leisure has already changed like for example last time people used to read a book, uh was a good way lah a good way to unwind and relax for readers but nowadays uh due to technology uh we have uh all human beings we have a better better platform to to enjoy ourselves


for example there is movie drama films uh, instead of reading a book lah, then uh usually everybody is like holding a ipad, uh or iphone


uh to, uh to search for whatever information that while rather to have a original book like , like images like example you want to find something very important in the book we can simply click on our phone and we can find it immediately like just three seconds we can we are able the all the data will be available to us in a very short period of time


uh I think book is still is not efficient at all in the modern society


, but in a in a ipad or smartphone devices okay for example a individual usually if we have at least about two to three devices like example we have a ipad we have a I uh smartphone we ll have a laptop so whatever data that


we need to we usually store in a icloud uh that we have a lot of storage uh usually we will store all the information whatever books for example kindle uh we can actually download all the digital book from uh from the amazon


and uh we don't need we don't need to have a physical book at all and, and uh we won't lost the data because uh we store it in a in a storage place like icloud we store it there so no matter at for example your laptop is being crash we can we can simply use another devices to


to log in and check out we kept we just have to categorize, whatever we need uh in the icloud and once we google or uh once we we typed in we are able to find all the information there and having these uh digital book or is


more in it's a more interesting, uh you can actually extract all the information out and from there you can actually add in more , uh information by uh for example you google a certain words you can actually find a different meaning in the in the computer and you will make your own uh for example you want to uh learn something


you can actually make your learning experience more interesting like you can put in pictures or for example youtube, all these to uh make it a a interesting online uh learning for yourself rather than you have a physical book and this


this physical book will actually eventually it will turn into a a the the the book will get spoil lah got mold and all this, and you you got a lot of headaches but like uh for example in singapore we have to find a lot of storage place just


because uh we have a lot of books for example uh for myself I have a lot a lot a lot of books end up I have to uh buy a built in, I have to ask somebody to use a uh to to to install a built in cabinet just for my books


so after that uh after five years later I find that uh the book like become very very old I have to actually donate to salvation army, so I feel that physical book is


not important to me


(hmm) I still find that uh that is no purpose in keeping any books because


I I usually buys buy a lot of both for myself and then usually what I did is I open up all the books and then I I highlighted all the important points that I need to to highlight , and then after that uh when you go back again ah you actually forgot what you actually want so the new method


that I have find find out for my own readings leisure is that I actually uh do it digital I extract all the important points that I want, and then I highlighted it and I make it more interesting rather than I have this book and maybe I misplaced the book and I find that it's very convenience to carry my books around


because I'm a I'm a person that I want to research on on certain uh a certain area or certain point, uh I feel is very very uh not efficient, to carry a book around to keep a book around I feel that digital uh


storage ah is very very good for me for example I need a word I can, do many things uh on the word and if let's say for example now I need to do a zoom presentation I can simply extract it out from the


uh the the notes the digital err research that I've done, and I just show it on the whiteboard rather than I have a book I cannot do anything with the book and end up have to scan the book and then do it online because everything is about uh technology right now


but but normally I don't bring a book to swim eh for example I don't bring a a book to swim K what I do is uh okay uh


for example I still feel that is very important for digital because when you really understand how to use , these uh, uh e-book we are able to extract many many uh words ah for example a a certain words we can actually use it for different meaning and how we use it and how are we going to uh it's very very meaningful rather than having a physical book and you cannot


you cannot tear it you you highlight it and you cannot do anything to it and you create more papers, was and for example there's a the the the phrase the the, paragraph that you actually need and you cannot extract out you only can highlight and when you want to write on it you you have to take a a four sized paper and then you just write on it and then you stapler on it and then you actually waste a lot of time and paper and then when you really want to go through it


and you have to go back flip everything and go through everything and you sometimes don't even remember what you writing but in a digital in in a digital manner you're able to research, you are able to just key in for example you key in a certain topic and everything just come out


and then uh is very efficient anywhere in the world when uh when I travel I can still search that kind of information that I need to use, err to maybe uh do a presentation for my uh for my uh meeting for my uh maybe having a a group discussion uh with people that I want to discuss on a certain topic uh for example uh


doing a project doing a project uh management uh we can actually communicate through online using all these digital technology rather than having a book, usually uh in in the past if let's say you are going to buy a management book it's going to be like so thick but now we can have like five hundred six hundred pages just


well storage place a very very small storage place, is very very efficient I feel that we just need to have one laptop one phone that's it, so I feel that uh in the uh future generation we really don't need to have all these books already and I think books are going to be obsolete in the in the future


but you also cannot find your book what sometime


part one debate topic one


okay zai what do you have for me man


okay, , I understand your point of view I can see that you are referencing with a lot of celebrities and businesses and brands that you know even though


they take their , their mistakes and that led to a bit of bad reputation they're are able to turn it around and still continue to survive and emerge out of it that's that's what I get from you so referencing back to


abercrombie and fitch right uh and you were talking about like how the, the founder of it or like the the the person who runs it the day I mean he is, he promotes the brand in a way where it only caters to the one who are of a certain body shape of a body type and you referred as referred that to as the elite type of people right but the thing is


when you talk about apparel and stuff right like other brands like uh zara or like , I don't know uh victoria's secret you know things that that only cater to the people who are of a certain body type or body shape and disregarding


the mass uh the other the other you know the other I know ninety percent of population or something like wouldn't that caused a lot of self-esteem issues that will arise and eventually become deep rooted issues in every individual thinking they're not good enough for society nor good enough for themselves you know things like that and


I mean I get it from your point of view as like a business point of view this is what the brand is supposed to be and stuff but when it comes to like the human touch I feel like these kinda form approach is is almost ridiculing for being born a certain way


right so in terms of, from that I kind of uh disagree because I feel like everyone should have some sort of equality, to, you know when it comes to being accepted and err just, overall be happy about who they are and how they are uh and what they are born with you know stuff like that and then going back to the kim kardashian one yeah it's everybody knows kim kardashian because of her leaked tape that she is where she is now right but


if you look at it deeper right I feel like, she might have done that, just to , get err publicity's time, for the time being to get maybe a bit of recognition but in the long run it actually kind of tarnishes a reputation in a way where everything that she everything that she has built now everything that she has now


people are always going to go back to the fact that uh kim is just where she is now because of the leaked tape that she had with ray j that's it so forever in people's minds you will be ingrained that kim, is only where she is now because of something that happened that sort of degraded her name and reputation same like what with uh porn star


mia khalifa like I've been looking at a tweet and and you know that she expresses the the regret that she has when she was doing pornography back then and now she's like uh you know she's like this vlogger and like uh a internet person personality


and she is even like a talk show host for like sports and stuff like that and you know that's great you mia khalifa is finally doing something uh that is uh, that that, makes her more reputable in a sense where yeah she's doing all these really cool stuff


now but at the same time right because of what you did in the past, it always catches onto her and people will forever relate her success to something, that she did wrong, you know and then also like another good example would be chris brown you know like years back chris brown who was accused of


err, being abusive towards rihanna, and you know now that is always jokes onto the roasting him about like oh chris brown is already you know it it it sort of like all these kind of things like, happens in the past creeps up and people have it ingrained in their minds of the mistakes that you did more so than a successes you've made so I feel like bad publicity


is, can be done to a certain extent if it, isn't as extreme, as putting somebody else down, so I do not really agree with , uh


bad publicity is still good publicity you know that kind of phrase I don't think that is, except , I I don't think this is relevant, in in in this topic that we're talking about because no matter what you do in life people are always gonna remember you for your mistakes more than your


progress in your successes so to me bad publicity is something that can, be uh achieved properly if you you way around it, , apart from that you really have to watch what you say watch would you do because nowadays people are talking about the cancelled culture and it's actually pretty toxic and you know instead of making people's uh accept to the change going on round it kind of puts


the the other person down if you know what I mean ya so ya that's what I have to say about the uh the bad publicity,


right okay so you're thinking from a branding and like a career type of progression right but for me I'm I'm looking more of like a how how it affects the human psyche and the emotional and mental, health of each individual like yes you know they achieved many things now because of the bad reputation that they got


or maybe good reputation in this in this case, but it's still haunts them to know that they are where they at now, because of something that they're embarrassed in the past you know and the past sometimes can be easily forgotten it can be easily wipe off from memory but it will still creep up on you and it will forever be there to you know it's it's it's like a


it's like a demon inside you to keep telling you that you'll never good enough you know the only here because this and this is, really bad that uh really bad tactic you know stuff like that so I'm I'm looking at this in a more emotional and mental uh, type of uh, point of view perspective and yeah so I guess I guess that's that's the difference between


