford University, the Guardian etc etc to make it sound important.

She could have written about the exact same incident without resorting this sort of drivel. It is certainly a case of interest where women are targeted and things have to change.

The editor should have used same metaphorical bat to kill this story.

.

Erhh...very deep writing...what the moral of the story ??? :( thanks.

 

[CoffeeAhSoh]

Email : [email protected]


/

i will drop her an email soon - to ask her to "pull" her right ear , using her left hand ;
and to "pull" her left ear using her right hand

 

[CoffeeAhSoh]

/

this piece on Cleaner aunties very good piece

A doodle by the writer, who understood a cleaner auntie's urge to hold on to her rice bowl. The writer was picking up a bowl to take it to the tray-return area when auntie told her not to do so. She probably thought her job was under threat from processes like self-service. PHOTO: COURTESY OF DENISE CHONG


/


When cleaner auntie says: Leave me some work to do...

/
While some can leave old jobs behind by picking up new skills, what will some cleaner aunties do when robots take over their jobs? Decades later, will a new class of people arise - upsettingly called 'the useless class'? Should universal basic income be a way forward?
/

"Leave it. Leave it."

I had slurped up my yong tau foo, and was picking up my bowl to take it to the foodcourt tray-return area when a cleaner auntie told me to put it back on the table.

When I hesitated, wanting to help her, she said sharply in Mandarin: "Leave it. Leave me some work to do. Leave me my job."


She didn't mean to be unkind. But when auntie thought her job was under threat from processes like self-service, I understood her urge to hold on to her rice bowl.

However, human hands will probably be a milder threat to auntie than robot ones. We humans can be reliably lazy, leaving messes in foodcourts and hawker centres all over Singapore despite being urged to pick up after ourselves. Food and beverage company Chang Cheng's general manager, Mr Michael Leng, estimated that only half of all customers were willing to return their trays, according to a report published in May by The New Paper.

Gravy splatters, tissues floating in soup, spat-out bones, rice scattered everywhere. Auntie, you have your work cut out for you.


Maybe auntie was more worried about this: Earlier this year, a couple of coffee shops in Tampines and Choa Chu Kang rolled out smart-tech systems. A Chang Cheng one featured technologies like a floor-cleaning robot, a tray-return automation system and a tray-trolley-return robot.

They were the first batch of productive coffee shops under the reviewed tender system for bidders for new coffee shop spaces, reported The Straits Times. More of them, adopting digital solutions to improve their productivity, will be rolled out, with the Government targeting 100 productive coffee shops by 2020.

The New Paper reported that coffee shop chain Koufu, which was already using tray-return smart robots at its outlets in Punggol Plaza and Waterway Point, said man-hours - or auntie-hours - were reduced by half with new technology.

While I think auntie would be feisty enough to smack robots with her rag to try and stop them, her cries of "Leave it. Leave me some work to do" would fall on deaf robot ears.

While the younger and more educated among us can leave old jobs and old ways behind by picking up new skills, what will auntie do when robots wipe tables and wipe industries clean of jobs for people in her position?

MIDDLE/WORKING CLASS, RETRENCHMENT RAGE
I recently picked up a call from a member of the public while a speech by a politician was being televised.

She didn't leave me her name or number.

She did leave me her rage that the subject of jobs did not make up the bulk of what she heard of the speech.

She did leave me her grief that her husband was retrenched.

She didn't mean to be unkind. But with her husband's rice bowl tossed out the office door, I understood her urge to raise her voice, unpleasant though it was for me.

I understood her rage, even though the politician did talk about jobs in his speech.

She was more likely shouting at the wind instead of me, shouting at the winds of change blowing through an economy facing tech disruption from every quarter, in every quarter.

A July Straits Times report read: "Some positive signs emerged in the labour market in the second quarter of this year, with unemployment and layoffs both lower than in the previous quarter.

"However, total employment continued to shrink. Observers said the labour market is 'not out of the woods' yet, as retrenchments are still high and weak job numbers may limit economic growth."

In the report, labour MP and National Trades Union Congress assistant secretary-general Patrick Tay said pockets of layoffs are expected due to disruption, reorganisation and consolidation of businesses.

Who among us will be next to feel the same rage as that caller?

Who will listen to us if we are the next ones to feel the same grief as she has?

Author Yuval Noah Harari wrote in The Guardian recently about artificial intelligence outperforming humans: "Most jobs that exist today might disappear within decades… Many new professions are likely to appear: virtual-world designers, for example... (but) it is unclear whether 40-year-old unemployed taxi drivers or insurance agents will be able to reinvent themselves as virtual-world designers."

