In the days after Yee’s arrest, a slew of local celebrities, including three Singaporean starlet types, were interviewed about his videos on national TV. In sequences depressing to watch, they all sided with the state. “If you say that, ‘Oh, people can say whatever they want, all the time,’ then what about those people who are listening?” Joshua Tan, a young actor, said. Well, what about them? The suggestion that citizens should withhold political criticism for fear of offense is preposterous—far more embarrassing to Singapore than any videos by Yee could be.Amos Yee is only 17, and he's been arrested under the Protection from Harassment Act, apparently for hurting religious feelings when he likened Lee Kuan Yew — a dead Singaporean leader — to Jesus Christ. Here's the video, in which you can see how very charming Yee is. (Some of the language is NSFW.)
April 10, 2015
"[Amos] Yee’s arrest doesn't just underscore his complaints about Singapore’s backwardness on rights and freedom."
"It shows the country’s dire need for cultural education through intelligent dissent."
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24 comments:
My religion prohibits same-sex "marriages" and so I
Oops. Sorry. Sshhhhhh
If he lives, that kid has quite the future.
Backwardness? sorry I don't see it. They just have different protected classes.
Singapore is a Chinese city-state with a British heritage. Like China, Singapore has government controlled media, sharp limits on a citizen's freedom to speak and advocate, and government imposed barriers on means of mass communication it can't control (e.g. the internet). Hong Kong, that other Chinese city with a marked British heritage, does a bit better in both regards, but is sliding in the direction of Singapore (and Beijing).
Perhaps it's not surprising that of all the Chinese governments, the one most accepting of notions of freedoms of speech and press is Taiwan, which since WW2, has been strongly influenced by the US. Taiwan, too, is hardly a paragon of free speech, but it is certainly much better than the PRC, Hong Kong or Singapore.
The suggestion that citizens should withhold political criticism for fear of offense is preposterous...
Mr. Heller has clearly not visited many American universities recently.
Madonna ought to get Yee as her joke writer.
Mostly he's a pretty normal 17 year old--more passionate than wise. That his society can't handle him (except in the literal sense) says a lot that's not good about Singapore.
They probably consider it a hate crime and have acted in accordance with international libertine standards. Generational liberal, or progressive (i.e. unqualified, monotonic change), standards are notoriously selective. I suggest principled tolerance, but I understand the demand for pro-choice or selective normalization of individual faith, philosophy, fantasy, orientation, and behavior.
There's not much hope for a country in which you can chew gum.
Lee Kuan Yew moved his country from grass huts to skyscrapers in a single generation. He never attracted much favorable notice in the west, but compare his days and works to those of Mao, Ho Chi Minh, the Kim generations, and Pol Pot. Singapore could have done worse......OK, the kid should be allowed to speak his mind, but God help a society where such a young pimple is considered wise beyond his years......,Where are the witty put downs of Mao, Ho Chi Minh, Mugabe, the Ayatollah, Kim Jong Un by the residents of their respective countries? The mere existence of this young man proves that Lee wasn't such an overpowering dictator.
You see garage, this is why we have a Constitution with protected speech.
But you don't care, you fucking ideological moron.
Where did that child learn to speak English? By watching Quentin Tarantino movies?
The people of Singapore generally have a very high standard of living and a very stable society. However, they surrender personal rights to a degree we would find highly objectionable. Most people in Singapore have no problems with cases like this, and caning people for vandalism. You know why? They have very little political instability and almost no vandalism.
Looking at this with an eye toward something more than mere self-gain allows for the proper attitude which is this: I've embarrassed myself both written-wise and by loutish verbal eminations. With speech restrictions with teeth I might not have been so embarrassed, as my fear of upsetting other than God might have prevented the uncomfortable stature-revelations.
So ban it all. Every last impure thought must be banned, much less the attitude "fuck it I'll say whatever I want yo."
Other cultures say Americans have too much freedom.
We say that we fought the British, French, Spanish, Iraquois, Huron, Creek! Commanche, Navaho, and British again, and the Southern Rebellion, and no one takes that freedom from us without a fight.
Singapore will probably cut out his tongue.
Lee Kuan Yew is one of the truly great men of the last century, and for Singapore, pretty much the man who established it as an independent state. So he is their George Washington.
He also is the man who made it largely an English speaking country.
He also gave it a superlative education system.
He also established a dynamic economy, and turned it into a First World country (as noted above).
He also turned it into a model of benevolent, if rather intrusive, Confucian order. Singapore is SAFE.
He also did much to destroy communism in Asia, especially through his influence with Deng Hsiao Ping and, less known, with then Prime Minister Vo Van Kiet. Vietnam, of which he was an old enemy, also owes him much of its prosperity. He was the midwife or at least the consulting physician at the birth of at least two of the Asian "Tigers", including the biggest of all.
He wasn't without his faults, but if any politician ever deserved his bronze statue, he did.
I rather like Singapore. Its worth a visit.
Singapore has a lot of (economic) freedoms we don't have, but lacks a lot we do. I'd rather have both, but worry I'll have neither.
Stopped reading as soon as I saw "on the right side of history." If ever a phrase needed consigned to the Orwellian pit, that one does.
As much as I love freedom of speech, freedom of this, that and the other, that we have (or used to have?) in the US, this kid and his peers have brighter economic futures than my boys, who are about the same age. I might be willing to trade the one for the other, especially when I think about how much worse things will be in the US in 25-30 years.
Move to America, kid.
"on the right side of history"
I read on, but this did make me pause.
sydney said...Where did that child learn to speak English? By watching Quentin Tarantino movies?
And he learned his mannerisms watching Woody Allen movies.
The internet allows the small of mind to attain more notoriety than they deserve...
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