Here’s a possible pledge for online citizens of Singapore. If you don’t like, replace the We with Me. Still works…
We, the online citizens of Singapore, pledge to:
PUT a smiley face on sour news and go kekeke whenever we don’t like something.
LOOK kindly on rabid proponents on all sides of the cultural divide because they have a thick skin, even if they are deluded.
BLOCK trolls who swear and use invective or at least tell them nicely to stay out of our Face(book)
GIVE the benefit of the doubt to the G because we know it is no good at communicating, even if it means well.
BELIEVE in the goodness of our fellow men, even though we see mainly the ugly side online.
PARTICIPATE in every online petition that we are asked to, so as not to disappoint the originators who took the trouble.
ACCEPT as FB friends people from far flung places who are out to get your money – just to see what they try to do.
READ the right stuff, from the right people, in the right way, although we wouldn’t know if they have got it wrong.
RECOGNISE that people have different views and may not articulate them as well as we think they should – or we can.
DECLARE that racism, sexism, chauvinism and xenophobia (even when disguised as patriotism) has no place in discussion threads.
LEAVE the realm of conspiracy theories to writers of fiction even though they are fun to come up with.
REMEMBER that recriminations will be rewarded by more recriminations.
IGNORE those who pour cold water on everything good depending, of course, on our definition of “good’’.
SHARE liberally stories and photographs of heroes, especially those whom you can take home to meet mother.
HAPPY 49th BIRTHDAY, Singapore!!!!
An ex-journalist who can't get enough of the news after being in the business for 26 years
