Biased Observer

It's been quite a few months since my last post, and trust me, there have been plenty of blog fodder bouncing around in my head. Unfortunately, the process of gathering material for an entry involves reading the ST and also opinions on the web. And I find myself increasingly at odds with the prevailing 'values' of the average Singaporean.

That means that the only opinion I end up with is a frustrated 'you lot are fucking edjits!!!11!1' and I lose all patience to write anything coherent. Ranting might be fun but it's not much good in discourse. There's plenty of baseless (and manufactured) ranting out there in the blogosphere. No need for another one.

Then I got to thinking. Am I really that different from the average resident or citizen? I don't expect to be in sync with everyone, but why is it that I always feel absolutely suffocated by the overt parochialism and moral grandstanding in Singapore? Maybe it's my mistake to assume that a shiny, modern, west-emulating country like Singapore would be a little more open-minded and savvy about sociocultural-economic-political issues. Instead I end up slack-jawed more often than I can count.

I risk sounding like an elitist prig when I say this, but then I am an elitist prig, so. I don't mind it so much hearing less than 'enlightened' views from certain segments of the population. After all I attribute my libertarian tendencies to much too many years spent living in the US and Europe and sparring with liberals and conservatives alike. I reserve my wrath for those who have been educated abroad, those who have worked and travelled overseas extensively. Maybe some people are just born conservative, and that being exposed to western 'decadence' only reinforces their own 'asian values' to the point of becoming most ignorant and fundamentalist in their views.

Or maybe I am the problem, how can moral relativism be a value?

Anyway, stay tuned. I have opinions on Singapore blogs, NKF and Melvyn Tan that I'm actually dying to blog about. A little late to the game, but hopefully not too late.