information can actually be, like captured by, by that domain lah like let's say if someone is sitting around you and is connected and has a different software which can like get your, details and everything, so


to remain anonymous, you would rather not shop on like a public internet or something like that, what I feel, yes


yes, ya you should refrain from doing those kind of activities that would reveal your image or your details


but don't you think they should do something about it since like you know, if there's like a back door to this, shouldn't like, wireless SG or something like that like the those public wifis do some do something about the


to to remain people anonymous


(mmhmm)


ya true, wireless SG have taken a step but there is still a lot more like you know like starbucks or, coffee bean or you know other, other


public wifi


if ya true


okay wait when when we look at the recent when you talk about a debate topic right, if we like we carefully like people have rights to remain anonymous, when portrayed in the media so like


let's like that means like let's say someone like shows you up on the internet, and then what like you have like, what do you mean by rights to have, rights to remain anonymous


ya more, ya most of the stuff has to do with like internet security, because, other than that I don't think our information will ever be revealed out


so yes remaining anonymous does, people do have the rights to remain anonymous


to me the internet I would say there is like, scaling them on a ratio I would say, bad people to good people will be one to ten, because the


ya that that's true


my my friend also has became a victim of a scam like very recent early this month, because it was a website where they had they said uh, oh okay uh they are actually a investment company


they will invest your money in a good way and then they showed you all a very good rebates they will give you, and theirs is like how to say, uh, their withdrawal and their rebate, like when they give they give out rebates like weekly


so like you will see the percentage there and then one of my friend's father actually who who did that, he was he was actually, like withdrawing up money also, like, like he was actually profiting from that lah so he pulled up more people into it because he thought you know


why not you know benefit everybody so ya that happened and then a lot of people so to to put one account to open one account you at least have to have like three thousand USD inside, so that's quite a lot of money so a lot of people you know actually


like they sent you uh, the weird a weird email not even professional, and then from there they everybody started researching about the company seeing their


like what how to say like their certificates and everything, and it all looked kind of fake ah, nobody realised, so that's one very, bad side about the internet the scams, so only


ya


ya not really uh, so ya most of the stuff has to do with internet security, remaining anonymous on media is, kind of hard


(mmhmm), ya true the encrypted ya, so like


ya I feel to remain anonymous ya you have, to, encrypt yourself like let's say to a website, you need encryption in order to stay anonymous so like the other party only to the one who like you know owns that particular site


can actually, like get your information


debate topic three


I I feel like it should be, I mean it should be okay to collect information because social media websites, they do have their, user agreement, so unless you read the user agreement then


I think storing your own information should be fine, because, if they breach that that agreement then they're liable to be sued lah, so they


so it will it might be pretty safe to for them to like you know store information but depending on what kind of information like you want your credit card details then sorry, you know because, scams these days are very very


ya like it's it's very regular, change but then, thinking about like storing information like


there can only be like, a certain positivity to what kind of information they want to store, like at most what can they store, because from let's say social media


looking at instagram what kind of information they store like maybe our emails, our password followed by, the accounts lah basically whatever information you put in like about yourself your phone number


ya pretty much that's all lah, what what do you think


put it ten out of ten because I don't think anybody reads it,


I don't quite seem to, okay wait, maybe I don't really agree to that like, the main I think the the sole purpose of getting a personal information from a person


not personal story I mean their personal information so like, it's for like, the better for the user, so like let's say in, in a few months or like in in a few years the company is like preparing to have like a proper


like, like a upgrade or something that will, be very user friendly, so, I feel like they would want this kind of information, so like you know it'll be better for them throughout the process of creating that


so, maybe it's like all a trial like sometimes they need your they need this particular information but they don't really need it, but it's just there so like you know in case they can like somehow render their


ya upgrades or something like that, so ya social media, they they can have the rights but, but ya they have to state in the user agreement they cannot do anything about it, because to be honest if let's say you lose your personal information


or it might get violated, so the most I mean there is a lot of things that can be done, but through my knowledge I'm not sure how they can, do something from my, what we call that like let's say phone number or like email


something like that what do you think like


ya I think it's most, that I agree like you might be like for exposing people out, the most recent one was the in singapore was the Singhealth, where the the what we call that


the information leaked out for like all the donors, that was that was quite bad that was a very poor, poor uh


ya internet security


!whoa! like a #Wikipedia# is it


I mean that's one thing that's one thing scary like let's say, okay maybe not social media okay but let's say like google you're talking about google I, I overheard like you know like you know google google home, like


when you're not conversing with them but they are still like open you know, to like receiving and collecting, like information whatever that's happening around you, so from that


like sometimes they will like, ya that that's like collecting like information, from you like, without your concern so I feel like it shouldn't be that way you know


ya I know the idea is to like actually get to know the person so like you know it's better to converse with like, the google home person,


ya but that's but that's like a personal, space there like there is no personal space there like if you listen to everything around the home than that's different already, ya, will say the breach of what private property something like that


cause like, because they have like, like let's say you do you have google home they have like prompts, where like you have to answer and then it


it how to say like it gets, it gets to know you in that way, they have questions and everything where you have to answer so like it knows you you know something like that, but then listening all that's quite


that's breach I feel, ya so yup,


ya and it might have started all from like, Alexa, because that was the first case, from amazon


like, yes correct correct I had a personal, I had an encounter too like like, like maybe last year like I was actually


I was actually like you know, talking about something to my friends, and then the next thing on a social media website, a advertisement on that same particular thing that I was talking about like popped up like instagram


so like while I was swiping and then I saw the ad, and then like it's weird cause let's say who like, when you search for something on google or something like that, like the uh the information that you get


so it will be stored in a cookie or something and then those social media websites can like actually retrieve that and then you know try to put it in their ads or something like that, that's that's different but then this one I didn't even search for it


so, it's something to be quite scared of lah cause, yes correct so ya, I would


it's a fifty fifty kind of topic lah, like they can store it but they cannot


ya I feel like, only the government can store my personal informations, like they might have the full rights to comb like you know have my, personal information


because of you know like voting and everything, like we vote for a better government, for social media there is no voting you know, what kind of voting ya


(mmhmm), (mmhmm)


well,


ya, the one thing about singapore is like their watching on you even from the internet


like the government so like anything you, anything bad you say anything , ya you know especially on facebook there's so many videos that like people talk about like the politics, people talk about the government


and he's being brought down so like, the freedom of speech is not there, ya


of course of course


ya, but most of the times, I think social mood media, like when you have a social media, platform their their sole motive is to actually just


you know uh, be a user friendly you know like, (mmhmm) like they just want to be famous that media wants to be famous for people to actually, like converse or like post up things so, when they actually ask for information


their sole motive should only be to, to enhance the media to enhance the platform in every way possible because, nowadays people always look for user friendly stuff and security also like they need your mobile phones for what


to actually have the OTP and you know so that no other two face factor authentication all you know all this actually, helps to, have you can have your profile all by yourself with all these encryption methods


part one financial related topic


okay so I agree with you that newspapers are actually facing tough times , because the internet can actually offer many things that traditional papers cannot , however many have in the past predicted that radio TV and the internet will kill them off but despite this different predictions about the death of newspapers for decades they are actually not dead yet


even today so, in my opinion newspapers are still very relevant today even in the age of internet, so contrary to popular belief many newspapers actually remain very profitable although not as profitable as they were maybe in the late nineteen nineties


so research actually shows that newspapers, they will take a significant revenue from print advertising although it has already declined from sixty billion to sixteen point five billion between twenty ten and twenty seventeen


it's true that our newspapers are actually not as profitable compared to the past, that I agree with you however they have also adapted so I don't quite agree with the part where you mention that traditional newspapers have failed to adapt in fact newspapers have also started moving online to keep themselves aligned with in the tech-savvy


world so , research actually shows that those who actually claim that the future of news is online and only online actually ignores one very important and critical point where which is that


online advertisement revenue isn't enough to just support most news companies in fact even until today big companies such as Google and Facebook still dominates when it comes to online advertisement revenue


so online news sites in that sense will still need and as yet, discovered business model to survive, yup


okay but I think another reason why newspapers will still remain relevant is because it is also seen as a more reliable and credible source of information or rather news, so they still actually continue to provide in depth information about the happenings around the world and it's true that in the age of internet there can be a lot more information available online


however the prevalence of fake news actually reduces the credibility of information obtained online so this actually makes it more inferior and it's a more inferior platform for reliable news, yup so uh