the way you are looking at it which is a brand uh like you know creating like your reputation and skyrocketing your your career based on you know some sort of bad publicity right and yeah and I'm just uh I just feel like


the more, famous you get the more reputable you are, the more people are going to talk about right and as much as you want to ignore this kind of things it will forever be there and, you always feel like you are curious to find out what is it that people actually think about me now after all these successes I've done to sort of like replace my mistake in the past but


it will never be good enough because you will feel like what no matter how much you do it will never, ever, cover up the mistake that you so embarrassed


right


okay okay if we were to put all the emotional again and all these things aside right I would agree with you actually on the fact that it maintains the brand image


and that it will forever be you know when you think about abercrombie and fitch you will never think about someone who's a obese or overweight wearing the shirt right and so in in a way it's almost like promoting a healthy lifestyle for you to get in shape so that you can fit in disclose right


and you also mentioned something about only the elite type of people, to that that that would actually buying uh buying clothes and wear them and you know be proud of like of the fact that you know yeah I'm good enough for abercrombie and fitch right but


that's only like elite right I can I can safely say the elite of the entire population of this planet is about what ten percent maybe maybe a bit more than that don't know about the rest but the rest of the population you know would they would take forever be would they forever feel like


that brand is something that they want to chase for and even if let's say they do achieve their , desired body type would they actually still go to abercrombie and fitch knowing that now they can wear pretty much anything they want


now they can pretty much wear and everything and anything they want why would they go back to abercrombie and fitch that kept reminding them that they are never good enough yeah so I think as a brand, abercrombie and fitch only sort of caters to the the more I wouldn't say shallow minds but more of like the the ones that don't really uh care about these kind of things that's going on


and, then yeah just uh yeah but as a as a as a company, who promotes, a stereotyped version of how a person should be how would they feel safe that if let's say somebody really did work their way up and achieve the certain body type and then when they think about oh I can finally fit and abercrombie and fitch t shirt for


example right, what would they, what would, the question is like, what makes them think they would still go back to abercrombie and fitch considering, they had to go to hell they have to go through you know weeks and months or maybe years of like like uh getting in shape and maybe you know for like the obese once maybe they had to go through some sort of like a surgery to like you know for liposuction and stuff like that and after all of this and then they realised


that they're still not happy with themselves, would they go back to would they still go to abercrombie and fitch getting reminded of the hell that that certain brand image put them uh let them go through, you know yeah anyway it's uh three minutes left


clean statements okay you would okay so uh, summarising your point of view right I I I agree that you know uh bad publicity is sometimes effective, for uh brands and uh businesses to gain some sort of traction some sort reputation and I feel like that in a business point of view is


is always good, you know uh because you know then you gain some sort of like recognition to the brand uh but at the same time the recognition to the brand, is uh can be quite negative you know like unless someone really


uh how do you put it like unless someone really don't really care, about the other the person next to them and then they just like ignore the fact that you know they are who they are and they can fit into clothes like abercrombie and fitch


because they feel entitled because like yeah I was born this way I feel amazing by myself I look fucking sorry I look I look great and and, the uh shit I lost my train of thought oh I said I'm sorry uh


wait where was I okay yeah like they will feel some sort of entitlement to them thinking you know because you were born with it and then they feel some sort superior to the the person next to them, right so yeah uh I still feel uh strong about strongly about my point of view like uh how bad publicity to a brand can lead to


degradings uh another person self-esteem or the way they feel about themselves at the way it attacked their mental and emotional health


uh part two debate topic two, zai are you ready for this because I think I wanna write down some stuff


okay what uh are you okay you want me to go first or you go first


do you want me to go first or you go first


okay I have a question for you cause like you you have uh you have this view where you know the you are referring a lot to things that are close to documentary and news right and these are the only things that


of a uh people of a certain age would actually give uh care about yeah but what about the kids like the kids that watch the kids' channel, how do you think that they are educative


but what about the cartoons and the the list of programmes on let's say


uh cartoon network or like nickelodeon or like uh, even even for like the the disney babies one I forgot what's it called like they have all these animations and cartoons going on but which part of it is actually tapping on education to teach kids about things that they're supposed to know that schools don't teach them about


okay alright okay because when it comes to television and anything that is media related right


for me coming from uh marketing background I know that the ways around to influence the minds into sort of submitting uh, their ideas into a certain belief of whatever is shown to them and thinking that this is normal because


people are following it I should follow it that kind of mentality so for one thing is like when you talk about news right talking about the COVID-nineteen you know that there you can be educated, on uh things that are going around the world right but


the thing about news and news has always been in this one way which is they are always biased, and they have ways of diverting people's attentions to something else, to cover up something else that's happening like a good example will be everything else that you see on the news right now or like maybe maybe a few months back COVID nineteen floods yada yada whatever is happening there are still areas in the world where they are still affected where people are


there are innocent in terms of america invading their country or like some sort of like, uh err unhappiness or uh war between going on, I I'm just gonna say syria has been asking for help and the news is not even covering it the majority of the news is not covering it only to social media and like channels that are not even uh discovered or like uh


celebrated about they are covering the news but there are things around the world there are still happening and people are turning a blind eye to that because the news, dictates what they want to show you and what they want you to believe so in this in in that sense


people who watch the news often should always watch it with an open mind knowing that you know even though, some things are late in front of them there are still things happening around the world that requires attention that's one thing and the other thing about media right uh as I said I was from I'm from like a marketing background the thing about media is that ever since people could learn how to print


it's always about propaganda , could you talk about COVID nineteen right when you when you see movies before COVID nineteen hit they hollywood or like american uh american media portrays america is like yeah you know we were super tough and we can figure things out uh we can


find a way and then throughout the span of like a two hour long movie at the end of it they're like found a cure which want to cure to this and then they decided you know then the it's happy ending blah blah blah but when you look at america now, they are their whole countries in the ruins


because they are lost you know so everything in the media now unfortunately is dictated by one country because they want most of the uh, err disagreements in history so they are able to be the the leader of the free world and uh raise


the their agenda uh in terms of propaganda and uh yeah so, when even when you talk about TV right let's say you, let's not let's not talk about HBO where you can like you know focus two three hours in one movie let's talk about TV with


commercial sports, right so every time, commercials comes on, every commercial is based on one thing, materialism, consumerism they want you to buy the product they want you to buy their brand they wanted to keep looking at the brand and then to have their brand recognition installed in your head like a chip set


right and uh not just about I mean sure yeah like let's say, uh you know there's some sort of new product and then they want to help the world and then they they promote the product through uh educational commercials and stuff but ultimately it is still a form of


entertainment because when you put ads out people tend to watch it people tend to not watch it and they are just there to watch whatever show they are currently on, you know they just turn a blind eye to the good ones and stuff like that and people don't usually care about commercial they feel like ah it's just another commercial like I keep seeing this ad over and over again like even on youtube is you keep seeing the same advertisement over and over again that every time let let say


every time you go on youtube is always like talking about wigs are like monday dot com you know this kind of things because it's relevant to your life but, yeah you might not need it but when you think about website you think about wix when you think about like organizing your work schedule you think about the monday dot com


you know because of of this kind of repeated propaganda instilled in your minds so it's not even about education or entertainment anymore I think it's more of like a brainwashing thing that's going on for propaganda and loosely based on materialism


and consumerism uh, yeah and uh and also when he talked about like uh national geographic or like you know BBC travel channel and stuff yeah it's educational people can you know they can watch and


know about something that they don't know about before so you know they don't really have to be present in terms of , go into uh the actual place to see for themselves and and have the experience for themselves that's educational I get that but there are also since the TV they are also commercials in between you know let say


let's say travel channel right travel channel or like uh let's say a cooking show you you may be able to sell it as like a educational show like okay I'll show you how to cook this this is the recipe but they are in between where they show you uh yes I use this brand of


uh pots and pans I use this brand of sauces I use this brand of knives so ultimately it's just entertainment by their education it's so like okay if if this if this if there's a certain bar to act to express you know the


the uh, the the entered the show right I would say seventy percent is product placement and materialism and propaganda the other thirty percent is the actual education


news yeah


right


I get it I get it yes that's the it's very insightful I think that's the word that we can agree on their news is always very insightful but there are times uh if let's say twenty twenty is just like every other year nothing happen in twenty twenty they will be covering things that are unnecessary


area like uh let say, the cheating scandal or like you know prince harry decides to go for a haircut in like a normal barbershop that kind of thing that recovering but knowing that there are still things going around the world that requires attention and the news sometimes choose to cover things that are


uh almost superficial instead of covering actual news and we talk about different station the stuff like that there are twenty four seven, news channels that can cover all kinds of news all kinds of breaking news that might be happening part they choose to do TV sports instead for like some guys


