E Contrario

I had been worried about what to say in a bloggers gathering on 19 May. The forum was called Embrace & Engage, sound cozy enough. Worse, we were told to compare the degree of press freedom under Dollah and DrM.

Nonetheless it was an honour to be invited to speak at the forum. I normally don’t see myself as a blogger, but I do a bit of blogging. I felt it was quite odd to think of a physical meeting to embrace and engage, for bloggers—almost by definition inhabit in the cyberspace and choose to express/exchange views behind the screen.

I in fact spent most of my time in the physical world. Blogging viz my activities in the cyberspace is basically a means to create change in the physical (real) world I live in.

In fact, I wasn’t sure what to say to interest people—most of them who are more professional players than me.

I took the opportunity to share my experience where activism and technology interact. I though I was lucky to have born and witnessed the transition of information technology. I saw the popularization of fax, handphone, email, web, etc. I was amazed with the rapid growth of these tools of communication.

From the primitive form of email to the boom of vast networks of websites, I never believe how fast I had to adapt myself. We also saw authoritarian regimes when communication tools help to mobilize mass movement.

Since 1999, website and now blogs become important means of information decemination. I tool was finally persuaded to set up my blog.

I told the forum that I adopted the title E Contrario which means “on the contrary” or “on the opposite (side)”, with the motto “life exists because of choice”.

I often view my physical world as being too limited, constrainted by all sorts of forces. Cyberspace is a world of freedom. Here I could select material from life to construct a different ‘Self’. In fact, I thought there should be less political stuff in my blog. I tried to write more about life as we are engaging (rather than just embracing).

Here I reiterated that life is different from living. Living is a mere continuation of breathing and heartbeat. Life is a product of choices. My political stands and activities are merely part of this choice making process.

At the end of it, I was not sure I had been too philosophical and perhaps nobody really understood me at all.

To console myself, probably communication of ideas was not that important. After all, we still have our blog to communicate our ideas more clearly. The fun was the physical meeting, sharing nice food, and the beer or wine for those who like them.

It was also a great night to get a chance to see the real people beneath the skin of the blogspots.