Google Before You Speak....

As human beings I reckon we all have this inherent knack to ask obvious questions. Perhaps I'm somewhat less of a human being because this pisses me off to no end. Speaking about urban human beings, most of us are very well connected these days. And yet we choose to use the net for nonsensical things, but when it comes to putting the whole connectivity thing to good use, we just mentally shut down and opt for the easy way out instead. By asking all sorts of obvious questions. Questions that can be answered if we could just connect our brains to our clicking and typing fingers.

I think this stems from our upbringing of seeing people ask silly questions. Remember all those times when we would have neighbors come over for a chit-chat with our moms? Let me paint a clearer picture for you. You're out playing in the yard, and your mother is there with you, watering the plants. Along comes a neighbor, and what does the neighbor say? "Assalamualaikum Kak Kiah, buat apa tu?" If the neighbor is blind, I concur. But more often than not, they are in no way handicapped. Perhaps just in the head. So many times when I get asked these obvious questions, sarcasm just begs to escape from my mouth. "Tak lah, tengah tangkap ikan ni. Nak buat gulai malam karang." The worse is when there's a death and everyone is busy at home handling the kenduri, along comes a passerby and says "Ada orang meninggal ka?" "Takdalah kak, kenduri kahwin ni, nak tengok pengantin? Masuklah, tu tengah terbujur kat ruang tamu tu! Pergilah merenjis."

Why can't we just do away with this silly culture of asking the obvious? This act has manifested itself into aiding us in becoming lazy human beings. Now, we look out the windows of our high-rise offices, dwell in our cozy little apartments, click away to read about the latest gossips in celebland, play farmville incessantly on facebook, twit away like there's no tomorrow, and somehow, still resort to asking obvious questions. Again, allow me to paint a clearer picture.

Tipah's Facebook Status Update:
"Not working today. Currently at MidValley, about to watch a movie with my husband."
And along comes Tipah's friend, eager to comment on that update. Here's what she says: "Hi Tipah, tengok wayang ka?"

Whenever I see things like that on Twitter or Facebook I feel like yanking my hair out by its roots. And of course I feel like butting in on Tipah's status and say something like "Bukan tengok wayang, dia tengah nak merompak panggung wayang tu." But of course, then I'd get labelled as Tipah's very rude friend. At this point, I really don't care, I'd rather be rude than dumb. Why do we feel the need to say something when we can't find something valid to say? Perhaps a better question for Tipah's friend to ask (kalau nak sangat comment kan) would be, "Tengok cerita apa?" Wouldn't that be better? Less stress for me anyway when I read it.

But forget about me, do it for yourselves. Stop asking stupid questions. What brought this on is not Tipah's status update. Although I have been grappling with the urge to be rude for a long time because I encounter so many people like Tipah's friends on Facebook, Twitter and everywhere else on the internet. What brought this on is the current water disruption plaguing the folks of the Klang Valley. The water company has been distributing its list of affected areas for a week now. All it takes is a simple google search and voila, you'll get a comprehensive list of which areas will be without water for 2 days. On the water company's Facebook page, they have already pasted a Note citing the list of affected areas. And still we have Facebook users, not 1 or 2 mind you, but hundreds, who visit the water company's Facebook wall and type things like "Saya duduk di Klang, kawasan saya terlibat tak?" or "Area Bandar Sri Damansara ada air tak?" If you were smart enough to log into Facebook, why can't you go a step further and click on the link they've given and read the damn list yourselves? Instead of resorting to the lazy way out and wait for someone to answer your question for you! I really pity the webmaster who has to answer each and every one of your lazy-assed inquiries. Why can't you people just do some legwork and find out the answers yourselves?

This thing has been rampant for a long time. I don't know about other countries, but for us in Malaysia, it has become common place. "Tengah makan ka?" when it is so obvious that the person is eating. "Taklah, tengah bagi mandi anak." If you're so desperate for a conversation opener, why can't you let your brains work a bit extra hard and come up with something less obvious. Try it, won't kill you, I swear.