I feel as consumers instead of having to scour the internet to confirm the credibility of a particular piece of news individuals may actually still prefer the traditional reliable newspapers


that I agree with you yup sum maybe just to sum up this part with regards to newspapers becoming irrelevant, in the age of the internet I feel that in summary newspapers are still relevant for now at least or maybe the next few years but the internet will still be a good


complement to it ya


okay I agree with you with the in that , online subscriptions have actually gained popularity amongst the different consumers today however I feel that, even in the age of the internet TV actually still remains very relevant in fact to remain relevant television companies and the different service providers have actually started adapting and transforming


to cater to the changing consumer preferences, so today actually many of households actually own smart TV a device that can be used to stream video content from popular streaming sites like YouTube and Netflix


and in fact especially during this COVID nineteen period a research actually shows that nearly half of all singaporeans are actually streaming video content through their smart TV so this shows that


TV are still very relevant today because they have actually adapted to the online subscriptions popularity ya


yup that I agree with you that Netflix is in fact very popular, but I think increasingly Netflix has also faced competition from other different companies such as Disney who is also like an apple TV yup so I feel that


uh, to remain relevant note whether it is TV or like all these online subscription companies they will tell always have to adapt to the different changing consumer preferences and that their demands


so as to stay relevant so I think besides Netflix even our local service providers Singtel and StarHub also saw a thirty per cent jump in views during this whole circuit breaker and or like COVID period


so my take is that as long as television companies and service providers actually continue to adapt , uh TV will still remain relevant even in this digital age and there are also the older generations


who will always prefer watching through TV compared to like maybe our smartphones where the viewing resolution is not as good ya


yup I agree with you too so maybe in summary , I feel that even though the medium has changed but the underlying function of how newspapers actually provide information and how the internet actually leverages on that and provides bite-sized information for consumers like you mention


but the function the underlying function is still the same that it's still provides information for different people , and I think maybe one point that I forgot to mention just now, is that uh everyone actually not everyone


has access to internet like let's say the less-privileged so does it actually mean that if they're less-privileged and do not have access to internet then they would not be able to know such information that is actually readily readily available to other consumers


yup I do agree with you that although not as popular as compared to the past when technology or rather internet hasn't arisen but today even with internet uh


I feel that newspapers and TV or rather still, traditional print media , they will still continue to be relevant but of course they have to adapt and come up with different business models to actually remain profitable


so that they don't lag out with internet and like the various technological advancements that will come about in the future


debate topic two


I agree with you that maybe some people may actually want to, remain anonymous on the internet because they don't they're not really comfortable with letting people know who they actually are behind that screen but I think you mentioned about the south korea resident registration number


I feel that with such a number, it means that actually they are still trackable and identifiable so technically although they may remain anonymous like maybe their name can be anonymous on screen but at the backend if anything illegal were to happen


I feel that south korea or the police can actually still track them so technically I feel they are not really anonymous like fully anonymous in that sense


that I agree with you , but I feel that in today's hyperconnected world it has actually become increasingly difficult for actually anyone to remain anonymous, or rather maintain their privacy or identity because if I feel that if people can switch their identity off and operate in total secrecy in the media then the world would actually become a very scary one


and I feel that individuals should not remain anonymous, when portrayed in the media because it's actually gives them the opportunity to act irresponsibly over the platforms of course if everyone acts responsibly then maybe remaining anonymous would be


a, a good thing for people to be truthful and to have that's freedom to speak up their mind but if, there are always people who will actually, act irresponsibly over such platforms and if we allow everyone to be anonymous this can actually foster


an environment where socially detrimental behaviours like maybe racism or cyberbullying like you mentioned earlier and especially in singapore the cyberbullying becoming a growing danger


the right to actually remain anonymous may encourage these perpetrators to be more daring and to continue bullying people through the internet because then they won't have any fear that their actions will actually be found out by the public


yup I totally agree with you that, remaining anonymous actually has its advantages in this sense like having questions that you


don't know who to go who to go to the online community has actually been a good platform for people to actually reach out to, uh the online community and actually get have their questions answered without having to reveal their identity and of course it will definitely be a good


thing if everyone acts responsibly and not be irresponsible about their online behaviour or the questions they ask, so I feel that if, everyone acts responsibly


then the online community will be a very good place for people to ask questions but then again if we think back , for example cyberbullying even if people don't know who you are they can still attack you and being the person who post the question or a comment you will still get attacked even if you are anonymous


so I think it all boils down to, how people behave online whether or not they are anonymous or not of course if they're anonymous then they will be more daring to post things, that they would not have other ways uh otherwise done so


if they have their real identity tagged to it so I think having an identity tagged to whatever you are posting online actually reminds you to be more responsible to act responsibly in the online space


so that people don't get hurt so for example, uh if let's say you know that okay for example you know that what this person is saying is not correct or rather it's something that is controversial


you would want to you would want to attack the person in a way because you don't agree with his or her opinions, but then if you think back what if you post online and


people actually know, who you are like and who's the person behind the screen commenting or scolding, the uh another person then you would actually be more fearful and you would actually hold back so I think having a identity tagged to everything you do online actually serves as a reminder for ourselves


to not act irresponsibly and hurt the feelings of others online just because we don't see them face-to-face yup


yup I agree with you but I think another issue , that comes about with anonymity in the media is that it can actually also encourage crimes to take place online so for instance terrorism online


so and when you are anonymous online sometimes even though you have an IP address tagged to it but sometimes it is, almost impossible for anyone to control any illegal activities which is perpetrated or actually discussed anonymously over the internet


yup so I feel that when we are anonymous on the internet it can actually bring about a lot of , different activities that may not be ideal especially if we decide to act is irresponsibly for example cyberbullying like I mentioned earlier


and the different crimes that can take place online and it can be quite scary if in the event it is not trackable, for example I think recently there has also been a lot of


moneylending scams that has been going on and people can actually be cheated off online and the police cannot track, who, the, who the cheater actually is so I think if we have


an identity tagged to everything that we do online then maybe all these crimes can be solved, more easily and people and or rather we will all live in a better place if


all these crimes are actually not uh are actually traceable in that sense with our identity ya


yup correct I I agree with you and I think in summary, there will always be an ongoing debate oh about whether people should have the rights to remain anonymous because there will always be this group of people who rather remain anonymous and there will always be this group of people


who wants an identity tagged to everything that they do so that so as to prevent all these unfortunate things from happening yup


debate topic three


yup I agree with you that increasingly different social media platforms such as Instagram Facebook has gained popularity amongst consumers and with internet becoming something that individuals value a lot


social media is actually something that they use every day and cannot live without, in fact for most millennials at research has shown that , social media is one of the first thing that they check whenever they use their phone because they actually like being able to see what their friends are doing on a day-to-day basis but I feel that although


many people have said that should social media should not have the right to store and use our personal information , we have actually unknowingly consented to it for them to actually store our personal information


and this is because if we actually take a look at take a look back at how, we actually create a social media account so when we create a social media account there's actually a privacy policy that most of us would not actually read we will just accept it and carry on with our account registration


so I feel that in a sense , social media, has the right to store and use our personal information because we have actually consented to it but this is only if they use it responsibly so for instance many may argue that they are actually fine with social media using their information such as their


online browsing history to actually recommend different websites or relevant products and services to them this is also something known as advertisement target targeting this actually helps to better personalise user experience for different consumers


so for example if today you are looking at maybe birthday gifts for your friends and the next day on your social media, they actually provide you with


something that you wanted to get but a different brand or at a cheaper price then that would be something beneficial to, you and I feel that as individuals, you would like to have that information ya


yup okay I agree with you that it is very difficult for individuals to control how their personal information is being used by different entities , and I've also read that people actually don't know


who, or rather which entities their information is going to and even though it may be beneficial for them in the sense of more user personalisation ad targeting


uh they have also they have also they are also concerned about, how , different people are using their data without their knowledge however, I feel that I feel that


without this personal information and if companies do not actually get hold of the this information then the creation of products or services will actually remain stagnant in the sense that if there isn't such data about users


or consumers then researchers, or , companies cannot actually do analysis and continuously create products, or create advertisements that are more targeted to consumers and this can actually in turn not meet the different market demands and I feel that as a result the economy will also progress slower in the sense


that , we are not really getting what we want because if without this data data being sent to the different companies then we wouldn't know uh I mean rather


companies wouldn't know what we like and what we want yup so I guess the lack of information will actually lead to the product markets being stagnant in the long run


