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Update: There are a number of comments with the equivalent of “name me a safer country”. It is undeniable that Singapore is one of the safest country in the wor

by lgvln 3y ago

Update: There are a number of comments with the equivalent of “name me a safer country”. It is undeniable that Singapore is one of the safest country in the world. The issue here is there needs to be a balance between safety and other aspects that constitutes a good life. You’re most likely the safest if you lock yourself at home your entire life - but that’s no way to live. Such surveillance is unnecessary/excessive (Singapore has had an extremely low crime rate) and intrusive. It infringes on one’s civil and political liberties (not that the law affords Singaporeans much), which are necessary to a good life. [0] My comment is a reminder that underneath all that color, is an oppressive one-party authoritarian (police?) state. [0] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/International_Covenant_on_Civil_and_Political_Rights#States_which_are_neither_signatories_nor_parties https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/International_Covenant_on_Civi...

gmerc 3y ago
What a bizarre comment again. Police State? What are you smoking? Do yourself a favor and check when the last person was choked to death, beaten to death by police over here, how many police shootings we have per capita, how many people have their property taken by police at traffic stops, what our imprisoned population ratio is, and how many policemen and three letter agencies we have to oppress us. Find us instances where our President or Prime Minister openly fabulate about shooting protesters, cheers about kids with assault rifles doing it for him? Continue to research if police in Singapore can claim qualified immunity, whether we have a thin blue line here, whether minorities have to fear police in Singapore. Please go on, educate us how we are oppressed and cannot have a good life as a result. Tell us how the police in Singapore is feared by a large percentage of the population because skin color means potentially getting shot through the windshield. Maybe find some cases of systemic police violence that have gone unpunished in our country? (Did you know public servants, including police get their punishment doubled on conviction because, shockingly, they are held to a higher standard here rather than receiving immunity and protection). By all means, educate us on the last time a Singapore SWAT team accidentally shot someone in their bed, or in fact a single case of successful murder by Police/Swatting here. Or the last time police leadership covered up for a serial killer or rapist in uniform, we are burning to hear your insights into that. We actually, by a large margin, like our police force here. Many of them are kids doing their national service. Oh I get it, these things are not oppression, the Economist has a statistic somewhere that they are the price of freedom. What is it with people who feel compelled to post “just reminders” that Singapore is definitely not a pure western democracy like Texas or Alberta or Bavaria who have true one party rule on the same population scale on random threads about … checks … the color palette of Singapore? Is it fragility? The inability to accept that there are places in the world that are comparatively thriving compared to the West? Further Reading: https://thekopi.co/2020/06/12/how-did-singapore-avoid-the-police-brutality-trap-a-story-of-nsfs-and-npcs/amp/ https://thekopi.co/2020/06/12/how-did-singapore-avoid-the-po...
- lgvln 3y ago
  Gmerc, your comment is borderline abusive. What is happening in other countries has no bearing on whether Singapore is a police state or not, it is what Singapore does that qualifies it. While the term “police state” might be too strong for Singapore, here is why it might apply: 1) Internal Security Act - The ability to detain anyone deemed as a “national security threat” indefinitely without trial. Lee Kuan Yew famously argued against it before independence. After independence, he retained it and went on use it against political opponents. (Who do you think are the new colonial overlords telling others how to behave, what to say or what to think?) 2) Lack of civil and political rights to act as check and balances against overreach by the state. Eg. Widespread and intrusive surveillance of much of the country, especially in the poorer areas; extensive power of the police to investigate with little oversight - TraceTogether data debacle; politically motivated persecution of dissidents and journalists etc. 3) Control and manipulation of the local media landscape in order to achieve/support their goals. [0] https://press.princeton.edu/books/hardcover/9780691211411/spin-dictators https://press.princeton.edu/books/hardcover/9780691211411/sp... Let me remind you again that you need to address my arguments to refute it.
  - gmerc 3y ago
    Ah, your cherry picked definition of authoritarian police state. And custom definition of abuse as freedom from having your nose thumbed into cognitive dissonances. No, I need to do no such things as to address the vapid statements you make more than pointing your the internal inconsistency and massive cognitive dissonance of Americans and Brits trying to define true freedom. By all means, let’s glance over the National Security Letters, Family Separation at Borders, the Snowden and Assange clown shows, Guantanamo, Black Sites, Texas or North Carolina travesty of governance but mention at any random thread about Singapore (colors!) that it’s authoritarian because … princeton study says it is. What is the thought process behind this urge? You avoided this question at every step, yet you demand engagement and protest abuse. No, I don’t need to refute your arguments. Because they are none, but shifting strawmen. They are massive blinders of cognitive dissonance. Spare us your judgement over here, all you have is books and definitions and colonial mansplaining. May you one day travel the world and get cured from your indoctrination.

