Hope You are Still With Us

Haven't heard from anyone in awhile which I figure is the fault of our incredibly sparse postings of late. I guess when life get's back to an everyday routine, whether in Malaysia or elsewhere, our lack of creativity gets the best of us. I have honestly been spending a lot of time thinking about what I could inform you all about but I really have nothing. There is the little tidbit about the huge crush my neighbor's friend has on Sven. Apparently, Sven is all he talks about anymore. For my neighbor and I this is a fun topic, which we use often to make Sven blush and squirm but it does not work well as a blog topic. There is also the continuation of the story I began about the Malaysian media's fascination with publishing real or fake articles about drug busts almost everyday but I think the strangeness is only really striking to me and may not actually be all that weird at all.
I could also go on about the lack of freedom in the press here, which is mostly all owned in one way or another by the ruling government party. But I do not want to because I believe that the media in the US is equally horrible and unfree in a more insidious way and do not want you all to go quoting us to your friends with things like 'do you know in Malaysia that the government controls the press, how awful!' I am protective of Malaysia that way. It drives Sven crazy because he believes you should call a spade a spade wherever you are but I think it is important that we do not contribute to negative stereotypes of developing countries, foreign cultures, Muslim communities, etc. That is the easy path, the one of least resistance which justifies our own behaviors, comforts, beliefs, and ways of thinking, without reflecting on the fact that ours is not the only or the best way. And besides, there are plenty of people out there already doing this. I think we have a responsibility actually to combat those images or at least, recognize our own shortcomings as a culture and society first before we judge others - sort of a people who live in glass houses should not throw stones attitude. Like I said, this drives Sven crazy and I am sure some of you are rolling your eyes as well but that is my belief and I am sticking to it.
On the other hand, I am not afraid to say that most local news in Malaysia is empty and hollow and even silly at times. I have been scanning and reading a Malay and English language newspaper everyday for the last week for my research and am stunned by what amounts to news in this country and especially, what counts as an article. For instance, there was a recent incident here where a young five year old boy was taken from a shopping mall and missing for two weeks. He was finally turned in by a couple from Myanmar, who had been living here for years as refugees. The couple who had the boy for two weeks called the family (coincidentallybusybodiness that is so prominent in the kampung (village areas) should not be abandoned when we move to the city. The 'expert' in this story claimed that busybodiness is especially important when you move to the city so that we do not all become unaware of our neighbors and overlook things like missing children or the unexpected addition of a five year old child to the family. And finally, the clincher mostly because it was an article first read by Sven the other evening when I forced him to at least try to study. Already grumbling, Sven chose an article with a title something like 'If you confine kids that are not yours, you could be accused of kidnapping'. The article went on to repeat the advice offered by the head of police that people who find missing children should immediately contact the police rather than keep them for extended periods of time in their home because this could lead to the accusation of kidnapping! Man, Sven was fuming mad at the 'stupidity' and I am pretty sure I will not be able to get him to read the paper again for awhile. These gems of information are truly indicative of the quality of news here.
But being the obnoxious point the finger at your own behavior before pointing it at others believer that I am, I would like to add that the pattern definitely mirrors in some ways what you are all witnessing now in the aftermath of the VTech tragedy, with everyone trying to understand how something like that could happen, who to blame, etc. The difference is though that it feels like here we have a group of high schoolers filling the role of not just reporters but police chief, experts, etc. The advice is so simple and straightforward, there is no deep psychology or convoluted sociological analysis so it is silly to read and seemingly nonsense but I am not sure that this is really any worse than the US. For one, there is something refreshing in the lack of sophistication which makes the sometimes ridiculous news transparent to the Malaysians who laugh unabashedly at the press. There is, despite nothing really being done to oppose it, a widespread awareness that the news is neither free nor the unequivocal bearer of truth here in Malaysia. In the US, we still accept that it is free even if we argue over its 'liberalness' or 'conservativeness' nature and believe that facts are being reported in some way or another. Because of its 'freeness' and sophistication, I think the intended and unintended effects of the news are more deeply hidden in the US, harder to pin down and openly laugh at. Not saying one is worse than the other but just want to be clear, we Americans do not have it all figured out and a 'free press' does not unquestionably equal a public informed with the facts and an 'unfree press' does not mean that people are unaware of the absurdity of many of the things reported in the news.
Boy, I get off on tangents. I started this blog today with the intention of commenting on our last post with the Will Ferrell video. I was going to say, I hope your silence does not mean we offended with the video. When I first, came across the video I thought it was simply funny. Probably because I love Will Ferrell and think that he can do no wrong. Even though it occurred to me that maybe having a little girl curse and play drunk might not be appropriate, I was willing to let it slide because hey, it was Will Ferrell, he is a nice guy, right? I am actually still not sure what I think. Is the little girl being exploited? I do not know. Anyway, apparently the video is getting a lot of attention as being controversial (here is a link to a short article that was linked to the msn home page today http://www.slate.com/id/2164301/#school?GT1=9330) and I wanted to hear from you all. Do you think Ben and I are shameless for reproducing this video? Is it unfunny? Exploitative? Will you ever go to another Will Ferrell movie? Like I said, I honestly don't know what to think, it feels harmless but maybe not.
So anyway, hope you are all still with us and it was simply just the sheer boringness of the blog lately that has made you all so quiet. For that I can only say that we are an old married couple, succumbing to the laziness that pervades the air here and there is not much we can do about it. We will try though, maybe Sven can stir things up the next time we are on campus by wearing some shorts or kicking over a trash can or two. Take care, StB

I just read this post and I want all of you to know that this is our typical dinner conversation. What I wouldn't do for some fart jokes. For the record, I thought the Will Ferrel video was hilarious and I say exploit those little kids if it makes me laugh.
SB