Observations - 26th March 2015

"If you don't read the newspaper, you're uninformed. If you read the newspaper, you're mis-informed." - Mark Twain


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"A sociology professor once asked me how I view lesbian relationships.
Apparently "in HD" wasn't an acceptable answer"

"Reporters never ask for permission. They rely on their instincts."
"I always tell my friends. If you dare not stand up for what you are saying, then better shut up."

Shower gel where you must squeeze the bottle so it will dispense a certain amount are cons to get you to finish the bottle faster

"It's like putting acid in lemon flavoured drinks and real lemon juice in dishwashing liquid"


In Singapore, the more outlets a food chain has, the worse the food.

I'm told Singaporean Uncle $1 ice cream has a cost price of only 20 cents. They don't have to pay rental but they still deserve a pay increment.

"Benoa is one of Bali's multidenominational corners, with an interesting Chinese Buddhist temple, a mosque and a Hindu temple within 100m of each other" - Lonely Planet Bali & Lombok. So much for "Uniquely Singapore".


"It's a common trap the local discourse finds itself in. Singapore has been more developed than its immediate neighbours for at least a century. The appropriate benchmark are the Asian tiger countries, not Indonesia or Malaysia. Since I was super bored at work today, I compared the per capita GDP growth of Taiwan, South Korea and Singapore plus Malaysia from 1980 to 2008. The former two have outperformed Singapore by a wide margin (4 fold vs Singapore's 3 fold). And Malaysia was only trailing by a few percent. So in short, SG has not achieved any miracles but simply grown in line with Asia as a whole."

"The more f--k-up the country, the more corrupted its officials, the more complex the immigration form"


Realised the Affleck/Harris/Maher segment is reminiscent of the worst Fox News interviews.

The myth of meritocracy: if you don't do well, you didn't try hard enough
The myth of oppression: if you did badly, it's because someone is oppressing you

""Silencing" and "derailing" are SJW codewords for "ITS ALL ABOUT ME!!!! Blindly believe everything I say and never fact check me or else I'll accuse you of oppression.""

Clicktivism/offence culture arise from a common belief that words affect the real world - that speech (however construed) is reality.

Since there were 8.5 million members of the Nazi party in 1945, probably most Nazis were peaceful. So Nazism is an ideology of peace.

Most Communists are and have been peaceful. So there's obviously nothing wrong with Communist ideology.

Just because something offends someone doesn't mean it's hate speech.

Amused by liberals trying to equate Charlie Hebdo with hate speech, racism and bigotry. Maybe any criticism of a "minority" counts.

"let me go and commit microaggressions during lunch in NUS
by sitting with my legs wide open in Arts canteen"

In general it is harder to demonize people you know as real people. That is why blocking people you disagree with is so toxic. Maybe that's a way to maintain ideological purity.

Do people with ASD and depression criticise neuronormativity and emonormativity and argue that there's nothing wrong with either?

Amused that people are comparing the Berlin Wall with Mexico-US illegal migration and the Israeli Security Wall. Apparently walls to keep people IN are identical to those to keep people OUT.

"Can people be exploited if they are absolutely clear in their own minds that they are not being?..who are you or indeed anyone else to tell them that they are?"