
By gum, the West is wrong about Singapore - ValentineC
http://www.businesstimes.com.sg/blogs/miss-ann-thrope/by-gum-the-west-is-wrong-about-singapore
======
ZanyProgrammer
Authoritarianism is okay as long as its in the guise of an MBA.

~~~
jlarocco
How about we let Singapore fix their "authoritarian" government, and we focus
on fixing ours?

I think it's getting increasingly hard to take the United States and Europe
seriously when we bend over and take it from the CIA and NSA, and then
criticize other countries for having "authoritarian" governments. I'd take a
chewing gum ban over an illegally wire tapped phone any day.

~~~
ZanyProgrammer
So apparently its a logical impossibility to you to be against _all_ kinds of
authoritarianism. And since you are American it seems, you're contradicting
yourself by mentioning Europe. Let Europe fix their own "authoritarian"
governments, and we focus on fixing the United States?

------
iopq
What did I just read? I don't even know what the gum is referring to. This
article assumes that I know something about Singapore. I don't. I have no idea
what I'm reading.

~~~
alwaysdoit
Someone should make a tool where you could type in keywords like "gum
Singapore" and it would return a list of websites where you could find out
more about it.

------
jkot
I would say US are far more authoritarian state with over 1% of male
population in prisons.

~~~
mousa
A lot of those 1% would be executed for their crimes in Singapore. They aren't
in prison because they know the severity of the punishments and thus avoid the
crimes.

~~~
SiVal
The felons would be executed, while misdemeanors would often be punished by
caning.

------
smegel
> “Quaint” means paddy fields where white-collar jobs should be. “Plenty of
> character” means the roads are not paved and you get diarrhoea from the ice
> cubes.

This is complete rubbish.

In the last year or so, I traveled to Hong Kong and Singapore on a holiday,
for about the same amount of time each.

Hong Kong was amazing, mind-blowing, while in Singapore I felt like I could
have been walking through a suburb of Sydney, except where the beer cost $12
instead of $6.

And from what I understand, Hong Kong is richer than Singapore, and not a
unpaved road through a rice paddy in sight.

I am planning on going back to HK soon, whereas I don't even plan on going
back to Singapore.

~~~
scribu
I think that's kind of the point the author is making: westerners don't expect
Singapore to feel like a western country; they expect it to be "exotic".

> And from what I understand, Hong Kong is richer than Singapore

No, it's not (according to their respective Wikipedia entries).

------
ableal
"Miss Ann Thrope" packs in a few nicely barbed lines, among them "country that
was not farsighted nor fortunate enough to avoid being charming".

------
mikerichards
So everybody and their brother can criticize "the west" (well, specifically
the U.S.), but oh no, you westerners need to accept all other cultures carte
blanche...because PC and other stuff.

This reminds me of "protected classes" in the U.S. and how can they spew all
the vitriol they want against white men, republicans, etc...but oh by, if some
white guy (especially a right-wing white guy) criticizes a black, a woman, a
gay, etc...watch out. The P.C., anti-free speech gestapo at MSNBC and other
places will be all over you.

------
cylinder
The Guardian opinion pieces are best ignored.

~~~
scribu
Why?

------
kingkawn
damn she hates everyone except people exactly like herself