uh uh gundam collection hobby or something and that show is like one hour long when you know all you need is like half an hour to just show what's going on around the world that there are people that needs help there are people at you know uh but I think ultimately


people are just uh people go to media people turn turn away there are two things that are too real for them to take in because they choose to ignore it because you know they might not be able to handle the fact that you know the place that we live in is such a cruel place and there are things that are happening that's really really horrible and


then they turn the television so when they turned to television they expect some sort of entertainment only to to not think about things out there bothering door because everybody's life is complicated complex everyone has a everyone struggles through life and they don't need to know


uh bad news again when they turn on the television so I feel like uh in terms of news in terms of you know the channels that they that if uh that they tune into, TV is ultimately to me uh just for entertainment purposes


to like people forget about the actual things that matter in this world and instead they're injected with materialism and consumerism, yeah


that's right that's right that's reputable


right right right right, yeah so I think uh in terms of uh this debate that we have about television television's main purpose I think we cannot side on one thing because I think uh the main purpose the television is to not only entertain but also


uh give information right ultimately when you show someone something it's usually information can be in any kind of form so I think both of us can agree that, there are, channels that you tuned into to entertain but they're also channels that we can


uh, learn things learn about things more, uh britney uh hello


part three debate topic three okay so I'm gonna I'm gonna write down some stuff first, more than an escape from, reality so


uh, this is a tough one for me to go against because I love movies


, okay uh I'll try my, so to you you have have to you this is more of like yes it's just entertainment is an escape from reality but for me it's like no like


there are things that like you know like it's all facts bro true story bro, okay okay I think I got it yeah yeah I know so I have to go against you


do you watch movies often bro do you watch movies often do you watch a lot of movies okay go


sorry what was that like shows like what, oh hacksaw ridge okay okay okay okay I get I know that one


dude I think I think that's I think sorry bro I think that's more of my point because I'm relating it to like you know to reality and the question is about escape from reality


oh, okay I got a question wrong damn it okay go ahead go ahead


the big what, oh the big short okay the, it's uh, brad pitt right brad pitt was in it right


oh no christian bale christian bale,


uh okay so you talk about rocky balboa right uh that's a, that's a great example by the way okay the thing about rocky balboa , that the rocky series and all this uh when it talks when you talking about perseverance and overcoming your obstacles you know stuff like that it's really inspirational and you can take some of the things that you see and related to your life


right uh but for some reason if you noticed like all these movies have one thing in common they have a happy ending there's a harsh beginning uh a lot of action in the middle and then happy ending but, when it comes to real life


right you can you can almost say that every day of your life is a bad movie and you just kind of like winging it you know and you you turn to movies like this to feel better about yourself hoping like it gives you hope that like okay maybe what he says is right


if I like the rocky balboa quote talking about like uh, if you get hit you get back up you know that the whole network yeah I I relate to that because I feel like my life, has never been uh going my way per se I have had to always fight for my uh things I have uh the things I want to get out of all I've always had to fight that whatever I have now I had to fight for it


and as as nice at as it sounds to have you know someone interpret this kind of emotion into uh giving me a lot of hope in overcoming my obstacles I feel like in life, no matter how hard you try to do something there will always be some sort of like


obstacle in its slaps you in the face and that I feel contribute to contribute to the fact that things will never go your way and that , you have to turn to movies to feel like uh there is some sort of a comfort and assurance that oh if these guys on screen talk so much sense about overcoming obstacles maybe I can do it too you know and then after you watch the movie you go home


you sort of remember but you won't instill into your everyday life and and you just go back to the same habits like let's say uh like I say if a movie it would be talking about quitting smoking, right you want to quit smoking and they go through this entire two hour long movie saying like how this guy did so many things to you know quit smoking and at the end of it he finally quit smoking and then you gonna be like that's cool bro and then after the movie you gonna go outside you gonna go with your friends eh bro come lets smoke


it it's uh I feel like it, just gives you hope and uh sort of like you know what the question says an escape from reality because you don't have to in that two hours you just entertain you just sitting there and you're watching the movie


and you just sort of like uh believing that there is hope but when when the credits roll and the lights come on when you go out of the the cinema or you closed the movie, you go back to the same habits you know and we talked about uh war movies right you said x or age you know stuff like that if you notice something about uh hollywood movies right it's always always


about how the war is been seen from the americas point of view, the the american's point of view and it's like rarely about the japanese or like a german you know stuff like that maybe even if they have a movie about that kind of uh point of view they will not be showing to like the mass population because of propaganda they want they always want


americans to to seem like the biggest guy the the guy with the biggest gun the guy with the most number of like soldiers the the one that you shouldn't , mess with yeah thanks man you shouldn't mess with, yeah and like you know that's that's kind of like how


uh, they they make the world believe like oh america man like I'll say can you see you know the, but yeah like like like ultimately you just an escape from reality because as, as much as the american military or like uh or the military that the hollywood uh that the hollywood really glorifies they disregard


the sacrifice the actual sacrifice that these men go through back in world war two or world war one and that the lives that are lost, you know they they disregarded that they focus on the action and just solely like maybe five main characters how they made it out to the end of the movie and it's a happy ending right and also if you want uh


what uh, uh adding onto that point sorry uh movies like especially drama movies you know the rom coms like romance movies , I feel like what what these movies do is that they give they give people some sort an


idea of what love is supposed to be like how a boyfriend or girlfriend husband and wife yada yada should should act right, and, you know in in real life everyone's different everyone perceives loves in love in a different way but because of how movies betrayed love


you know it it tends to give people some sort of expectation to like, uh ah man like, I wish my girlfriend was like that I wish my boyfriend was like this you know, and, yeah it it when you're watching the movie it's a really nice fantasy land you know thinking about like oh that's really sweet stuff but you work you can never related to your own life


you know sure like maybe somethings are similar you know things are going through like for me when I went through a breakup my number one movie were forgetting sarah marshall uh the one with jason seagull uh yeah and that movie really resonated with me but only as a a few things, you know a few things like let's say how to move on you know how to move on from somebody you just focus on yourself and at the end of the movie he actually focused on his own goals his own project and then he made it something but along the way it's just purely entertainment purely comedy value and


then yeah and if uh and also talking about, yeah and like I didn't want to like movies like that in rom coms like especially seth rogen movies like yeah it it might be you know a movie of comedy value and uh they're some stuff that you can pick up but ultimately like it's just for people to like


sit down and be entertained and feel like uh life is not that bad you know everything works out in the end, but that's not how reality is I feel like reality always has a way of slapping you in the face


yeah


yeah yeah, ah okay so five hundred days of summary , yes I think that movie can really resonate with a lot of people who are in love and that they fall out of love you know I agree with that but there is


this point uh towards the end of the movie where he decides to pick things up where he left off he quit his job, so he can be an architect and he did something nice and he went for the interview you know things are looking up and he met some other girl whose name is like uh autumn or something like that right


do you think that would actually happen in real life or do you think you would just have like gone to the same job doing greeting cards and going to the same there meetings until like, until like I don't know one day you meet someone else again that actually uh loves you and you know be in a relationship with you and then you just feel comfortable and like you know all these other things that you promise that you gonna build for yourself that doesn't ever happen


you know that's the and I feel like movies have a way of yes you know educating you in making you feel less alone because they are stories that they tell that you know that relates to what you're going through but, at the end of it they always make sure there's a happy ending and I feel like movies with happy ending came to mislead people into believing like you know


uh, uh there is a way out you know like even if there is a some sort of hope for people to believe it, like I said would after the lights come on and the credits roll when you go out you are back to square one again you know which is a momentary type of thing uh and as much as a movie you can and will resonate with you the the harsh truth is that


when you're back to your own reality you don't know how to handle it


right right


right right, right yeah, right


okay to wrap up my my point of view right yeah you're right you know like let's say both of are agree right it's a great example I think, when it comes to you know movies being an escape from reality like it really depends on how this person perceives the message when they watch it you know


uh yes you know some some people might take the advice that they see on the screen and then they'll be like !wow! I'm gonna do exactly this I'm going to follow this end at the end of succeeding and then they have their own happy ending but there are other type of people where they just watch the movie oh !wow! that's really inspiring and then they leave the cinema and go back to the daily life as usual so I think like it really did


depends on uh on the individual watching the movie, that you know to to answer this uh question


right, for me it depends on how they perceive the movie


part one debate topic one


yeah can hear you yeah, alright give me a moment let me, let me say my points ah now, yeah I'm a bit nervous but okay uh let's start uh


so there's no such thing as bad publicity uh I think that answer rings true reason being that almost all bad publicity can easily be turned around into any and into uh, positive kind of publicity, a basic example could be abercrombie and fitch


