Hamish Brown is one of the radio DJs whom I admire. He is humorous and professional (well, usually). I love to listen to his "five things" every morning at about 7.50 am while driving to work.
Yesterday morning, he had "five things Confucius say". Gosh, my memory must be failing me because out of five things, I could only remember two. Which two? Well, I shall not make the mistake of repeating them here as this is a family blog. If you are interested in them, visit this page and look for the two sayings starting with "foolish man give wife grand piano..." and "panties not best things on earth..."
Do not be mistaken. I am not complaining as I am not so uptight. In fact, I had a good laugh yesterday morning. I thoroughly enjoyed the jokes which I find quite harmless. Now I have one more thing to admire about Hamish Brown - his guts.
Yes, I know that the Internet has far far worse content than that. But somehow, national radio is different. It has a "radio programme code" which must not be breached. After all, wasn't Mediacorp fined $5,000 recently for Fly Dutchman/Glenn Ong's "sex talk"? A few years ago, Sheikh Haikel was even fired from his job at Perfect 10.
Let's see if Hamish Brown's 5 colourful things will get him into trouble this time. I certainly hope not as he was only repeating what is available widely on the Internet. But then on the Internet, the surfer chooses to visit those sites, just like you've chosen to come and read my blog. (By that, I am not saying whether my blog is desirable or not. The reader makes that judgement.) So it's strictly a personal choice - if you don't like it, you can always choose not to read it - the same principle which I apply myself.
However in contrast, radio contents are pushed down to the listener before he/she has a chance to switch the radio off or switch channels. Moreover, radio reaches a very wide audience - both young and old, men and women, open and conservative. The contents presented on radio (and TV) intrudes into our personal space, whether we like it or not.
Do tell me your opinion about such jokes being aired on national radio. Do you approve or disapprove?
Yesterday morning, he had "five things Confucius say". Gosh, my memory must be failing me because out of five things, I could only remember two. Which two? Well, I shall not make the mistake of repeating them here as this is a family blog. If you are interested in them, visit this page and look for the two sayings starting with "foolish man give wife grand piano..." and "panties not best things on earth..."
Do not be mistaken. I am not complaining as I am not so uptight. In fact, I had a good laugh yesterday morning. I thoroughly enjoyed the jokes which I find quite harmless. Now I have one more thing to admire about Hamish Brown - his guts.
Yes, I know that the Internet has far far worse content than that. But somehow, national radio is different. It has a "radio programme code" which must not be breached. After all, wasn't Mediacorp fined $5,000 recently for Fly Dutchman/Glenn Ong's "sex talk"? A few years ago, Sheikh Haikel was even fired from his job at Perfect 10.
Let's see if Hamish Brown's 5 colourful things will get him into trouble this time. I certainly hope not as he was only repeating what is available widely on the Internet. But then on the Internet, the surfer chooses to visit those sites, just like you've chosen to come and read my blog. (By that, I am not saying whether my blog is desirable or not. The reader makes that judgement.) So it's strictly a personal choice - if you don't like it, you can always choose not to read it - the same principle which I apply myself.
However in contrast, radio contents are pushed down to the listener before he/she has a chance to switch the radio off or switch channels. Moreover, radio reaches a very wide audience - both young and old, men and women, open and conservative. The contents presented on radio (and TV) intrudes into our personal space, whether we like it or not.
Do tell me your opinion about such jokes being aired on national radio. Do you approve or disapprove?
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8 comments:
Every morning I make sure I tune in to Gold FM90.5 to listen to Hamish Brown's tongue in cheek jokes. This has never failed to bring a smile on my face and make my day. Keep it up Hamish!!
For me as long as jokes are not sexist, ageist, racist or any kind of "ist" i am fine with it. As long as it doesn't hurt anyone he can fire away :D
Anonymous - Thanks for commenting and glad that we have the same taste. :p
I will be even more glad if you could leave a unique nick so I can tell it's you should you visit again.
FH - The problem is that everyone's definitions of "sexist", "ageist", "racist", etc are different and so is each person's threshold of tolerance to such topics. That is why some people complain while others think such topics are okay.
So I guess what Hamish said was naughty but not sexist?
Yes, not easy to decide what to allow...so have to draw a line somewhere
Remember some years ago an MP said something like Serangoon Rd or Little India being too dark because of many Indians...this is racist? I think he apologized later.
Fr - Ya, I think the status of the person who makes the comment and the context in which it was made also affect the public's reaction somewhat. That's why MPs have to be very careful about what they say in Parliament since its proceedings are publicised.
Similarly for politicians - a few of our leaders have also been criticised for their insensitive remarks regarding our neighbouring countries.
I think some form of naughtiness is inescapable for a radio station in the highly competitive battle for ears. Different people have different levels of tolerance, although surveys and feedback sessions have shown that the majority of Singapore's population is conservative.
I think one should always balance good taste in one's humour. If you need to be bawdy, don't do it at somebody else's expense.
Walter - What you said is so true.
Gold 90 FM is supposed to be a station that plays old songs most of the time. But lately I find that the DJs talk so much that it gets on your nerves sometimes.
Also, to quote Confucius saying such risque jokes is done at the expense of the old sage, although he is no longer around to protest against it.
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