As Suanie Sees It

Hmm…

First of all I think that the best things in life should be free. I am putting in my vote for Hoegaarden.

Then I have this bloody annoying persisting headache that even a couple Uphamol and sleep can’t fix. It’s making me feel like a caged tigress just anticipating that first big bloody mouthful, too bad I don’t know what/who/which prey else I’d have done something about it.

And there’s the theatrical notion that if you don’t like something, you don’t do/drink/eat/watch/read it. If it is an argument of me not liking San Miguel based purely on principle, heck I don’t blame you if you think twice about my past, present and future assessments and overall principles. The fact is that I have tried San Miguel, I find the taste far from my liking and there lies my personal preference of not wanting more of San Miguel in any future to come, biased or not.

But things are never so simple, are they? So here we go:

1. If you don’t like it, don’t read it.
2. If it offends you, don’t read it.
3. If you dislike it so much, why bother going back?

And so on and so forth. While the only lame justification I could attempt to produce for #3 is that at the best of times we are all suckers for self-punishment, #1 and #2 do need a bit more coverage. Oh those are easy defense, available at the tip of the tongue and so convenient to shift the focus to the perpetrators who despite not agreeing along the same lines or do not worship every damn footprint left centuries ago, might actually have something worthwhile to say.

But no, cannot. You don’t like it, you leave. You hate what you are reading, you leave. Never mind that it is a public domain, famous for being notorious somewhat, and *gasp* it is a BLOG on the INTERNET.

And I haven’t even touched on the various spokesperson stints, let alone the readership demographic.

So on this subject, I plea for those who do have opinions on the matter be allowed to carry on without having to go through the ‘great’ comebacks of leaving or not reading if you do not like it.

Besides, that is partly how these sort of things function, isn’t it? Someone says something, someone else reads it, loves it hates it, writes/bitches/comments/discuss/moan/whine about it about it… I mean, who am I to disrupt the flow of critical analysis or the lack thereof? I am, after all, just Suanie.

As for excess emotions that could be put to better use, well why don’t we all just buy an air ticket to Amsterdam and gloriously abuse the decriminalised laws that be? Problems solved, the world is one AND our brothers and sisters in Jamaica could generate more income geared towards a better life. You know, instead of yadda yadda-ing on our blogs about this that and everything else. Oh the filth we do spew.

But I greatly digress, so let’s go back to what really matters. Or as R puts it, mutiny.

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My problem, you see is not the character. Nor it is an attack on her moral values (Suanie, please refrain from adding anything after ‘values’ thank you). By her own admission, she helps people to cross the road and so on and so forth, not that it is of any interest to me because I am neither her friend nor foe and do not delight in what she does or does not outside her blog life.

What gnaws at me as a citizen of the net world is the message in that style delivered by an ambassador of sorts. It does not keep me awake at night, unfortunately it does not make me very happy in daylight either.

Yes yes I know that kids today are not stupid. Nevertheless a huge percentage is still impressionable. There’s blind loyalty and there’s blind loyalty. Blindly shooting here, but there’s someone who will grow up thinking that it is all right to use handicapped toilets because handicaps want to be treated as everyone else, the toilet is there all empty and lonely, what are the chances anyway that a handicap will want to use the toilet the same time as me, plus it’s not MY fault that you are in that wheelchair and I am not. Enforced by a hugely popular ambassador of sorts saying that handicaps have no right to be unreasonable when toilets built for their convenience are abused, well ladies and gentlemen, introducing a prime model of today’s metropolitan society.

Well, THAT is my problem.

An average of 16,000+ unique hits a day with plenty young minds wanting to be the next her who do worship the ground she walks on, THAT is my problem.

Oh there’s the judge least ye be judged. But you know, the last time I had repeating 12 to 16 year old site visitors was eons ago when I had a web shrine to Michael Jackson complete with bio, photos, discography and lyrics. Beat it, I was young and in love.

I don’t think I could be arsed to refute point-by-point, a lot of people are already doing it not least Peter Tan who has so kindly written a blog entry on why toilets for the disabled persons should only be used for the disabled persons. You know, to educate those who think they are entitled to using the handicap toilets based on stupidity.

Because if I really have to dwell on sentences like,

“As far as I am concerned, you have a physical disability - and that is where you have a disadvantage. Your bladder is working fine isn’t it? So you wait, just like normal people do, when there is a queue for the toilet. The rest of us queue up to use a toilet - I don’t see why the disabled should be any different.”

