How we victimized ourselves by being too successful

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Recently Mini Me Lee mentioned in passing: the challenge for Singaporeans and residents may require us to deal with the problems generated by our success – to paraphrase: everything from overcrowding from buses to trains; skyrocketing housing prices; income inequality; right down from one legged prisoners staging an re-enactment of Shawshank redemption from high secuity installations – to perhaps why we have suddenly been inundated with torrential flash floods is due to our success – WE VICTIMISED OURSELVES…STUPID!

In other words, we are none other than the quintessential victim of our own making i.e we were too successful; it has nothing to do with administrative or bureaucratic bad planning or ineptitude – IT’S ALL YOUR FAULT…FUCKER!

Question: do I buy Mini Me Lee’s take on the sign of our times? No! In fact, I think he’s talking shit, not the normal type of shit, but the odorless and invisible variety; the one where you can even be neck deep in it and never ever know it – he’s trying to do is dabble in doublespeak – that if you didn’t know is just another form of hype and spin –a language that deliberately disguises, distorts, or reverses the meaning of words by using euphemisms (e.g., “rightsizing” for layoffs – workfare is better than minimum wage) – the whole idea of double speak is to deflect and render the truth less unpleasant by blurring the line between reality and fiction – that way once you are completely punch drunk by the narrative; they write whatever they want you to believe over your forehead with a bold marker.

So if I was asked again what I really think about what Mini Me Lee has to say about the whole claptrap of how our condition these days is an accretion of our success – I would say he was first and foremost disingenuous, and. Secondly, he would have been far more convincing if what he had to say did not hark back to some soviet era comic scene – when Joseph Stalin was asked, what should the state do to alleviate the chronic food shortages as collectivism had failed – only for him to retort – “come on, you can’t expect perfection – did you know there are even serpents in Paradise!”

My view is simple: if they are problems today and they stem directly from break neck economic progress – then an intelligent way to understand the root causes would be to ask: why weren’t any projections done? If there were projections; then why they so far off the mark and more importantly who is responsible for this fuck up – and can we please pack that bureaucrat to head the new Singapore Meteorological Institute in the North Pole? My point is, it’s disingenuous to expect educated people to buy with cheap double speak that relies on lashings of ambiguity and the reversal of meaning to paint white as black – that may have worked in the glory days of the past, when chemical film and flared trousers were all the rage. But in the age of the internet, trying to pull a fast one with good olde poison double speak is like a man going for a gunfight with a spoon – you’re going to get floored partner…..the rest of this essay has been withdrawn from general circulation due to measured response.

“I am no bloody good for you Dotty. Coming to think of it, I am no good for any woman – they should put a big sign on me – “highly toxic.” And that’s the solemn truth Dotty. You’re better off with that dentist. You say he’s boring and has a personality like cardboard, but at least he is dependable and can be counted on during rainy days – that may not count for much; but when you’re on the journey of life, that’s everything and much more; with folk like that you never ever need to worry Dotty, you never need to wake up one morning and wonder whether he has just taken off for good; you just know deep down, he’s just gone to the pasar to buy the groceries – but with me; you will never know; never – and that’s a problem…a very big problem. “

This excerpt about honesty accompanies this write up.