It is unclear if cleaner auntie can reinvent herself as a virtual-world designer. If she does so, she may design a virtual mop to give your avatar a whack.

On a more serious note, Chang Cheng did say in a Straits Times report that with smart-tech coffee shops requiring less manpower, staff can be allocated to "more value-added job designations".

'USELESS CLASS', POPULIST RAGE
Last week, a big push to equip workers with basic digital skills was announced. The initiative, SkillsFuture for Digital Workplace, aims to train 100,000 Singaporeans over the next three years in such skills to gain "digital confidence".

What if we can't learn fast and hard enough?

What if there aren't any "value-added jobs" for us in a few decades?

"The crucial problem is creating new jobs that humans perform better than algorithms," wrote Mr Harari. "Consequently, by 2050 a new class of people might emerge - the useless class."

It is an upsetting and provocative term. Well, here's where a once provocative idea called universal basic income could come in.

Mr Harari wrote in a Bloomberg piece that with universal basic income, an institution would "tax the billionaires and corporations controlling the algorithms and robots, and use the money to provide every person with a stipend covering basic needs. The hope is that this will cushion the poor against job loss and economic dislocation, while protecting the rich from populist rage".

This idea has been embraced by much of Silicon Valley and other tech enclaves, in part to offset anxiety that the technology built in these places is killing off people's livelihoods, Fortune said in a report.

"Proponents, like Tesla and SpaceX founder Elon Musk, have argued such payments would be more efficient and less bureaucratic than current welfare programmes." Other supporters include Facebook boss Mark Zuckerberg and Virgin Group founder Richard Branson.

CNBC reported last month that Silicon Valley giant Y Combinator will give thousands of people across two American states cash handouts in its latest basic income trial.

Britain's Independent said last month also that a study found nearly half of Britons would back universal basic income which was "once considered a policy belonging firmly to the radical left". Polling by the Institute for Policy Research at the University of Bath revealed that 49 per cent of 18 to 75-year-olds supported the introduction of the policy.

Finland is in the middle of a two-year pilot study "to see how getting a basic income, rather than jobless benefits, might affect incentives in the labour market", according to The Economist. Mr Olli Kangas, who helped to design and run the study for Finland's national welfare body, noted the process was far harder to implement than expected: "A nightmare."

So what would the cleaner auntie and the angry caller think of it? Can we be comfortable with getting a universal basic income and the free time to do what we want, while being labelled the "useless class"? Who knows what "nightmare" problems may arise from universal basic income itself; time to study the pilot studies.

Leave it. Leave it.

Can we afford to leave thinking about this issue to a later date to take care of today's problems first?

Auntie's sharp words cut deep that day, and made me think about more than just leaving her some work to do.

Maybe it is a warning to leave old work behind for the new, while we still can.

Leave it. Leave it.

 

[halsey02]

"Value added"???? the employers don't view anyone you employ as "value added", the are costs added. Did all these cleaning aunties volunteered or they are there to get some form of exercise & mixing with people, than to sit at home or sit at Senior's corner or void decks, passing their time away?. Nowadays it is fashionable to "volunteer"...it comes with at least a million dollars, 'appreciation' packet.

 

[halsey02]

She wanted to write an article around this new found term "ugly-cried" and included Weinstein, Michael Fallon, Stanford University, the Guardian etc etc to make it sound important.

She could have written about the exact same incident without resorting this sort of drivel. It is certainly a case of interest where women are targeted and things have to change.

The editor should have used same metaphorical bat to kill this story.

These are the type that had been left on the shelf & watched the world gone by & silently with their holier than thou moral; wished that some white man, would come & try those things they wished in secret.

Since the time, our The Shit Times, was 'taken' over by the 'truthful people'...they have never written a piece of anything, that challenges your mind or tickle your imagination or bring a smile in your face & leave an impression in your brain, that either leave a memory or a recurring thought.

The articles written today are sub-par & in many parts, pleasing to their 'masters' & trashy.

I used to buy for a long while the printed ST, on only Wednesday, Thursday, maybe Friday, & certainly Saturday & sometimes Sunday, never on Monday. Thursday & Friday for supermarkets offer, Saturday for the bulk, Sunday for additional & Monday, NEVER..for it is devoid of any intelligent reading. I buy to line the floor for my canine to poop & pee, now it has passed away....even on supermarket days I have stopped buying the ST.

I grew up reading the Straits Times, not the Shit Times, spend years cutting out articles & pasting them in scrap books...now, they are good for the scrap heap.

