September 2010

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Recently Juana Jaafar wrote Is This the Independent Generation? published by Malaysian Digest. It was what I felt, a brilliant between the line analysis of what many, if not many more, overlook. Every once in a while, at random intervals, I would meet this homegirl of mine (as we grew up in the same town) at our local joint for a specific kind of supper that would on average last almost three hours, where we talk on I suppose whatever that concerns and interests us. From civil rights to politics, social media to Islamization. To note, when I first started being involved with social advocacy (or whatever term that floats your boat), she was one of my reference point as to when I needed guidance, advice, opinion or plain help. See article below or read from source here.

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‘The Portuguese say a esperança é a última a morrer, meaning hope is last to die. A romantic notion, but one we desperately need to believe, especially today. The social sphere has only gotten worse since last year when our spirits were vilified by the cow-head fiasco in Shah Alam which happened around the time of the Merdeka and Malaysia Day celebrations. Since then, we have had increased incidences of intolerance including several attacks on houses of worship, the most recent being a case of vandalism at a surau. Things are not well amongst Malaysians though the national press, politicians and others in denial may say otherwise.

On the eve of Merdeka Day this year, at least one group of youngsters was assaulted for being “different”. It’s hard to call it an isolated incident looking at the kind of comments and language used among Malaysian social media users when they discuss the “other”, or unity for that matter. Ironically, some of the more divisive remarks are being made by self-professed progressives and caliphs of justice.

So if what the Japanese say is true – that unless an idiot dies, he won’t be cured – then the nation has a lot to worry about. It seems like their numbers have increased dramatically in just a year and frighteningly many are youths who have many more years to live ahead of them. To get a feel of their idiocy, simply log on to Twitter or Facebook and pasang telinga on their conversations.

You won’t miss them for they are the loudest. They often proselytise a collective, upright, all-embracing “We” against a bigoted “Them” that must be annihilated, preferably in one blow through a General Election or countrywide State of Emergency. But in the meantime gnawing at their enemy via petty insults on social media platforms will have to do since it inflicts immediate pain and is the cheaper option. The most recent examples of this can be found on comment threads related to the withdrawn TV3 Hari Raya advertisement, Datuk Sosilawati Lawiya’s murder investigation and just about any political editorial or news post that allows free comment.

Because they are of the Wikipedia generation and many have tertiary education, these youths also feel they are intelligent and a force to be reckoned with. But engage them on an issue where you take an opposing view, the discussion will almost surely end with name-calling or accusations of cyber-trooping; So much for intelligent discourse. Worse still, older adults who lived through the “frustrating years” of the 80s and 90s are quite happy to legitimise this idiocy with encouragement and ReTweets.

This is also the generation that refuses to be spooked by the May 13 bogeyman and so feel they can speak however they want without consequence. They proudly say they cannot be fooled into fear and have cunningly absolved themselves of any responsibility by placing the blame for violence on the older generation. That the perpetrators of the hate crimes we have seen in the past year are predominantly youths is decidedly not their fault, rather it is the result of another generation’s persuasions. As the English say, justice pleaseth few in their own house.

But they are the generation of hope. They hope to bring change although the only change they are offering at present is a change in government, regardless of which side of the political fence they sit. Political parties love them for this short-sightedness as they benefit from free propaganda on social media. This shallow political engagement has brought about not only friction in our society, but an attitude of indispensability among those of this generation. Sad, for surely there is nothing quite as embarrassing as a proud idiot. Worse still, a generation of them.

Or perhaps one is being too hard on one’s self?’

- Juana Jaafar

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http://zainhd.com/2010/09/arrogance-of-youth-my-fellows-uncouth