14 DAY TRIAL // The above is paraphrasing a song from System of a Down, "Toxicity". And with that out of the way?
You do like the happy Asian people that seem to always be wherever some karaoke event is bound is happen, don't you? Well you're in for a treat with this YouTube video, as middle-aged executives are seen moving and shaking to a rap tune, mouthing lines taken from a corporate brochure. Oh, I meant you're in for a treat if you're from anywhere else except Singapore, the "birth" place of the video I'm talking about.
How about watching the rendition of the classical "wolf in the sheep's skin" story? Because that's what this video is all about, the censors trying to promote an extremely open and vibrant media city that is working at full capacity towards the happiness of its local populace and is fired on all cylinders to ensure fairness and equality.
The video was government funded and was intended to "promote the growth of the media industry, to promote core values and safeguard consumer interests", as Singapore's Media Development Authority's website says. The government body hopes that the rap video will showcase Singapore's potential to be "a vibrant media city". Reuters lets its readers know that "critics say this ambition does not rhyme with Singapore's regular censorship of films and theatre and the many defamation lawsuits its government have launched against foreign media."
The YouTube video has 58660 watches at the time I'm writing this so it can be said that it is potentially a success, with over ten thousand hits a day but the comments it received are not gratifying at all, one of the nicest being that "William Hung is more entertaining," with a direct reference to the goofy singer that was made famous in "American Idol".