Grassroots Activism 101

By the time you read this Singapore will probably, pursuant to the laws of their nation, have necked Van Tuong Nguyen. As previously discussed it might not be right, but unfortunately it’s the inevitable consequence of breaking their law. With just a few hours to go before the penalty is carried out I suddenly recieved this MSN message from somebody not in my contact list who I can’t recall ever having spoken in my life ever. If it was you then I withdraw nothing - you’re a clown.

sori 2 disturb but 2moz van tuong ngyen will b hung in singapore. to show we hve respect plz put a rose in front of ur msn name . 4 pplz hu dont, u shud feel ashmd of urself then u can take the rose away late 2moz. thx send it 2 at least ten pplz wtin da nex hr plz

Once I ran the OMG! WTF! speech translator and worked out what it was saying in English I wasn’t impressed. Sure his/her heart is in the right place, but telling me I should be ashamed of myself if I don’t follow some shambolic empty gesture chain letter? Cram it. Twice.

I said, What about the thousands of other people executed across the globe every week?

Then he/she confirmed that they had absolutely no idea what was going on and were just being caught up in the same national wave of bandwagon activism that made everyone look like a cock when the Schappelle Corby verdict came down. Clearly this is more important, given that it involves somebody ending up on a rope, but the outcry is almost identical. Half the public are trying to apply for a hangman’s job, and the other half think we should invade immediately in order to free him from the evil regime.

In answer to my question, which I thought was a fair and balanced one..

LOL i dunno

LOL? Laughing out loud? Two seconds ago you were crying out about the injustice of it all and now you’re giving me crazy internet speak? BLOCKED. These are the sort of people who’ll be sending white powder to the Singaporean embassy and throwing eggs at Uni students tomorrow in some misguided attempt to feel like they’ve actually got some influence in the world. Before you jump on the bandwagon and start pushing causes to complete strangers (albeit not in English) shouldn’t you stop to think about it for a second? Clowns.

Can’t wait for the national outpouring of sympathy when the Bali Nine are about to face a firing squad. Bet you anything that nobody gives a rats then - and I will suffer a breakdown at the hypocrisy of it all. Any danger of inter-faith religious gatherings and marches to save the life of Renae Lawrence and the guys that nobody has ever heard of? I’ll believe it when I see it. If you think John Howard hasn’t done enough for Nguyen (and what exactly more is he supposed to do?) wait until he has to talk it up for a bunch of people who our own government agency basically loaded up and sent on their way to cop it. That’ll be interesting.

UPDATE - Here’s some of those intelligent activists now. From Wikipedia,



The kids of Australia have made their choice.