I totally agree with you that it's actually quite scary that our smartphones are actually listening to us all the time and our different social media platforms will actually show us


uh advertisements of what we have been talking about with our friends or families and it has become an increasingly discussed topic whether people would actually like to be listened to


provided information or advertisements on what they want but at the same time, I feel that there's always, two different groups of people one being that they like the convenience that comes with it or they like the different advertisements that actually help them to find like maybe cheaper products cheaper products or products on discount


but there's also the other group that actually becomes worried about where their, personal information is being sold to and how different advertisers actually know how to target them specifically but I feel that in today's world or in today's ya in today's world it is


becoming very hard to keep our personal information to ourself especially when we sign up for different products even offline let's say banking products, when they send you bank statements you have your address your name all this information on your letters


and when you throw it I believe not everyone has a shredder at home to actually shred away all the confidential or rather not so confidential because it's just your name address , our information and uh most people will actually just dispose it maybe off the rubbish chute or something and this all this information is actually also exposed to the ball in the in the sense that people can actually just pick up and they can use your identity and your address


or like maybe when you are circulating , when you are I mean when you are sending your IC for example to people through WhatsApp this can also be used, by different people so I feel that whether online or offline uh we are increasingly losing control of where our personal information goes


ya even if we sign up for anything outside like be it lucky draws where we have to fill in our, phone number our address our name or sometimes IC number but not so much now like now it's just the last four digits but previously this data would might have


already been leaked to different people and we don't even know where this data is going into going to yup so I believe whether online or offline where we have to use our personal information for everything that we sign up for


or yup to the site where we sign up for we are actually already losing control even before the internet before the age of the internet ya


part one financial related topic


so in the age of the internet TV and newspaper have become irrelevant so I feel that, it's because in the era in the age of the internet readers are now much more selective than before


so they have a lot of avenues a lot of platforms to seek for their desired news or information or which are attractive to them and it seems like TV and newspapers have seemed to lose their importance in terms of their standing


as the internet comes into play, so uh newspaper and TV subscriptions are I feel they are harder to entice the public or maybe consumers now because everyone can simply find the news that they want for free


okay, so I agree with you that newspapers are facing the tough time or and that


at and that newspapers are not dead yet, but I'll just like to point out that since twenty O four the number of publishers in the US just taking a look in the US they have actually fallen by more than twenty per cent


till now like twenty twenty and then also taking a look at the number of publishers the number of publishers have actually fallen by thirty two per cent due to the trend of rising ownership concentration


so we can clearly see that newspapers in this area particular area aren't profitable in the long run due to their inability to adapt to the rising trend of technology and the disruptions that technology has actually caused


okay so I understand that you mentioned uh, that uh newspaper their uh their strategy evolved and uh, to cater to suit the demands of the consumers by moving their digital prints online et cetera


and , I would like to point out that you mentioned about the online ad revenue, so I'll , I will just take a look at ad revenue so I understand that for most traditional newspapers most of their bulk of revenue uh news comes from advert advertising


but I also like to point out that newspapers no longer monopolised ads spaces , so with the internet the advertisement spaces online are unimaginable like through the internet you can actually reach a wide a greater target or wide wider audience wider market uh you can even reach people outside of your own country


so based on my research I found that digital revenues can actually potentially exceed print revenues due to the existence of AI which has actually personalised the way advertisements are presented or shown to consumers so our


I would think that advertising in the age of the internet uh advertising when it comes to TV and newspapers it's very uh uh, useless now ya


okay so I I I see that you mentioned


uh newspapers uh are seemed like a more reliable type of news and like there are some people who still prefer reading traditional newspapers but I'll just uh in my opinion I feel that


okay I I agree with you that tradition new traditional newspapers are seem to be more reliable as compared to the online news that we can online news or articles that we can easily find on the internet, but uh I think one advantage about


online is that they actually offers they actually helps to summarise whatever they uh they actually have one advantage which is their and they have the ability to summarise and then simplify it to readers especially on topics which are much more difficult to understand


such as maybe politics or investments that are found in the which are found the newspaper as it's a very lengthy post and people might not have the time to read , but with internet , there are writers online who actually helps to simplify and provide bite-sized article which enables people to finish the entire article within one or two minutes


uh as compared to reading it on newspaper which might take up to maybe five minutes per article so ya


okay so besides newspapers I've uh also besides newspapers let's talk about like TV becoming irrelevant in the age of the internet now so so taking a look at the existence of


online subscription can I ask a a question uh to the moderator so uh


my screen actually just closed itself yeah then uh I I I restarted it so there are like three buttons lah am I supposed to submit, oh okay


oh okay so I don't have to press anything right, ya yes


okay okay uh okay so I I I'll continue okay, uh, so uh


so the existence of online subscriptions like taking a look at Netflix which is highly popular among young teenagers like us like young adults or even people who are in their forties and fifties they're very highly popular among consumers


so let's take a look at Netflix so every month we we are only required to pay a small fee of, ten dollars a month and consumers can actually get to enjoy and have wide access to a whole range of popular television series dramas documentaries from all around the world


like taiwan the US the europe and this could only be done through the use of internet, so although there's a surge in the number of news from our local providers this numbers the number of videos that are available and accessible to consumers can simply not compete to what streaming sites like YouTube and Netflix can offer


okay I agree with you that TV still remains relevant and that they have actually started to adapt and transform and cater to the changing demands, uh but I'll


just like to say just adding onto what I've previously mentioned like Netflix Netflix had at least, fourteen thousand titles across all its international libraries as of april twenty twenty which is very wide and it's something that on our local service providers cannot offer at all


at a cheap price and this can only be done through the use of internet the use of the cloud that Netflix actually has, so uh besides that , it's available on our smartphones so users actually spend an average of two hours or we an average of two hours a day for


to watch the videos through the service and a study has actually found that fifty eight per cent of Netflix subscribers choose the service because of its cost-effectiveness so I feel , looking in terms of price and the cost


currently in the market now just taking a look at singapore's context our local service providers they can't offer a monthly fee of ten dollars and provide such an, plethora number of videos to consumers ya


okay so uh


what you have mentioned that TV will still remain relevant and like what you've previously mentioned newspapers are also relevant and important even in this digital age and they will not be replaced but rather be complements to the internet I actually agree with this


point so just to, wrap it up what you have mentioned so I believe you have actually mentioned that although newspapers are facing a tough time uh the internet and that the internet can offer a lot of things that traditional papers cannot


traditional papers are continuously evolving and changing to adapt to the rising rising disruptions in technological in technology such as uh providing digital news


as such so I full I fully understand and agree with all the points that you have mentioned


so I , that's a very good point that you have mentioned that not everyone has access to internet and countries which are less privileged to have internet they will be at a disadvantage so to sum it up


I think in it even though in the age of the internet TV and newspapers, are similarly not becoming are not as popular as compared to the past but they are still essentially popular and uh traditional newspapers are


the simplest way and easiest way for people to get information at a very cheap price so I would believe, that TV and newspapers are still relevant in the age of the, internet


ya that's a very good point that you have mentioned


debate topic two


for this topic I would like to point out that, uh, people have the right to remain anonymous when portrayed in the media, uh because being unable to remain anonymous on the internet can actually cause a lot of problems


and sometimes people uh or rather I would say myself I don't want anyone to know who I really am when commenting on maybe someone's articles or post online


and this is uh although the fact that it doesn't involve in anything illegal or questionable questionable, at I think it's because there's a level of social safety that comes with anonymity and it's can be really important for introverts like myself in online communities


so I'll just give a example so I found that in south korea all residents in south korea actually have something called the resident registration number which is in short the RRN


so this is actually unique to each person and is used as an identifier uh when registering for online accounts such as gaming account or like , uh a membership online on online you shopping so I I I feel that this makes a lot of sense because it helps to ensure that each person can only create a single account per service


and this can also help to prevent like cyberbullying which is a huge debate in the age of social media


okay that's a very good point that you are make you you mentioned that uh although a risk or the


