Republic of virtue, 4/09

Turn off your TV! PDF Print
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Friday, 24 April 2009 11:27

virtue

TV is a powerful weapon of mass deception.

A REPUBLIC OF VIRTUE

Azly Rahman
http://azlyrahman-illuminations.blogspot.com/2009/04/play-for-penanti.html

We are watching too much TV. We have way too many channels that disseminate a variety of propaganda, sell dreams and illusions, create false consciousness, discuss non-issues, fragment the self, and numb our creative and critical senses.

Our children are bombarded with thousands of images daily as they sit passively in front of the television set. Their brain cells are slowly being turned into miniature advertising billboards.

These billboards become field of dreams and consciousness, turning the self into whatever the producers of propaganda wish them to turn into. These brain cells are conditioned by the nano-technology in smart TV programming.

TV is a powerful weapon of mass deception. TV is the mother of inner battles in all human beings. It is slowly killing the mental capacity of our children to sustain reading and to engage in critical reflection. An uncritical mind is a fertile ground for mental colonisation. A mind, essentially, is a terrible thing to waste.

Print and broadcast media are powerful tools of propaganda. While many Malaysian parents struggle to have their children read well so that they may not be perpetually confused and brain dead, TV is rigorously producing more and more programmes that will make children have four eyes and no mouth. Their mind cannot sustain good reading.

How many TV channels are there in Malaysia to help baby-sit the children? How many hundreds of programmes are we watching weekly to turn us into scatterbrained people?

How many different lifestyles of the rich and famous are we exposed to, so that we may learn to become replicas of the stars of Hollywood and Bollywood? How many universities in Malaysia are teaching critical media analysis?

Selling them junk

The owners of the satellites are smiling from the heavens looking down at Malaysians opiated and stoned in front of the TV set. The mantra is this: Feed the masses with all the ads and sell them junk through TV programmes. Sell them dreams so that they will buy and buy and let the media control and create their lives.

Whoever controls TV gets to control storytelling. Whoever controls the station controls the means of producing mass propaganda. Whoever controls the government controls the means of controlling the minds of the people. It is a mind-control game.

We learn from TV programmes. We learn to have choices of what to buy and what to believe through the propaganda. One is made to have choices to believe what kind of information is to be funneled into one's brain and next what kind of reality to believe, based on those presented by TV.

Malaysians complain that they only read half a page of a book a year on average, but why not complain that more and more TV stations are sprouting racing with one another to produce more and more sophisticated junk.

Producers have their ideological biases in what they produce. They answer to profiteers. Whatever sells can and ought to be mass-produced. The more people watch the programme, the higher the ratings, the more expensive the advertising slot.

Producers are not interested in producing ‘truth’. They think they are depicting ‘reality’ and therefore we see ‘reality shows’ to exploit human gullibility.

What is Malaysian TV producing? Better programmes or better propaganda?

One is bombarded by split-second images that hits the brain and colonise the mind.

Watch a 30-second commercial when you're tired, and you will discover that you are not watching TV, but the TV is watching you and washing your senses with subliminal messages that makes propaganda artsy and scientific.

Cruel choices

TV provides cruel choices. One is glued to the set, armed with the remote control. Especially with satellite TV with those many channels, children become glued to the idiot box. Observe what will happen to society when we have more and more channels.

The brain cells get excited at the end of every good TV programme. If it's a game show, the self glued to the TV gets transported in time and space to participate in the illusion of winning and losing. If it's a soap opera, the self becomes the actor or actress in the story in the process of the imitation of life.

TV programmes provide hundreds of choices daily for one to engage in alternate-reality games.

In TV-land, democracy is about creating more and more money selling advertisements that will turn all of us into TV freaks and addicts of the idiot box. It is not about developing one's skills in stepping outside of society and looking at it like a crystal ball.

TV-land is the land of make-believe that is created to turn viewers into bodies that consume and continue to be consumed. It is a land of cut-throat culture industry that first positions humanity in front of the TV, bombards it with trillions of sound bytes and multi-coloured electronic images, and transforms it into wide-eyed consumers that will consume conspicuously. This is the strategy of those who owns TV stations and cable broadcast satellites.

