Why I Am Against Idolising Celebrities

Since yesterday my Facebook feed has been flooded with news that T.O.P has slipped into coma and just today there is rumour that he is slowly losing signs of living. No, I am not a fan of K-Pop. I’ve got nothing against K-Pop, it just isn’t my cup of tea. And No, I am not a fan of T.O.P. I don’t even know what he looks like and I have not heard a single song from him.

T.O.P. slipped into a coma after an apparent drug overdose. It appeared to be a long story but the gist is that in this day and age, news on celebrities dipping themselves into a multitude of turmoil from physical violence to drug overdose have become a normalcy. T.O.P. just happens to be a well-celebrated singer who is too young to be facing death from an overdose that a lot of celebrities are struggling with and that consequently attracted attentions from the public in a way that is unprecedented.

I don’t idolise celebrities. Ya, there are a few that I quite like, and the only one I truly like and follow each album is Lady Gaga. Yup. Lady Gaga is eccentric, a human piece of oddity and was a mischievous and rebellious kid from a deeply conservative Christian family that has gained worldwide attractions by sending disturbing ripples on a global scale. But she can sing. Watch any of her live performance and you can tell she is a walking talent that can sing without any instrumental equipment or technological manipulations. That’s why I like her - I admire her talents. And that’s also why she gains respect from the entertainment industry not many could gain.

But I don’t idolise people to such a point I implore them to hold concerts in Malaysia. I don’t wish singers I like to hold autography sessions or I beg them to go on television shows or participate in reality game programmes so that I can watch them seemingly happily playing games, or to watch them seemingly enthusiastically go on certain events as an invited singer so that they can help garner audiences, or to watch them sit in an interview, answering awkward questions about questions bordering on privacy intrusion just because the fans love to hear every personal details on them, or to wish them post a picture on Instagram/Facebook on a daily basis so that I can have new posters to paste on my bedroom wall, or even so that I can, through the pictures they posted, spy on what cosmetics they are using, what food they like to eat, what brand of shirts they are wearing et cetera.

Celebrities are humans. They deserve to be treated as humans. Lots of celebrities like Miley Cyrus, Rihanna, got embroiled into troubles and drugs simply because the expectations from the public is too overwhelming and they have to sacrifice their personal lives to entertain and please their fans because of the fact that they literally live for their support. Australian singer Sia said she likes to cover her visage so that no one can recognise her so that she can appreciate her privacy. Can you blame her? How many reports have there been about celebrities’ privacy intrusion to the point restraining orders have to be issued? I used to read an article that said a Korean girl singer group has no rest, worked 365 days a year because of tight schedule. I watched an interview on Lu Yu with Hu Ge, and Hu Ge said the pressure he felt was so enormous he almost gave up and looked where he is now - he decided to get a break from the publicity and study in USA, but even while studying he is constantly spied on to the point his manager has to implore his fans to restrain themselves.

Reality game programmes have always been barrelled with allegations that everything is staged so that the audience can treat it as a genuine programme. Celebrities should deliberately lose. Celebrities should do this, or do that. Everything is allegedly staged, just so the audience would come back every week to watch the same programme - and that generates income the stations cannot resist. This gives humongous pressure on celebrities. Remember Lee Chong Wei in 2012 Olympics? Where he fell to the ground losing the potential first gold for Malaysia, and he apologised because apparently he has the hopes of Malaysians on his shoulders? He still delivered a silver, but he felt he let down Malaysians. That kind of pressure, do you think it is enjoyable?

Celebrities are human. Yes, we know you love them. We know they are why you have something to look forward to. We know they are why you can de-stress after a stressful day. But please recognise that they are humans. They have feelings. They have privacy. They, like us, need a private space of their own. If there is someone who constantly follow you everywhere and know where you go, where you live, what food you like or what shoes you wear, you would have lodged a police report claiming a stalker is tagging you. If in a job you are constantly asked to attend meetings and have piles of seamless work, you would have begged your boss to lesson your workload so that you get a room to breathe. If you go to a shopping market wanting to buy only a bread but keep getting stopped by promoters who are persistent of having you try their samples despite multiple respectful rejections, you would have got angry and probably yelled at them. Now put yourself in the celebrities' shoes, and tell me why everything you find annoying isn’t applicable to the celebrities?