a RRN registration number is still trackable, but uh I would like you to I would like to bring on to the next point which is I feel that online anonymity is plays an important role in the freedom of expression in the freedom of speech


and one of the most amazing things about the internet in the age of the internet is that we can actually give voices to those who are actively being silenced, so this allows them to speak without the fear of a repercussion although I'd have to say that you have to speak responsibility responsibly as well


so uh for example some might say the world would be a better place if you are all held accountable for the online reviews we submit for products and services, but the opposition is also true that without fear of repercussion we can be hundred percent truthful if we have something negative to say


so I'll just like to say that online anonymity actually plays is very important in giving people the freedom of speech


okay I, I agree with what I you have mentioned that if we do if we do not , if we do remain anonymous


conducive uh environments that foster racism and cyberbullying can occur, but I would think that uh taking another look, at a major a major category for people who can actually benefit


from anonymity are people who actually wants more information on a given topic but don't want to be caught seeking out that information and this is especially for people who are in the LGBT community and we know that it's a very controversial topic


in the days you can see that just taking a look at the singapore's upcoming general election many people online have actually , they it seems like they only want to vote for people who are advocating about LGBT LB LGBT reps et cetera


so for most people who actually fall into this group without realising it it's inevitable for them to want to, seek uh information on a given topic but do not want to be caught looking out for that information uh due to the stigma which is still present in our in our society


so uh, for someone who's struggling with their sexuality and hasn't gone public with that struggle at this point in time if they can hold remain anonymous it can actually help them to uh find a lot of unvoiced questions and concerns and actually address them out


so these people can actually ask all of their questions in an online a community such as reddit, without revealing their identity, and risking any exposure or any bullying that they can they can uh


uh to to prevent any bullying that they could actually uh potentially, happen against them or another sensitive area, is that with regards to medical questions so it's not uncommon to hear stories of young girls who got pregnant or contracted an STD !aiya! I mean not STD I mean contracted a STI


and want to seek out medical advice without their parents finding out, or maybe someone who's having weird bowel movements may also want answers while remaining anonymous so this list actually goes on, so and especially for people who struggle with mental health issues people who are cheating in relationships or people who need divorce advice


uh those caught up in legal issues uh we have all been in these situations where we have actually taken our questions and concerns to the online society and we would uh want to remain anonymous for that


so I'll just like to ask how would you feel if every single question of yours , was tied up to your real life identity so what if the questions you wanted to ask uh people actually know that you are asking that particular question I believe you wouldn't feel good about it too


so I fully agree with the point that you mentioned by having an identity tag uh


to an account actually helps the person to made be responsible for whatever he or she may want to do online, but uh , I feel that if we know reddit is becoming increasingly popular or I would say is very popular


online for online communities and it's because people don't even have to provide an email address to create an account, so this allows people to make throwaway accounts and ask or provide information without risking their identity so although I agree that I agree that by having a identity tied to an account actually helps to


helps the person to uh behave, better but uh, but by taking a look at why where there is so popular reading online communities and the fact that it is so popular is because people don't have to have an email address to create an account and they can actually ask information pertaining to everything I feel that


there are still demand, and err this is what I'm, uh most of the people actually won't want to be able to do to actually voice out their their thoughts their opinions without being judged so I feel online


uh the having the ability to remain anonymous online, err, it gives people a lot of freedom of speech and they do not have to be fear of being judged so which is one thing that err by having an identity code people won't be able to do


err so you mention that err having an identity actually helps to makes people trackable especially when it comes to illegal activities which are err which are dangerous if err people unable to track who


he or she is so I fully agree with that so I'm just taking a look at it it seems that I'm having the ability to remain anonymous is a double-edge sword


so err one at one hand like what I've mentioned it helps to protect your identification it helps to allow you to speak freely when it comes to you have the freedom of speech to say whatever you want


to give up an outlet it gives people an outlet for their opinions even controversial ones so they do not have to be fear of being judged especially when it comes to , when especially when it comes to sensitive issues


but uh at the same time I'm like what you have mentioned err, if we were to remain anonymous a lot of things can actually happens such as online abuse , uh cyber bullying fostering uh environment for racism and cyber bullying which is a growing danger especially in singapore where people have actually err taken uh suicide as a


a an option or maybe one thing that they attack actually done just to escape cyber bullying which is very important which is which is err quite unfortunate so I'll just like to say at this point in time that


uh is a double-edged sword and what I fully understand and what the points that you have mentioned so ya


so so uh


social media should not have the right to store and use our personal information especially in this era where a lot of people can actually hack and access our personal information or , having or having risked our personal information being sold to black markets so this is becoming very important because


uh taking a look a look at the US market, about seven in ten american adults which is seventy percent now report that they use some kind of social media platform uh such as Snapchat Facebook Instagram


which is uh which is expected to continue to rise in the age of the digital era, so this growth has actually come across all demographic groups and even people who are age sixty five and older


and we have found that over the years people that use social media for important social interactions, we have found that uh people actually use social media for important social interactions like stay in touch with friends and family and reconnecting with their old acquaintances


teenagers are especially likely to report their social media are an important platform to their friendship and at times their romantic relationships, so beyond that we can also see that social media played a role in the way people participate in civil and political activities how they launch and sustain protest they get and help they get and share health information


they gather scientific information engage in family matters perform job-related activities and even getting news, so social media now is indeed a way for a common way for people to get


uh news or get directly to an website just by using their app, and with the enormous number of people engage in social media social media companies must be responsible when it comes to maintaining their social their personal information to ensure that this personal information does not get into the wrong hands for the more wrong purpose


and that is why I feel that social media should not have the right to store and use our personal information


so you actually mentioned how the use of personal information can be uh used to provide better user experience especially with the use of


advertisement it helps you to better personalise your, search history giving you options to choose , things that are more relevant to you, but a survey has actually found that


ninety one percent or just taking a look at the US market ninety ninety one percent of the americans agree or strongly agree that people have lost control over how personal information is collected and used by all kinds of entities


and some eighty percent of social media users said that they were concerned about advertisers and businesses accessing the data they share on social media platforms and sixty four percent said the, government should do more to regulate advertisers especially with the recent


I wouldn't say recent but the last few years the US government has actually tried to intervene into how Facebook or how Twitter have, been using or collecting datas and have actually came out with certain rules and regulations just to regulate such social media platforms so and this is because people struggle to understand the nature and the


scope of the data collected about them as like what you have said although uh, social media platforms uh social media companies should be able to collect our personal information because uh we have accepted we have consented to read prior to opening that account but the thing is


if people do want to engage or use these social media platforms, they can only agree to have their personal information collected so if they were to decline they wouldn't be able to create the social media account which is at a disadvantage for them


and, also about nine percent of the americans believe that and just nine percent of them believe that they have a lot of control over the information that is collected, and majority


majority of the population say that it's very important for them to be in control of who can get information about them and this cannot be done if social media companies were to collect information about them and


and having risk have and risk having their personal information being collected through some hacking, that the black market has actually done for the past few years so this is very difficult to control


okay so you meant I fully agree with, that but what I feel is just the main use of our person information for capital advantage or for profit making purpose actually betrays the trust that we consumers or


account holders have actually given to social media companies so , uh this is due to the fact that like what I've mentioned earlier this informations although they may be so ethically


but there's no way to affirm that this information will not end up in black market which can hurt us in one way or another, and like what you have pointed out this uh data is essential to use to uh is essential when it comes to conducting market analysis to know what we want et cetera


but I'll just like to ask sometimes don't you feel that it's a bit creepy like whatever we have mentioned, or you have been talking to your friends example you say that you want to drink a cup of coffee from Starbucks and then you open Instagram and that particular Starbucks advertisement appears on your


uh story or on your post so these incidents have actually occurred to me, and it is getting quite creepy it feels as if like I am being spied on all the time and


uh this makes me be fearful of what of what the internet can actually do or what social media companies can actually do , uh just by me downloading the app and using the application it makes me fear what to what extent they can actually use my information for so it's getting a bit creepy yes


so it seems like I agree with what you say like through online or offline it seems like our personal information has been has the risk of leaking it out, but uh I'll I'll just like to uh take a look at just pertaining to social media companies alone it says that when these social media companies collect so much data in so many ways


it seems like these companies themselves lose track of all the ways that they're tracking us and it raises question of why we should even trust them with this personal information at all, so


