I've taken nosedives in-between people and culture, both local and national, and the difference is like friggin’ water and booze. People here are caught in a loop of unhappiness; the complaints are always the same: "Foreigners", "fare hikes", "public transport", "education", "housing", "employment"... Having to go out sometimes can be a turn-off when Singaporeans on the streets pout like they've just gone through an ascetic vasectomy, castrated and impotent. That's probably why our night life seems brighter than our day.
"Uncreative", "confined" and "manufactured" are so balefully synonymous with the politically domesticated masses that it feels like we might be reared poultry. Anyone with any knowledge of the education system would know its syllabi are jaded as hell, with little sense of imagination and diversity. Kids are discouraged from writing about fantasies; their comprehension passages are about science prodigies, biographies, advertisements and business. Methodologies and art are conformed to ‘productive’ and ‘educational quality’.
Since time immemorial, cabbies have been the bitching-mongers of Singapore; they're iconic in knowing about all the shit that goes around. I like to think of them as our living WikiLeaks equivalent. And if we're truly happy, as the deluded and viscerally xenophobic might purport, why does it seem like our generation is the one that most wants out of Singapore?
This tight-lipped, ‘play safe’ society has sadly reached a point whereby if you tell the truth, it's, by default, processed as eccentric taboo. But there’s a difference between slurring it and saying it as it is – which is – Sg’s got a stagnant problem and Sg’s being roundabout (again) and faulting the wrong guys (again).
Take this unfortunate chap for example: Man undresses and fondles himself on public transport
See how EVERYONE else is, like, "Not a f**k was given"? At first, I'd thought it was photoshopped because I couldn't believe how casual the other people in the photo looked. Apparently, I was wrong. Our self-reservation is so incredulously obstinate that you could have a parade of nude, fornicating hippies and no one would be the wiser. I'm seriously and honestly, in all sense of the word, ashamed. Sure, someone called for help but that was about it.
No one took the initiative to restrain him or throw some clothes onto him. The idiots are just sitting duck letting themselves be visually violated. Now you've got the additional problem of post-traumatic-naked-man stress. There's another picture of him lying down in the midst of passive, can't-be-bothered passengers. Proves my point.
Rumours have it that he'd simply snapped from the stress -- whatever it was -- and became 'mental'. I'm not one to judge before knowing the full picture, which doesn't seem to be released yet. I, for one, would love to hear his side of the story. Maybe the press are withholding it, or public authorities are covering it up; we'll never know if they play their cards right, like always.
But it all comes back to haunt us, doesn't it? Does the problem lie with us, them, or Singapore? All I know is if cultural/societal/political reign has seen so much resistance, there's definitely something wrong going on. Our blissfully ignorant mindsets say: If it ain't broken, don't fix it. Little do we know, it is.
P.S. Since I'm on the topic of cultural norms, Singlish isn’t our trademark, it just makes us sound pissingly annoyed more than half the time. Nothing against it, it’s awesome to use when you’re really ticked leh.
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