So the track record continues: No one from Singapore Press Holdings or anyone remotely related to any government agency has come out to publicly defend STOMP with a straight face.

Al Jazeera -- which is a Qatari news organisation that is biased in its own awesome way -- recently had a discussion on The Stream, their daily TV show that runs on the web.

The Stream had extended an invitation to STOMP, the Media Development Authority (MDA) and the Ministry of Communications and Information (MCI) to appear on the show, which aired on April 14, 2014.

The programme's topic for the day was "Singapore's shame addiction".

All solemnly declined.

Petition to close down STOMP successful enough

The programme's topic was conceived in the wake of a massive backlash from Singaporeans who took to signing an online petition calling for STOMP, a SPH-owned site dedicated to voyeurism, to be shut down.

The petition, which raked in more than 22,700 signatures in over a week, however, did not manage to close STOMP down -- which really isn't the point in the first place because censorship isn't the way to go.

But it has managed to show that no one with a name, a face and a thick hide is capable of defending STOMP in public without flinching.

STOMP's position has always been untenable and no one can stand up for it -- without looking like a dunce.

To be able to show this is a small step in the right direction.

Because anyone who wants to take on that task is reflective enough. A STOMP defender cannot help but inevitably end up becoming a target of public shaming himself or herself.

Therefore, the petition has achieved one unstated goal: Giving STOMP a whiff of their own medicine -- first.

Before we go on to make them chug the whole bottle down.

For more background of this issue, read:

Petition to close down STOMP reaches 11,000 signatures in 18 hours

Petition to close down STOMP gets 19,000 signatures in 36 hours

Top photo from The Stream

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