Comments on An honset (sic) opinion from a Malay about Malays, showing what happens when you socially engineer a populace to believe that all non-politically correct comments about race/religion are racist/offensive/seditious:

Gary: I thought Tomorrow.sg does not publish Racist blogs?

I don't think a Malay discriminating against the rest of the Malays shouldn't be deemed as non-racist. Rather, it's racist plus the biggest insult of all is that it comes from within.

Lynnylchan: The whole point of it is that it comes from within. If members of an out-group can't criticise, and even members of an in-group can't criticise, at this rate no one is allowed to criticise anyone else, and we all go to hell in a handbasket.

Me: I'd like to point you to a racist book written by Dr Mahathir called "The Malay Dilemma"

Have fun reporting him to the police for sedition.

sieteocho: There's this thing called the n-word effect. When black ppl use the n word on each other, they usually take it as a joke. But when somebody not black uses it on them then it's racist.

You might as well call Lu Xun a racist for writing Ah Q.

abcde: seriously you are just being immature and making something out of nothing at all. broaden up your mind and read more books man. if every Singaporeans are like you then there will be no frank debates and exchange in Singapore. stop being so narrow minded for god's sake.

stay clear of criticism? then how does the society gets better?

dun tell others your a singaporean i duno you.


shsuya: Its one thing to be "brave" and speak out against your own race. Its yet another thing to be critical without realising that you are the very statistics you quote. And not a single opinion, suggestion or hint at an effort to improve the situation, or to correct the situation. If you are not part of the solution, then certainly you are part of the problem.

Me: If you're not with us, then you're against us.

visceral: do we intend to seek out racism where it was not intended? Lets just stick to one witch hunt at a time

Merv: But of course, according to you, the solution might be to quell all discussion about the problem so that everything is swept under the proverbial carpet.

Anonymouse: once again, an observation immediately slammed for being racist. even if he airs his views, he's not allowed to without offering solutions? everything has to laid out clearly or else he better not speak?

and if a member of the outgroup speaks up, its racism, and if a member of the group in question speaks up, it's also racism, then nobody can speak up without being killed anymore is it?

readers need to have a bit more maturity.

Anonymous Coward444: The abovementioned blogger is making a judgment about a group based on his experience with members of the group. Is that really racism? To me it's only bad if you prejudge a person without giving him/her a chance to prove his abilities. Like not hiring someone because of his age/race/gender.

Saying that this blogger is racist is like saying that Singaporeans who, with well meaning intentions, point out Singapore's problems, are traitors.

Teen pregnancies, drugs, school drop-outs, these are problems that plague every community and every country. If everyone realises the problem like this blogger is doing and asks honest questions that will convince those within his sphere of influence to do something about it, the world would be a better place.


kutu: if all this is said by a chinese, ta da, someone will cry RACISM

"Gary" also got deservedly toasted by the person who wrote the original entry.


Someone on the above: "i also no head to think liao. apparently stupidity is harder to understand than a cheem journal paper"


The OED:

Racism: a. The theory that distinctive human characteristics and abilities are determined by race. b. = RACIALISM.

Racialism: Belief in the superiority of a particular race leading to prejudice and antagonism towards people of other races, esp. those in close proximity who may be felt as a threat to one's cultural and racial integrity or economic well-being.


I think they have a good definition there, but they left out a belief in the inferiority of one or more particular race (without correspondingly believing another is superior to the others).

Also, a lot of the comments on the post (both on Tomorrow and on the original site), as the author noted, prove the author's original point.


Some people do make the valid point that perhaps race is being conflated with social class or income level, so there is a problem of omitted variable bias. Nonetheless, although race and/or culture should not be essentialized, neither should they be dismissed out of hand (the problem, once again, of a false dichotomy); it does not take a sociologist to see that prevailing culture and attitudes can and do affect people.

Race is also a much more potent rallying point and common denominator than social class - leaning on race consciousness is more viable than rousing class consciousness; fostering class consciousness was so difficult, Lenin had to invent his own theory.

In addition, if one looks at the problem from the perspective of social class/income level, one touches upon another thorny issue, and can be castigated for playing class politics and the politics of envy.

***

ARTHUR: Shut up! Will you shut up!

DENNIS: Ah, now we see the violence inherent in the system.

ARTHUR: Shut up!

DENNIS: Oh! Come and see the violence inherent in the system! HELP! HELP! I'm being repressed!

ARTHUR: Bloody peasant!

DENNIS: Oh, what a give away. Did you hear that, did you hear that, eh? That's what I'm on about -- did you see him repressing me, you saw it didn't you?