Brilliant! But the goal is to profit from advertising, in the name of having choices in a democratic world of mass consumption, TV provides such democratic choices. Cable TV provides the most choices in the presenting of propaganda.

‘TV is producing us’

TV creates human beings. American idols create idols to be worshipped. The Malaysian Idol, a transmutation of the American programme creates the human self that is to be made into an idol to be further worshipped via tabloid, radio, and TV.

TV can turn the kampung boy or girl into a demi-god who will then be transformed into an idol - an icon, a walking and talking billboard, a symbol of protest, a sign and symbol of this or that, a spokesperson for this and that organisation that will pay the most, a mascot for a political party. All these are creations of the well-trained media brains behind TV programming.

Want to be a famous politician? Control the media. Have it glorify you. Want to last long? Control it for more than 20 years. Have it make you into an idol or an icon. Learn from despotic rulers.

In the creation of Malaysian Idol, people love to see others humiliated in the name of creating that one particular idol. The nation enjoys that; like the Romans enjoying the gladiator thrown into the arena. Then the movie star or the music star is created, TV addicts and TV freaks read junk tabloids to keep up with news of the lifestyles of the rich and famous.

Children will forget the hero within themselves. Their hero will be outside of themselves. To be - is to be like somebody else.

One cannot live that lifestyle but one can certainly be identified with it. TV is thus watching what human beings watch and therefore recreates human beings that are consumed by these images controlled by people who want to turn us into consumers.

Politicians who control the media (print or broadcast media) are also controlling the process of producing propaganda. But first, the politician must buy the media so that he/she will be recreated, just like the Malaysian Idol is created.

See how the modern media works? Sublime and subversive. Imagine what 100 channels can do to the human mind. Imagine what they can do to society.

Those watching American Idol get stoned on other people's fame and fortune, just like those who watch Wheels of Fortune do not realise that they watch the game show to forget that they may be in a wheel of misfortune themselves.

TV is a clever mass producer of dreams. Dreams can be in English, Malay, Chinese, Tamil, Urdu or Arabic. Whoever is clever and has the skills to create, can become dream-merchants peddling dreams. Electronic dreams are sublime. They wash away sorrows of the real world.

Bollywood is an industry. Malaysians especially have been conditioned to love Hindustani movies because they have been around since the early days of TV. Many Malaysians are of the south Indian stock, and therefore Bollywood helps Malaysians get stoned glued to TV in the modern age.

Bollywood sells well. Soap operas are a great hit with Malaysian housewives because that's the time to be glued to advertisements. Soap operas make housewives and house-husbands cry a lot because of the power of subliminal seduction. Soap operas sell soaps so that consumers can have fresher dreams daily, in a world corrupted by realpolitik. But the best part is to turn viewers into happy and stoned consumers. While housewives and househusbands shed real tears, the producers and TV station owners shed crocodile tears.

Is this the meaning of life? Aren't we supposed to destroy idols and the Neon gods - and rediscover the ‘Self’ within?

Reality of TV

Without advertisements and governments there won't be media. Those who owns media gets to own the means of colonising other people's mind, including the minds of the producers.

Producers have to kowtow to the dictates of corporations and governments. Owners of TV stations have controlling interests in the government and vice versa. This is the picture of the interconnectivity of the production of truth and the truth of profit-making.

They are mental slaves in the production house of ideologies; whatever these ideologies may present themselves. They produce for environmental polluters, beer companies, credit card companies, electric companies, cartoon companies, and cigarette companies.

I am sure we know the relationship between advertising slots and TV programming. In the long run, these create good consumers and fewer good citizens that can think critically of the fate of society.

TV is can also be a good master and servant to governments; the more corrupt the government the more corrupt TV programming becomes.

All TV stations are ideological; they do not present the truth - they can never claim to present objective points of view, because these truths are funded by corporations and government. The biggest lie can get funded by the biggest corporate or governmental liars.

TV in a democratic country cannot necessarily be democratic. It is based on presenting seemingly democratic opinions but yet they are all well-crafted to make the audience feel that they are being presented with truth. Non-issues become issues. Villains become heroes. Anti-heroes die a million deaths. Reality is mediated by invented realities.

