just follow law
are singaporeans just too safe? are we too afraid of breaking the law?
as i was leaving boat quay's mindcafe last saturday with the gang, trying our best to get a cab, the lot of us actually saw people (caucasians) jumping into singapore river for the heck of it. they actually stripped down to their skivves and jumped off one of those 'old' bridges along singapore river right into the water for seemingly no apparent reason other that to have fun.
my reaction to the whole scene was... well thats the thing: i was kinda conflicted, hovering between a "wow that looks like so much fun! way 'ta go!" and a "oh my, isnt that like against the law or something. they shouldnt be doing that". the whites there however had more liberal reactions to the whole incident.
and that got me to thinking about how singaporeans may have become a bunch of people that are too afraid to even put a toe out of line.
the harsh punishments that singapore is (in)famous for definitely act as deterrents for many. on one end you have the extreme (capital punishment) that is dealt out to drug traffickers, murderers... and on the other end, you have fines; something that has been termed 'hitting it where it really hurts'.
all this is fine and dandy when were considering our (very) low crime rate but i just cant help feeling that we are in some ways getting brainwashed, albeit slowly, into being this hardworking, industrious, no-nonsense, obedient lot of worker ants, where any form of disobedience, no matter how ridiculous or inconsequential it may seem, 'will be dealt with severely'.
as a result, we do become that hardworking, industrious, no-nonsense lot of worker ants, but at what cost?
we become this group of people afraid to have fun. a group of people that may be seen as squares and fuddy-duddies. in the long run, we also lose our ability to question authority. let's face it, without questioning procedures we cannot make any progress. if no one made any noise about silly concepts or roundabout steps, then there will never be any change.
i am not stating that we devolve into a state of belligerence and neglect our duties as singaporeans. we should not be afraid to make certain mistakes and sometimes we have to take a gamble and see how it turns out. we need to live a little.
is being a good and lawful citizen enough of a counterbalance to nullify the loss?
are singaporeans just too safe? are we too afraid of breaking the law?
as i was leaving boat quay's mindcafe last saturday with the gang, trying our best to get a cab, the lot of us actually saw people (caucasians) jumping into singapore river for the heck of it. they actually stripped down to their skivves and jumped off one of those 'old' bridges along singapore river right into the water for seemingly no apparent reason other that to have fun.
my reaction to the whole scene was... well thats the thing: i was kinda conflicted, hovering between a "wow that looks like so much fun! way 'ta go!" and a "oh my, isnt that like against the law or something. they shouldnt be doing that". the whites there however had more liberal reactions to the whole incident.
and that got me to thinking about how singaporeans may have become a bunch of people that are too afraid to even put a toe out of line.
the harsh punishments that singapore is (in)famous for definitely act as deterrents for many. on one end you have the extreme (capital punishment) that is dealt out to drug traffickers, murderers... and on the other end, you have fines; something that has been termed 'hitting it where it really hurts'.
all this is fine and dandy when were considering our (very) low crime rate but i just cant help feeling that we are in some ways getting brainwashed, albeit slowly, into being this hardworking, industrious, no-nonsense, obedient lot of worker ants, where any form of disobedience, no matter how ridiculous or inconsequential it may seem, 'will be dealt with severely'.
as a result, we do become that hardworking, industrious, no-nonsense lot of worker ants, but at what cost?
we become this group of people afraid to have fun. a group of people that may be seen as squares and fuddy-duddies. in the long run, we also lose our ability to question authority. let's face it, without questioning procedures we cannot make any progress. if no one made any noise about silly concepts or roundabout steps, then there will never be any change.
i am not stating that we devolve into a state of belligerence and neglect our duties as singaporeans. we should not be afraid to make certain mistakes and sometimes we have to take a gamble and see how it turns out. we need to live a little.
is being a good and lawful citizen enough of a counterbalance to nullify the loss?
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