If I weren’t so pissed off right now, I’d be apologizing for the stupidity of all natives in the far east, especially south east Asia. I know, there was this brouhahah about Filipinos stealing Singaporean jobs in their beloved Singabore. Then there was this disastrous hostage situation in Manila in 2010 that left 8 Hong Kong tourists dead. But rejoicing about a country about to get whalloped by a category 5 storm?
Maybe there’s something to the Asian bell curve after all.
Is it really that bad? I mean there are people that think democrats, gays, Mexicans, and whatever other grip you can name deserve some special hell and therefore this is proof of God punishing them. Are Singaporeans any worse then the rest of the world when it comes to hate? I only know one Singaporean well - and I’m pretty sure she isn’t rejoicing.
Not all of them. From personal experience Singas are your regular city people who like to get through to the next day and get along with everyone around them. But there are jerks among them to be sure.
Yeah, there’s a lot of online hate directed at Pinoy and Mainlander Chinese for “stealing jobs”. I’m not sure that it’s a real thing, or an online thing (anonymous internet dickwad theory and all that).
I honestly don’t know anyone that particularly hates foreigners IRL, but then maybe I work in different circles. My guess is, it’s the same as the “Mexicans are taking our jobs” contingent - very vocal online, but not all that. I mean, unemployment is so low that I highly doubt people are really losing jobs over this, but foreigners are easy to hate.
EDIT: Actually, the HWZ link was a lot tamer than I expected. Still, casual browsing of HWZ and other Singapore-related sites and the comments therein should give plenty of anti-foreigner noise. Particularly Pinoys and Chinese, for some reason. Maybe they’re the most visible, being in service-related sectors…
I don’t think you can draw a lot of conclusions about Singaporeans in general from a couple of message boards. I’m not sure why it’s the case, but message boards based in SE Asia seem to attract a lot of racism, sexism, and all-around hostility.
This is the rub. Try not to let them get you down, diego. I’ve completely given up on regional message boards myself, even the ones in Thailand. I’m not on a single one. They seem to attract the absolute worst of the worst, be they locals or foreigners. Even the few well-intentioned posters are fonts of misinformation. Ugly, ugly places, not at all like this Board.
As opposed to where? The SDMB is somewhat of an outlier in this regard (although not entirely immune either); messageboards everywhere seem to attract a lot of racism, sexism and all-around hostility. Because people are people the world over.
But anyone rejoicing over 10,000 dead is officially a douchebag.
This, basically. There were plenty of people on the internet happily stating that that massive earthquake off Japan a couple of years back was comeuppance for Pearl Harbour. People are dicks on the internet, sadly.
This should be more like, “I recall some Palestinians rejoicing in the streets, it even looked like a large crowd, but that was only what I was shown by a person trying to make money off me. This person who was making money off me knew I would be upset and showed me an image that garnered an emotional response. In this case, that emotional response is anger, which is one of the most powerful emotions and results in people instantly feeling an affinity to anyone who shares it with them, much like a mob mentality. As a result, I realize these individuals who were trying to make money off of me, were just playing to my emotions and it is highly unlikely this group of Palestinians represented all, or even a significant majority of, the Palestinian people. But, for even those who did celebrate like this, I have to make some allowances based on the horrific hatred they hold in their hearts and the years of bitter propaganda, oppression and opportunism they have been exposed to.”
As to the OP. Yes, there are nasty people in all cultures. Yes, we look at the nastiest and post that online, or publish it in the media, or we broadcast it. Why? Because nasty stuff gets people upset, it riles them up, it makes them want to listen to the speaker more.
After a hurricane, some moronic “Christian” in the US claims it was because of homosexuals. Does that mean I think most “(blank)orians, or (blank)ians” think that way… No.
So I support the PIT in the idea of pitting the people who did it. Not the entire group, not “Singaporeans in general” and definitely not using this as some sort of evidence for an asian bell curve… whatever that implies.
Thanks.
My “Huh” was intended as a “WTF” as much as it was an “I don’t get it”.
I mean . . .
. . . and . . .
. . . really?
Diego, are you yourself native to Asia that you feel you must apologize for “the stupidity of all natives of the far east”?
P.S.
Nice posts Lucky Mike. Very well put.
I thought: wow the Philippines is far behind! They just got Cat5, and not even Cat5e or Cat6?
Trolls do as trolls do. I like how one said that Filipinos had “irritating curly tongued english” when (especially in the other link) there’s all that nigh-unreadable Singaporean particle business. Also, Singapore is very multi-ethnic, but they find their own ways to be racist cranks by going to a website like “Celebrating Singapore’s Golden Period” (presumably colonial?). And a quick perusal suggests a lot here hate their country yet are defensively patriotic.