they said of it's always hit the headlines will for being, uh very elite it doesn't allow anyone to where their clothes only those who are, fit and healthy to a sense


and this is to adhere to the market that they were catering into which is the elite, type of people and those who are basically take care of your well being like models and stuff which kind of shows that the have a strong uh brand to their own name another one could be tesla's founder which is elon musk


he had he has a bad reputation and tweaks that which affected in his company's worth, however, uh if you can see the stock market right now, his stock for a tesla is reaching over two thousand dollars which kind of benefits the company in the long run


okay sure other examples include individuals like celebrities for example kim kardahsian uh kim kardashian as we all know that she has a leak tape


which led uh to a lot of very very big controversies however this is one of the starving slipping foundation, for her to own a multi million dollar empire for beauty products and stuff


because before this, not a lot of people would know the kardashians but due to, uh this particular incident her name became very very big and she's always at the centre of something controversial which is always the thing for but it works in her case


also another example for individuals would be felix shelba which is always at the centre of uh being a sexist racist or anti anti semitic, however if you look at his channel right now he has over one million subscribers which is I think if I'm not wrong it's the biggest amount of subscribers to a name on youtube and he's earning millions of dollars just because of this


so this is why bad publicity doesn't always mean it's bad


yeah


uh I agree to some of your points about like kim K and mia kalifa what as you as all can see that their


the their personalities, he skyrocketed because of these incidents because of these bad publicity that they happened to be in , for its own basically earn a lot of money from what she did back then and now she's basically being


are being able to support herself with the life that she once right now by getting the job that she wants, uh at a sports, network I think yeah, and it was only because of her previous endeavors in


the, uh porn industry but if not because of that she probably wouldn't reached this far and she would only be known as a normal person,


yes yeah


but from the business point of view like, abercrombie and fitch go back to that, (hmm) so basically as we know that the , cater to the elite people so this, let's not talk about morals and emotional psyche and stuff like that so in in terms of business they always hit the market with


those he they wanted to cater to, it always goes there, it doesn't side tracks into a different uh target audience for such because of their, restrictions that they apply to their stuff which is bad


on, the publicity side because it always shuns the the those who are obese those who, are maybe I'll have health complications , or basically anyone with a genetic deficiency or something but


their clothes were always sell because of the name itself and the brand that it has built on onto what what do you say


I think we just go for closing statements only so I think it you go first


I agree with your statement about , how this bad publicity affects their mental psyche in the long run and you you will always harm back harm them back in the future due to this , shitty pass but


, in terms of businesses as I've said earlier it will always always improve no matter how bad or how, uh good the publicity is you can there's always like a turnaround, that can easily fix everything which is not always the case for everything but uh there are instances where the possible can be made through


so I believed that, bad publicity is not something that is really that bad


part two debate topic two, uh no I wanna think about it first


uh I go first as usual ah, yeah just give me a bit ah, okay so the argument is that the main purpose of television is to educate rather than simply entertain


uh I think there's like a bad stereotype on television, that it's always to entertain and there's no way to educate anyone about anything on in the world, which I think doesn't seems fair, first there are channels like for example discovery channel and BBC which always shows like a different side of the world that sometimes we may not be able to experience for example discovery channel we can learn more about


uh animals uh like you know planet we can see mostly about what's africa which is something that we won't be able to see even if you step into a zoo in singapore, , it's a different kind of, information it's something that you cannot control but it stills sells you a lot of information that


may, help you in your life, in the future or in your studies and et cetera, also that television, helps in the is the main vehicle of transmission for important news such as when COVID nineteen happen uh it was the first way to


basically tell everyone that such a disease is happening uh and where it originated how we can prevent it and, basically things that if you want to know more about it and how to prevent it it's that's the best way to know


and what your community is doing for example circuit breaker when uh prime minister said in uh in our national television to talk about, the measures taken from the government to help ease into uh the situation better


and how to prevent it from ever spreading into the community even more, uh, so yeah that's that's my, conclusion sure


yeah, be interested in


oh okay you want me to answer okay sure , things like discovery channels and animals are usually interest kids because they are not really, introduced to this kind of stuff especially in singapore we since we don't really see much


when we go outside of our our house, uh so things like , the different species of birds different species of sea animals, and how, like cows at , cows live and


where their main source of food come from so this set a kind of stuff at, uh they might learn when they watch television


I believe no I think you should take your statement


cheap


yeah


uh to go back to your statement you said that commercials are mainly to entertain I I disagree to that uh reason being because


for example like you said wix dot com, for, for designers and for for one such as yourself marketing person you know that wix is for website to build website on your own you don't really need help


you can just do it on your own there's a lot of functions here and there, but for a normal , average joe, I think it's kind of helpful for him to know at oh there is this site that can help me build uh a website for my own maybe if he has a business or something like a barber shop or something and then he can use this as a way to reach out to more audience so you kind of educate him about how to


properly promote his business and stuff, and also he said about biasness in the news industry I think, uh sorry I lost my train of thought I said awareness about the news industry, I think that


there are a lot of news that are worthy of sharing but however due to the limited capacity of station or what not, we they still tend to show like the important stuff that's still happening around the world for example the beirut explosion which devastated millions of


hundreds of people hundreds and thousands of people and that kind of shows to us that, we know what's going on in the world for example like the black lives matter movement that happen in the US uh these are the things that show us that not everything, is as safe as we think it is and it kinda


brings the question where we should think of, how can we improve from, is based on the news that we are should so I kind of thing that I believe that the news and media, uh trying to give people their opinion of


uh what's happening, but you can still think of it oh think of it, as your own peace if you get what I mean


to my stand , I still believe that the main purpose of television to educate


as you said news uh can be insightful which basically can teach any any average joe, things are happening around the world, for example like, can I go back, back to my statement about uh COVID-nineteen, , if the news were were not want to cover such an event


then the number of, uh the risks would definitely be higher than what it is right now, and the prevention that, , the government which worked through the media company on television


also a lot much than I thought so basically it's uh yeah so basically, I still believe that there is to educate cause even news we're not a lot of uh coverage are given they still tend


to show what is going on and how you can improve on it


part three debate topic three


you know you opposition right okay, yeah yeah okay uh


I'm sorry let me let me just try my thoughts was that


okay so basically do films offer anything more than escape from reality I say yes film can offer more much more than that, uh in fact films can actually help us explore reality, for example, we have films like hacsaw ridge which shows


hacks hacks ridge hacsaw ridge yeah it's the is the war movie yeah so basically it's it's a war movie, uh it shows the, how people are drafted into the military back in the early days where things are basically force


or it shows the patriotic, patriotic nature of it


yeah so my point is education, so for example like like I said hacksaw ridge it shows the patriotic nature of the americans, , and the basically it shows the horrors of war, and it's based on a true story of an american soldier with a strong belief


uh that means to go to war without ever bearing arms due to his feet, being christian and because of this he was able to save many many lives in a the battlefield both from his sight and also the site which is japanese spected


uh he was then on it as a hero, and these film, was actually it shows that humanity, is still something that we can believe on other shows like for example


things that like the big shot, the big shot is actually based off a non fiction book, about, the big shot yeah, the the movie about financial system, it's the one with


I think so yeah, christian bale ah yeah so so basically uh that movie even though it has like some fictional elements in it it still teaches people about, what is such as such for example the had like selena gomez margot robbie to explain certain terms that may seem complicated uh in the financial to in the financial industry but they put it layman terms which anyone can understand which basically


is more than uh it serve more than the purpose that it was intended to apart from that if you want to talk about, movies for kids for example wreck it ralph, uh it teaches about not judging people by


by the book like no judging a book by its cover basically and the importance of friendship and self acceptance as you can if you if you watch the movie you know that in the end he learned to accept who he was in that is him being a bad guy which is not really a bad thing


he just have to not focus on what other think of it because it's already the, best version of so yeah these are the kind of thing, that we should teach to the younglings of our generation so, moving forward in their life


moving forward in their life they can actually bring this uh knowledge into, their upbringing basically other show like for sports will be like the rocky balboa series


it's about the underdog, basically about rocky balboa and how he perseverance and determination can help him overcome all the odds to become the world, championship world heavyweight championship of all time, and, and you can follow if in the series uh up until creed it's it always remains constant


to being persevering in your beliefs and eventually you will and thrive it


yeah


uh I understand your points about how things are


like for example war movies they always have like a white saviour coming in always doing the right thing even though these things are basically drama dramatize for films uh to make it interesting it still shows


the bravery of this , men during this time of war and how they can persevere and do what they do best to save who they can even though it's hard to show, , that you can save everyone there's always like uh


something that you cannot do which related back to reality in some point, for example when , in hackhaw ridge he he can't save everyone he can only save those who are close to him, base on proximity


are also things like for example if you want to talk about uh rom coms, not all of them uh you can always take, like a moral to the story, to to almost all of the rom coms that you see in the cinemas for example like five hundred days of summer


