Culture Shock - Arriving in singapore

katbh · Post by **katbh** » Tue, 25 Jun 2013 10:32 am

Thanks for your response. I had read the comments previously posted - I did not comment blindly. I also referred to your summary.

I still think you are being over sensitive to the point of denigrating your own original culture.

Posters may or may not be xenophobic, but from what is posted in this thread, I see dry wit, irony and gentle generalisations.

Post by **x9200** » Tue, 25 Jun 2013 12:14 pm

The persistence seems to be the key.

zzm9980 · Post by **zzm9980** » Tue, 25 Jun 2013 1:48 pm

katbh wrote: Posters may or may not be xenophobic, but from what is posted in this thread, I see dry wit, irony and gentle generalisations.

Then said posters should have no problem with gentle poking back in their direction while dishing out their 'dry wit, irony, and gentle generalizations'. 'Insert clever phrase about heat in the kitchen or similar'

Post by **sundaymorningstaple** » Tue, 25 Jun 2013 1:57 pm

Is the haze doing all of this?

kookaburrah · Post by **kookaburrah** » Tue, 25 Jun 2013 2:09 pm

Sometimes these threads go to pot in quite perplexing ways.

I used to think y'all were weird, then I read a couple of messages from the Airline Career section and now I think we're actually quite boring and normal.

JR8 · Post by **JR8** » Tue, 25 Jun 2013 3:42 pm

Yes, thank heavens Americans have no 'first impressions'; never mind stereotypes; never mind, and God forbid, prejudices against any other peoples.

Black kids at the back of the bus, Mexican 'wetbacks', Costa Rican 'lawn-dogs', they're all the same as blue-blooded 'Mericans who came over on the Mayflower: For sure.

I'm not saying what I think Americans are (far from it, IME they're a fine people, and it's a fine country, and I loved living there, from which I still have friends 20 years later, + my 25-50 previous and follow-on visits there [is that enough to make a point?

], but...

Oh no, it's all.. 'I'd like to teach the world to sing, in perfect harmony'
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m2KECJv9XrQ
1971 Coke - I'd Like to Teach the World to Sing

... Suggesting one face, whilst imposing another.

(I remember the ad from childhood.
It's interesting (*to ME*) to see it again today, and place it within an adult knowledge, of the historical context, of all the wars that America was fighting back at that time. Hmm)

Should Charles Dickens be vilified, or perhaps censured, for writing about the prison conditions he encountered at Roosevelt Island (NYC) in the mid 1800s? Should all his books be burned?

The 'Dead Kennedys' wrote, in quite astringent terms, about American policy (Holidays in Cambodia, Kill The Poor, etc), would you have wished to have seen them silenced?

But: How did we get to this, when all I remarked on was *my personal* observation re: a couple of brash Americans by the pool, and so on

I don't get it, it's hugely over-defensive. Hey maybe you really don't know, as Europeans we grow up under - what you could call - an over-bearing American cultural arrogance.

...But hey, that's a topic that's going to be too inflammatory for some people here I expect, so [self-censorship]... well done, great result for freedom of speech as Borat's lofty shining beacon might proclaim hehe...

JR8 · Post by **JR8** » Tue, 25 Jun 2013 3:47 pm

kookaburrah wrote:Sometimes these threads go to pot in quite perplexing ways.

No 'kin kidding lol!!

p.s. Next I'll post the results of my purely statistical study of 'The frequency of choice of car colour: Europe vs Singapore'... and await to get it in the neck from both sides...

zzm9980 · Post by **zzm9980** » Tue, 25 Jun 2013 4:18 pm

JR8 wrote: I don't get it, it's hugely over-defensive. Hey maybe you really don't know, as Europeans we grow up under - what you could call - an over-bearing American cultural arrogance.

...But hey, that's a topic that's going to be too inflammatory for some people here I expect, so [self-censorship]... well done, great result for freedom of speech as Borat's lofty shining beacon might proclaim hehe...