 

[scroobal]

I can understand that they have little or no choice when it comes to political reporting as they are essentially a captive. The topic she writes on has nothing to do with politics so a half decent piece is expected and the editing should also have some quality. Clearly she stuck between writing words of prose and poetry so it does not flow for either. It reminds me of a forummer we had in the early years who was struggling with herself mentally and used to write in a similar manner - her train of thought.

The is not even case of style that some may or may not prefer.

Surely we can find decent writers. Look at TOC, Mothership etc, they are can write a decent narrative that articulates their views and opinions.

These are the type that had been left on the shelf & watched the world gone by & silently with their holier than thou moral; wished that some white man, would come & try those things they wished in secret.

Since the time, our The Shit Times, was 'taken' over by the 'truthful people'...they have never written a piece of anything, that challenges your mind or tickle your imagination or bring a smile in your face & leave an impression in your brain, that either leave a memory or a recurring thought.

The articles written today are sub-par & in many parts, pleasing to their 'masters' & trashy.

I used to buy for a long while the printed ST, on only Wednesday, Thursday, maybe Friday, & certainly Saturday & sometimes Sunday, never on Monday. Thursday & Friday for supermarkets offer, Saturday for the bulk, Sunday for additional & Monday, NEVER..for it is devoid of any intelligent reading. I buy to line the floor for my canine to poop & pee, now it has passed away....even on supermarket days I have stopped buying the ST.

I grew up reading the Straits Times, not the Shit Times, spend years cutting out articles & pasting them in scrap books...now, they are good for the scrap heap.

 

[KuanTi01]

She wanted to write an article around this new found term "ugly-cried" and included Weinstein, Michael Fallon, Stanford University, the Guardian etc etc to make it sound important.

She could have written about the exact same incident without resorting this sort of drivel. It is certainly a case of interest where women are targeted and things have to change.

The editor should have used same metaphorical bat to kill this story.

Jumping on the bandwagon, short and sharp! One wonders why she didn't use her trusty handphone to call for police assistance or record a short clip and stomp him to hell instead of swinging her metaphorical baseball bat.

 

[halsey02]

I can understand that they have little or no choice when it comes to political reporting as they are essentially a captive. The topic she writes on has nothing to do with politics so a half decent piece is expected and the editing should also have some quality. Clearly she stuck between writing words of prose and poetry so it does not flow for either. It reminds me of a forummer we had in the early years who was struggling with herself mentally and used to write in a similar manner - her train of thought.

The is not even case of style that some may or may not prefer.

Surely we can find decent writers. Look at TOC, Mothership etc, they are can write a decent narrative that articulates their views and opinions.

The quality the Straits Times had in the past, can not be found in their sad 'offspring', the Shit Times. Some example, I had forgotten the name, this guy, who use to write the horse racing column & comment, when they had one, I use to read it avidly when I was young & learnt & was educated on horse racing & all the technical terms. It was usually written on a certain day of the week before the Sat/Sun races, if there was special mid week race & later night races & even the CUP event. Till this day, I have never betted on horses, nor step into the turf club, but I sure learnt a lot about horse racing by reading the column. There was this lady by the name of Mc..something, she use to write a weekly commentary ( her own, not source from others, or copied, remember there was no internet then) of the upcoming movies that, would be shown at the cinemas. This was usually on a Weds or Thurs, for new movies, would be out before the Sat/Sun, blockbusters etc. I used to call her, the local woman of "Leonard Matlin". Then, there were well written articles or editorial, that covers so many subjects; if these people were around, would have written a good piece of what you gripe about on this writer for the Shit Times.

That is why...I call the paper The Shit Times...I have stopped reading the New paper for almost 7 years, never bought a copy or even glance at one. I missed the days it started as The Singapore Herald to New Nation...

The standard of journalism is so bad these days, in spite of the fact, that we have so many institutions of learning, when one could, sharpen their skills. In other words, better educated, linguistically, artistically, technically...& yet, we have shit writer, as you have described, who does not know the left from right, the ceiling from the floor.

or the way, our generation...writes.

 

[scroobal]

Agree, she could have cut short the whole episode and at the same thing stopped other being preyed upon. And no where in her article she even suggest that. I am sure every single person in Singapore are keen to get rid of this pervert including the Police.

Jumping on the bandwagon, short and sharp! One wonders why she didn't use her trusty handphone to call for police assistance or record a short clip and stomp him to hell instead of swinging her metaphorical baseball bat.

 

[JohnTan]

Women are told by imams, muslim male chauvinists and islamists that they should wear hijab or even the niqab to avoid being raped by men, especially muslim men. It is a general principle in the muslim world that women not wearing islamic clothing are inviting muslim men to sexually assault them.

But even if someone was dressed like a 21-year-old stripper, no one should sexually assault her.