, there are five days of summer it shows that, basically the difference in what you think is going to happen, and what is actually happening so these are the kind of things that you you know and you hope for it to happen but you understand that it brings some meaning towards uh relationship it's not just about you it's about both parties and it kind of gives a sense for those who are


going through this process of, uh making love and understand that oh okay it's more than just this is more than just that, it's a together thing that we have to do together


okay, I'm talking about like good credit saying good endings that basically doesn't do much for you, I would like to point like movies for example like


uh the wolf of wall street, the ending it shows the character jordan belfort, trying to sell a pet, to a white audience so it teaches to you that even though you have like a, bad, beginning how corrupted you are and if if you changed to a new leaf and you try to use them


your, your if you can give valuable life advice to, more more people, and you can teach people to, be more, of practical in their life and inspire them to do better in whatever they do, and succeed in whatever they are doing instead of not doing anything at all


yes,


okay I'll should should should just go back to my statement basically film teaches us to be more open minded and give us valuable life lessons that we can


corporate into our lives improve upon it such as the case of like noble for wall street vegan inspire people in, do better in their lives so it is a bit more than just uh escape from reality


part one debate topic one


I'll start, uh for me ah it's anything that carries or conveys a message so I feel, I agree that not all art is of equal value because value is subjected to different interpretations such as monetary valuations or historical valuations


and art is being valued differently due to, the individual history or credibility of the artist which has created that art piece, so for instance, I consider my doodling on my lecture notes art because it conveys a message that


, it conveys the message but, uh my doodling on my lecture notes, is nowhere near the valuation of, , of a mona lisa painting


so thisgoes to show that anything and everything can be consider art these days but, there are a variety of factors and reasons which could contribute to the valuation of an art piece


so, this shows that not all art is of equal value, uh I'm done with my first point


okay I agree with the opposition that, uh we should value art at its intrinsic value but I feel that , the, value of art also depends on its demand for it


so, without saying as the demand for that piece of art increases the value of the art would also increase so because with the demand there will also come attraction and


yeah it will also come attraction from people we should increase the value of the art, so for example, art pieces which are considered popular would be auctioned off, at


a higher price compared to a less popular piece of art, so , in my opinion I feel like it's, highly inaccurate to mention that all, art is of equal value


because different art pieces have, different demands for it, which would affect the, valuation of the art piece


I agree with the opposition's point about, uh some more popular artists abusing their reputation or their credibility to sell their art pieces at higher prices, however I feel that


there, I I feel that, some the valuation of art pieces, would are is still highly dependent on


the, different factors and not only, the demand for it per se so, for example their, individual, history or the story which the artist


has, has created behind the art piece or, , uh so like the story which the artist has created


for or with the art piece, and I feel like that, contributes to the valuation of, their art piece which


leads to it, to different art being of different values so, uh, the statement that all art is of equal value, is


not very, accurate as, there are combination of factors, which leads to the difference in the valuation of art


I agree with the opposition's point that, , it doesn't uh the message of the art piece doesn't determine its valuation because generally when artists create there usually is a message behind their art pieces however I feel that with


any other market, the art market is also, very fluid and, there are also a lot of other factors which determines its valuation so in this case its its market valuation as unfair as it seems that


uh, different messages which the art pieces convey, determines the valuation of it, there


different art pieces are generally priced at different price points in the market, due to a, variety of factors such as its authenticity, or, the credibility of the artist which had created the art piece


so, the authors, the creator's name, does not determine the exact value of the price however it does, give a certain indication or a specific range


as to, how much the art piece will be, valued at and, I also feel that the condition of the art piece is also, an important factor in, the evaluation of


the art piece


I agree with the opposition that, uh there are benefits to, valuing art at equal value, however , the I feel that the provenance and the status of an artwork


would also be able to greatly influenced and affect the valuation of the art piece as well so, , it plays a very, crucial role in, the valuation of the art piece because it creates or it determines or it heavily influences the demand for that art piece


and this is in terms of monetary valuation however, I do agree with the opposition that different, art pieces should not be valued differently more or less due to their difference in message


because , the valuation, because if it is due to the, if they are priced differently due to the the their message the message behind the art piece then it would be the valuation of the message instead of the valuation of the art piece


so I feel however I feel like the statement, stating that , I feel like the statement of not all art is of equal value is true because


value is very subjective so, people could look at it from a monetary point of view or, a historical point of view, so yeah I feel like


it is generalising, it is very is a very generalising statement to state that, all art is of equal value


part two, debate topic


an escape from reality as, fantasy books and films often through the story you uh viewers or readers usually take away something much more much more valuable than


it, valuable so, for example, there is the film winnie the pooh, oh, which is a fantasy film and also


a children's, book, so through winnie the pooh, viewers or readers are able to learn that, , the book conveys that we should develop empathy and patience


and, have faith in ourselves so to this example it shows that, through the stories and the themes explored by, fantasy books and films, or even through the subtle commentary or character development of


the different characters in the books or films the viewers or readers are able to, realise something which is usually intangible, and, these fantasy books and films are also


able to instil, important moral values or, important moral values in people of different ages and also following the story line the viewers or readers are


also captivated and they are able to feel a deeper connection with the characters in the film or the book, which would allow them to, connect more with the characters in the film or book


and this goes to show that films offer, so much more than just an escape from reality


uh I agree with the opposition point that, some films may only serve as a form of entertainment or, an escape from


reality however I feel that it does take some level of I agree that it does take some level of inferential skills or, ability to be able to, interpret the meaning of


the fantasy film or the book, however through some fantasy books and films through the storyline and the characters, some viewers may, find themselves in similar situations


and feel a connection, with, that particular character in the fantasy book or film, so it will offer them emotional some form of emotional, support or


comfort that that, they're not just suffering alone, and also for, different characters with different behaviours they have their own different storyline and character development so different vulnerabilities and different strengths


so, when we watch a movie or we read a fantasy book, there is, we go through uh, we go through the whole storyline with the character or


in the with the character in the film or the book, so it also helps us to develop the same emotions as the character in the film or the book, so when we look, into the perspective of that particular character we also enter


into, a new reality, instead of, escaping from our reality, so I feel that films


not only offer, offer more than just an escape of reality as, we are as the characters in the films or the books are able to take us onto, a journey throughout the whole story plot and the storyline and that character development


so in a sense we enter a new reality instead of, trying to escape, our own reality, ya


I agree with the opposition's point that that fantasy films and books usually are more lighthearted


touching on that point I feel like, uh fantasy books and films are also able to convey a more deeper and serious message and are more


as ironic as that sounds I feel like, uh fantasy books and films are, able to connect and reach to wider audiences as it may appeal to the wider masses compared to


documentaries, so through the avenue of fantasy books and films creators may be able to, to, reach a wider spectrum of audience and convey their message


they they will also be able to deliver a more serious message, in a light hearted, in a more light hearted manner, which is more easily digestible by the general public


about the, about documentaries, having


the documentaries may have a more serious, impact or allow viewers to take away, a more serious message as, documentaries are more, informative and fantasy films may just be


purely fictional, however I feel that, in this day and age there are also many fantasy films and books, which have, deeper and more serious issues or messages embedded in


the film or the books, so, this may not be able to, cause real change in the society or the world because, , it honestly is very difficult to however I feel like it does shed some light


on, the serious issues or the topics which have been brought up in these fantasy books, and films


I agree with the opposition's, view that , a fantasy film or a book having, a more lighthearted method of conveying the message may not be taken the way that is intended to be taken and


as but I feel that I feel that, fantasy films and books also, are able to hold a lot of symbolic meaning, and apart


from it being an escape from reality as what, and a point which the opposition mentioned, the intention of the readers or the viewers having the intention of relaxing


when they pick up that book or watch that fantasy film, I feel that , the fantasy film may also be able to convey a compassionate message which the viewer or the reader may not want to dwell on even after finishing the book or the film


but, I feel that there would still be a certain impression, being made on, the reader or the viewer, and I feel that, besides offering


just offering an escape from reality, books and films, are also able to convey, much deeper messages or, highlight , topics of the world such as racism or social inequality or discrimination


and , for some fantasy films or books, uh, being able to reach the wider masses and, a larger


range of audiences may be able to, would allow them to be able to, to, convey their message to, a variety of people and, a much larger number of people, so


as much as films may offer an escape from reality I feel that films are also able to convey on social issues, yeah


part three debate topic three


the arts in our society should focus more on local, talent, rather than foreign talent, because , we should support local talent more than foreign, talent as, doing by doing so we would be able to cultivate the local talents scene


which in this case is in singapore, so, by cultivating our local talent scene, we would be able to grow the local market, so that it would not fade out


they will eventually diminish due to pragmatic, reasons such as not being able to support themselves or earn enough money to see it as a career in the future so by supporting more


by focusing more on local talent rather than foreign, talent uh, it encourages younger audiences


