A Flame A Day...

I have been so totally flamed!!!!

Mr Wang Says So posted a letter from a Mr Gopal about official discrimination against non-citizens in Singapore. Honestly I have to say, doesn't that happen everywhere? Is not a governments and a nations duty to care first for its own citizens?

Anyhow, I dared to enter the fray [big smiley face here].

Of the 15 comments posted since that 6 were counters to mine; of which 2 were points of discussion by Mr Wang, one of which I disagreed with in my second post, 4 were total flames, and 1 was Mr Wang asking for the tone to be kept civil; which took up 73% of the line space. And about four would have been entered before mine went visible, so really it is 50% of the comments and 85% of line space.

And what did I say that annoyed the citizenry so much?
That foreigners pay taxes that are used (in part) to provide benefits to citizens.

Anonymous said; "And what do you really know, Aussie? You're just another opportunistic FTrash from down-under who has not been here long enough to understand our society ills and now muscling in to get at our well-paying jobs."

FILTHs didn't actually insult me, he just went off the deep end by extrapolation.

Old-Timer said; "Face it, Aussie - you're a swell-headed moron." and also took great umbrage at my statement that I feel politically freer in Singapore than I do in Australia, questioning whether I was a real Australian or not. He made a statement about "Unless you're some world renown scientist who has cloned Dolly the sheep in your resume, ..." which I find humourous in an ironic way because I did work with that team for a time. I did their project costing model.

So, your well-paying jobs? Truth be told, my impression of the remuneration outlined in most job adverts makes me wonder at how the average Singaporean survives.

But when added to the way some SGers seem to insist on walking into me on the footpath, refusing to pass in a polite manner, I begin to feel that SG is perhaps too xenophobic, too hostile to foreigners for comfort. Should I count this as a mark against remaining and take my (as yet unused in SG) skills somewhere else?

I am still convinced that I should give SG another six weeks, to the end of March, before I start getting too concerned and making arrangements for possibly returning to Oz.

However I must commend Mr Wang for running with so open a forum.
Yes, I was insulted extensively, and mostly inaccurately, but I acknowledge that Singaporeans for the most part probably have little exposure to an Australian sense of humour and won't understand that some things are said in a light-hearted manner. As for the rest, they are entitled to their views, and, like Voltaire, I may not agree with them, but...