Singaporeans are U-G-L-Y

Picture this: You are waiting for the train to come. You are late and you cannot afford that. Oh, good heavens, the station is crowded with commuters like you rushing to work.
1 more minute and the train will come. Just breathe and wait for it. What can you do?
As the train approaches the platform and grinds to a stop, you see people unable to get out as the ones trying to get in are blocking their way. It is then finally clear for you to get on the train. You had to practically squeeze and shove your way through and your little "Excuse me!" is not helping much as people just give you that look that says "I don't care".
And when you are finally done with rubbing shoulders with people and feeling mildly violated, you realise that there is a vast amount of space in the middle of the cabin. You are stuck with your face practically in the armpit of a really tall guy. Who, lucky you, has body odour. What could be worse?


Okay, while this is an exaggerated scenario, most of us can identify with squeezing into a crowded train only to find the center of the cabin completely empty and being unable to get out of the train as people are practically pushing you back in. This scene is especially typical in City Hall and Jurong East MRT station.

I do not understand why most Singaporeans are in a rush. Honestly, it annoys me to no extend. Commuters at Jurong East station are constantly rushing towards the train in the middle just so they can reach their next destination faster. Whether their reasons for getting there fast is valid or not, one can only guess. It is as if the next train will arrive an hour later. And what I find most irritating is when they actually run towards the train and the train is not even showing signs that it is leaving the station. The doors are not closing and there is no pre-recorded warning message. On the other hand, it is also amusing to see them running for the train and then having to wait for it to actually move! Also, while waiting for the train, some people push themselves to the front to get a prime seat on the train. Once, I even saw a person running towards a seat that another person had set their sights on. And once she had planted herself on the seat, she ignored the other person and pretended she did not notice that the other person was going for the seat as well.

I cannot express how much disgust I felt. I was ashamed. How much uglier can you get?

Also, if you're trying to get out of the train at City Hall, you have to wrestle, shove and push your way out. I am not a fan of this as I tend to carry big bags and I always have the fear that pickpockets might use this as an opportune moment to snatch belongings. As a result, I am constantly annoyed when I get out at City Hall.


The Singaporean culture has taught us not to lose out. To be "kiasu". However, I feel that there is a LIMIT to this. One cannot constantly hark on being the best, the first and a pioneer. Sometimes, one has to let another person who is more experienced take the wheel. In some countries, one actually has the decency to let people get out first before they get in, give up their seats to old ladies and pregnant women, and move to allow more people to get on the train. A simple thought, gesture and understanding can move mountains.

However, I know that these are only isolated case. I have seen, just as often, kind hearted Singaporeans who show exemplary social behaviour and also foreigners who are just plain rude. I suppose it just depends on luck what kind of people you meet and also your level of tolerance to typical Singaporean habits.

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RAP VERSE 1 [JAY-Z]:
I used to run base like Juan Pierre
Now I run the bass hi hat and the snare
I used to bag girls like Birkin Bags
Now I bag B
([BEYONCE]: Boy you hurtin' that)
Brooklyn Bay where they birthed me at
Now I be everywhere, the nerve of rap
The audacity to have me whippin curtains back
Me and B, she about to sting
Stand back

VERSE 1 [BEYONCE]:
Baby...Seems like everywhere I go
I see you...From your eyes, your smile
It's like I breathe you...Helplessy I reminisce
Don't want to...Compare nobody to you

__________________________________________________________________

As consumers become more aware of their spending power and their conscious effort to always keep up with rising trends, advertisers have become more and more ingenious with the way they advertise their products. Lately, the trend has been to implant their brands in songs sung by singers such as Kanye West, Jay Z and Beyonce. Through this idea of product placement or subliminal messages, companies and brands hope that they become associated with the singer who sings their brand name. Just for that spot on a song, companies are willing to spend million of dollars on that one artist. Whether that song will be a hit or a miss is a different story altogether.

Similar to the idea of sponsoring clothes or accessories that an artist wears, the idea of implementing their name in a song borrows the same concept. If the song is catchy enough, it would be played over and over again and thus, the name would be repeated with every played song. This allows a person to be more familiar with the name and familiarity makes a person "friendlier" to the product so to speak. Subconsciously, a person who likes the artiste would also purchase the product as it is "endorsed" by the person they idolise.

I personally think that it is an ingenious idea. A song stays with a person for very long and if you like a particular song, it is highly unlikely that you would forget it the song. Also, as the artiste would only say, or rather, sing the brand name and not it's specific product of a particular season, the advertisement stays evergreen and is highly unlikely to become obsolete.

Groupies

Everyone wants to belong in a group. In most movies espescially American ones, the stereotypes of groups are very obvious. The have the jocks, the preps, the nerds and whatever else. The movie that I particularly like the encapsules the pressure of wanting to belonging to a group is Mean Girls. Basically, the lead character Cady Heron, is a new girl from school who moved all the way from Africa. She is lured by her friend to join The Plastics, the most popular and superficial bunch of girls in the school. When she finally tranformed into one of them she became as cold and hard and plastic as they are.

In the story there also exist groupthink. This happens when people in the group keep to themselves in the fear that what they are thinking is not what others are thinking. This happens very often in the movie as there was constant conflict in the group itself to get on the good books of the groups' head, Regina George. The group also held true to their rules of what they can or cannot wear on certain days. Even to the point of chasing away their leader when she broke the rules.

Is it social suicide to not be included in a group? Apparently, it is. Belonging to a group lets a person have a sense of identity. This is sort of ironic as a group tends to have a common social interest such as an interest in a certain sport, group or band. Initially, common interest forms a group but then interests then diversify. There are bound to be things that one person in the group disagrees on or is not interested in. Ultimately, this is when a member's indivuality is apparent in a particular group.

Despite there being individuality in a group, I believe that there are unspoken "rules and regulations" there are present in most groups. I also feel that a person may not necessarily belong to one particular group and this I think is espescially true of most students.

If you belong to a group that is particularly bent on not drinking alcohol for example, it would just be plain insensitive and stupid (to put it bluntly) to tell the members of the group that you have done so just the other night. Also while it may be "socially acceptable" to discuss taboo subjects in a group, bringing up the subject that you want to try drinking might give others the idea that you have already done it and simply want to beat around the bush and test the waters to see if it is the right moment to confess. Thus, you censor yourself in these situations.

As a student you would want to mix with the kind of people who are on top of their studies in school to ensure that he/she has the right kind of peer pressure to keep them on their toes in school. So let's push things further: That same student will also have other interest outside of school like sports or clubbing for example. Only out of pure coincidence would that student find a bunch of friends in school that have the exact same interest that they do in and out of school. As such, they would seek out friends who have the same interest as them outside of school.

Already, this student has two set of groups that he/she belongs to and in the different group arises different "rules". A group consensus also silences one's thoughts and opinion at times as one might feel that they might sound "stupid" or "lame" if they do not follow the general group agreement. This has been scientifically proven and many teens face this. Pressure.

Thus, I feel that in a twisted way, we cannot fully escape groupthink, but we can limit the way it affects us. True? Well, that's just me.