ST Forums: George Lim archive

http://gssq.livejournal.com/150751.html
http://www.drmikeloh.com/07/jun01.htm

I was laughing my butt off at this bumbling social reformer/moraliser George Lim Heng Chye and his missives to the Straits Times forum page. Oh dear me... Well yeah, some of his letters are reasonable: Man exposed himself to boys yeah that sounds horrible, but oh geez read this!- All the movies are about sex and violence. Time for censors to act:

I turned to the cinema pages of the Life! Section in the Straits Times last Saturday and noted the sort of movies being shown in town. The main themes focussed on violence, crime, death and sex. Here are some of the movies:

• The Black Dahlia - about Hollywood’s most infamous sex murders;
• Dead man’s shoes - about revenge;
• Silk - about spirits;
• Death Note - about death;
• The Departed - a crime drama;
• Wet hot sake - about sex, sleaze and sensuality;
• My Summer of Love - more sex and sleaze.

The other movies are about inconsequential events. These are time-wasters and sad to watch:

• Talladega Nights - about brainless and crazy people with fast cars;
• World Trade Centre - a disaster;
• Rob -B-Hood - no theme.

These movies do not provide any wholesome and meaningful lessons in life. The more a person watches them, the more he would be made to feel that life is hopeless and meaningless.

Movie directors are happily ripping off the public by giving us worthless movies that harm us.

It is useless to bar only children and those below 18 from watching these movies as the tasteless pictures in the media continue to defile good sense and morals.

Where are our educators? Why are they silent on this sad state of affairs? What does our conscience tell us about such movies being screened in public? Do we have a conscience at all?

One may argue that we have a choice not to watch these shows. But if it Hobson’s choice everyday with such low quality movies, where is the freedom for one to choose a wholesome and good movie when none is available?

What about the public’s right to see good movies? And why do we create for ourselves a famine of morally enriching shows?

A movie that is worthwhile watching would give hope to the viewer about the meaning of life and its purpose. A good movie should result in stirring a person’s mind and heart to do good for society. It should focus on wholesome family values of love and care, and respect for the elders and the government.

How should we rate a movie for its value? We should not give ratings to reflect its popularity based on violence, crime and sex, but instead focus on good values such as kindness, gentleness, love, peace, goodness, faithfulness, self-control and joy.

Unfortunately, none of these good values can be found in the movies mentioned above. Movies that espouse the desirable values are rare. These are ‘Chariots of Fire’ and ‘Akeelah and the Bee’. I particularly enjoy watching Jack Neo’s portrayal of our primary school system in ‘I not stupid’.

Yet if it remains only a portrayal of our country’s meritocratic education system, it alone would not be able to help us make further progress. It is not enough just to point out society’s ills. The movie’s director should have concluded the show with lessons on corrective measures for the public.

I would like the Board of Film Censors to critically review and evaluate the quality of the movies currently being screened in public. The guiding principle of the authority should always be driven by good and responsible values that promote hope, compassion and love. And it should not be influenced by the public’s lust for sex, violence and death that leads to a sense of hopelessness for the viewer.

I've reproduced his letter in full to let the full measure of his naivete sink in. I don't know; my egalitarian instincts and political-correctness gearstick prevent me from saying anything more than that he must have had a very sad and disturbed childhood.

It seems that giving this letter an answer would merely glorify it. But since our venerable newspaper of record published it - and I'm sure many people were nodding their heads in agreement on reading his letters - it would seem that it is worthy of an answer.

Brilliant right? As if film censorship wasn't enough, this guy wants to dictate what movies we watch, so that only films with upright values get shown, so as to educate and improve young minds.

Tosh! Does Mr George Lim live in snooty Victorian England or does he have a ten-foot pole up his shithole? He intends to perpetrate social engineering - and not just that, he intends to do so by screening Chariots of Fire! Any of you - us - youngsters would lap that up? Anyone out there as ridiculously inexperienced in the ways of the world, as dear George?

The world is meaningless and hopeless and ugly and filthy and corrupt and depraved and rich and beautiful and wonderous and human in its depravity, deal with it! Even good clean family-friendly Mozart wrote the piece "Lick me in the arse"! Go on, George, ban Mozart! This time I'm with you all the way!

I absolutely detest this self-righteous sense of moral rectitude that he exudes with every word. I drip with scorn.

Sure, rate movies on how they portray values of kindness and love. I'm sure he wants to watch Barney all day, too. Or maybe not - he might take actually offence at Barney's paedophilic, effeminate and *shock horror* homosexual image! He's purple, for fuckssake!

Oh yeah, that reminds me - he has stuff to say on homosexuality too. But I'll let a better mind guide you through it: I've found an excellent and thoughtful blog by this guy Sam, who's incidentally commented on it. Go browse his other posts, it really is quite thought-provoking.

Alright that's it from me now; I've really gotta go sleep. Man, all that suppressed laughter was a good abs workout.