10/09/2012

What we need to feed the bananas?



The issue of ethnic and religious practices is getting more annoying to some Sinkies. The huge population and crammed up environment, living so closely with each other, undoubtedly, have added pressure to mutual tolerance. When there were lesser of us, when there were more living space, when such practices were relatively less frequent as the number of people were smaller, things were much manageable.

Now the crazy thought of 6m, without thinking how the sardine packed environment is going to turn every average tolerant Sinkies into a monster in an instant is not funny. People who lived in 30,000 sq ft houses, who are being chauffeured around in comfort, can NEVER understand what it is like to be cooked in such a pressurised environment and would merrily go around spouting nonsense that 6m or 10m is no issue. We have the technology to build more houses and be creative in space management. To me they are just asses that only use their own comfortable lifestyle as a reference point. The masses can be squeezed and moulded to any shape and size for all matters. It does not affect them.

What has bananas got to do with multi racial religious and cultural activities? Bananas’ lifestyle is highly dependent on the media hype. The media says go and jump into the Singapore River in your evening dress at 12 midnight and they will do it. Go and scream at Block 108 at 3am in the morning, they will go and think it is fun. Go to the next field or park and bang the dustbins for an hour to create a record in the Guinness Book, they will do it. It is hip, fun, cool and spectacular.

Ethnic celebrations and ceremonies? Yak, so uncool, so backward, so noisy, dirty, smelly. Bananas cannot appreciate their own cultures or anything Asian except something that I don’t think much about, a bastardised culture called Peranakan. This is the only hip thing that they adored and craved about.

But there is hope. All the govt needs to do is to invite a few westerners to say a few good things about our ethnic diversities, cultural practices and ceremonies. Film the angmohs having a good time at a void deck wedding, at a seventh moon ghost festival, at a Thaipusam procession, and let them comment how excited and exciting these events were. I bet the bananas would turn up in droves, with the reporters, to report on these events as something new and fantastic that they never know were so interesting, something so cool and they want to be a part of them. A little PR using the media, and using the westerners, and the western lenses will do the trick.

Then all our ancient and antiquated cultural and religious practices would be in vogue, cool. Otherwise they will be viewed as disgusting, tasteless, offensive and waste of time and money.

The govt, Tourism Board, Media Corp, can do their part. And yes, you need to spend money using angmoh PR firms and angmoh models if you want it to be successful, to change the taste of bananas. Don’t use MPs or ministers.

17 comments:

sgcynic said...

Just visit any NTUC Fairprice, join the queue to make payment, or any bank, join the queue for counter service. You will get the idea how it is to live with 5m.

Anonymous said...

what you say is true, redbean. but it will not work, at least not for the hard core bananas. i've seen these bananas (some not yellow, some bananas the banana skin turn brown or black already) would study their parents' culture as if it is a foreign culture. they study and ask questions about the traditions of their ancestors' culture as if they are angmoh. talk about it like an academic discussion like the way an angmoh would. what to do, inside white already. very prevalent among the bananas (yellow, brown, black) who marry angmoh men and attach their angmoh husband's surname to their name. some throw away completely their yellow, brown or black banana surname or father's name. so cannot really do anything unless they live overseas and get treated like shit by the prejudiced westerners in the west or australia. ah, these bananas having gone through the fire are called fried bananas, goreng pisang.

banana rama s/o kupu-kupu

Anonymous said...

Redbean is as good as Holland pea.
English is more useful than Chinese.
Money, lust and vice are far better than
ethnic culture and backward practices.
Someday redbean will be crossed with
Holland pea and the world can be truly
globalized. May the day arrives soon.

Chua Chin Leng aka redbean said...

Goreng pisang! nice description.

Chua Chin Leng aka redbean said...

If we cannot respect ourselves and our own cultures, we deserve to lose our respect and be peed on by westerners.

