The Easily Offended and The Online Rants

It seems that, almost every day, somebody somewhere in the world gets offended at something and produces a long tirade against it. Sometimes, this is done on social media platforms like Facebook or blogs. Other times, it becomes published on e-zines or websites that accept article contributions.

The amount of insipid, inane rants online has increased exponentially in recent years and, young people being easily influenced, think that this is the norm. They think that once they have an opinion, everybody needs to hear about it, whether or not it has been thought through or researched properly.

We are all entitled to our opinions, it is true. However, if no consideration is given to whether or not it benefits or builds others up, it is perhaps best to leave things unsaid.

We are blessed with technological wonders like the internet that our ancestors could scarcely dream of and we end up turning it into a toxic, negative wasteland of drivel and spite. Such a pity, isn't it?

As I end my rant, here's to hoping for a brighter, kinder internet in the future, one where we can nourish and nurture one another instead of tearing each other down. Cheers!

 

 

A Demonstration in Bangkok

After a long trip, I'm back to blogging.

Half of the trip was spent in neighbouring Malaysia and the other half was spent in Thailand - Bangkok specifically.

I haven't been to Bangkok in a long while but my memories of it were of friendly locals, colourful culture and great food.

I wasn't disappointed.

Most of the local stall owners and people I interacted with were friendly and ever-helpful. One particular incident stood out to me: I was attempting to ask how much I needed to pay for some street food (which was delicious, by the way) and the stall owner spoke about as much English as I spoke Thai. So, she demonstrated by taking out the amount of money I needed to pay and showed it to me, all the while chuckling. I paid the amount shown and thanked her.

This incident reminded me that demonstrations can be very effective, even when there is a language barrier. It is, after all, one of the ways we learned about the world around us while growing up.

Thoughts after Reading: Talk Like TED

Written by Carmine Gallo, Talk Like TED is an analysis of the best presentations in the now-famous TED conferences.

The author picked out the common denominators behind what made these presentations so compelling to listen to and categorised them into:

1) Passion

2) Story-telling skills

3) Being conversational with the audience

4) Presenting novelty

5) Jaw-dropping moments

6) Multi-sensory experiences

Having had these experiences, I must say that the author is right on the money with these.

On a personal note, I love a good story and thus I find good story-telling skills particularly compelling. I highly recommend the book. After all, we will each have at least one major presentation in our lives. Why not make it good enough to be featured on TED?