but I can see that the people uh now a lot of people has been increasingly being aware of how important our personal information is especially


like what you have said the use of our NRIC like how the singapore government has actually prevented has actually stopped, companies of all entities from obtaining our NRIC and even if they if even if companies do want to obtain


it is it's only limited to the last four digits so I feel that this is a very good initiative when it comes to protecting personal information, so to wrap it up our I feel that


social media should not have the right to store and use our personal information, based on the basis that I've argued previously, but on the other hand sometimes social media companies the data that this social companies


have obtained are important and essential when it comes to customising and personal personalising user experience and this is what users or consumers like us want to have now which is convenience and this can only be done through the use of data on information


but uh uh, maybe more rules and regulations like what the US have been doing limiting the information that social media companies can collect maybe is a good step to take so maybe


uh use of personal information if they do it use it uh responsibly I believe , people would be, would be more open to letting them use their personal information


ya


okay can I just start speaking, okay so thank you for bringing up, some, great points but, from the opposition side one thing okay so art we know it comes uh in different forms there's like visual there's like culinary performing literate


they are main different types of four, but, one thing is for sure you need to understand the art and for that you need a certain level of education, so the problem is that people, people who understand these arts are the ones that are usually better off they are the ones that are people who already have a certain understanding


of how the society works so like you know, me and you we uh we have uh we have gone through education we have gone through like eighteen years of education we know how it works we know how it can impact we are able to take back the social message but, not everyone is actually going to take back that


that message so it's not exactly , it's not exactly I would say that, I don't really see it more of a agent of change it's more like something which is like a companion of change so you can express your feelings you can express your opinions you can have a certain inclination towards what society should be


but can it actually effect changes, I don't think so you need to actually be in a certain level of, you need to have the literate education to actually understand what kind, kind of , social changes to actually bring in and another issue is that


art also can bring about the certain level of propaganda so we tend to believe that certain forms of art is correct because of, the various levels of propaganda that has been there since like the nineteen sixties so like from the earlier times there was like


those movies based on like dictatorship or like you know we had all those very historical movies in the earlier days and , those movies had actually a very very strong message it wasn't even subtle it was a super strong message talking about how there should only be one form of leadership there should only be one person that everyone should support


and that kind of, actually was used to further negative propaganda and even now, let's just look at you know memes memes is something which actually we we tend to believe that a certain stance is correct because of how these memes are being spread


but maybe these are not the actual accurate representations of how society could be , so, in my opinion it cannot actually bring about positive social changes it can bring about the idea of changes it can bring about a certain inclination


but to, actually make an effect in the society it doesn't have the full capacity to do it, yup


okay uh I mean ya I'm not going to deny yes whatever your points you brought up it was true that yeah it may be true the movies and stuff but , once again movies is just one small component of our, art has many different forms like uh like I was saying whether it's cooking everything they're different different forms of art movies is just one side


and, but okay I know it has impacted in okay for example through like Padman you were saying like oh people people were more educated and, stuff, but at the same time there were also a lot of movies which showed the negative things in society like for example domestic abuse


there were movies which made domestic abuse a norm from even from the two thousands all the way till now whether it's in bollywood whether it's in hollywood people began to believe that is a norm you know male superiority was a thing it started becoming a thing it's like there was a whole


male ego ideology even though now there are a lot of movies about feminism , the broader ideology that spurred is that there is always a male superiority because of all these movies thrilled there were so many superhero movies all mostly males number of female superhero movies that actually did well


none all the recent ones as even say like uh black widow even like charlie's angels it was honestly a critically acclaimed movie yes but did it do well in the box office not really why because it was all females people had that norm people had that understanding that males are still the better ones


and , they just prefer them as a certain they prefer females as one they prefer males as one so I I don't think art in terms of movies I do think that it's still not, the full capacity to actually impact social change cause people may watch a movie they'll bring back oh


that was a good movie oh okay I really like how it is blah blah blah but, would they actually put it back into their lives would they actually apply it to their daily lives a very small portion of people do that and only for them, art could actually bring about social change


but for the major majority who just watch art for its entertainment purposes and not for like its, , applicability purposes, I wouldn't say it would bring about social change


yeah


okay, okay yeah like what you said it does take time but would it bring about the changes to their I mean okay , okay for example you are saying like the painting and stuff let's talk about like let's talk about some, thing more digital let's talk about something more now let's talk about memes the thing is what happens when one person makes a meme about let's say team a team b and they said team a and it the meme is about team a insulting team b naturally all of us what we end up doing was we don't want to support the team that is getting insulted


even if the team is right this can be applicable whether it's sports politics anything but we end up supporting the team that is not getting insulted we'll support the team that is insulting the other, other team naturally and that is a very, high level of propaganda which we


it's like a subliminal propaganda we don't really understand it fully but we just tend to believe it because you know that is the norm , and it actually turns to bring about a lot of negative influences on us because we start to think a certain way of living a certain way of like those are correct one even let's talk about you know kardashians we just believe that their way of living is the way of living that's how we should all be living our lives we should be living luxury we don't think about the other side


and made their form of art is possibly like video entertainment we believe that they are video entertainers indeed we believe that they are


is for me if that is like a high level propaganda which I feel like we are all forced to like believe in we are all forced to jump to conclusions and all this but, they may not be the most accurate reflection of how society should actually be, so ya


okay like what you said there is okay there is like two different types of groups right so there is one group will actually fully consume and understand the whole idea of art and there's one group who sees art as you know a way of living there's one group who sees art as


the like as their source of entertainment there's one group of people who are just taking out messages from the art, and , I mean the proportion of people who are actually taking back the messages is very low I they I think you can just look at okay let's look at the social media following of


of highly ranked uh social like social entrepreneurs versus like people who are like you know the kardashians like I'm sorry I'm just bringing them as an example because they are like a high to me they are high example of how society should not be , but ya like I think you can just see even though you were saying that oh I ya there are some people who won't follow let's look at the majority which is the society


most of them are following even maybe they just want to know how does the like curiosities is just scaling they just want to know what they what what the society what , the kardashian's lives are all about but the number of people who want to know how a social entrepreneur's life is about


very little I think that's like that's just how a lot of videos movies a lot of paintings everything has reflected to us like royalty it has given us its influence of, how we want to be how being royal being treated like a queen let's just look at old paintings even new paintings everything always the paintings about royalty intrigues people a bit more museums which regard royalty higher always intrigues people a bit more so it's


natural that we just tend to think that that is the way to live but may that may not actually be the way to live right so to me it has, it has definitely to an extent to small extent it can bring about social changes but I think it definitely needs a lot of time currently today it can give you a lot of thought it can make you understand it can give you a lot of discussions to think about but as a whole it may not be able to bring about changes in society


, okay uh you want to start you can start now


okay well I have, very very pretty much exact points but okay maybe I'll just talk about some of the opposition things which I can think of like right now just like think about some like I think in this digital age a lot of us we tend to


like we look at it more of an oh !wow! this is like an aesthetic place to take a picture and like okay I am one of them, okay even though I did study history and everything I am someone who likes to go to the museum for its aesthetics more than its like the thoughts about it and I think it's uh more like generalised I think it's a very natural


thing that not all of us are you know history nerd not all of us are super invested into this culture and, heritage and all these things a lot of us and it's a it's a very it's a very social media driven thing all of us just want to go there and take you know picture a lot of us go there for the sake of it like okay you were talking about field trips right in singapore I think a lot of us


what happens is the school kind of brings us on these few trips but, maybe we actually we maybe we didn't even want to do it like personally I remember I was going to like tus I think it was like some it was some museum and okay it was a very nice experience but I only went because the school will say okay guys let's go field trip no lesson and then we all just went and I think maybe it


is a form of education for the it's a form it's a way of education for the invert it for the schools and secondary schools junior colleges because it's easier to like you know teach them through like practical instead of theory , so for me I felt like a lot of the things currently we are we are compelled to follow it because of the digital age or because of


our school telling us to go so we are going for it so it has, it is slowly losing its relevance because other things have also come in place of it there are more distractions there are more ways for us to learn about like the culture and heritage like for example for me I'd rather watch a youtube video about the past of


the past life of certain people rather than you know physically go to like a museum cause I like to watch videos I feel like I'm much more engaged with it and I think , this may not resonate with a lot of people but it does definitely resonate with a lot of millennials because they prefer to just watch on instagram TV which is like two minutes long


compare to taking a bus all the way to the museum looking at the museum spending like two hours they rather just spend two minutes on the social media to actually look and watch a picture and maybe just you know pretend that they are there and use those AR film and take a picture that they were actually there I mean I even have like


her at the back if you can see but like yeah we all prefer to just you know live in the digital age no none of us , prefer even like for example even this COVID time we can't even go to all these places so we just end up watching a lot of netflix documentary a lot of videos cause they are helping us learn about their culture and heritage way more than the actual heritage sites


