Over dinner tonight, the husband mentioned that there’s been a social media frenzy over a certain expat in Singapore recently. I admit I only gave the related tweets a cursory glance at the time and did not and still do not care to know the whole story. I sometimes think Singaporeans love to make a big fuss if only for a sense of belonging, a sense that something is happening in our kind-of-boring-sometimes little island. Or for the heck of it, create a ruckus you know? Makes mundane life more interesting.
After a quick brief from the husband though, I get why people are upset. That expat sure wasn’t being very nice was he? It is one thing to know you’re poor, and another thing to have it pointed out to you by someone else. (Of course quite jokingly, I did tell the husband that I don’t get why Singaporeans are all upset by the expat calling us ‘poor’ when we’re always claiming to be poor to our government to begin with!) And, he was being very cruel alright. I think he either has more money than brain cells or it was very deliberate on his part to rile people up. Then again, I think Singaporeans over-reacted as well. We can take offense of course because he was just soo rude, but we don’t have to react negatively. Show the grace we have even as ‘poor’ people that this rich expat couldn’t hope to buy with his money.
My first response to the husband is that, I think we didn’t have to get so angry because to be honest, this is reality. We all discriminate and look down on people poorer than we are somewhere deep in our hearts. Meritocracy implies to us that if someone is making less money than us, he must be somehow less capable. We might not voice it, or act on such assumptions as the expat did, but do not deny that we all discriminate. We may pity the less well-to-do, we can offer charity out of the goodness of our hearts, but discrimination is human nature. In essence, we simply recognize and accept that we belong in different categories, different brackets if you will. There’s nothing truly wrong about that. Equality is merely an ideal; but what’s true is rather than segregation in terms of above and beneath, can we simply go for ‘different’? It is technically always going to be true that we can’t all be the same (and therefore won’t be treated all the same). It is however, less gracious of course when you make fun of others for being different like the expat has done.
To the expat who exclaimed he’ll need to scrub off the ‘stench of poverty’ from riding on the MRT, I say likewise we’ll all have to bathe in rosewater to get rid of that awful stink of too-much-money. Be respectable when you’re out of your depth and ‘behind enemy lines’. Public transport might be uncomfortable at times, but hey direct that disdain to the company running these trains rather than the people who have no choice but to suffer it. While we’re at it, don’t pity us for being mere commuters on a public train; we don’t need pity. To each his own life; you don’t have to like or begin to understand our lives, but you don’t have to be here and be as rude as you’re rich. We’re happy to see you live in a condominium, drive a posh car, eat at restaurants in Singapore. By all means, enjoy your rich life here and pay your taxes. Us Singaporeans have absolutely no problems with expats moving our economy along for us, but hey let’s just agree to get out of each other’s faces if we don’t get along. At least do us as your host, basic courtesy.
In truth, rather than get angry at the expat, shouldn’t we all ‘poorer people’ pity him instead that for all the money he has, he doesn’t seem to possess any common decency? If there’s one thing we should take away from this, it’s that this expat is proof that the rich can be really pathetic and embarrassing sometimes too. To have to put others down to make yourself feel more superior, are you seriously so low on self-esteem when you apparently drive a drool-worthy Porsche? I find it all very amusing.
Next post, I’ll likely get a bit more serious and possibly mini-lecture on the topic of Income Inequality. As some of you might know, that’s the theme as well for the World Economic Forum that has just wrapped up in Davos today. The last 72hours have seen many new and continuing crisis develop, including the unravelling political situations in Kiev, the Middle East and closer-to-home Thailand. Emerging Market currencies are also under tremendous stress with Argentina and Turkey likely the first wave of casualties with more to follow. This global recession has had massive impacts all around but we all agree that the rich have only grown richer, and the poor have truly suffered. This is true with individuals, with companies and also with countries. Tension is at breaking point as unemployment remains high and the poor see no improvement to their struggle in an economic climate that remains much too weak. Resentment towards the rich is not that far off and conflict as we see, is only too easy to ignite.
On a more personal note, one of my tweets apparently made it on air at CNBC!! Omg, this is an epic moment, landmark achievement in my books isn’t it? You wouldn’t believe how happy this makes me!! Fangirl moment*
Seriously now though, as an extended note from last post, I feel I should also mention that the Dow has lost 316point today after a 200point lost yesterday over global headwinds. The S&P has broken 1800 (significant support) today and it does not bode well at all for the rest of 2014. Remain cautious. You might not be a trader like me, but the economy is our lifeblood in Singapore. This time with Emerging Markets taking hits, the crisis might just hit closer to home than you realize. Just recall, how many ASEAN countries are EMs? Now do you see?
