IN HER speech at the Breakfast Media forum, Prof Thio Li-Ann made references to The Online Citizen and how some of its contents promote “confusion” instead of rational debate.
When The Online Citizen asked her to point out what she was referring to, Prof Thio clarified in an email reply that she was in fact referring to a comment posted on our website — rather than an article.
Fostering the spirit of community moderation, The Online Citizen does not actively censor comments unless they are found to be defamatory or offensive. In order to facilitate healthy debate, we would like to encourage readers who take offense at the comments to post a reply on our website, rather than criticise from afar.
The Online Citizen would like to thank Prof Thio for her clarification.
Below is the speech (in audio) by former Nominated Member of Parliament, Professor Thio Li-Ann, at the ATRIA’s New Media Breakfast forum on 9 September 2009. Her speech was titled, “Debating values in the public square.”
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Why is TOC so fixated on Thio?
LKY is supposedly Darwinian and the last I check, he is the God on the little red dot.
http://evolutiondiary.com/2006/11/21/lee-kuan-yew-is-a-darwinian/
It took TOC 2 weeks to get this out? This is not the TOC that we used to see. What is happening?
TOC has no view on Thio’s speech?
I don’t even wanna watch any video with her in it. Enough is enough of anything that has to do with her. Visually traumatic already, I prefer to spare my auditory senses from similar assaults. Yawn. :P
watch@sg,
Things take time. The speech is not edited or censored. So, not sure what you’re driving at.
Hi Watch@SG #2,
Thank you for your concern. If anybody wants to help out with TOC’s manpower constraint, please write to us at theonlinecitizen@gmail.com
Congrats to TOC. To be singled out means that you have reached an arbitrary level of status. =)
I didn’t know Prof Thio reads TOC. ;)
The ghost month is just over, and now TOC putting up large portrait of shameless being to haunt us ? Look like I’m going to have nightmare for days.
Is ATRIA’s New Media Breakfast forum another mouthpiece and loudspeaker of the incumbent ? If so, I fear it is not going to have just lunch to fill the hungry hippo.
Successful brainwashing using New Media Breakfast will lead to forum leveraging on its brand:
New Media Lunch
New Media Nap
New Media Dinner
New Media Supper
i listened up to the second video. she really needs to practice what preaches,
TOC, would be great to see an article by Thio in this space.
Part 3: around 5:00 time, she said: Liberals try to say “SHUT-up… this is not even argument” @@ wow, who coined “Shut-up and Sit-down”??
She repeated “OK” too often, so full of herself, such tirade.. is she on page 74 or 75??
Hi Kill_Netizen
Actually her over-usage of “OK” is not a good thing…
It shows that she lacks conviction and needs constant assurance from her audience…
At least this was what I was taught at those S$1k+ presentation classes…
I am so tired of this crazy woman cmg out of nowhere to force things into ppl’s throat. Can someone pls perform some charity and marry her off so that she can practise what she preaches. So irritating.
I thank TOC for attending this event and bringing to us the live recording of her speech. TOC could have further clarified this statement with her after the event.
I believe TOC is doing an excellent job in writing articles that are independent and thought provoking. It can also be more forgiving and non-confrontational in some of its articles if it wants to attract more mainstream readers.
I believe TOC has to further classify its articles as commentary or news reporting.
It has to do more to gain public recognition of its work as unbiased and stand up as a credible competitor to the mainstream newspapers. Cheers to your success.
why are you giving her the kind of attention she craves? she will wash off like water colour if you just ignore her endless rants
TOC, I swear to you this is true. When you first reported that ‘Prof Thio Li-Ann made references to The Online Citizen and how some of its contents promote “confusion” instead of rational debate.’, I suspected immediately that she might have been referring to comments posted here, which if need be said, you have limited control over.
It just shows how the Thiocracy deliberately continues to wage the war against Truth with her tactical omission of so important a fact.
What you deliberately leave out is just as important as what you don’t.
Ah, when one hear’s such attention to logic, what can one say but…Thio Li An
Indeed: who cares about Thio? What on earth makes her so important? Is it the fact that she always talks but rarely thinks? Or is it the fact that she is a bigot and not ashamed about it?
I do agree that we should be concerned with the possibility of religious fundamentalists poisoning the atmosphere in Singapore, but there is a difference between such legitimate concern and getting obsessed with this sad woman.
Thio Li-Ann admits she was referring to a post in the commentary thread and not a TOC article. She should have verified her facts before making such an audacious claim against The Online Citizen. Unlike her, TOC is very much committed to facts.
If it was the “comments” that had made Thio confused, then why she particularly mentioned TOC? Comments against her are everywhere on the Internet, be they forums, blogs etc. Is there some comments that she only found confusing here and not on other forums or blogs?