I agree with the the opposition's point that, the, that singapore is a small country so, and our local, arts scene is not very vibrant because there is a negative not really negative but like there is more focused being poured into different


different fields in singapore such as the science and medical fields or the defence field because the art scene in singapore is not very recognised or not very popular amongst singaporeans so to add on


there's also we also have a small population so the pool of potential talent, in our population may not be very large or very huge however with


more support or focus on local talent compared to foreign talent, singaporeans would then be brought to realise, that, our local art scene would also have the potential to grow and be recognised by and be recognised globally so


for example uh when if the local talent is able to grow large enough or, yeah if the local talents able to grow large enough it would also bring about benefits for singapore


as, people will start to recognise and, want to know or find out more about singapore so an example of a country cultivating or supporting or focusing more on their local talent rather than foreign talent is


korea uh they have cultivated and the, local people in korea are also very focused on their local compared to foreign talent so for example for


korean pop korean pop music has been recognised globally and there are many groups or bands


and, and have received lots of support before being able to expand out to different countries such as different countries in asia or even, as far as the US so , by doing so people also recognise


uh korean pop and korea more and it also contributes as extra revenue for the country, and people also grow about to to want to know more about korea or


or to want to know more about korea so bringing it back to the singapore the context in singapore I feel that cultivating local talent would be able to, bring about global recognition and also extra revenue from people around the world


uh I agree with the opposition


in singapore so, for example uh the local talent may not suit my


preference or my liking in music or films or dramas however I feel like, on


being supportive of the local art scene may also, can can come in many different ways so, for, because, there are many benefits brought about by supporting the local talent arts scene and there also have been many efforts


which have been made to cultivate the local art scene so for example there are many now there are many, schools which offer art programs for tertiary levels such as lasalle or the nanyang academy of fine arts which is also known as NAFA and


to add on the prime minister of singapore mister lee-hsien-loong has also encouraged, others other institutions such as has also, encouraged institutions such as the one I've the ones I've mentioned like lasalle and


NAFA to make connections between knowledge and real world application and also he has encouraged the local art scene and,


having a more vibrant local art scene would be able to also improve the way of life of singaporeans as we should not be solely focused, on on


the traditional fields that singaporeans usually tend towards such as science and medical field, or , traditional fields so by being able to


cultivate the local art scene we will also be able to create more jobs and upgrade workers and make singapore a much better and a more attractive place to live in


I agree with the opposition's point that local and foreign talent should uh should collaborate so that they will be able to bounce off better ideas


off each other and I, also agree the fact that singapore has a lack of opportunities in the field of the arts however I feel like if you if we would want


an increase in opportunities in our local arts scene we should, first be ready to focus more on our local talent rather than foreign talent as with more focus comes more support which then creates demand for more local talent compared to foreign talent


so with this demand created people would then be encouraged to head into the local talents scene and not be discouraged by the lack of demand or the lack of focus on local talent


for me art is defined as like, painting music, literature, dance and even television programs uh I believe that boundaries should be drawn, uh when we define art


because if anything can be considered art then the word art loses its meaning and loses its, spark at the end of the day, if we consider anything as art then nothing will be art, so art should be reserved for pieces where effort was put in


and the creation should evoke some form of emotion from the audience hence I agree with the proposition that art should convey a certain message


so uh proposition has brought up that art, should differ in value because of historical value and monetary value so I'll examine the aspect of monetary value first, so


it is hard to contend that art is worth, the same monetarily because uh it is clear that art is priced differently, however, what I'm proposing is that when we examine the value we don't look at the monetary value but we look at the intrinsic value of art


, this is because it is not doubted that, art can go as low as a dollar for a piece of doodle by an unknown and or you can go up to a few million dollar for a expensive piece of building however at the end of the day what I wish to argue is that ignoring the artificial monetary price that is pinned to artwork the intrinsic value of every piece of


art itself is the same and the intrinsic value being the value of art, art, which is based on a bit eh intrinsic value being, the value of that piece of artwork for its existence and we should value every piece of artwork for is the creation of somebody and we should not judge the price which is placed on somebody else's creation


okay I agree with the proposition that demand of the, art killed after the value of the artwork because when there is demand then there will be a supply and when, and in that case it is undeniable that demand will usually push up the price


of art however, uh there is one issue with that as uh because of the demand for artwork, it has led to many artists, , abusing this demand, to elaborate on that uh


in recent years there are many pieces of artwork that are questionable and yet they fetch uh, uh, extremely high price so as example will be the, that red mirror art piece, which was sold at one point one million dollars, and all the art piece constituted was just some red


paint it's like gradient on the mirror, hence, uh we can see that famous artists are abuse are using their reputation to abuse the entire process of art valuation, they use their reputation to justify selling a art piece at a very high price and this will not be a problem in the first place if we value art at an equal value


and this can help prevent artwork which is worth lesser than they actually are from fetching ridiculously high prices, and therefore I believe that, demand shouldn't be used uh, as a, justification because it will lead to potential abuse by reputable


artist


art from this certain era or this certain country is worth more than the art of from another era or another country


it might actually be quite, unfair to like, certain, certain countries because who are we to value how much their history is worth, and as to the meaning behind a particular art piece though it's true that some art piece can have a more noble meaning than other art piece but I feel like the fact that as long as the art


tries to convey a message we shouldn't see some message as more important than others because art is just a outlet for us to express our creativity, and you shouldn't judge the piece of artwork by its worth by the value of the message I feel like as long as the art brings about a message or as long as it evoked some form of


emotion it's sufficient for it to be considered artwork and regardless of that message we should appreciate that piece of artwork and see it at


authenticity of art piece, may actually affect the valuation of, the art, so I would like to contend on the point of credibility of the artist so uh this goes back to the question of whether we should allow reputation of the artist to actually affect the value of


art, so I still stand with my point that uh regardless of who created the art maybe we should look more at the, product rather than the source of it, and uh I would like to bring up a new point


uh there's actually some practical benefits why we should encourage art to be seen as equal, firstly uh when art is seen as equal it will actually encourage more people to contribute more to the art scene as people will not feel inferior about the quality of their artwork


so take for example a new artist if he knows that his art will be valued equally, as other artist, or at least intrinsically even if not monetarily he will actually feel better and feel more comfortable in expressing himself through his artwork knowing that his art piece will not be judged as being lesser than


someone else's, so uh what we're fighting for is for the intrinsic value of art to be the same minimally so that at least artists can be able to express themselves freely in their artwork, even if monetary value even if it's not possible for monetary value to be of the same


uh going back to the point where the proposition mentioned that condition of a art piece can affect the value of the, art uh as much as I would like, as much as I agree with it I believe that uh conditions should not change its value because the message and purpose of the art piece is still the same so the value of the art piece should be preserved


and hence we should value, art, to be of equal value


part two, debate topic


okay


uh for me my stance is that uh fantasy books and films , cannot offer anything more than an escape from from reality so for example films like harry potter games of game of thrones they all have an imaginary plot that happens in an imaginary setting which is as far


from real life as it can get hence it only provides viewer with the much needed escape from reality and nothing more, so they only have entertainment value uh the proposition brought up the point of winnie the pooh so I would like to draw reference to like similar shows and contend that actually they don't have much educational value


so for example, if we look at films like lion king little mermaid mulan, all these disney movies clearly do have a message to be send across to its audience however, to a little kid who is watching the show they're likely only bewildered by the animations and sing alongs and little if not none of them will dwell on the key takeaway from the show simply because uh escape from reality is what what they are seeking from


seeking for from the show and they don't go into the film with a intention to take something away from it, and hence uh, such films and shows uh whatever message that they tend to bring about usually do not stick with us


us, as it's not coupled by repetition after the show ends the message ends as well at most individuals will only be like inspired by the show for a few hours but it doesn't go beyond that so it can't be the show or the or the book can't


be said to have served an educational value if the if whatever message it brings about does not stick with the audience hence it, is merely nothing more than an escape from reality for the audience


uh I agree with the proposition that, films and books are able to help us to feel a connection and uh with the characters and it gives us emotional support and comfort seeing that there's other people out there


however uh I find it a bit, hard to draw the line between entering a new reality and an escape from reality because if we are entering a new reality it means we are


uh simply escaping from our reality and entering a new reality has uh no deeper purpose going beyond, just, allowing us to leave the comfort of our own realities so okay but even if there's a show and there're shows that can actually successfully bring a deeper message to us I believe that the educational value of films are only served


