Sorting out the bad apples

This is just a posting to break myself from the usual politics.

It's after all a weekend, and I don't think anyone in the right mind would want to continue with hardcore politics without a break, even during the weekends.

Okay, a few days ago I hang out with an editor of a newspaper who is an intimate acquaintance of mine for many years.

He was very frank with me. He was angry because PM DS Najib Razak is being attacked from all sides ever since the GE13, especially in the social media.

Among others, he told me that he loathes sopo bloggers....well, except me of course.

"These people are writing garbage," he exasperatedly remarked.

"In the first place, who the hell are they to write all that nonsense as if they were all experts.

"They simply write things according to their whims and fancies without even the slightest regards for the ethics of journalism."

I just listened to him as he rambled away full of venom.

"And the worse thing is that, we do not even really know most of them. Who they are? What are their real jobs? etc.

"They just came out of the woodworks and write all sorts of bullshits. And then there were some idiots who thought they should be given the recognition as if they are real journalists. Some of them were even invited to briefings at the Prime Minister's office."

"You tell me, what did they really contribute during the general election? Were they effective in fighting the Opposition cybertroopers?

"These people are actually only good at character assassinations and nothing else.

"Personally, I think they did more harm than good to BN. I also think that most of them are in it for personal gains and nothing else."

At that point, I interjected and told him that as a blogger, I had never asked or received anything from BN politicians for whatever I wrote in this blog.

He knows that what I said was true.

I also told him that I can only speaks for myself and the one or two prominent sopo bloggers whom I know that are genuinely writing in support of BN. We wrote in support of BN because we believe in the cause and that Pakatan is not an option to run the country.

We didn't expect to be rewarded with tones of money or given special status and invited to be briefed at the PMO. We write mostly just to express what we think of certain issues or share what we know about things that were happening around us.

Honestly, when I first started this blog a month before GE13, I didn't even regard this blog as more than a diary to express myself publicly. I think it is better for me to express myself by writing than doing something crazy.

I never force anyone to read what I wrote and never gain any monetary profit from it.

And those who disagree with what I wrote may express themselves too in the comments section. They can even curse and call me vile names.

But I do hope that this humble blog, with its small readership could help a bit in spreading the idea that BN, despite its flaws is still the better option to run the country. It's not because I'm so fond of BN, that I'm doing this, but rather I care for this country and don't want it to be taken over by worse people. And if the BN people misbehave, I'm still going to take them to task for what they did.

Furthermore, who does my dear editor friend expects to wage the cyberwar for BN? His newspapers' website which is being overwhelmed by the pro-Pakatan websites and news portals such as Malaysiakini and Malaysian Insider?

Or does he expects BN to rely on the likes of Tun Faisal and his cybertroopers?

Well, whether we like it or not, blogs and other such vehicles of the social media are here to stay. They may evolve from one form to another, but utilizing them is definitely how the political battle for the heart and mind of Malaysians could be won from now onwards.

I'm not saying that other mediums such as newspapers and television are not important anymore. But I think they need to still be supported by the social media to be really effective.

As proven back then in 2008, Pakatan made their major gains backed by just the social media practitioners against BN's mighty mainstream media. Now, after the GE13, they have even gain control over a large portion of the mainstream media, aside from almost totally dominating the country's social media. For instance, there is only a single English newspaper which is still considered as being genuinely supportive of BN. My editor friend works for this newspaper. The rest of the English newspapers I believe are leaning to the other side despite their claims of neutrality.

Now, do the BN media handlers still wish to kill off the few blogs which are supportive of the establishment?

I don't deny that there are indeed shady characters who try to make tones of money by masquerading themselves as pro-BN social media practitioners. But I think the BN media handlers need to be really careful in order to differentiate  such bad apples from the good ones.

If they still got it wrong on this one, then I think BN's future is very bleak indeed.