by lgvln 3y ago

gmerc 3y ago

What a bizarre comment again. Police State? What are you smoking? Do yourself a favor and check when the last person was choked to death, beaten to death by police over here, how many police shootings we have per capita, how many people have their property taken by police at traffic stops, what our imprisoned population ratio is, and how many policemen and three letter agencies we have to oppress us. Find us instances where our President or Prime Minister openly fabulate about shooting protesters, cheers about kids with assault rifles doing it for him? Continue to research if police in Singapore can claim qualified immunity, whether we have a thin blue line here, whether minorities have to fear police in Singapore. Please go on, educate us how we are oppressed and cannot have a good life as a result. Tell us how the police in Singapore is feared by a large percentage of the population because skin color means potentially getting shot through the windshield. Maybe find some cases of systemic police violence that have gone unpunished in our country? (Did you know public servants, including police get their punishment doubled on conviction because, shockingly, they are held to a higher standard here rather than receiving immunity and protection). By all means, educate us on the last time a Singapore SWAT team accidentally shot someone in their bed, or in fact a single case of successful murder by Police/Swatting here. Or the last time police leadership covered up for a serial killer or rapist in uniform, we are burning to hear your insights into that. We actually, by a large margin, like our police force here. Many of them are kids doing their national service. Oh I get it, these things are not oppression, the Economist has a statistic somewhere that they are the price of freedom. What is it with people who feel compelled to post “just reminders” that Singapore is definitely not a pure western democracy like Texas or Alberta or Bavaria who have true one party rule on the same population scale on random threads about … checks … the color palette of Singapore? Is it fragility? The inability to accept that there are places in the world that are comparatively thriving compared to the West? Further Reading: https://thekopi.co/2020/06/12/how-did-singapore-avoid-the-police-brutality-trap-a-story-of-nsfs-and-npcs/amp/ https://thekopi.co/2020/06/12/how-did-singapore-avoid-the-po...

lgvln 3y ago
Gmerc, your comment is borderline abusive. What is happening in other countries has no bearing on whether Singapore is a police state or not, it is what Singapore does that qualifies it. While the term “police state” might be too strong for Singapore, here is why it might apply: 1) Internal Security Act - The ability to detain anyone deemed as a “national security threat” indefinitely without trial. Lee Kuan Yew famously argued against it before independence. After independence, he retained it and went on use it against political opponents. (Who do you think are the new colonial overlords telling others how to behave, what to say or what to think?) 2) Lack of civil and political rights to act as check and balances against overreach by the state. Eg. Widespread and intrusive surveillance of much of the country, especially in the poorer areas; extensive power of the police to investigate with little oversight - TraceTogether data debacle; politically motivated persecution of dissidents and journalists etc. 3) Control and manipulation of the local media landscape in order to achieve/support their goals. [0] https://press.princeton.edu/books/hardcover/9780691211411/spin-dictators https://press.princeton.edu/books/hardcover/9780691211411/sp... Let me remind you again that you need to address my arguments to refute it.
- gmerc 3y ago
  Ah, your cherry picked definition of authoritarian police state. And custom definition of abuse as freedom from having your nose thumbed into cognitive dissonances. No, I need to do no such things as to address the vapid statements you make more than pointing your the internal inconsistency and massive cognitive dissonance of Americans and Brits trying to define true freedom. By all means, let’s glance over the National Security Letters, Family Separation at Borders, the Snowden and Assange clown shows, Guantanamo, Black Sites, Texas or North Carolina travesty of governance but mention at any random thread about Singapore (colors!) that it’s authoritarian because … princeton study says it is. What is the thought process behind this urge? You avoided this question at every step, yet you demand engagement and protest abuse. No, I don’t need to refute your arguments. Because they are none, but shifting strawmen. They are massive blinders of cognitive dissonance. Spare us your judgement over here, all you have is books and definitions and colonial mansplaining. May you one day travel the world and get cured from your indoctrination.