if they actually they are actually able to enact some form of social change so one of the very popular shows would actually be, Zootopia where the show actually touched upon discrimination and other touchy societal issues so this film actually received a lot of uh global commendation about being a film which actually uh brings awareness to


racism et cetera however what I would like to contend is that this show doesn't actually really brings awareness to racism and oh doesn't really, uh, teach us about racism because uh we all know racism exists and it's just a part of us that we do not wish to face and so the proposition might contend that if that's the case then the show actually helps us to face our


face the touchy issues in society like although we know it exists it helps us to face it, however I would like to say that uh no matter how hard fantasy films try they actually have a light, much lighter tone than documentaries or like the more serious shows hence people don't usually take the message as seriously so after zootopia there's a hot discussion about


how it actually mirrors of society but nothing much was gathered out from that discussion so unlike how documentaries have the potential, to enact maybe political movement or social change fantasy films people just relate to it and it ends there nothing much is gotten out of it


and hence it's merely a escape from reality


adult but, uh one issue will be that people usually start a fantasy book or a film with the wrong intention they usually read such books or films with the intention to, uh, escape from reality or in other words to


destress, so they don't really go in with the intention to take away a deep message and hence these films and books usually struggle to bring across a message, because the audiences are not receptive towards it


especially when uh they pick up such books and films with the intention to destress, usually they, they do not want to like dwell deeper on the deeper message of the movie because it'll just, uh complicate


whatever things they have on their mind further and this, is counter, counter productive to the initial intent of picking up that book or film in the first place, also if, the book or film, has a very lighthearted tone then the message which is brought across


may generally be forgotten, as people don't usually reflect upon a lighthearted message, and finally if the fantasy film had a humorous element to it then the message might even be taken as a joke because people


fictional setting and hence not everyone will be able to draw a reference, closely back to into our, society


and so in conclusion I feel that if the message, or the tone of the show is to, lighthearted, then the message will just be forgotten or be taken as a joke


uh part three, debate topic three


so I agree with the proposition that, cultivating local talent can help to grow the local market and prevent a brain drain such that uh there's more local artists uh so first I would like to define art once again as like painting music literature


dance, if we are seeing things from the perspective of the artists themselves it is true that perhaps if we promote local talent then more people will be encouraged to join the local arts scene however a problem lies in that singapore is an


extremely competitive society where arts is generally not seen as the best route to go to, I believe that no matter how much we encourage, uh individuals to take up art, art, being a very subjective industry it is still hard for individuals to survive in that industry and furthermore not everyone can survive in that industry so even if we promote the local arts scene if there's insufficient if there is insufficient local talent to actually


uh keep up with the, the amount of funds which is pumped into cultivate them then there is no point because uh not everyone can be cultivated into an artist and, singapore having a smaller population than all other countries it's only natural for us to have like


to have lesser talent than other countries because the probability of, us, hitting a very talented individual is way lesser than like large countries like US and china hence there is no point investing so much in the local


art, scene and instead we should focus on the foreign arts scene, a foreign talents because they can help to rejuvenise our current arts scene


agree with the proposition that, if we support the local arts scene more then perhaps more people will joined the local, however I I think that I believe that uh if there if the people are not as talented as compared to overseas then no matter how much hard work we put in that it will still pale in comparison as compared to other countries and this goes back to the argument where we have a smaller population


and it's only natural for us to have lesser talented people and it is hard for us to imagine, uh, true that if we are really in the able to build up this singaporean pop then maybe there will be global recognition and extra revenue can flow in however the current situation is that because of our focus on local talent we are actually causing an economic leakage


so to elaborate on that we can see how mediacorp shows are actually extremely unpopular among the youngsters nowadays, and viewership has been dropping and a lot of youngsters are actually uh seeking entertainment from


shows, in on netflix and therefore there is already an economic leakage caused by the focus on, local talent on like our television programmes if our television programme focused more on foreign talent and bring in more foreign films then perhaps lesser singaporean youngsters will have to turn to netflix and other countries will earn lesser of our youngsters' money per se


and furthermore it's actually, it can actually be extremely boring to continuously look at local talents in our arts scene, this is because although the local film and content may relate to us


it when we watch, such films and like arts we actually arts and films actually have the value of, opening our eyes to the world rather than just keeping us accustomed to things with which we are already used to therefore if we bring in foreign content into our arts scene it can actually help open the eyes of more singaporeans and rejuvenate interest in our local arts scene


I agree with the proposition that currently there's, lasalle, and NAFA helping us to train and train local talent for our local arts, scene however, an issue lies in, the fact that there is a lack of demand for the local arts scene and if there is little demand for local talent then there is little point in creating so much supply as it will actually caused a surplus


and in that case people who graduate from those school might actually end up not being able to find jobs for their future because of the surplus and this will have a, have the effect of like discouraging further people or like future batches from entering the arts scene knowing that there is already a surplus hence uh when we are thinking of boosting the demand the supply we should also think ahead about the demand


and one more issue will lie in that, singapore is already used to employing foreign talent in other sectors hence there is little reason why foreign talent should not be introduced or like focus more on, for in our arts


sector, so foreign talent has been contributing well to our economy and it is a waste better for us to have, a diversity of workers, so focusing more on foreign talent and bring more of them, in can allow for more interaction between the local and foreign art scenes and this can potentially create something new or maybe uh the exchange of ideas can boost the confidence of


our local talent and, this can help to bring more variation to the arts in our society and ensure that, our local arts scene does not remain dull and boring


and it is true that foreign talent is usually of higher quality if we discount the few anomalies like JJ-lin who actually made it big but most local talent lack the carve exposure which other countries are able to provide their


talents with hence it is hard for singapore to actually, provide similar forms of exposure to local talent and this only keep it can be done through bringing foreign talent to singapore to enable some form of, exchange of ideas


between foreign and local talent and this cannot be done unless we actually put more focus onto foreign talent in the first place and therefore I believe that, singapore should move towards, uh focusing on foreign talent because an unintended benefit of doing so can actually


because by focusing on foreign talent it might actually bring about the unintended benefit of, helping boost our local talent


part one debate topic one


what


so valen have you finished your portion of it okay, okay for me on the opposition point of view that there is such thing as a bad art okay why do I say that


for example if I draw the picture or I do a sculpture or anything but I don't think that will sell for a very good price or money, right versus somebody let's say for example the world most famous artists like picasso any abstract


painting that he paint worth a lot, and that is why there is always a distinction between good art and bad art, pretty much so when you walk into an art gallery various paintings various architects are sold for a different prices


so that again tells you, there is good art there is bad art, secondly, not everyone can be a artist lah not everyone can paint or not everyone can


do a sculpture, or any form because not every one of us is so called artistically inclined, so therefore, whatever you do if you are not artistically inclined so that piece may be considered as a bad art


somebody who's artistically inclined gifted for example whatever he produce or whatever she produces may be considered a good art, okay, so that is why there is such thing called the good art and the bad arts


so that's complete my argument for now, so valen do you agree


okay thanks valen okay earlier you mentioned leonardo-da-vinci so one of his famous ah


art will be the the painting of mona lisa, again why is this piece of art so so famous it is because, the way that he paints it ah with whichever angle you look at it ah you would you would be seen as though mona lisa is looking at you


and on top of that one of another another, features of this painting which is so good, and so famous is a smile of mona lisa apparently uh, that kind of smile that cannot be so called imitated by humans lah so for that piece is definitely a good piece of art


art lah, but on the other hand, if I were to do a similar painting I don't think anyone will agree that my painting is consider you know a a good piece of art, cause it's all boils down to the skill set to your creativity and what comes out at the end of the day whether whether you can capture the audience attention


of course we know art can be abstract okay different people may perceive it differently but, at the end of the day there's, there's still such thing as uh good art and the such thing called the bad art so to speak lah


so like I mentioned earlier I mean not everybody is that artistically inclined so I mean everyone just like everyone can sing but not everyone can sing uh nicely that people appreciate


so likewise for arts, everybody can produce some form of art or some form of uh uh sculpture or, uh and artifact but not every piece is a good art as well so that's end my debate for this particular section for now so I hand over the time to valen if there's anything else


okay thank you well okay why did I say there is such thing called the bad art is because certain art piece appeals differently from the other


but apparently all the art piece that are available in in a gallery for example not everyone know how to appreciate, so that itself already tell you you know there is some sort of a difference between a good art and bad art would you agree


okay thanks valen okay on your point it's mentioned that there is no such, thing as bad luck, that is there is also no such thing as bad art okay my point here is that there is such thing as bad luck why because


especially for chinese generally there are some chinese who are superstitious so why are they superstitious because they believe in bad luck, and if there is a bad luck there has to be a good luck somewhere lah okay which is why you can see