Why do women have to bend over backwards to avoid appalling rape-y behaviour?"

 

[CoffeeAhSoh]

The quality the Straits Times had in the past, can not be found in their sad 'offspring', the Shit Times. Some example, I had forgotten the name, this guy, who use to write the horse racing column & comment, when they had one, I use to read it avidly when I was young & learnt & was educated on horse racing & all the technical terms. It was usually written on a certain day of the week before the Sat/Sun races, if there was special mid week race & later night races & even the CUP event. Till this day, I have never betted on horses, nor step into the turf club, but I sure learnt a lot about horse racing by reading the column. There was this lady by the name of Mc..something, she use to write a weekly commentary ( her own, not source from others, or copied, remember there was no internet then) of the upcoming movies that, would be shown at the cinemas. This was usually on a Weds or Thurs, for new movies, would be out before the Sat/Sun, blockbusters etc. I used to call her, the local woman of "Leonard Matlin". Then, there were well written articles or editorial, that covers so many subjects; if these people were around, would have written a good piece of what you gripe about on this writer for the Shit Times.

That is why...I call the paper The Shit Times...I have stopped reading the New paper for almost 7 years, never bought a copy or even glance at one. I missed the days it started as The Singapore Herald to New Nation...

The standard of journalism is so bad these days, in spite of the fact, that we have so many institutions of learning, when one could, sharpen their skills. In other words, better educated, linguistically, artistically, technically...& yet, we have shit writer, as you have described, who does not know the left from right, the ceiling from the floor.

or the way, our generation...writes.

.

Brian wrote very well today see ST below:


.

 

[halsey02]

It was not Brian Miller, that I know...it was Jeff ?? forgotten the family name.

 

[scroobal]

Jeff Low?

In those days, it was loads of information. It was a joy to read it each and every morning. Their covered the World and in the days of no internet and many houses with no TV, it was such an important medium.

Nearly every one of the reporters had a distinct style and the editing was superb. There were no missing pieces or gaps to guess.

I remember classmates who aspired to join the Press.

 

[halsey02]

Jeff Low?

In those days, it was loads of information. It was a joy to read it each and every morning. Their covered the World and in the days of no internet and many houses with no TV, it was such an important medium.

Nearly every one of the reporters had a distinct style and the editing was superb. There were no missing pieces or gaps to guess.

I remember classmates who aspired to join the Press.

I think so..Jeff Low. Remember back then, the news around the world, came by teleprinter...remember office used to have one...that goes, chig, chig chig...that churns out loads of papers, then came the facsimile machine...they gather all these & write their pieces...there were no, google..

Yet with technology & education...we have our writers & editors of the press...writing shitty articles & many, you don't even remember what is written , after you have read them. Unlike in the past...it stays in your memory.

The medium back then, was the radio...MW,SW & was that UHF? before the advent of FM & that was an important medium, for we get our news from " BBC London"..on a clear day, when they wind was favourable...I forgot, was it UHF or SW..we can get " Voice Of America, Saigon"...then much later, we had that radio station from Batam.

What I am trying to say that, this was one source of information...the radio. I had a classmate who worked for the newspaper back then...

 

[yinyang]

Jeff Low? There were no missing pieces or gaps to guess..

I think so..Jeff Low. .

Jeff Low was the footy guy, who coined the kallang roar (Msia Cup days).
His column pieces were crisp and incisive, even puts that dumb angmoh Rob Hughes to shame with his long winded crap (opinion shared by a fellow brit crony). Why ST still source him and lets his columns waste space after more than a decade is beyond anyone

Don't disagree on why this didn't end up in the bin liner. Or might as well self destruct on seeing the light. So self conceited with mumbo jumbo, that it's hard to even 2nd guess what she's on about.:oops:

 

[scroobal]

Agree on Jeff vs Rob. The Pinkerton Syndrome. The young Singaporeans probably have no idea what Singapore quality was then. Sad.

Jeff Low was the footy guy, who coined the kallang roar (Msia Cup days).
His column pieces were crisp and incisive, even puts that dumb angmoh Rob Hughes to shame with his long winded crap (opinion shared by a fellow brit crony). Why ST still source him and lets his columns waste space after more than a decade is beyond anyone

Don't disagree on why this didn't end up in the bin liner. Or might as well self destruct on seeing the light. So self conceited with mumbo jumbo, that it's hard to even 2nd guess what she's on about.:oops:

 

[zhihau]

We read The Sammyboy Times, no time for States Times.

 

[CoffeeAhSoh]

We read The Sammyboy Times, no time for States Times.

thank you for saving one more Tree