(mmhmm)


okay, uh yeah thank you yeah for your points uh yeah I mean I'm not going to disagree with that yeah it does definitely bring about social relevance but one topic I would think that, like in society which is very important is like the economic relevance of it so okay a lot of these cultural heritage sites like even in singapore I mean they're probably like free or like you need to pay like a very minimal fee of like less than ten dollars to enter and


for the government that me that's not actually allowing them to you know profit economically , because there is obviously a push for like modernization which has placed a lot of emphasis on you know the economic development of over like the actual intangible value of cultural preservation okay let's talk about singapore


we don't even have land we are literally living on like, we are literally living on this really tiny island we don't have land, to build a lot of things and the government is just, more focus uh very high technologically advanced country like singapore the government would probably be more focused on you know getting out like railway is getting out like different different train lines like if you look left right like if you go in a bus you travel from one end to the other you will see so many different


upcoming uh train lines being built I think there's like a Thomson east coast line coming up then there is like, the extension of downtown line is just only halfway open they're going to extend everything so there's different different railway lines coming up in singapore and that's where government of singapore has invested and they've invested a lot in their transport and their industrial but


for a cultural and history yes they use it as a form of tourism but they're also looking tapping onto other , avenues of tourism these days like you know gardens by the bay I'm pretty sure I mean it has , I wouldn't really say it has culture and heritage it's literally just a garden which is aesthetically you know it's very tourist friendly they made it very accessible they made it near a lot of different hotels they made it near MBS


but as an attraction they wouldn't say that it's near you know this museum people will just say oh on the way there is this museum we can go and go we can go there like you know even in like the if you go on that big red bus thing you know the double decker I think I I forgot what it's called like hippo hippo bus or something yeah


so if you go on that like it passes by all these different attractions , personally I've seen very few people in a country like singapore getting down at those stops which are like you know the heritage museum most people are just going to like you know gardens by the bay !wow! singapore flyer !wow! Mustafa !wow! these are the kind of places people are going to but they're not really you know


flocking to like the museum if it's there they go to it it's like if it's on their way okay let's let you know let's stop by let's look at it let's understand singapore's history but the willingness to go, over the years it has drastically dropped and many students they like to go because it helps them for their you know education it helps them to understand


how things are but the proportion of people who actually you know inflicted, back onto their daily lives and think about these people on a daily basis think about the past of singapore on a daily basis it's a very small number, let us be real like singapore is very it's too technologically advance to have these kinds of cultural sites still hold relevant


yup, great yeah


okay let let I'll just give like a yeah I'll just give like a concluding , point like I think like what you said yeah definitely like in certain different countries it may actually apply more like you know and you're saying that countries like germany and everything it uh it definitely is gonna apply more in terms of like


how relevant they are like you know italy a see like even I've been to italy and all that I know like how they treasure , these cultural history they treasure their history and culture a lot and they still have a very traditional way of living like you know all their architecture everything it is very traditional but they use it as a form of tourism rather than actually preserving like


from what I read they are preserving their heritage as a form of uh avenue for tourism not because it's actually still holding some form of relevance, slightly more a lot of them are just using it as a way because now it looks cool to have all these very nice museums from the past very nice architecture from the past all these things


are like it's like a form it's like a cool factor for them so it's a it's a tourist trap definitely like they charge like , hundred a hundred dollars to just go in and like you know see all these things that everyone is just spends like five minutes there and you know you just literally empty your wallet for that it's basically


a tourist trap for them now they just use it to capture a lot of revenues so in, my opinion I think that they are slowly losing, their relevance there are some kind there are some countries who are still trying to uphold it but the overall


uh purpose of upholding it ends up to become something else like it's no more like upholding it for like the relevance of it it's more like upholding it for, ensuring that their countries' economies stay solid because you know over these years there's so many there's so many different things going on whether it was like a recession back in two zero zero eight


also preserve our economy simultaneously


I think for me that's why I feel like they are


debate topic three


okay, yeah great points , , for me like I just think that, I feel like art it can, change like your opinions and everything but in terms of like actually bringing about


progress I feel like there are other factors which could affect like your societies' uh progress so like, for example like art right it's , art doesn't really affect a lot of people it influence, feels like you know your internal structures which kind of helps you understand oh what is important what is not important it tells you how to look at different pictures it gives you like it answers a lot of different questions


but, and then you find something which interests you visually and things build up around the image but it's all about creating a certain level of discussion, and it can change something eventually but I would say that it's not an actual like indicator of a progress


in the country because okay in singapore for example when they had like that whole which one which profession is like the most like non essential one and people everyone voted like artist but , I would say like there was like firstly that was like a very it was a very controversial thing cause a lot of artists started you know speaking up and they was think like oh how come like you know how come people are voting us down what's going on and everything and


I feel like that, that whole survey was like a very clear example of, how progress is actually not reflected, through arts I feel like it was it was a it was a very clear understanding of where singapore stands and like how it's working around it


and, also people try to people have the tendency of confusing art, with education , so you know education it can actually change your world it can actually open your reality but art it will enlighten your world and maybe in a case it can be like an eye opening experience but will it actually indicate the progress of the world would it actually show that oh society is going up society is going down no


in terms of education levels yes because art is just it's just something which creates discussion like what we talked about earlier it's not something which can effect, a lot of positive social change in a very short term it's a very long term process it takes a lot of time to actually happen


and a lot of it helps you it builds up to how you can understand certain issues but, will it actually have the power to change the world and change the society, I don't think so


okay , my points are pretty much like I it will be a lot of repetition because what I understood was that art is mainly like a medium it's a medium like what you said it's a medium to social change that we're talking about earlier


but I feel like it, there are other things which can show like the progress of society not just like art I feel like art is a very it's a very it's it's how they want the society to progress like art is used, to show like this is how we want our society to be like for example you're talking about like how in india they legalize gay marriages and because of that like we had a lot of movies and stuff and that's just how like these movie filmmakers they just want people to believe that that's how


that society should progress in, but I wouldn't say that it's actually showing society its progress because the number of, negativity that came around that, around these films were also a lot like in the mainstream social media a lot of people like the millennials were like super hyped about these kind of things a lot of millennials support it but let's look at a lot of movie goers uh they're not just millennials meaning it also includes a lot of middle aged people like our parents our grandparents


confirm they are not still open to it they are not used to it so it's for them it's still an iffy topic, like this whole like I'm just I'm sorry I'm just talking about this gay marriage then because it was a point you brought up and I have it's a very good point so it's like okay but yeah like I think like a lot of our parents grandparents they're not fully open about it but what happens is these media they try to make it seem like oh this is


society is going in the right direction we have received so much support blah blah blah because of of course which filmmaker is going to be like oh my god I got so much hate no one is going to publicly say that they've gotten a lot of complaints about it unless other media reports about it so I think that's one thing like it gives you this idea of where the society like


wants to go, but it I wouldn't say it literally reflects the progress it reflects where the society is, aiming or wants the progress to be like how the society wants the progress to be like can be reflected through these art all these different art forms but


as an, actual indicator of progress, I don't think so


okay yeah I think a lot of the points you said were very like it was very relevant I'm not going to like disagree with any of that but for me personally I felt like, like what you were saying even like for example BLM I mean it is like


worldwide thing everyone is supporting each other everyone is signing petitions left right helping them but , once again like when we look at all these mainstream sitcoms and stuff the fact that it took so many years


for them to actually come up with like all these like okay like in for example we're using the Simpsons right it took them so many years, it took them deaths of like three hundred four hundred or even more and I think it's not just uh tourists like thousands of people it took them that many deaths to realise that you know there was a racial disparity going on and it took them so long to understand that there was


uh racism going on and even I think even in singapore as a minority race I can say that like I hope this is not sensitive but I have experienced racism on so many levels and I feel like the current, arts that they show


like personally I felt like it's something which is it is it is showing that, oh it is going in the right direction and stuff but is it fully reflective of all the experiences that the different races face I don't think so I think that it's always been it's always been a lit uh a battle of voices between us I think it's been


