I honestly don't know why so much time and agony has been spent fussing over TV3's Chinese New Year vignette. About the same time two years ago, Perodua's operatic snippets came under similar fire for no apparent reason, other than the excuse that it was "offensive" and "insulting" to some.

Personally, I found nothing wrong whatsoever with the aforementioned ads. Except that they were just a teensy bit naughty, the ads were otherwise very well-crafted.

Ask yourself: who or what are we really afraid of offending? Ourselves? Dark-skinned people? People different from us?

Are we turning into a community of paranoid, frightened, primitive, polemical and overly sensitive people, afraid of confronting truth about ourselves, however painful and controversial that may be?

Have we forgotten that "He who laughs at himself never ceases to be amused"?