Give them a break. Yes, they survive by entertaining their fans and the audiences. But they are also a living being who, like us, breathe, get tired, and are capable of feeling pressured. If you like your idols, set a boundary. Restrain yourself. You don’t want to love your idol that much, that you end up destroying their lives.

Selamat Hari Gawai

In Sarawak, on the first and second of June, the streets are damn quite, business districts seem deserted and the place seems to be in a lockdown. Fear not - it's just Hari Gawai in Sarawak. The days are as significant as CNY is to Chinese and Raya is to Malay. Okay actually the streets aren't as quite as during CNY where virtually all shops close, few shops still operate today. Anyway, Selamat Hari Gawai to all Sarawakians!

Digi Broadband

My hostel has no wifi for three weeks now. There is a payment dispute between the owner of my hostel and the contractor that fixes the wifi, and the contractor demands the payment to be paid before he is willing to install the ill-fated lightning-struck modem, to which the owner of my hostel appears to be reluctant to pay. Fine. So I forked out extra money to buy a broadband. Maxis is incredibly expensive, so I opted for Digi. To be honest I know nothing about quality or which is better, I just opted for the cheaper one. I wanted to be as frugal as possible, so I thought a phone-supported broadband would do. But as it turned out, my phone could not support a broadband. When I put the card in, my phone kept crashing, and a spam message called 'Class 0 Message' kept popping and I couldn't block it from infiltrating my phone. Even the phone shop workers were stymied, and they claimed they hadn't seen anything like that. Well, not having any other choices, desperate for wifi, I bought a modem that cost me RM90 more. I'm now sad. Just sad. The only thing I know now, is that I am moving out of this sad hostel next semester. P/s Digi Broadband is not bad, so far.

No Wifi

The enormous thunder in the morning on 2nd of May rather shook Kuching, and it completely destroyed my hostel's internet modem. Till today it has not yet been fixed because, as what I was told, the modem has to be sent to KL for a replacement to be received. Irresponsible. Unprofessional. Lousy service. I have no wifi for two weeks, and I can barely do any assignments in my hostel. I have to go to campus early in the morning, and go back only late at night, simply because I cannot do assignments in my room. Plus, uni is always full, it's hot when the centralised air-cond is off after 9.30pm, and it's extremely uncomfortable. This is stupid. I don't even know why I am still staying in this crappy place.

Construction Law

I'm taking Construction Law this semester. It's an elective for my programme but it's actually a Master of Construction Management unit. I am interested in law and have followed the developments of laws in Malaysia for years, but I always follow only constitutional and sometimes criminal law. Construction law overlaps very much with financial law, and is mostly about contracts, liabilities and duty of care. They are very interesting, but also very frustrating. Sometimes an issue can be argued in so many ways, I don't even know what is the legal advice I should provide in my assignment. Plus, as the unit was prepared primarily for the Master's students, it is prepared in a way that Master's students will cope with it. Here's the thing: Master's students take only 2 units per semester, but I am taking 4! It's too much work load for me at the moment. Okay, I'm exhausted. I'll worry about my assignment later.

Milo

Very recently I am obsessed with Milo. It's a chocolate drink I drank when I was little but somehow as I was growing up, I stopped drinking. That was a time I started drinking it with milk, but then again I fell out of the habit. Two months ago when I was sick I thought drinking Milo while suffering from a fever seemed endearing, so I bought 3-in-1 Milo to drink. And guess what? I started to drink it on a daily basis again. I don't know why, maybe it's just because I'm a Malaysian, and like every Malaysian, drinking Milo is a must as a Malaysian. Love the drink! The only thing I really hoped for is....please lower the price! It's quite expensive you know?

Busy Life Begins Again

It's been a while since I updated my blog. I usually make sure I update it once a week, at the minimum, but with my current workload I am unable to do so. Anyway I created this blog in 2009, and I have the intention of keeping it until I breathe in my last breath, or whatever unfortunate incident transpires that prevent me from doing so. Anyway I am taking Transport Engineering this semester, and the assignment is incredibly heavy and that makes my life incredibly hectic. I'm also taking Construction Law, an elective that requires an incredulous amount of reading and perusal of cases studies, so I really am bogged down. But, I'll be back. Will be away for a while.