I think we've all I feel like as a minority in singapore definitely I've faced my uh backlash a lot, and even when I went to other countries I've definitely faced a backlash before being someone who is brown colour being someone who's of brown race we have we have been treated differently and I think even like Rebrach you can agree with me that cause you know same race we've definitely been treated differently and


only now after these many years of protests people are slowly understanding the kind of issues that we've all been facing since we were born, and it's only now dawned upon on it I feel like it's just the progress, it can be reflected but once again I feel like it won't actually change people's mindsets I I think like it's showing that's going in a certain direction but a lot of people's mindsets are still stuck backward a lot of mindsets are still not fully understanding cause firstly the art


forms are not available to every single person not everyone who consumes the art forms will actually believe in the art forms that's another thing which I felt like is concern for all three arguments that we've talked about earlier , not everyone who consumes these different art forms are taking in that message the right message everyone takes in different different messages majority may take in the message that they see on


people's social media stories and like oh okay that's how it should be then they'll maybe alter their mindset but who knows what was their first thought when they were watching all these sitcoms who knows what was their first thought when they were watching all these different art forms, whether it's a painting whether it's a no one everyone we're all individual personalities of independent thinking we're all consume our art differently we all


think about it differently personally even me you Rebrach you only think about a same sitcom people look at it into two different angles very natural human thing so I felt like, we , can the the society can move in a certain direction through arts like okay with it it's like steering to the right direction


but in terms of the actual developments which can potentially happen it can show art can reflect that oh okay maybe this can happen to society then this is your hypothesis this is the in this hypothetical situation this is what will happen but


it cannot actually tell you that oh society is going in this direction it's letting you to believe the society is going in this direction but it's not actually telling you that it is going in the right direction


arts can bring about positive social changes today


, yes so basically what I feel is that arts like you know in like the art of, films you actually it actually allows us like humor satire drama it allows us it acts as like a platform to speak about controversial topics and to allow for


this cause that otherwise doesn't exist you know so it it basically opens up discussions for taboo subjects, so so this is my first one basically an examples will be I'll I'll just talk about bollywood because I think that's something I'm more familiar with we have like a movie called Padman where you know you're talking about sanitary napkins we have a movie called toilet which talk about installing toilets in villages


we have movies on domestic violent and erectile dysfunction and things like that so this use using this art of films will actually it has the power to influence people and through this you are able to open up and talk about discussions which ultimately lead to positive social changes because


as uh you know there have been factoids published after the release of such controversial movies that actually there has been positive influence with like the increase in purchase of sanitary napkins or the in increase in building of toilet so you actually see that this does bring about positive influence


then my other point would also be that it allows to catalyse social action , there's actually this very famous artist call #roger guenveur smith# he did like a one man, play and that actually led to street protest against police violence so oh he was just exhibiting his uh feelings through the play but that actually catalyse social action in the street protest against police violence did ultimately result in a decrease of police violence so


things like that the artwork is able to work as a catalyst for social action then we also have, other examples uh other points actually so there was a pakistani teenager call #saba qaiser# she was shot by her father and her uncle and thrown in a river and it was a punishment for eloping with the man she had loved


and so she survived and she became a protagonist of a documentary called honor killings and after seeing the film the, prime minister of pakistan promised to take a tougher stance on honor killings so this example basically shows that art through documentaries is able to bring dramatic social change with the power of storytelling


because many pakistani lawmakers had never come face to face with a survivor of honor killings before , so hearing someone talk about their story through the documentary actually, you know the good art actually allowed to educate create empathy and this ultimately leads to change and so I believe that you know art can bring about positive social changes because of these three points


okay so uh my understanding of yours is the two points that you mentioned which is and you need the literary education and about propaganda so the for the first point that you talked about how we need to have literary education to understand sho social changes , I believe that my examples previously which we're talking about those bollywood films people from villages who are


not as educated who are rather uneducated who have not been exposed to literary education they are able to watch movies that are meant for mainstream media so the movies I'm talking about are not art house movies they are actually blockbuster movies


through the medium of movies there was change that was seen in those traditionally backward societies there was change seen towards their openness in talking about menstrual hygiene and their openness in talking about


toilets for example you know so if through so we are not talking about art house media to push for social change we're talking about mainstream media and how it's able to take , you know the the avatar of mainstream media and influence people through that you know so those movies they have humor they have things that can connect to the common man and I feel like art has the ability to connect to the common man through that and


if social changes were seen I guess it kind of shows that, it does affect positive societal change then on the second point of propaganda , I believe that that's why the debate topic mentions about bringing positive social changes today because more so today we are able to see people who have independent opinions who are coming out you know with uh


with with media which is not traditional media for example I'll take , singapore for example we are seeing a lot of new sources that are not, traditional news sources you know just a group of friends spreading news on instagram things like that


and that's growing up so because of social media I feel like people are able to, talk about things that they traditionally weren't like traditionally if media and arts were controlled by the state today you have a freedom


to speak about things that you were not able to do before so there is an increase may not be a hundred percent but there is an increase towards the ability that arts may bring about, positive social changes today


so I guess on the point of like the sexism point that you brought up it is as as you mentioned yourself it is changing and yes there were more male dominated movies in the past and now there are more female dominated movies people may still have the perception of a male dominated


unlike patriarchal society right but might, mindsets takes time to change so we cannot just look at a few years and I guess as expects societal behaviors to change, because I mean we there are examples of suicidal behaviours not changing despite hundreds and hundreds of years of protests


so one movie I personally believe that using one movie and expecting people's behaviors to change you know which totally discounts the fact that their behaviors also influenced by their family the society they live in, you know cultural ideas you I don't think like you can use a movie and expect uh


mindsets to change in a few years so that is what I would believe that it is definitely changing and arts can bring about positive social changes today and even more so tomorrow even though it may have not done so in the past


so I mean I guess I can give you, more examples uh I I actually read about like a Brooklyn painter and activist Juan Sanchez and he was actually you know struggling with expectations of his work


to always be political and you know to be in the boundaries of what society currently is today but then he went beyond the boundaries and you know he managed to make positive social changes for tomorrow because , uh through through his paintings and that's why he's so renowned so I feel like uh you know it takes time to actually see those changes


so I think that you know it is definitely ultimately up to the individual of what kind of media they seek for themselves as as we all know art house media is always like a step ahead compared to mainstream media and if if I am someone who believes that the kind


of media I am consuming is full of propaganda and elitism that I am not , that I'm I'm I feel like overwhelmed with and I'm not satisfied with the current media I'm consuming I feel that, I don't knowing that there are other media uh houses that provide better quality of media and that talk about the positive social changes that I would want to see in my life or consuming


I would definitely seek that kind of media so so I'm talking about myself but bringing it to a larger scale I had there there will definitely be groups of people who wouldn't consume keeping up with the kardashians knowing that that is not the kind of society they want to see


and I I think so it also depends on the person consuming the media and how the current media they consume or will translate into the societal changes that they who end up bringing based on their activities


and since uh as in I agree what you've said but eventually I feel like in the long term especially today today's the the day and age where more and more people are speaking up uh so I feel like eventually in the long term


that you know the arts will be able to bring about even more social changes given that today is is the time for all these art house media productions to start bringing about arts that bring about positive social changes


okay so let's talk about why cultural and heritage sites have not lost their relevance so the first is definitely obvious economic benefit from tourism you know countries like greece they have such cultural and historic stories and tourism is often you know they're


their life jacket in terms of the economy and their biggest earnings their GDP is often tourism and that's how that economy is able to sustain itself despite you know the contract because at one point in time it was actually causing like the euro to fall so cultural heritage sites can actually


be relevant and helping to propel the economy uh you know and it's something that's not available in every country that's, for sure but and and that actually allows each country to have something unique which will make them a tourist attraction so second thing would be that even if they are thing of the past they can still be of relevance as they can create awareness about cultural values that the sites bring


and these sites will actually allow us to understand more events that have happened in the past and learn from the positive and negative impacts that these sites have brought so an example would be like, uh there's this place in punjab called Jallianwala-Bagh where there was an there's there was like a british official who ordered troops of like the british army to fire rifles into a a crowd of you know unarmed indian civilian


