Saturday, March 10, 2007

Bonus Mission #1

Are You One Of Them?



This particular video clip may induce laughter to many of us watching it (including me). But indeed we need to fully comprehend the meaning behind the video and the reason for which it was put up.

In the clip, Janet Lim, who is a Singapore Media Award winner, is also unfortunately a chronic flatulence sufferer. While the act of farting is generally considered to be an unfortunate (but sometimes intentionally contrived) occurrence in public settings, a flatus may, in casual circumstances, be used as either a humorous supplement to a joke, or as a comic activity in and of itself (Flatulence, 2007); however it is not a joke all the time.

Thanks to the invention of the video camera and the built-in cameras of the mobile phones, messages like these can be uploaded onto YouTube and MojoFlix, reaching the masses in a more subtle way.

Some of the flatulence sufferers out there may feel rather shy to come out in public, for fear of embarrassing themselves. As Sullivan (2006) puts it, “Privacy is to be left alone.” These people prefer to remain secluded, away from the public eye for fear of being made fun of, looked down upon or even sympathized with.

However, they might change their minds and attitudes to wards their situation, after watching how Janet delicately handled such situations. She has made her mark to such an extent that now her friends who used to call her ‘Janet the farter’, have now switched it to ‘Janet, the Singapore Media Award winner’.

On the other hand, in an attempt to get across the intended message, Janet has lost her privacy, because now everybody who watches that video clip will know that she suffers from chronic flatulence. Since nothing is free on the Internet, “More than ever before, the details about our lives are no longer our own” (Sullivan, 2006).

References:

1. Sullivan, Bob., “Privacy Lost: Does anybody care?” (October 17, 2006) From MSNBC.com. Retrieved March 9, 2007 from
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/15221095/print/1/displaymode/1098/

2. “Flatulence” (March 9, 2007) From Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia, Retrieved 14:06, January 10, 2007, from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flatulence

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