“People don’t hate what they see. They hate what they don’t see. The only problem is how do you even fight what you can’t see? See what I mean folks! That’s the thing that drives me up the wall. That’s the whole problem with those cotton picking commies! I just hate them for all the wrong reasons that I can’t seem to see, let alone think of!”
It’s a quote once uttered by an obscure senator by the name of Joseph McCarthy whose brief arc in American history exemplified the psychology of hate on a national and continental scale.
(1) I AM IN TROUBLE MY MODEL IS GOING NO WHERE!
I am certain something like those feelings which was once ran deep and silent in the American psyche during the 50’s. Currently exist in the mind of our Asian neighbors whenever the topic of Singapore and Singaporeans comes out. Real or imagined, these sentiments are often exacerbated by a milieu of factors, economic disparity, religious differences, historical fissures and a thousand other factors come into play. It all adds up to conjure the image where we (Singaporeans) are perceived as the rich kid on the block by our ASEAN neighbors. We are the smarty pants everyone likes to hate. Having said that, it also says very little beyond the run of the mill trite and cliché – it holds, saccharine true, only because it leaves a lingering taste long enough to remain believable. But falls short of being substantively convincing – that’s what happens when you use a lousy model – it produces lousy thinking – along with lousy results. Read the rest of this entry »
THE INTELLIGENT SINGAPOREAN 