Please Don't Be Offended

Sunday, July 21, 2013

Attempts by Snugg LePup
"Oy girl, your shorts are too short. It's making me feel uncomfortable. Look, it's so obvious that the dude and the old auntie there are both looking at your protruding posterior. Next time wear something else, please I beg you."


"Hey, don't say that please. At least not in public, you're making me uncomfortable. You know we're not in America, right? Somebody might just contact the authorities and get you booked. I don't want to lose a good friend."

"I think we should take this conversation somewhere private. I like talking to you about religion and belief systems but I don't know why I feel vulnerable sitting out here where random people can just eavesdrop. Let's go some place with thick walls."

In Malaysia, there appears to be a sneaky imaginary being that lurks around taking offense at every little thing that you and I say or do.

And to make matters worse, there's also the presence of the actual mob of people that do take offense easily and freely on a wide variety of topics.

Big brother, our tired government is also made up of these lot. The sport of taking offense is rather pervasive here that people are more efficient at it than at their jobs. This human condition is not so fun to experience but an entertainment to observe from a distance.

When I was a kid, I learnt quickly that when a parent took offense at my behavior, I had to find a way to moderate myself, tame my childish nonsense. Their taking offense conditioned me, alright. I knew the right buttons to press to get the reaction I wanted and taught myself to limit the offense-inducing antics which was hard to master.

Later in life, I blamed the same parents for being constricting, for not letting me just be me. What wisdom did I finally unearth, you might wonder.

1: Self-censorship sucks.
2: It's hard to be yourself when you're always struggling to fit into a mold of what society expects from you.
3: Not thinking clearly messes you up.

But enough about me, more about Alvivi.

If you're leaving under the rocks without the wonderful gift of the Internet, let me tell you: Malaysians are presently resenting and taking offense over the photo of Alvivi 'buka puasa' (break your fast) with 'bak kut teh' (pork dish) and the infamous duo are now in jail because of it.

When I fist saw the 'controversial' photo, all I saw was a couple enjoying their meal whether it's pork or not I'm not sure, perhaps around the 'buka puasa' time.

I've never given two hoots over their sexcussions and I'm certainly not going to take offense over a picture that I had to google search myself to view. All the commotion over this? Have we lost our brains in the clogged and smoggy streets of KL?

Upon further news-reading, the duo had said that it was just dark humor to them; so that confirms that they were indeed munching on porkies. Pork-side, they should have known that their 'art' was akin to posting a drawing of the Muslim's beloved prophet (which have caused violent reactions in some countries before).

If you take issue to this, then you'd say that it is very tasteless on their part. But to throw them in jail without bail is plain excessive. And this I cannot wrap my head around. The fact that the worst of criminals have been treated better than the young couple reveals a disturbing picture.

They have since apologized for the 'seditious posting' and now patiently await for trial from behind bars. What do we learn about Malaysia as we experience this bak kut teh quandary? A lot, really.

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shanaz@RS | 5:16 AM | Labels:

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