[ad_1]
There should be room for “open” and “respectful” conversations without fear of being “cyberbullying,” said Minister of State for Manpower Gan Siow Huang last week in response to a controversial TODAY article written by a university student. Singapore National.
In a Facebook post on Friday (March 19), Marymount’s SMC MP said that only by making that space can Singapore “build a deeper understanding of the issues and remain united as a nation.”
Veteran journalist Bertha Henson had submitted an article written by Dana Teoh, who is one of her students.
Ms Teoh argued that billionaire author JK Rowling of Harry Potter’s famous “fall from grace” is an example of the dangers of “awakening” and “canceling culture.”
Rowling’s legacy has been bogged down by allegations that she used her public platforms to perpetuate transphobia, from her tweets to a 3,500-word essay containing trans-exclusive radical feminist talking points, and even a novel chronicling the case of a woman who disappeared in 1974. and is believed to be the victim of Dennis Creed, “a transvestite serial killer”.
Ms. Teoh believes that while Ms. Rowling had expressed her position in a “less than discreet” manner, in fact, “there is nothing wrong with saying, believing, and perhaps even convincing some people that what she thinks it’s true. “
“Everyone has the right to freedom of thought, if not of expression,” he wrote.
The culture of “awakening”, according to her, “encourages narrow-mindedness” and the refusal to “acknowledge, much less respect, even the mere suggestion of differences of opinion.
“[P]People end up opting for fake kindness over their true opinions, presenting you with an inauthentic (but acceptable) version of themselves, Mr. Hella Woke, ”Ms. Teoh said.
However, the article had generated a backlash on social media, prompting the NUS Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences to issue a statement on March 16 calling for an end to cyberbullying and attacks. personal against Mrs. Teoh.
Several activists also criticized the article, saying it endorses “falsehoods” and “bigotry” against Singapore’s marginalized communities.
Despite the backlash, Ms. Gan expressed her “respect” for Ms. Teoh for “speaking upon awakening.”
Many netizens criticized Ms. Gan for her support for the opinion piece, urging her to “show more empathy” in the way she encourages young people to discuss such sensitive topics.
“Do you respect someone for saying that trans bodies ‘miss’ them? Please reconsider this, Minister. This is extremely disappointing, ”said one commenter.
His post had garnered 37 comments as of this writing. However, many netizens pointed out that Ms. Gan has hidden or deleted comments from her post in response to the negative comments.
Owners of a Facebook page can hide comments for a post on their page, which will make the hidden comment visible only to the person who wrote it and their friends. Deleting comments would mean that the comment will be permanently removed from the post.
In Ms. Gan’s case, former social commentator and chocolatier Lim Jialiang explained that the comments on her post have actually been hidden.
He had also reproduced some of the hidden comments in a Facebook post “for the sake of open and respectful conversation.”
“This is not a deletion, but simply allows the author’s friends to view the comment and interact with it. But of course, it doesn’t really allow people to see the extent of the disagreement / discussion that came up with the post, ”said Mr. Lim.
Several netizens also pointed to the irony of Ms. Gan’s decision to encourage making room for “open and respectful conversations” on the one hand and to hide negative comments from her post on the other.
