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> There is a price for density: crime, trash, prices, overcrowding, urban decay, poverty and homelessness, etc. Density without strict oversight, perhaps. Hong
by jimmywanger 9y ago
> There is a price for density: crime, trash, prices, overcrowding, urban decay, poverty and homelessness, etc.
Density without strict oversight, perhaps. Hong Kong, Macau, and Singapore seem to be counterexamples.
- emodendroket 9y agoWow, so all we have to do is accept totalitarian rule? Where do I sign?
- bduerst 9y agoCan you help me understand how Singapore is totalitarian?
- jimmywanger 9y agoLee Kuan Yew is known to have strict authoritarian and disciplinarian policies. He basically forged Singapore from a couple square miles of swampy marshland with no natural water or resources into what is is today. It's no longer that way, but it's been molded that way that it's a Brave New World sort of life. It's quite strange over there. Very clean and safe, but there are tons of extremely strict laws.
- emodendroket 9y agoDo you have another description for a society where you can't buy chewing gum, caning is a punishment meted out by courts, and making a video criticizing Lee Kwan Yew can land you in jail? Where there is no freedom of association and the press freedom ratings are consistently poor? I don't think the idea that Singapore is an authoritarian state is even controversial.
- jimmywanger 9y agoWould you rather live in Singapore or El Salvador? Especially if you have a family that depends on you.
- emodendroket 9y agoAs if those were the only choices. I'd rather stay where I am than live in either place.
- jimmywanger 9y agoWell where you are is presumably better than El Salvador when it come to terms of crime and wealth, and better than Singapore in terms of freedom. If you were currently living in El Salvador with a family, would you move to Singapore for freedom? Conversely, if you were currently living in Singapore with a family, would you move to Singapore for safety and money?
- emodendroket 9y agoThe two places are so different I don't know what the point of the comparison is. It's not like you turn up the authoritarianism meter and it becomes a safe place to live. Many countries combine authoritarianism with high rates of violent crime and poverty.
- jimmywanger 9y ago> Many countries combine authoritarianism with high rates of violent crime and poverty. Well, in your original point you said "all I have to do is sign up for totalitarian rule?" mockingly, equating the two. They're not the same, but many people would choose totalitarian prosperity over democratic poverty.
- emodendroket 9y agoBecause the post I'm replying to made the same equation, referring to "strict control" and naming places under such rule. In a discussion about what to do about US suburbs I don't think El Salvador, a poor country whose civil war ended in 1992, is even the least bit relevant.
- 9y ago