and I actually I've been there so for someone who's actually gone there and you know who has who has actually seen that site of such massacre it it really feel it makes us feel something so I feel like definitely this is, why they have not lost that relevance because they're able to


bring about , help us understand more about events and learn from them and back home even in singapore like the Kranji memorial landmark you know it honors uh all these men and women from all these different countries who died in the line of duty during world war two


and going to these places like even school to bring us there all the time like I've gone to like fort canning park trips of my school it really reminds us about the devastation that war can bring and what we can do to you know avoid conflict and it helps us educate it helps to educate


yup


okay so I feel like these videos definitely do educate us and I agree with that point, but I feel like it may be on a superficial level and maybe we can watch like ten videos that come in our recommended feed but there'll be one that we'll genuinely be interested in and when we go to the side of that one video that we were interested in it it or you know


touches us on a deeper level that the video never could because we will never physically present in that site, so let us uh one point and the second point on how we're like you know videos may be able to educate us more than these places so I do agree that in the past these cultural heritage sites were just there on their own and it was to ask to make sense of it and we couldn't make sense of it but nowadays these uh cultural heritage sites actually have improved


where they have you know audio guides where they have people who are there to guide you where they have all these like little notes of messages explaining what each monument means , an example would be uh I guess the Alcatraz prison in #san francisco# I'm just bringing up examples that I've actually been to


so there there's there's like a full audio guides so it's not just like a empty prison and you don't know what to make sense of it, the audio guide even includes like voices from inmates, so they actually bring us through that experience while physically being there and I feel like being in that prison and going and touching these things helps you feel a deeper sense of connection than just a video could ever


and uh uh let's just talk about something that maybe both of us can relate more to you know like how these cultural and heritage sites allows you to bring a sense of belonging of an individual in society for example you know uh there's uh in in singapore we have the #sri mariamman# temple right


uh and it was built by like the immigrants from south india and it is this island's oldest hindu temple, you know and it's located at like the heart of Chinatown and it's like a true singapore landmark and everything and actually you know walking past it it it gives like


a hindu person a sense of pride , knowing that the temple is still there after a hundred years it gives you a sense of belonging to that country you know despite being a minority in that country you you your sense of identity is gained by the presidents of that heritage site and it it will be able to you will


use it you can even use it explain others your identity and even understand your , roots better and you know, this landmark will may also inspire like other people to want to understand about the presence of Hinduism in the country so I don't think that cultural heritage sites have lost their relevance due to the social significance that it can bring


I think that it depends from country to country what you say about singapore may be true to singapore but uh there are lots of countries in the world and uh you know some, countries their culture and history tend to be more exciting towards some tourists as compared to other countries and especially singapore where our history is like more just more than fifty years old we may not have the


depth of history that may excite people as compared to , like germany for example people do flock to world war two you know concentration camps and museums there because of that history is of a more depth as compared to singapore so maybe your argument applies for singapore


but for lots of other countries in the world these cultural and heritage sites are, still very relevant you still have people flocking there and every country offers something unique actually so maybe uh for germany it's about like the history of the world war


for uh greece you know it's about their culture their ancient civilisation , you know every country has something unique too often people go to these different countries to learn and absorb the culture and heritage in fact in like african countries , there have there has been this increase in tourism about staying with tribes because people want to learn uh and live in the culture in the tribal culture that they otherwise cannot live in back home and the increase in


tribe uh like living with tribes tourism in africa shows the increase in their relevance actually for today's society , so I I feel like it depends from country to country definitely and uh I don't think that they have lost their relevance and in fact their relevance will only continue to increase as people look to


uh look look to learn from these cultural heritage sites


debate topic three, so I believe that media is a reflection of society it's


ubiquitous it's everywhere and it actually then acts as like the medium to depict a country's uh society's progress you know taking singapore for example when singapore government approves of something in the media you know that that means the country embodies that value


and I'll I'll just take the censorship law for example you know where which basically depicts how how how willing the society is to show something on its media and it depends, how progressive it is as compared to how liberal or conservative it could be and you know a progressive society is determined through like it's freedom of speech and it's how how not controlled it is things like that so uh I'm I'm not sure if this is sensitive but like you know like


the section three seven seven we have like the law against homosexuality you know in singapore it is still illegal to depict homosexuality or like two gay man in love, in film today and then you you see that translated as to how in singapore you know we we haven't accepted the LGBTQ community legally and you know I'll compare it to another country for example like again I'm bringing up india


so india did revoke this law you know so it's not illegal anymore, in in india and you can see this translated into movies again not just art house movies but mainstream blockbuster movies it has been an art house movie since many many years but in mainstream blockbuster movies we see gay marriage we see lesbian marriage


you know there's movies like <tamil>एक लड़की को देखा तो ऐसा लगा:ek ladki ko dekha toh aisa laga</tamil> or <tamil>शुभ मंगल ज़्यादा सावधान:shubh mangal zyada saavdhan</tamil> so you see how the art becomes like a mean of expression of social progress on how much uh our country is embodying that progressive values


okay so regarding the uproar that you mention so the thing is it was not just by artists right who were who disagreed with that's a survey by straits times, it was actually by a lot of common people like you and me you know we uh we sees we saw on instagram stories about our friend circle like


common normal everyday people not not just people in the artist profession who are upset by the fact that artists was given , number one you know so so this was actually something that that that basically means that people didn't agree with it and uh you know so so that that shows that it's it's not just by artists you see normal people do not agree with the fact that artists were number one so that that


actually you know shows the fact that, you know that the society has progressed to a level that we are not accepting artists not being artists being number one on the least important profession , yup so also uh for the censorship law uh you know maybe maybe I can talk more about that because that was the point that I felt very strongly about and how


you know it it does depict the progress of society because it kind of controls the media it controls the art, in society it controlled how control it it's it it just shows how conservative a society can be as compared to you know the liberalism and and the freedom of speech that people talk about and it it shows that the society is not as progressive as other


countries who have laxer censorship and media laws , you know why is it that we always complain about singapore's uh media freedom of speech being like hundred and fifty eight or something in the world because it it's one of the lowest and that just shows that singapore has not progressed to to the point where people can express opinions because art is basically a medium to


express yourself you know express yourself in non conventional ways and if artists are not being provided the creativity to express themselves in non conventional ways that shows that, the progress of that society has not progress to that extent


I agree with with your point about how it it shows where the society wants to go at, and as as with the examples that you mentioned and I think that it just takes time for society to progress to that level so you know again again it's like something that has been mentioned before mindsets take times to change you know and


and, it it takes time for you know let's say a law has been changed and you know uh movies have changed but it takes time for people to change and because it takes time, for people to change maybe the indication cannot be seen right away but the fact that we can see a slow progress not not a mirror reflection but you know it's like leaning towards a common goal I guess that show that arts


as the medium is able to reflect you know the progress of society there are a lot of things that were previously seen as controversial in it okay for example I I just thought of this for example we we look at american sitcoms


so so that those uh my favorite sitcoms is actually friends , and I I've I think I've watched friends like a lot of times on repeat to the point like I I know everything so in friends we saw a lot of discriminative uh dialogues that at that point in time were considered normal but today in today's woke america


where we see that there are some things that you cannot say because they're politically offensive , that sitcom if played today will offend a lot a lot of people you know their comments on , lesbianism you know between like carol and susan or or how they didn't have like any black uh like the main characters were all white you know they they had a lot of things that that may have been potentially offensive or when rachel was doing accents like she did an indian accent once


you know and how like okay since we're talking about accents like you know Apu from the Simpsons I think yesterday uh there was there was like the the the stuff the people from simpsons actually said that uh white actors will no longer voice non white characters so you see that


what art used to be in the past like twenty years ago today there there's change what was acceptable in the past is not acceptable today and there are changes that these uh these companies who produce these shows are making on their own not even by government like


no I'm I'm I'm sure the american government did not tell Simpsons to you know change who voices their characters or who voices Apu but they did change it so that shows the progress of society to a more multicultural more accepting of diverse opinions more acknowledging of the fact that


america is a diverse society , with uh people from many many different ethnicities and it is important not to be offensive and not to cater to just one majority ethnic community and to see this progress in american sitcoms it because it's something that I guess both of us have watched and can relate to