The Tornado was a blog written by a social activist by the name of Omala Subramanium. Her biography stated that she was born in 1965, which meant she was 48. A social sciences graduate from the National University of Singapore, she had worked at a string of NGOs both locally and overseas. Her current position as director of Migrant Workers Count Too epitomised her social media persona—a fearless champion of marginalised groups in society. Her essays were strongly worded, persuasive and critical of the government policies and MNC practices that she deemed insidious and deleterious to the underprivileged.

The Tornado’s recent articles on the Little India riots were well received by the followers, many of whom stamped their approval via “likes” and gave supportive comments that ranged from logical and sensible statements to illogical and doggedly anti-establishment rants. It was practically a social media riot with words in place of stones and flame bottles targeted at the government.

Sharon found herself fired up. She opened up her word processor and started drafting an essay of rebuttals. As a debater at the prestigious Yale University, she had proven her mettle and defeated the best minds of her generation in the inter-varsity debates. This bleeding heart of a local graduate was no match for her. Sharon was determined to tear Omala Subramanium apart.

Elvis and Yu Chin arrived just as Sharon was putting the finishing touches to her article. On the pretext of seeking a second opinion, she asked that Elvis help vet her piece, but in actuality, she was trying to impress him with her writing.

“How much time did you spend on this?”

“Half an hour, give or take,” Sharon shrugged, cautiously nonchalant.

“That would be a half-hour flushed down the toilet.”

Sharon blushed. “Is my article not good enough?”

“It’s not your article.” Elvis emitted a barely perceptible sigh. “It’s your intention and your approach that I am questioning. What is it that you are trying to achieve here?”

“A point-by-point rebuttal of her article, to show her how wrong her arguments are,” Sharon replied, exasperated. She hated that she was not able to keep up with Elvis’ complex stream of thought.

“Omala Subramanium has been on our radar for years. She is sharp and intelligent, and has a substantial following on her blog. Her followers are die-hard fans, united by their collective distrust of powerful establishments, both governmental and commercial. They are what I call the inconvertibles. If you respond to the blog article, you will end up embroiled in a prolonged saga of online debate that will exhaust your time and energy. And they will remain unconvinced. Do you think this is an effective use of your time?”

Sharon could not argue with that. “Then how should we tackle an influential dissident like Omala Subramanium? She is pinning the blame for the riot on our failure to protect the migrant workers from systemic abuse by their agents and employers.”