But is all TV useless?

Malaysian Reality Show

The best Malaysian TV is yet to come - full-length ‘live’ telecasts of the Malaysian parliamentary debates. This can be good for the nation. If we can have a machine to vote for the most presentable politician weekly, we would be on our way to teaching our children what political accountability means. Political accountability can contribute to higher levels of civic consciousness.

Weekly tallies of good intellectual performance, coupled with good track record to no-corrupt acts, and good non-tax-evasion record - all these will help TV viewers enjoy the political game-show and decide on which politician should stay or be axed out.

I think our elected officials are ready for Malaysian Parliamentary TV. It will be a good way to educate Malaysians, especially the younger generation, of the political process, of participatory democracy, of the ethics of politics, of the power of the political intellect, and of powerful rhetoric.

That will be the promising world of good TV. That will be reality TV, Unlike the news reporting we get these days. News reports are massaged truth. Documentaries are longer versions of massaged truth.

TV stations hire more and more good researchers to produce better and better massaged truths.

Al-Jazeera is a station of propaganda of the Qatar government. Fox News is the station of propaganda par excellence of corporate America. The same goes with Malaysian TV stations. They all produce massaged truths. They broadcast points of view that are politically correct. These are propaganda stations that destroy our journey through the stations of the soul.

The human mind is made to be fragmented by these alternate truths. In the long run, the mind creates the self that reproduces itself into a walking and talking "worldview that is shaped by propaganda".

With private and public TV, we are sucked into the world of false consciousness, of make-believe, and of other people's stories.

So essentially the human self cannot escape from being enslaved by ideologies. TV producers, owners, politicians, educators, parents and teenagers must learn how to recognise false consciousness and massaged truths.

But one must first switch off the idiot box and pull out the cable.

Parents, teachers, educators, TV producers, community leaders, politicians - I interrupt this essay with an important public announcement: read books, discuss big ideas, have meaningful conversations, destroys screen idols.

Buy books

To help children increase their capacity to think, I would suggest we unsubscribe to cable TV, switch off the channels, and begin a programme of TV-detoxification. This might be akin to a rehabilitation programme for TV addiction.

The new daily diet must be of books - good books of the various traditions and disciplines.

Reading is a special psycho-linguistic activity that helps the mind create images out of sounds, syllables, words, concepts, sentences, phrase, alliteration, personification, onomatopoeia, and other strategies designed to make the mind active - the very stuff that helps the brain create and imagine.

It trains the brain in a different way. It does not, like TV, make the brain docile and ready to be raped and subdued.

When the brain is subdued, the mind becomes colonised, and the body becomes a location for consumption. We become consuming bodies that are produced by TV advertising. Satellite owners will benefit. The aim of TV is to sell dreams, turning the life of economic beings into nightmares.

First tier media giants - AOL-Time Warner, Walt Disney, Bertelsmann, Viacom, AT&T, SONY, Vivendi Universal and Rupert Murdoch - will benefit. Hollywood and Bollywood will benefit.

Buy your child 100 books instead of subscribing to 100 channels. Have quiet reading times instead of living multiple realities created by TV. Get them to understand what it means to have their own stories, and to be makers of their own history rather that be turned into consumers manipulated by TV.

Kids grow smarter around books. Teach them what TV is trying to teach. Or better stilll -- teach them to speak up against injustices and how to transform the world. Teach them to become radical thinkers, armed with poetry and passion, reason and revolution.

But first, turn off that TV. For, the world created by television is too much for our children. They will grow old having four eyes and no mouth.