Some of our traditions and rites are ancient and may look gaudy and less attractive. Some noisy and difficult to practise in closed up environment. Some can be repackaged to keep up with times and changes, like our basic dressing, hairstyle etc.

Never lose our past as it is part of us.

Anonymous said...

I'd consider rb's article about bananas to be fair comment.
Just be clear about the cost of "blind" loyalty to things Chinese.

Learn from what the ang mohs called the "Boxer Rebellion", 1898-1901 in China.
By all means, be loyal and faithful to Chinese culture.
But don't be so stupid as to betray your own race by clinging on to the past and not allowing your own culture to evolve naturally.

The Boxers thought their ancient Chinese culture and rituals will provide immunity against modern bombs and bullets.

Chua Chin Leng aka redbean said...

Anon 9:39,

You are right to mention about the Boxer Rebellion. Today, most people are very well educated and should be able to distinguish between customs, rites and voodoos and superstitions.

Mao might have done a lot of damages during the Cultural Revolution. But his main purpose was to destroy superstitions, voodoos, prejudices and blind attachments to bad and silly practices of the old Chinese.

We have to adapt, keep the good and discard the bad. How to beat the big drums and gongs in our concrete jungle? How to burn and burn so much incense papers?

Veritas said...

Westerners and bananas also believe in Virgin birth -- EVEN TODAY. Even though I am a Christian (with heavy Buddhism world view), I want to comment that going back few hundred years, the westerners are worse than Boxer Chinese.

The westerners got themselves civilize roughly 150 earlier than Chinese in 1900s. Whats the big deal?

Me myself believe in virgin birth also? I do not find anything wrong.

Anonymous said...

Heard of Templars Knights and the Inquisition?

Anonymous said...

Heard of LKY and the Singapore General Elections?

Anonymous said...

Taiping Rebellion

A fine example when China/Chinese was too influenced by Western Missionaries ... 20 million deaths from this Fiasco

Bengster

Anonymous said...

Mao Zedong did no destroy Chinese Culture. He did his best to rid his Race off from alien supetstitions, cultural practices from the Middle East and the West.

Anonymous said...

Mao's Cultural Revolution.
Hong Xiuquan's Taiping Rebellion.
and etc.

They all point to the difficulties of a "one leader-one solution" way of governing Chinese people.

The country is too vast.
The people too numerous and diverse.
For a one size fits all solution.

And this is why I am sceptical of the merits of a single China political entity;
And question whether this is in the best interest of the Chinese people.
And I even call this the propaganda of Qin Shi Huang, after his unification/conquest of China in 221 BC, to legitimize his rule.

It was/is the existence of Singapore, Hong Kong, Macau and Taiwan.
4 different types of "China".
That gave Deng Xiaoping a glimpse of other possibilities for China.
Leading to the ideas of "one country, two systems."
And the 'Special Economic Zones."

Think about it.
The Special Economic Zones is really an acknowledgement that there is no such thing as a one size fits all solution for China.
And that China is better governed as a collection of separate entities.
Maybe as a federation of states.

Chua Chin Leng aka redbean said...

The Amy Cheong incident is a warning sign that compact living where people live so close to each other is not easy.

Still thinking of 6m, no problem? Statistically sure, 20m also can. But think social, think people, think emotions, think human beans, not pieces of lifeless machines, and trying thinking if 6m is tolerable.

Veritas said...

The PAP's population ponzi wont stop unless an event struck us hard that convince our leaders or people its harm.

Generally in a political or social system, once it is entrenched, it will play out its full course. We might need to wait to the collapse of Singapore or a revolution.

Other than FT ponzi, what else LHL can do to grow the economy? Every other way good for SG is now diametrically opposite to special interest group.

Anonymous said...

Blame the intolerance of the citizens. Don't blame the cook that is happily adding more stuff into the pot.

Anonymous said...

The Modernist will say You are backward to stick with ethnic root and tradition.

Without English, mankind can never progress. They say one hor.