For years, I've been telling people how bemused I am when Malaysians think I'm gay. Funnily enough, some people thought that this means I am insecure about my sexuality, and that my 'trigger' or my 'button' is when my masculinity is questioned.
I don't blame them, because they are idiots living in a stupid world of faux machismo. Also, they have no concept of complex ideas and are only attuned to simple, base emotions. This is important, as any campaign or work of commercial art requires you to boil down your messages to its empirical values. We're talking ad or political campaigns, films, books, songs, etc.
Like in Animal Farm, complex political ideals are simplified to the most basic - "four legs good, two legs bad". Malaysian film producers have long said that "Malaysians are stupid". This is both true and false. It's not about them being stupid or smart - it's about mental and emotional maturity. This maturity I define as being able to understand complex, subtle thoughts or emotions - something that comes with a developed sense of empathy.
The Malaysian audience or Malaysians in general are insular, selfish and ultimately low in empathy. We, as a people, don't care about other people - only what other people think about us. It is all in relation to ourselves. It's all about me.
Somebody dies, has a heart attack, wins the Nobel Prize, loses the Olympic gold medal, whatever, and the first reactions from Malaysians are always to the tune of "I can't believe this is happening to me!"
When MH370 and MH17 happened, some people even said how this COULD have involved them, hoping to get a piece of the attention. They said "I could have been on that plane! Mememememememe!" Or "I knew someone who was on that plane!" Or "I knew someone who could have been on that plane!" Or simply "I don't know how to respond, how to feel!"
First of all, are you in any way part of the search and rescue mission for MH370? Are you part of Malaysia's team of air crash investigators tasked to the MH17 case? If you are, then how you should feel is driven with a sense of purpose and duty, all the while maintaining calm and keeping all other emotions in check. That's how you should feel, if you are in any way involved.
If you are not part of the ones doing work, you can do everyone else a favour by shutting the fuck up and sticking your father's penis up your butthole. Fucking selfish motherfuckers. It's not about you, it's never been about you, and it will never be about you.
This, to me, goes to show how far the rabbit hole goes - extremely shallow. So, if you want to do anything that involves communication - ad campaigns, political bullshit, films, books, songs (modern pop songs are usually base emotions or situations, while some classics are delightfully layered and nuanced), you should:
1. Keep it simple
2. Show the audience how this is about them
Because in the end, Malaysians are fucking pondans.