OUR USUAL REMINDER, FOLKS:
While the opinion in the article is mine,
the comments are yours;
present them rationally and ethically.
AND -- SET ALL I.S.A. DETAINEES FREE]



Comments (19)Add Comment
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written by teo siew chin, April 24, 2009 11:36:16
Phew! For a moment there, i tot i read turn off your PC.
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written by fknajib, April 24, 2009 11:39:50
TV is just another form of media. It can be manipulated or informed. The important thing is if you have the intelligence to distinguish the two. Malaysian TV in general are "crap". Compare just the advertisements in US and UK and you would see the difference. I like how the article try to implies Malaysian idol is producing false idols. As the saying goes... "Thou shalt not worship false idols." Where are the Syariah mulahs to try to ban programs like Malaysian Idol... One in a million etc? Ban all TV and media, thats what will happen. I would rather the TV not be a government mouthpiece. There is always bitttorent around to download stuff you want to see. Commercial free.
http"//fakenajib.********.com

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written by penangboi, April 24, 2009 11:47:29
The TV is only a tool. We don't blame the tool but the hands that weild it.

Yes, we have RTM1, 2, TV3, NTV7, TV8, Nine etc etc (all the Astro's) but it's not the box's fault that is responsible for churning out all the crap and propaganda that are bombarding us daily.

It's the programmers who are under instruction from their station bosses who are in turn under instructions from the Ministry of Information who is under instruction from Najis.

So who do we blame??
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written by Godflesh, April 24, 2009 11:51:23
Brilliant article! Just what the doctor prescribed. Thanks
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written by JohnQ, April 24, 2009 11:52:14
The most idiot reality show on earth is deal or no deal ! Only open boxes, no intelligent challenge, no courage instinct, no intuitive inspiration, no nothing......

I rather they open the cloths or bras.......! smilies/grin.gif smilies/grin.gif smilies/grin.gif smilies/grin.gif smilies/grin.gif smilies/grin.gif smilies/grin.gif smilies/grin.gif smilies/grin.gif smilies/grin.gif smilies/grin.gif smilies/grin.gif smilies/grin.gif smilies/grin.gif smilies/grin.gif smilies/grin.gif smilies/grin.gif smilies/grin.gif smilies/grin.gif smilies/grin.gif smilies/grin.gif smilies/grin.gif smilies/grin.gif smilies/grin.gif smilies/grin.gif smilies/grin.gif smilies/grin.gif

Only NatGeo/Nat Sc/History/AnimalsPlanet/Nat Disc anad Net Sc for me
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written by Godflesh, April 24, 2009 11:57:01
Penangboi,

Ourselves (for watching).
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written by Tompios, April 24, 2009 11:58:53
Super-speed TV flash weakening your frontal lobe system!!
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written by MNor, April 24, 2009 12:00:46
Well, high time such reminders are being roll in for all of us to really think about it. Without doubt, even Astro are now giving us more advertisement time (junks) then what we have paid for; are we not? smilies/angry.gif smilies/sad.gif smilies/shocked.gif
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written by Awaken64, April 24, 2009 12:13:55
Choices it still remains an individual or parent to exercise discretion.

Yes PROPAGANDA is the name of the game but isn't school breeding followers rather than thinkers. We are not the only country having this dilemma.

Advertising and Government Propaganda is the mainstay, the type of programs actually are themed on evil and greed a very common tract of the masses. Thus what you are exposed to become you.

Generate a true interest to sport sadly the government esp in Selangor have taken every little padang for self interest. Sadly posh condominiums that have sport facilities are white elephants and we live yet another day fuming how we are short of time to achieve what we aspire to do.

Well folks there is no discrimination to any race, religion, gender or social status for the common measure of TIME. SO if the most riches man was at his deathbed and destined to die, there is noway for him to trade all his possession for just a another moment in time.

Conclusion everyone have the same 24 hours each day and if you blow it away try to do better with your TIME tomorrow rather than just whine and feel depressed of it.

"Thanks to impermanence EVERYTHING IS POSSIBLE" - Thai Spiritual forest Monk
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written by magickriver, April 24, 2009 12:38:16
Azly Rahman is among the most articulate, protean & syncretic (which means versatile & able to weave different thre*** of ideas together to form a beautiful fabric of understanding) of Malaysian intellectuals. We are indeed fortunate that he has appeared at just the right moment to shed light on the darkness of our educational institutions. Isn't it interesting that those who - like Azly Rahman & RPK - serve to enlighten the awakening Malaysian are immediately forced into bankruptcy by scurrilous lawsuits filed by that Biro Tatanegara creep, Noordin Kardi of UUTM?
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written by mikewang, April 24, 2009 12:41:30
I am thinking we should limit the log on to internet instead.
This interactive media has become too addictive to many. smilies/smiley.gif
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written by CariJalan, April 24, 2009 15:29:36
"But one must first switch off the idiot box and pull out the cable."

