if you meet the singaporean on the road - eigenmoomin
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Highlights
when that hollow feeling of being a nation with no bastion of private enterprise to be proud of creeps in, we write polemics, and create well-produced CNA documentaries of why we can’t innovate. We can then excuse ourselves of doing anything about it at all, feeling slightly better for having at least so expertly diagnosed our own problems. ⤴️
After 18 years of performing intelligence well, you reach university and the script suddenly changes. Studying for that “A” and being an “all-rounder” is no longer enough to be considered “doing well”. You’re supposed to “follow your passion” and “build something meaningful” now.
There was, of course, no time to waste developing passion or meaning. There is even less time in university now. The classes are harder, the people smarter and more motivated. So, you make do and hastily learn the new performance for the new show you’re supposed to put on. ⤴️
At some point, you will develop taste. Maybe a few years into your career, maybe during university, you’ll realize you can spot all the bullshit that exists around us.
The problem now is that you have all these wonderful ideas and observations, but they’re trapped behind layers of self-sabotage. You need absolute certainty before speaking, and even then, every thought comes pre-packaged with its own rebuttal. Conversations where you might be challenged are avoided, you stay quiet in meetings unless you’re completely sure, and you take a backseat from discussions where someone might know more than you. There is a pervasive, societal shyness towards the simple act of having an Opinion. ⤴️
The deeper tragedy is that this is the heart of why we all remain compradors. Not just because the best dream we have is one where we work for foreign companies or implement other people’s ideas, but because we don’t believe our own thoughts deserve to exist unqualified. We’ve been trained so thoroughly to defer, to hedge, to never be caught being wrong, that we’ve lost the basic faith that our own observations matter. ⤴️
But do I have the will to act on it? How many hours have I spent thinking about this, having endless lunches and coffees with friends who all agree that Something must be done by Someone? ⤴️