Problem Solution Essay Draft 1

 Because in Singapore politics, the vocal minority are able to express their views over social media, resulting in dissidents spreading hate and deceiving readers, the ministry of education (MOE) should start educating teenagers to be well discerning of false information.

A worrying trend has begun, whereby people content with a particular system do little to air their content, while discontent people take it upon themselves to criticize the system openly, making sure their voices are heard by many. This has led to the terms “silent majority” and “vocal minority” being coined.

A lack of regulation results in a free for all online landscape, where almost anything can be put up leaving the reader to be well discerning of whatever they are reading. However, it is often difficult to cross reference information presented online, resulting in people often believing what they read or watch at face value. The spread of the most ridiculous articles on social media proves that many are often unable to easily discern from false information.

The lack of regulations online as well as a significant number of the public being unable to be well discerning of what they are reading results in the rise of purposefully spread disinformation originating from individuals or groups with vested interests. A well written argument based on false information complemented with professional charts can easily sway many, stirring up their emotions and convincing them to act. This is worrying especially since our political leaders are democratically elected and such disinformation can sway the minds of many impressionable voters resulting in politicians becoming dismissed. One clear example would be the Roy Ngerng saga (1). Ngerng made baseless accusations against the prime minister accusing him of misappropriation of money in an article. This article was shared by many among social media, which garnered him many supporters. Due to the high profile involvement in this case, Ngerng was taken to court and found guilty of defaming the prime minister.

However, this is not all. The nature of the online landscape combined with the vocal minority and silent majority mean that a small number of loud individuals can dominate the online scene, giving the ordinary folk a mistaken impression of the actual reality. Such behaviour is apparent on online forums, news website comments, and all over social media. Online, there are scores of people insulting the government on everything from government policies to politician’s salaries. If one solely looked at the online landscape, they would come to the conclusion that Singaporeans are very unhappy with their government. However popularity surveys and election polls show a much different reality.

The current solution put forward by the Singapore government is the regulation of news websites. News websites have additional perceived reliability due to the term “news” being used, and thus clamping down on websites that claim to be news but are indeed satire or actually merely personal opinion is a right step forward. The government takes the role of deciding if the news reported is newsworthy, and if necessary, take action to remove misleading websites. This is however a reactive approach which does not tackle the root problem, since disinformation and hatred can still be spread in the forms of social media such as facebook posts and tweets which are practically impossible to regulate.

An active solution would be to educate the masses to equip them with skills to be able to evaluate arguments and spot people who are trying to deceive others. Once people are able to appropriately discern for themselves what is true and what may be trying to mislead, disinformation would not get much attention as it does today, and such information be immediately frowned upon. It is only because so many believe false information that these articles and posts are able to gain such popularity. One way to equip the public with critical thinking skills would be to introduce critical thinking classes in secondary school by the Ministry of Education. Critical thinking helps people think and accurately choose from themselves what to believe, through the consideration of a wide array of sources. By incorporating such lessons in secondary school, the public as a whole whom have all been through secondary school would have acquired such skills in the eventual future.

The problem of misleading information of the internet in the form of misleading arguments as well as overcrowding of negativity towards the government should ultimately be solved at its roots, by teaching individuals how to discern what information they come across. However, there might be reasons for why even the government might not want to correct the problem with education. By equipping the masses with such skills, it would become harder to run the government as citizens will become more critical towards their actions, and hold them to a higher standard. In the latest World Press Freedom Index, Singapore ranked a measly 153 (3), and thus giving citizens critical thinking skills might perhaps not in reality help the government agenda.

1. http://news.asiaone.com/news/singapore/blogger-roy-ngerng-found-guilty-defaming-pm-lee

2. https://sg.news.yahoo.com/10-online-news-sites-must-follow-traditional-media-regulations--mda-103906167.html

3. http://www.straitstimes.com/news/world/more-world-stories/story/lastest-world-press-freedom-index-shows-drastic-decline-singapor