I don't know if you readers believe it or not. Just last week, I not only unplugged my TV set and moved it under the staircase on the floor, I also removed all my son's DVDs and banned the family from watching TV at least 3 months. My wife insisted 6 months. After reading today's contribution from the godly Azli Rahman, I am now inclined to totally do way with TV watching. Furthermore, I got my 19 year old son to sit down and read the entire article. This, I believed, had helped me reinforced the idea into my son that there is more to it than just TV programming. TV watching is subtly harmful.

My son used to spend many quality hours reading books, but he has now become extremely addicted to TV and should be admitted to a TV addicts rehabilitation program if there is such a thing! The minute we removed the TV from our family life, we immediately experienced a deep and satisfying sense of peace and self-control. WE GOT OUR LIVES BACK! WE DID!

I urge all Malaysians to seriously consider doing without the TV that we know today. There is more to life than 'meets the eye'. Read books. Lots of quality books.
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written by gorshan, April 25, 2009 09:40:34
too much indulgence is a bad thing.so divide your time equally for TV,internet,a walk in the park,taking your kids to swimming pools,horsing around with them,buy your kids at least 1 storybook a week,makes times for your spouse,rides your bike on a deserted road.
moderation is the key here. smilies/grin.gif smilies/grin.gif smilies/grin.gif smilies/angry.gif
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written by gycgocnt, April 25, 2009 10:35:14
Spending time to watch TV in Malaysia is really an act of time wasting! Our mainstream media which is controlled by BN are not bringing the truth news to its user; instead the mainstream media is bringing people to the commercial line “Tauke”.

Our government tends to control people’s mind by making the cost of TV-set, cost of Private TV installation cheaper than the useful books! If the government is sincere to make their citizen more knowledgeable, more expertise in critical thinking, they will reduce the tax charges impose in the books industry.

Look at what the TV programmers offer its user, entertainment news is more than education programme; ghost story is more than true social news; advertisement is more than people’s comments; cartoon is more than social forum discussion. So, we should start our day by switching off the TV-set and save the money to buy more useful books. I personally spend about RM3000 each year to get this “Knowledge”. Even though it’s expensive when we compare to others country, once you think the Knowledge is Power, you would accept any amount cost you because it’s really can “Empower your Brain-Thinking”.

Maybe we should give some pressure to our government for reduction of book’s import tax. Because have a good reading habit is for the sake of our future generation.
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written by chiongguo, April 25, 2009 12:11:19
Do not be afraid of what you see, hear or read but be very afraid of what you believe. The sum total of all that we think, say and do come from this believe system. Belief system is like the hand of a blind man trying to figure out what an elephant is. The ability to drop beliefs and step back is the beginning of wisdom.This takes courage, personal integrity and inner humility(rationalised and false humility is a tool to gain social acceptance).

Many people had told me that they are not stupid and can think and therefore what they thought are the truth. It is not our thinking ability that is often in question but the material and substance that the mind use as thinking fodder that is in question. Mass mind control then can take place at two levels. The first is to plant thoughts and beliefs. Neuroscientists tell us that that we need to use a mental hook in order for beliefs to be established. Some very good anchors were listed out by Buddha in Kalama Sutta. One new one that I learned recently and was used to malign me was the use of "people who should know". The anchor used was that even my own family members thought of me as a rascal and therefore the rumour about me must be true. Even my own siblings are betraying me - so I must truly be a dirty rotten scoundrel - so the mental hook/rationalisation went.

New beliefs are weak and old beliefs can fall away and the second level to firmly establish a belief system and best way to glue these in place is the use of fear and hatred. This is also when karma is created and established(volition skandha).

