Commentary: Bumblebee’s Actions Are Acceptable; His Reason for His Actions Isn’t

By now, most people would have associated Bumblebee with a yellow-hair guy with yellow and black strips shirt, and not with this.

We won’t associate Bumblebee with Chevrolet, but with ITE. And that’s why we need to talk about this.

In case you’ve been living in a cave, here’s the story that has rocked Singapore: a viral video of a student in TP who went apeshit was uploaded a few days back, and the star of the video, aptly nicknamed Bumblebee, alleged that he was stereotyped and looked down upon as he was from ITE.

He even went to the lecture stage and said how rocky his journey to polytechnic has been, and that he’s going to earn more money despite his ITE background.

Okay, he could have just said all this out of anger, so we can just forgive and forget.

But no. He suddenly became an activist for ITE students, and wanted people to stop looking down on ITE students because he claimed that he’s a victim. And from his Instagram, he seems to love this direction.

Here’s when it can’t be forgiven and forgotten.

Because that crossed the line.

Playing the victim to prove a point?

I can’t say that I speak for everyone, but the way I see it, it seems like Bumblebee has taken the direction of a victim who’s been stigmatized by his classmates for being an ITE grad, and his life goal is now to stand up for all ITE students.

You see, according to insiders’ accounts, his classmates were merely annoyed by how he had often caused disruptions in class. Every class has one of these students, and usually, they turned out fine after they graduated. Seeking attention is part of human nature.

But Bumblebee seemed to have made a mountain out of a molehill from that, either to sensationalize the whole issue, to stand on the side of justice (whether right or wrong) or simply to play the victim’s card.

While it may seem innocuous, it isn’t.

Playing the Victim’s Card & Making All of Us the Bad Guys

I’ve many friends who graduated from ITE, many friends who got into poly after ITE and countless ones who even got a degree after that. From my experience, no one gives a damn about where they were from: in fact, usually they’re the more mature ones.

All I remember about Guy A who graduated from ITE is that he’s often friendzoned, Guy B is one who always “solo” during soccer games and Lady C is one who has make-up as thick as 8mm. And no, nothing about where they graduated from.

I asked my friends and all of them DGAF about a friend’s previous educations: I mean, why would we care?

Bumblebee seems to imply that we care. We don’t. We just want to watch drama online and this is one of them.

But this affects society

Which is why his actions, despite how harmful it looks, is acceptable to me (‘coz these fights in poly are so common, eh?), but his reason for his actions aren’t.

ITE graduates have to apologize on behalf of Bumblebee.

People might think we really do stereotype ITE graduates.

The reprcussions of a viral video that shows two students fighting wouldn’t be as big as a guy claiming that he has been put on the sideline, just so to gain attention.

The quest for attention

In my opinion, it’s all about the quest for attention, and this case, the way to gain it just isn’t acceptable.

What do you think?

Do come back tomorrow for more commentary!