I don't have word count tool on my phone, but does it strike others as strange that there's a 1000+ word wikipedia page about a 4,500-word article?
Disneyland with Death Penalty
51–60 of 245 posts
Re: Disneyland with Death Penalty
#52Earlier quoted context omitted.
Kind of depends. It's more sterile. Dubai you get the impression they generally care about you having a good time, at least if you're Western. Singapore they care about you looking like you're having a good time. Singapore doesn't have the de facto slavery problem of the Emirates, though. Food is definitely better in Dubai.
I always found phrases like “Food is better in X city than Y”, just silly.
So I take it you've never been to Boston.
A friend of a friend often quips that the best way to get good Mexican in Boston is to go to Logan and fly almost anywhere else.
Re: Disneyland with Death Penalty
#53Earlier quoted context omitted.
I don't think the example you gave holds. This is how I would characterize that: Blocking someone = not buying Wired magazine so you can't read it yourself Banning someone from the internet = banning Wired magazine so no one can ever read it
Maybe my example was poorly done, but I think it shares the same reasoning flaw that OP had in the original - the belief that a very strong denial is somehow evidence of guilt. I saw similar logic in a COVID thread recently, with someone saying essentially that the lab leak theory must be true, because China is denying it so hard. Well, that's what innocent people do too when they're wrongly accused of something.
Banning the publication of media when accused of illiberalism is in fact evidence of illiberalism.
Re: Disneyland with Death Penalty
#54Reminds me of Kurt Vonnegut's joke from 1972 about the Republican National Convention in Miami. "It's Disneyland under martial law." https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2005/1/14/85582/-
Re: Disneyland with Death Penalty
#55Earlier quoted context omitted.
I always found phrases like “Food is better in X city than Y”, just silly.
I wish you weren’t being downed and the parent extrapolated. It’s a very subjective critique… I live in a foodie city and am long tired of overpriced sandwiches splashed with an aioli served for a cool $20, no drink no side. Went to a no name city for hiking and found a nice hole in the wall shop with great food at a quarter the price and found my kind of foodie.
I agree that those sort of generalizations are unfair and extremely subjective, but I think there is a truth to the idea that some places in the world people care more about food and are more picky about it. If you are well off person and only go to fancier places you see it less, because you are probably always served a baseline quality.
But some parts of the world just have less access to fresh produce, less cultural diversity, etc. That doesn't seem quite so subjective. And there is good food to be found pretty much everywhere, that is not the point.
Re: Disneyland with Death Penalty
#56As someone from Bangladesh, I read this and think "who cares?" In 1960 Singapore was a poor third world country. Today it's as rich as the US. You cannot understand how significant such a change is to the people of the country unless you've lived in a third world country and really seen what it's like. Whatever draconian measures it took to get there, they were worth it. Fareed Zakaria's interview with Lee Kuan Yew,…
The key features that made it fantastically rich were sitting on one of the world's most strategically located ports, building a lot of soviet style housing and a leader with nowhere to run.
Being a city state means it's hard to hide when things get ugly. Having capitals far away from citizenry, on the other hand - like in myanmar or brazil, makes it easy to be corrupt. This is a well studied phenomenon.
Lee Kuan Yew was palpably afraid in 1965 - especially of the domestic communists. That was probably a good thing in most respects - he knew he had to improve living standards or he'd be strung up. He did, partly by following the good advice of albert winsemius.
It also led to his authoritarian streak and his censor happy ways, of course. The fear ran both ways.
1950s america was also a time where elites were palpably fearful of domestic communists. It also combined with fast improving living standards and the largest scale house building to date. That might just all be a giant coincidence though.
Re: Disneyland with Death Penalty
#57Some of you may be too young to remember the context of this. In 1993, an American was sentenced to be caned for what would be considered minor offenses in America.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Michael_P._Fay
There was a huge media frenzy in the run-up to the punishment. Then he got caned, had a sore bottom, and life went on.
Re: Disneyland with Death Penalty
#58Ok, Singapore is a bit sterile ("Singabore"), but contrasting it with Kowloon as its authentic opposite is a bit rich...
Folks on Hacker News sure seem to bring it up alot: https://hn.algolia.com/?dateRange=all&page=0&prefix=true&que...
Re: Disneyland with Death Penalty
#59As someone from Bangladesh, I read this and think "who cares?" In 1960 Singapore was a poor third world country. Today it's as rich as the US. You cannot understand how significant such a change is to the people of the country unless you've lived in a third world country and really seen what it's like. Whatever draconian measures it took to get there, they were worth it. Fareed Zakaria's interview with Lee Kuan Yew,…
The key is a benevolent "dictator(ship)". A benevolent dictator, from a most utility PoV is better than random search for good government via imperfect democracy.
There is little question that a few countries in Asia benefitted from authoritarianism, some were more kid glovish than others, and obviously some were more violent than others in suppressing dissent. However, they achieved economic success for their people --though not all. The Philippines are an example where corruption as well as high pop growth dragged down progress. China too, initially was too authoritarian and too ideological, till they opened up their economy, or at least removed much of the stigma against "wealth" and invited foreign investment.
Re: Disneyland with Death Penalty
#60There’s much to love about Singapore if you understand, or are willing to learn, Asian culture. It’s more collectivist than individualistic and while that certainly comes with trade offs, it has many benefits. I’ve lived here for almost 3 years and it feels like living in the future. No where is perfect but the quality of life here is amazing. The people I know who don’t like it are almost always white folks who don’…
Can you give some examples of Asian norms?
I'm not sure if this is one the parent was thinking of - but there's generally a huge culture of "don't inconvenience others." This can have a lot of knock on effects, like leaving early (really, leaving before others) from work is inconveniencing your peers and your boss.
Also, "filial duty" is pretty strong across a number of Asian cultures. i.e. you should be thinking of your family (parents, grandparents) before yourself.