What I have related came from Buddha and one can understand why often buddhism had been hard-pressed to be categorised as a religion. I am not promoting buddhism but to create an understanding of how our belief systems are created. With this understanding we then have the capacity to step back and to question the basis and the assumptions of all that we think, say and do.

The ability to step back is perhaps the only ability to prevent us from being manipulated. It is like spotting the "shimmer" in the matric smilies/grin.gif ....I watch too many movies. smilies/wink.gif
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written by lynn, April 26, 2009 09:30:12
chiongguo,

You said .... "why often buddhism had been hard-pressed to be categorised as a religion." - are u saying peoople insisted Buddhism is a religion?

My long-held belief is that to categorise any as Religion, first compulsory criteria is "one must hold belief" to whatever that religion demands, example, those christians I have come across keep insisting I must hold belief in the fabled Jesus.

Buddhism has been called an atheistic religion - there it goes, the word religion used again. True Buddhists shld educate others, Buddhism IS NOT A RELIGION but a way of life, teachings that anyone can adopt (well, not really because to absorb Buddhist teachings, one need to analyse it first & that's the tough part because one need the brains to work.... & then it gradually becomes wisdom.)

Here are what I read apparently taught by The Buddha...

Do not simply believe what you hear just because you have heard it for a long time.
Do not follow tradition blindly merely because it has been practised in that way for many generations.
Do not be quick to listen to rumours.
Do not confirm anything just because it agrees with your scriptures.
Do not foolishly make assumptions.
Do not abruptly draw conclusions by what you see and hear.
Do not be fooled by outward appearances.
Do not hold on tightly to any view or idea just because you are comfortable with it.
Do not accept as fact anything that you yourself find to be logical.
Do not be convinced of anything out of respect and deference to your spiritual teachers.

You shld go beyond opinion and belief. You can rightly reject anything which when accepted, practised and perfected, le*** to more aversion, more craving and more delusion. They are not beneficial and are to be avoided. Conversely you can rightly accept anything which when accepted and practised le*** to unconditional love, contentment and wisdom. These things allow you time and space to develop a happy and peaceful mind. This shld be your criteria on what is and what is not the truth; on what shld be and what shld not be the spiritual practice.""""The Buddha
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written by chiongguo, April 26, 2009 22:46:15

True Buddhists shld educate others, Buddhism IS NOT A RELIGION but a way of life, teachings that anyone can adopt (well, not really because to absorb Buddhist teachings, one need to analyse it first & that's the tough part because one need the brains to work.... & then it gradually becomes wisdom.)



Hi Lynn,

Many buddhists themselves believe that buddhism is a religion. They have a set of beliefs that they held on for dear life - and many would take exception and offence when shown otherwise. But what buddha taught, even through his meditative practices, was the gradual abandonment of all beliefs. When this can be done and the "boat" is abandoned liberation is gained.

It doesn't help too when buddhism had collected over the millenia a lot of ritualistic practices...often at the expense of the far more important meditative practice.

Buddhistic wisdoms or more accurately our innate wisdom can never arise through analysis or perpetual noting like what vipassana practioners do. In fact a dunce gain liberation after Buddha taught him a simple technique.

However Buddha did talk of mundane wisdom of following his words - most of which are found in the dharmapada. These are gems, nuggets of wisdom that provide good guidance and if followed can lead to very benefitial and good outcomes in our life.
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written by rpremkumar2u, April 28, 2009 05:06:52
A simply brilliant article. As a caregiver ala pro bono, I am accustomed to staying over at the homes which require my services. A trio whose ages 9 , 2 and 1 were subjected to a TV breakdown. I advised their Mom not to have the TV repaired. Result: Better interaction between siblings and adults in the same house. TV is one way traffic. Ever wonder why the TV program is called program? It programs your mind!! My daughter is seeing someone and it was therefore quite welcoming that he requested she stay from trashy gossipy film mags and its evening fare on the Astro channel. Already I have started liking the fellow. I have viewed TV - the odd movie which I wanted to see so much but missed at the cinema, but that occurs like once in 2 months. For new I read Sun and for info i surf MT.
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written by Cikgu Bedah, May 06, 2009 10:51:02
Dr Azly Rahman for Minister of Education!