i had a discussion with a friend today, which really made me think

what is singaporeanism. he professes a love for the food, an admiration for the results we get, but he despises the culture. I profess, Ive never had someone put that so succintly and bluntly in my face before. He called the singapore government a bloody dictatorship, about how he hated the way singaproeans are all geeks. meaning, job focused, greedy, individualistic, cheap - he called it, concerned with the tiniest nitty gritty things, things that involve money. Thats what pissed him off he said. How we pick on every scrap or ounce of goodness anyone throws but are selfish unro ourselves. All in all, we get good grades, but so what? Its all the nubmer crunching that we do that gets it, but he claims not to see any singaorean ceos? its the realtionships and communicaton skills that matter, no matter how competitive or self centred individualist we are. All in all, it results in a socitery full of selfish, greedy geeks, job centred and self centred. We dont care about the people around us, just about how to rip off or extract the best benefit from everyone else who isnt singaporean.

How we spend hours on the end endlessly bitching about people and things, politics but never get anything done about it. How inactivity has characterised the society that it becomes secular and selfish.

I took offence - why would your culture be superior just because you appear to care more about other things other than wokring your ass off to pay back your study loan. is it cos you sont have a study loan to pay off and money comes easily to you? Is that y? I knew he would deny it, and he did - ppl here they arent rich, they pay for their own things, live therilives simply but happy. it is the poor whoa re more willing to share, cuz the realise the meaning of being without and want more ppl to partake in their situation of having. Instead, its the rich who are more greedy and despite seeing their walth gorw want even more, and more and more...

it never ends does it - but really, I didnt knwwhat to say. Singaporeans are used to the govt telling us whats good for us, what we should do to look beyond society, and ow we are the most global, forward looking metroplitan city in the world? but are we?

In a way, he was being insular and refused to see where I was coming from, and yea I could say loads of things in the defence of singaore - how its this focusedness that got ppl where they are, that being apoltical means more meaningful things like helping the community are at hand, and of course he was an ass just not to realise that culture and morality in itsslf are subjective concepts and it would be unfair to judge one as being supeior to another jsut becasus subjectively to him- it appeared like a sucky way of life.

but really, people think that of singaporeans from having what contact they have with people here - even if there are valid reasons for acting the way we do - that we obviously understand and empathise with - why it is that it appears so completely abherrent to them?

tell me