THE SINGAPORE INTERNET COMMUNITY IS SERIOUSLY SO ENTERTAINING THESE FEW DAYS! I don't mean that it is bustling with activity about serious stuff like the elections, I mean really juicy gossip that everyone likes to sink their teeth (and claws, from the looks of some of the comments online) into! Since when did we have so much interesting news to share? It's so interesting that I'm more fascinated by all the ongoings in Singapore than say, the news of a morbidly obese guy who got himself fused to a chair after not getting up for 2 years.
If I knew earlier that so many debacles were going to happen I would have gotten my popcorn and chips ready to munch while enjoying all the entertaining news!
I know I don't usually do posts that have much to do with my country, but I thought I should go ahead and join in the party and provide a few, albeit useless and pathetically insignificant, thoughts on all the, uh, issues, for want of a better word.
So let's start! I'm only going to cover 3 issues here, all of which I had some sort of a reaction to it. There are plenty of other pieces of news I'm not going to touch on because I can't care enough for them. Too bad. So let's go!
So for those of you living in a hole, here's the entire summary. Last Friday, a girl named Samantha called into a 91.3FM radio show. She aired her grievances about uncultured heartlanders stepping foot into the sacred elite ground of Holland Village. After a few insults thrown the way of heartlanders like yours truly, a Bedok resident called to rebutt. A debate ensued, only to be cut short by the DJ due to time constraints. Nevertheless, it caught on as a Singaporean Phenomenon on the Internet* and it went viral over our little island the next day.
*From here on forth called SPI, which coincidentally stands for Singapore Paranormal Investigators as well. How apt, because it is paranormal for so many controversial issues to break out in Singapore.
Samantha then called back the following Monday, to apologise! Oh My God! She regretted her words! NOT. She called to say that she was sorry that other people felt that way (insulted) about her comments. Yeah. That has got to be the most veiled insult ever. It's like you're telling someone "I'm sorry you are so fat." (but you are still fat), or "I'm sorry you suck as a person" (but you still suck). Worst type of apology ever, you just insulted us, stop trying to act like you're sorry to garner sympathy.
Barring my thoughts on whether the entire apology call was staged or not (I mean, REALLY, the radio station didn't have her number and she could get through to the show a second time in 4 days? How come that never happened to me when I tried to win Harry Potter tickets last year?).
Well sweetie, I'm also sorry. I'm sorry that you have such a microscopic view of the world. Really, I am. I am sorry that you think certain areas in Singapore are restricted, that we should not have integration between citizens of different income brackets. I am sorry that you're a coward for calling in to air your grievances but not come out and say directly who you are. I am sorry for feeling righteous anger towards your discrimination towards your fellow citizens. I am also sorry that you are one of the rich people whom my friends and I like to bitch about.
But I'm not sorry for feeling all those things above, no. Also, as per your exemplary example, I am sorry but I won't retract my words. Too bad! Sorry doesn't seem to be such a hard word to say now does it, Samantha? Sir Elton John got it wrong I guess. Oh well. *shrugs*. A cultured person should know what I'm referring to, no?
You know how army boys aren't allowed to show public display of affections to their girlfriends when they're dressed in uniform. Well, it looks like they're going to have to update their rule book with a new rule, that no one is allowed to let other people carry their field pack.
Putting the issue of spoilt Singaporeans aside, I'm shocked at the uproar over this photograph. You mean you don't know that kids nowadays have maids at their beck and call? Come and sit down for a coffee with me man, let me walk you through a day in the life of WeiQin, and how my maid does everything for my sister. I will not elaborate here because this issue is a very sensitive one for me, and if I start rambling on about it there's no telling what I'll say or do. Some things are better left unsaid and buried deep down.
But yes, as our society progresses and we start hiring maids, you have to expect such a change. I'm not saying that it is right, I'm just saying we can talk all we want about how Singaporean kids shouldn't be spoiled but that's the way our society is headed. You can teach kids all about social responsibility and independence but because they (we?) have already grown up in such an environment nothing is going to change.
It's like telling people, "Oh we should use less water, not drive cars, recycle more because our earth is dying!" While everyone agrees, who will actually follow the advice? We have been so used to the level of comfort in our lives now, can you imagine giving up electricity, water and private transportation just to save the earth? Similarly, telling youths to, "be more independent and experience more hardship or our country will go to the dogs!". will not work. Yeah. Times have changed. People are selfish, there is no point in suffering for the good of others. Insults aren't going to stop kids nowadays from ordering their maids around, expecting them to lay out their clothes every morning and make them snacks after school.
I don't think I'm qualified to judge whether what the NS guy did was right or wrong. I think he's seriously quite a pussy for letting his maid carry his backpack, but really, who am I to judge? I grew up with a maid, and despite our mutual dislike for each other.. My clothes get folded and I get dinner cooked everyday. I really wish my parents hadn't hired my maid all those years back though, I really do. I'd give just about anything to not have a maid for the past 17 years. It goes way deeper than my independence, and if you know me at all you'd know what the issue is and why am I so affected by it.
On a lighter note, can you imagine the thoughts going through the poor boy's head? It's like, he knows that it is him in the photo, but all his army friends are probably poking fun at "the boy in the photo" - without knowing that it is their friend they are talking about! If I were him I'd be way too embarrassed to admit that it was indeed me who acted like such a pussy, so I just have to act along poking fun a "the boy in the photo" WHEN IT IS ACTUALLY MYSELF! LOL! I laugh just thinking about it. Ah well, he brought it upon himself afterall, the boy who cannot carry his own backpack.
Actually after typing out the earlier part of this post I now know what was @STcom referring to when they said "fuck you all. seriously". Obviously the person was pissed at Samantha from Holland Village and the boy who asked his maid to carry his NS backpack. Therefore, fuck them, seriously.
In all seriousness, although my initial yfrog caption was "HAHAHA LOOK WHAT I CAUGHT BEFORE STCOM DELETED THEIR TWEET", I'm actually very understanding of the misunderstanding (ha). People make mistakes, I myself have deleted more than one tweet, usually due to grammatical errors or what not. So while it was a hilarious matter, it ultimately can be written off as a human error. In fact, it isn't so much as a SPI than a fleeting entertaining moment amongst many in the past few weeks.
The fact that they rectified it immediately, and didn't try to cover up their asses regarding the mistake also makes it more forgivable. Here are some of their tweets in the aftermath of that slip up:
Before I wrap, I have one more link to share. This link talks about how Straits Times edits their letters to the forum page to give a pro government twist to the letters. As we all know, Straits Times belongs to SPH. Stomp is a SPH website, and the STcom Twitter page is also under SPH......... so we cannot actually trust anything I have stated in this post since everything might have been edited and warped from the initial submission. So thank you for reading until this part of the post; it has been a pleasant 2 hours, trying to waste 10 minutes of your time!!
But seriously, thank you Singapore for injecting so much excitement in my life. Much love, Wei Qin.
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