After all the the traumatic experiences she has been through, in the last couple of years, we have to give credit to her that she stands her ground.
Being an easy target of the liberal camp, one thing we can say is that she is a real tough cookie; uncompromising, arrogant and rock-like in her resolve.
Not many people will come up-front bravely, like she did.
She will be a real asset if she will to ever cross from the conservative to the liberal camp. People can change. Lets hope that she will come to her senses.
Thio Li-Ann, a comment in TOC and an article by TOC are entirely different things.
Do you expect the TOC to behave like the Straits Times or Mediacorp, censoring away comments that it does not agree with?
In line with “Debating values in the public square”, please invite PAP ministers to debate Chee Soon Chuan, Kenneth Jeyaretnam or anyone who disagrees with PAP policies and practices.
Thio should do the responsible thing and contact all those who were there at the event to clarify her statements and exonerate TOC. Indeed she should encourage them to visit TOC!
As a trained lawyer, TLA should know better not to “make a mountain out of a molehill”.
Singling out TOC to imposed her slanted criticism just because of a comment made by one Netizen, instead of focusing on TOC’s articles, is a display of her inherent tendency towards twisting the overall impression, by using a-speck-in-the -ocean tactics, to swing an argument to her favour.
This speaks a lot about her education, professionalism and behaviour.
I thought she wanted to promote human rights and democracry in America school? Than why was she so particular about the negative comments from readers in TOC. She only like to hear the good stuff about her? Could that be the reason why Singanews was created to suite to suit the ears of those who created it?
Thio had a tough childhood. Please excuse her.
Sure I do know what it is like to be a confirmed spinster.
In the circumstances Thio is performing well.
Of course like me she needs some good loving care in bed.
Budamaxx1952: She declined the opportunity to present her views, have them challenged and debated, and to then argue her point, when she decided not to go to NYU. No, I don’t think she is brave by any means at all. And anyone who is so stuck on religiosity and a particularly exclusive ideology would hardly ‘cross over’ I reckon.
What a funny story, she seemed to be confused by “content” and “comment”. I do not take this lightly as she is a law professor.
“Content” is usually something that comes from the editorial team and “comment” is generally some phrases that come from the public.
She can’t distinguish between the two, hahaha.
Well IMHO, she targets TOC but with the intention to mislead (no doubt she will find some reasons to say that comments on TOC is equivalent to TOC) really because she recognizes TOC as being the most ‘coherent’ and intelligent voices around. Notice how she first mentions about all the ‘irresponsible’ attacks against her online (no doubt there would be some that crossed the line), then slowly pull in TOC, without mentioning how TOC is being ‘irresponsible’.
The result?
People link ‘irresponsible’ with TOC. It’s like how the Bush Administration slowly sneak in linking Iraq to Sept 11 even though Saddam never played a part at all… simply by slowly mentioning Iraq and Al Queda in the same breath.
She not stupid. Stupid is just a different kind of smart.
As long as it is Thio, I would be wary whatever I read.
It is shocking what passes under the guise of academia.
She sounds more like a deranged woman than a professor of law.
TLA should be restrained under the public order act. Her rantings are infinitely worse than anything that any of the Operation Spectrum people did 22 years ago that got them into so much trouble. The government should seriously ask itself whether or not she is a threat to religious harmony in Singapore.
Typical hysteria. Everytime I see her, she looks like she’s possessed. The best is to ignore her.
Everytime i see her name, I *skip*.
35) ThioliBAN on September 23rd, 2009 1.33 pm Typical hysteria. Everytime I see her, she looks like she’s possessed. The best is to ignore her.
Everytime i see her name, I *skip*.
Hey – that’s not the right thing to do…
Haven’t you heard, if you leave TLA alone to do her ranting, she could grew like a cancer…silent and deadly!
And like a cancer, once it sets in, there is usually no cure – we do not need someone driving a divide in our social weave do we?
Dear TOC
Just like to know which comment on TOC did TLA find disagreeable or objectionable to her when you said:
“When The Online Citizen asked her to point out the article she was referring to, Prof Thio clarified in an email reply that she was in fact referring to a comment posted on our website — rather than an article.”
re: another quote:
“Her speech was titled, “Debating values in the public square.”
TLA chickened out from a truly free market place for ideas and debate at the NYU when she declined the visiting professorship. Not only that, she dared not put her name on TOC to engage us.
She should be ashamed of herself to even dare talked about “DEBATING” in the “PUBLIC SQUARE”. She sure gives the word DEBATE a very bad meaning.
Actually, the entire SingaNews episode is a comedy of errors. If you put anyone in the same room and on the same stage as Thio Li-Ann, that person will be seen either in the same light as her or in her shadow. The values that SingaNews speak of doesn’t actually differ from the Straits Times. Doesn’t the Straits Times target family readership too?