… and in the podcast the lines of “treated as a normal person” and “privilege not an entitlement” within this whole toilet context, sorry lah my blood pressure may just shoot through the roof and you all would never hear from this self-employed watchdog wannabe again, which of course IMHO would be a darn pity.

It is not really about protecting the underdogs. I have the never ending WWE drama for that.

It’s about public awareness.
Being civic-minded.
Empathy for the right reasons.
Understanding why.
Being more responsible.
Doing your part.
Educating others.
A better society.
A caring society.

And it can all start from not using the single toilet for the disabled when you have 6 other toilets to choose from, not even if you have to wait for your turn.

Now we’re talking.

Again it’s not about the character so the emo defense of her not being a bad person seems redundant. Her friends are right in that sometimes her style causes ‘misunderstandings’ and is open for attacks, but her message couldn’t be clearer with the podcast. Then there’s the misguided comprehension that an apology is in order due to the popularity of the blog and not anything else. Errr… okay… whatever turns you on lah.

Having said all that, I know how difficult it is to change one’s atoms with consciousness especially if the conversion in the law of conservation is slow to apply. In short, I don’t foresee her changing her train of thoughts just to suit anyone else, a trait of course which I appreciate especially when it comes to personal blogs. But I hope someone out there will realise that one can outgrow the other, even if the latter is an ambassador of sorts, yet the outgrowing is for the better and benefits a wider society.

This is the Internet after all. Hope springs eternal.

(Damn, I sound like a self-righteous bitch who got the last cookie, don’t I? I’m eating it as we speak.)

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If you want something else to think about, think about this conversation I had with Roland. I didn’t realise where he was going until much later, kept harping at the small ends, then I understood his point. Conversation slightly edited for clarity.

Roland: Why are disabled toilets only for the disabled?

suanie: why not?

Roland: because they can be used by everybody. In my opinion what they should do, that is just build toilets that are accessible by everybody, able-bodied and disabled. For example my mum has an invalid parking card. It is no use because ppl park in the disabled spot anyway. If you say something about it, they get upset

suanie: who get upset?

Roland: the people who are not allowed to park in the disabled parking spot and do so. But parking spots are everywhere. Toilets on the other hand, disabled people need to look hard for a toilet. Even abled people do nowadays in the city. So any toilet that is around should be there for everybody

suanie: you are talking this with a hint of sarcasm, aren’t you?

Roland: no sarcasm. Not sure about KL but here, it is damn hard to find a toilet. Then when you do find one, you can walk in like that. But disabled people have a bigger problem. They need a blatter the size of a whale. I absolutely vouch for more toilets.

suanie: and then having to wait for a toilet, then taking your chance at the disabled toilet based on the slim chance that no disabled would want to use it anytime soon?

Roland: when there are more toilets around, the chance is slimmer. If a disabled have to wait, the wait won’t be that long, will it? Unless someone is taking a huge dump. Usually there are a row of toilets for the abled.

suanie: here we usually have one toilet for the disabled, and the rest for the abled.

Roland: that disabled toilet is more idle than it is being used. They can wait for a toilet just like us. What if there is a row of disabled people waiting?

suanie: no they can’t. because chances are still that going out to a popular shopping mall for example, the ratio of abled to disabled people is still overweighed. if a disabled person has a faster chance of using the toilet rather than having to wait for an able bodied person inside, I still take that. This is in generality. When you go case by case, like the disabled having to wait 3 seconds for the abled to come out of the toilet after using it then that becomes a different look at it.

Roland: I guess what it all boils down to is, that we need more disabled friendly toilets. Having more disabled friendly toilets or lets call them multi-purpose toilets, then they have more options to go elsewhere or rather not having to look so hard to even find one

suanie: then it becomes a municipal situation

Roland: it should be a municipal situation because the costs outweigh the profits for commercial exploitation. space is very valuable in shopping malls. just to have someone do its shit, they don’t want to pay for it. they want revenue. you can’t charge disabled people more than abled people. that would be discrimination

suanie: i get your point

I think that in theory it is an ideal solution. To implement it fully would need the entire population be terrifyingly shaken into understanding and learning how to properly use a public toilet. Have you seen the state of some of our public toilets? No? Next time I’ll take pictures.

Updated: I think this fella said it much better than I did. Salute, salute, ohm.