people queuing up hours on end to buy four D uh hopefully they will strike strike it big some day hoping their luck will turn, and there's a saying you know we hope that lady luck will smile on me sometime, so based on this you can see that's a very distinctive there is a good luck and there is a bad luck so


if luck can be differentiating into good and bad then as far as art is concerned there can also be a good art as well as a bad art as well, of course all of us perceive differently


all of us appreciate it differently but that does not mean there is no such thing as, bad art lah okay likewise like you mentioned uh the proposition about luck okay one can choose not to believe in luck, but that does not mean to say there isn't any good luck or if there isn't any bad luck so to speak


so my summarise is this there is a such thing called the bad art lah, back to you valen


thank you valen so my conclusion is there's still such thing as a bad art, K reason being uh like I mentioned before someone, can choose not to believe in luck but you cannot say there's no such thing as good luck or bad


uh, just that you can choose not to appreciate art but you can't say there's no such thing as good art or bad art, because if in in this world there's men and women okay then there's always


such thing called the good things and the bad thing so in art there should not be any differences so there should be, art has got a good art cause art has got a bad art, so if there is no bad art right so anybody can just doodle anything on a piece of paper or on a piece of canvas and then they will they can sell for millions and millions of dollars K but that is not the case


and why is that not the case because that piece is not a piece of good art, but for someone who can draw very beautifully very magically


then that piece we can call it a good piece of art where every piece of drawing comes to life so that's why my conclusion here is there is such thing called a bad art thank you


okay, so singaporeans appreciate the appeal of theatre dance or music in our society, okay


I believe they do why, because we have a few evidence to show that number one we have the most iconic building that we have in singapore okay known as the esplanade or AKA the durian by the bay, so this place was set up for such a thing like this for dance for theatre and for music


that shows that, singaporeans do really appreciate dance and music, and also we have a lot of dance schools around in singapore parents are spending a lot of money big bucks you know to let the children learn dancing learn music and hopefully they become a musician !huh! in the near or far future


so what does that tell you basically that tells you that singaporeans really appreciate the appeal of theatre dance and music in our society, do you agree valen


okay thanks valen okay the reason why I say singaporean appreciate the appeal of theatre dance music more in our society is because you don't have to look up just go into our national library notices


okay if it's not for this COVID outbreak you will see that their schedule is full of theatre play, there's a preschedule for all fellow singaporeans, and not only that, okay


another iconic place that we have in singapore is called the national gallery in fact it is the world largest collections of all, sorts of appeal in there, so that tells you what that tells you that singaporeans is beginning to really appreciate the appeal of dance theatre and music in our society and


speaking of music recently we have singapore itself has actually, conducted a singing contest so to speak, we have a few singing contest ongoing in the past singapore idol just to name one of them so that again tells you what the people begin to appreciate the appeal of music in our society as well


so that's the evidence that are produced, okay back to you valen not too sure whether you agree with me


okay thanks valen now just now you mentioned that you know things have dropped and, musicians or artists have changed their vocation due to the COVID outbreak, yes no doubt the COVID outbreak has caused a decline if not a


but that does not equate to singaporean does not appreciate theatre dance or music in our society like you mentioned online people nowadays because due to the


development of social media infrastructure they all go online to listen they all go online to watch theatre and dance play okay we have a few, apps that most singaporean will be familiar with that will be spotify okay that's where you download your music from or your itunes if you are apple user right


you can actually go in and see you know how many people have download say a particular song within a day I believe that can be quite a lot so that tells you that singaporean to a certain extent appreciate the appeal of dance theatre or music in our society


right now they may not have the physical, space to do the performance in front of a live audience yes that's without a doubt, but that again does not equate to singaporean doesn't appreciate that anymore, so


that is why I say singaporeans still appreciate the appeal of theatre and dance and music in our society do you agree valen


okay thank you valen so, okay I agree with what you just mention, okay because of this outbreak now the artist are just doing it differently instead of what they usually do to perform in front of live audience they now do it in a different platform and people are watching it


so it does not mean that when they do it in a different platform singaporean does not appreciate the appeal anymore, because people are still watching it online people are still downloading music online, and that tells you what that tells you that singaporean appreciate the appeal of dance theatre music is still in our society


of course not everybody appreciate it but there are still people out there who appreciate it, so that summarise my the discussion, on this topic so like to say valen uh


right now yes they cannot perform in front of a live audience anymore more like what they used to in the past but now they actually bring it into another platform, okay they're doing it on youtube they're doing it on facebook, and stuff like that they're still creating awareness


they're still educating the the, the people the people are watching them, so that again tells you singaporeans, beginning to appreciate the appeal of dance and theatre and music in our society


part three debate topic three


okay thanks valen so on the opposition point of view


art itself, is not a luxury and it is necessary now when we when we talk art we don't, talk about those multi million pieces of, but artefacts or or works or art piece that we all know of art can, be very simple as well you can just you know do your own painting do your own drawing school teachers art as well and why is it so necessary because it help us to destress it help us in our emotional and mental wellbeing


so art itself is a luxury you and I both we can do some art piece together and allow ourselves to be indulged in it allow our emotion being to be renewed distress and allow our creativity to flow


and from time to time as we know that the lifestyle in singapore are very stressful so that's where you need art to come in to help you destress to help you renew your mind and your thoughts to relax most importantly


so that's why from the opposition point of view arts is really not a luxury and it is also a necessity in life do you agree valen


okay thanks valen okay just now you mentioned valen about you know museum are expensive, okay by the way most of us, of the museum in singapore is FOC to singaporeans lah so it's not really that expensive therefore itself is not a it's not a luxury


and besides that we if you have been to botanical garden and you will realise and you will know that there is a stage right in front of the pond okay periodically they will put up some uh, performances some arts performances and stuff like that and again it's still free so art itself it is not


a luxury and in fact if you're talking about performance in botanical garden you will realise in the good old days you know whole family member will flung over there take a seat down at at the grassy patch picnic and enjoying the performance that's being perform


uh at the stage, so that tells you what that tells you that art is a necessity, okay


art is just one part of it and it's definitely not a luxury it's just part of a well balanced diet meal that we have just like we have it in our three meals not too sure whether you agree with what I say valen


okay thank you valen okay valen I agree with your point if you are talking about tangible art yes, okay that could be a luxury and may not be a necessity now let me give you my last point why I think that art is not a luxury it is absolutely necessary


in our of daily life okay we do not have to look far just look around us okay we as human being ah we're very visual we go by visual we are very colour sensitive okay we often talk, talk to ourself you know whenever we go out ah for occasions or for certain meeting or what we always thought to what colour to wear okay which colour shirt should mix which colour pants and if you find the right combination ah we feel good about it so that itself is already art


in us, and that is absolutely necessary why because it make us feel good it make us look presentable, so arts may not be necessary really referred to a tangible art yes it can be one form of arts but it can be just a simple form of arts that


okay, like for example for today's session okay our debate okay one of the instruction that was sent to us is to tell us to look presentable in front of the camera so that itself is an art


so as I summarise okay is art a luxury no is it a necessity yes so that is my point from the opposition point of view valen you want to summarise your point


part one debate topic one


so I will start uh with this uh bad art lah, bad art is uh, I think there's no such thing as bad art


it's kind of a very subjective uh, thinking ah, it might look bad on others, but it might look good on others, so that's why it's kind of subjective and


kind of uh is, about people's thinking lah if let's say some, some some things , uh how to say


, some things are good then some things are bad, and different opinions ah, like we see the same thing differently ah, there is uh different opinions uh, voicing


from different things that we we see in in life lah


so I want to ask like , this bad art encompass what kind of uh, uh topic lah because it's very wide ah, this uh bad art thing, can I ask like more, like your


this this bad art whether, it's uh kind kind of like, go into what kind of categories ah, is more on like, painting kind of stuff or is more on, uh philosophy stuff


so we just have to carry on, that uh this uh


so I think I uh, end my this uh portion first lah because I want to hear what uh #teck chuan# have to say about this uh, uh bad art thing


so uh #teck chuan# can you uh take over, then uh maybe we can have a, uh discussion further


yeah yeah I finish already


okay actually, if you are talking about the subject of, , that means uh it's kind of uh thinking about , , leonardo-da-vinci something like that, because last time, when he was alive he did a lot of uh sculpture paintings ah everything lah so


like other in history last time I, his works are not very popular kind of stuff so there's a lot of criticism so when when it has become mainstream, like is is like


like this uh person is always like this person is no longer around then uh the, the the things done by them are usually worth a lot, so what I think is like, from my point of view I think


no I'm I I think I'm more of a fan of maybe, uh, uh uh uh like, artists from the past lah rather than, artists from the, artists from now lah, because like people from