You just don't get it. I made a joking point and you got your feelings hurt over the Internet. It never would have gone past my one off-hand comment if you hadn't let it.

You started a post (under noble intentions or not) which gave you a self-perceived license to make any observation you saw fit, about anyone you saw fit, positive, negative, politically correct, or not. And I have no problem with any of it. I made an observation about you that you come across as anti-American, half-joking because 1) I am American and 2) at least half of your observations could be applied to any caucasian race. (Fat and loud? Axe-faced women? Definitely not limited to Americans, unless half of Europe was American last time I was there).

You're right, I don't know what Europe you grew up under, nor do I really care. I guess I'm too young. Most of my peers and friends that I know who are American aren't racist or bigoted in the way you imply. Does America start wars? Yes, sure does. But why look back just the past 50 years? How many hot spots in the world are completely f*cked up beyond repair because of damage caused by European, hell just English, colonization? Israel and Palestine? India and Pakistan? Directly England's fault. Most of the trouble in the Middle East? Back table deals between the English and French divvying up the Ottoman Empire in 1919. The entire existence of Saudi Arabia and Wahhabi Islam ever coming to power, and thus Islamic extremism - fully funded by the Brits in their quest for oil in the Arabian peninsula.

But again, none of this bothers me or offends me. What is amazing me (and keeping me going on this) is how you can act genuinely offended that someone dare say something about your observations. I guess with the Jeremy Clarkson style witticisms coming out, I assumed you'd take it as easily as you dished it out, and probably toss a better one back. Not get hurt.

JR8, I apologize for hurting your feelings over the Internet.

zzm9980 · Post by **zzm9980** » Tue, 25 Jun 2013 4:21 pm

JR8 wrote: ...But hey, that's a topic that's going to be too inflammatory for some people here I expect

No, none of it is too inflammatory, except when it's aimed in a direction you don't like.

zzm9980 · Post by **zzm9980** » Tue, 25 Jun 2013 4:23 pm

sundaymorningstaple wrote:Is the haze doing all of this?

I can't speak for him, but I know what's keeping me going.

Hannieroo · Post by **Hannieroo** » Tue, 25 Jun 2013 4:38 pm

I hate Jeremy Clarkson. I like the other two though. And Stig.

Post by **PNGMK** » Tue, 25 Jun 2013 4:47 pm

Hannieroo wrote:I hate Jeremy Clarkson. I like the other two though. And Stig.

The Stig is rumoured to be a woman - that Martine lady (German) who raced the van around the ring.

Clarkson is a pompous ass. I keep hoping some Aussie decks him.

JR8 · Post by **JR8** » Tue, 25 Jun 2013 4:55 pm

Hannieroo wrote:I hate Jeremy Clarkson. I like the other two though. And Stig.

It's his stage persona... it's a staged personality play-off that you're swallowing.

It's like saying you 'hate' the Sex Pistols.

Divide the persona from the person...

p.s. I 'hate' the childish rubber-faced Jim Carey... but in real-life I expect he might be a decent likeable man.

Hannieroo · Post by **Hannieroo** » Tue, 25 Jun 2013 4:57 pm

They change them every so often.

He is pompous, he was on the other night and I swear to god he's the only interviewer alive that can make the man sized amoeba that is James Blunt look good in comparison.

Post by **PNGMK** » Tue, 25 Jun 2013 4:57 pm

JR8 wrote:
Hannieroo wrote:I hate Jeremy Clarkson. I like the other two though. And Stig.
It's his stage persona... it's a staged personality play-off that you're swallowing.

It's like saying you 'hate' the Sex Pistols.

Divide the persona from the person...

p.s. I 'hate' the childish rubber-faced Jim Carey... but in real-life I expect he might be a decent likeable man.

Except... that I've noticed the best on stage characters often reflect the unique character of the actual person behind it. There would be no Clint Eastwood without the man himself for example being a laconic, short worded fellow.

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Culture Shock - Arriving in singapore

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