Mom came across an interesting article titled “Posh, Becks ‘bad example for kids'” and said that I should read it. (a similar one from the Guardian UK)
The article started by ‘LONDON: David and Victoria Beckham are the leading icons in a damaging celebrity culture that encourages children to believe they can become rich and successful without working hard at school, teachers warn. Pupils who dream of being pop stars and footballers are neglecting their studies and emulating the worst excesses of their idol’s language, behaviour and raunchy clothing, they claimed.’
It also stated that ‘Members who responded to the survey warn that a growing celebrity culture is contributing to underage drinking and anti-social behaviour, because some teen idols are foul-mouthed and yobbish. They also say provocative behaviour by scantily clad celebrities is increasingly robbing young girls of their innocence.’
The findings were released as members of the Association of Teachers and Lecturers prepare to gather for their annual conference. The findings did not suprise me at all since both of my parents and Allahyarham Prof Muhammad Al-Mahdi had be warning me and my siblings about all these problems (and more) all the time. Prof Muhammad‘s favourite example was Christina Aguilera but I can’t remember other names since I’m not familiar with pop/film stars. When I asked Prof who she is, he said that it is better if I do not know who she is. And after I saw her on TV not very long ago, I understood what he meant.
Reading the article, first I have to ask mum who are Posh, Becks, David and Victoria Beckham. Weird? Not for me because there are more important people worth to be admired like William Shakespeare, Charles Dickens, A Samad Said (Pak Samad), Usman Awang and of course Awang Goneng (Uncle Awang Goneng Siput?). Mum ‘introduced me to Charles Dickens, William Shakespeare and Usman Awang. Even Pak Samad too adviced me to read Usman Awang’s works (refer to Launching of Gemuruh Alam At RA Gallery). Mum stressed that even though I do not fancy literature, I have to know the works of at least a few famous writers (not only Enid Blyton who is my favourite) and I ended up enjoying their works.
My parents are not ‘old fashioned’, out of date or against modern civilisation. We started to use the computer since we were one year old but there are rules of what can/cannot be done on computer. The same goes to the internet. We sing and watch TV but we have to be smart in choosing the programs. We enjoy singing nursery ryhmes and songs with good messages such as nasheeds in both English and Malay. We do not watch Akademi Fantasia, American Idols, Gang Stars and those kind of reality shows (refer to A Trip To Taiping), Mr Bean, Senario, High School Musical and some others. But there are movies that we can watch and sometimes dad would even use the projector to make the movies more enjoyable. Dad once took us to a cinema (MBO Cineplex) to watch Shrek The Third and we really enjoyed ourselves especially eating the popcorns!
Dad introduced us to the beauty of poem readings and I love the way Pak Samad and Prof Rahman Shaari reading sajak (a type of Malay poem) Book reading is also beautiful; I even tried it once at Yang Mulia Raja Ahmad’s RA Gallery (refer to Launching of Gemuruh Alam at RA Gallery). I only wish that I’ll be good enough to read sajak one day.
Alhamdulillah my siblings and I do not adore or fancy celebrities and having them as our role models is the last thing that we want; even for the fact that we enjoy Yusof Islam’s songs. Of course I’ve heard of Siti Nurhaliza and Mawi but I do not know any of their songs or recognise their voice if I heard one. I pray to Allah to protect us from all these influences and guide us to the right path, Insya Allah.
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