Are we too quick to judge?
Written by ED on November 17, 2007 – 10:05 pm - Posted in Current Affairs, Singapore, Society |Very quickly, another episode of Ang Moh vs Singaporean get publicized following the Bo Davis incident. Perhaps, some locals sympathized with “Princess” Mich but personally, I don’t. For some reasons, I couldn’t bring myself to give her the slightest bit of sympathy, except for the unfortunate experience of being punched in the nose by the opposite gender.
It is understandable of the act of a man punching a woman, as the most undesirable behaviour. I am definitely not in support of such an act from a man, to act physically against a weaker gender. That - is only what we get to see. At least from the videos, great emphasis was placed on the act of punching her and the aggressive woman. The other side of the coin, is pretty much left to the assumptions of viewers.
This incident reminded me of a remark I wrote in one of the posts where I said something like… a Singaporean can have both his ears stuffed with earphones and oblivious to the fact that he had accidentaly stepped on someone’s feet. (If you remember which post, let me know thanks! Thanks Janice!) This analogy seemed to fit pretty well in this new incident, because it’s already a well known fact that the Singapore society has grown to be self-centered.
In this incident, what we don’t get to see is how our dear “princess” had knocked into the apparent female culprit. I am sure many of us have experienced this same experience of being banged by rude Singaporeans who are oblivious to their own deeds, just because they are so busy chatting with their own friends or whatever. To some, they don’t even care in turning around to offer a word of “sorry”.
As we know, it takes two hands to clap in any conflict. Things, don’t happen without a reason. Perhaps, it is exactly this self-centered & oblivious attitude in many Singaporeans that sparked off such an incident. The quality of attitudes in Singapore’s future generations is already a much talk-about issue. Has the oblivious attitude of our dear “princess” sparked off this commotion? Seems likely so to me, not very princess-like as well, isn’t it?
How much does it take to be more aware of our surroundings? How much does it hurts to turn around and say… “Ooops, I’m sorry”. Not a lot, but yet this is exactly what a lot of Singaporeans can’t bring themselves to do. To some, saying “sorry” is disgraceful despite the deeds they committed on others, accidentally or not. Again, this could be the factor that draws out the worst behaviour from others. You don’t walk into a lion’s den expecting not to be bitten by the lion, isn’t it?
Furthermore, we are hearing more and more women exploiting the Women Chapter to get even with men, whichever they hold grudges against. The line between men and women equality has since become grey. How much protection is too little? How much protection is too much? It’s of little wonder why the parliament has refused to add more laws into the Women Chapter. The potential of such protection being abused in usage, outweighed the protection they are designed to do.
Of course, I feel it’s an over-reaction by the ang moh. Afterall, it’s an accidental bang that is not going to kill anyone. Even a push back on the shoulders will be considered an over-reaction, let alone a punch in the nose. But given the way the Singapore society has grown to be, maybe some will share the same sentiments as myself. Sometimes, Singaporeans asked for it, so quit pointing all ten fingers at somebody else. Keep one pointing at ourselves at all times, if our conscience permits.
Afterall, people who saw the punch in her beautiful face probably didn’t witness the bang she gave others. Just like Stomp, have such media platforms become a tool for revenge due to personal unhappiness? I’ll leave you to your own conclusion.
Are we too quick to judge? Perhaps… perhaps…
November 17th, 2007 at 10:13 pm
Regardless of the background on the incident, I think this recent event might just result in more people being unhappy with Ang Mohs in light of the trishaw incident.
And I think with more and more people jumping onto the bandwagon and blogging about the issue, the truth will get lost somewhere down the line… ok not lost maybe bent or distorted.
Regardless, a man should hit a girl….. he should hit ON the girl :p (I kid.. I kid)
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November 17th, 2007 at 10:16 pm
arzhou: LOL! WTH!
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November 17th, 2007 at 10:41 pm
I din know of such an incident until I read your post. Its an ugly sight fighting off at a popular place. I felt embarrassed
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November 17th, 2007 at 10:47 pm
that’s the thing about blogs.
“Hear only the good stuff”
We have no opportunity to cross-examine both parties, or are we suppsoed to do so?
And I find it pretty racist and sexually discriminating. If it was a Chinese guy who beat the girl, do you see people keep calling “that chinese guy that chinese guy”? Indian, maybe…. now ang moh, happily replace “he” with “ang moh”. Hello, I think his ethnicity should never be taken into consideration in the discussion of this incident. And if women are talking about fair treatment for both genders, then now they got it. Equality of the sexes huh, if guy can beat guy, so can guy beat girl.
Sorry I know it sounds crappy, but that’s what I really think.
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November 17th, 2007 at 10:57 pm
It could be that the foreigner is just trying to protect his gf/wife but over reacted in this case.
Whatever is the issue, A man just shouldn’t hit a woman unless his life is in danger.
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November 17th, 2007 at 11:05 pm
CC: It’s more like… read with an open heart. Afterall, we only hear one side of the story. We can only guess the other side.
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November 17th, 2007 at 11:28 pm
When locals feel pressured and even sidelined by so many foreigners on our land, it is no wonder that we take some small issues that involve a foreigner or two and turn them into teacup-sized storms.
I do agree with you to a certain extent that we are missing the full story from the POV of the girl that reported it — after all, nobody lays blame on themselves when they feel maligned one way or another.
However, the fact that many locals feel sidelined and even angry that citizenship means nothing needs to be truly addressed. If left to fester, it won’t do anyone any good in both the short and long run.
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November 18th, 2007 at 1:35 am
Well, the onus is on us to be able to look at the big picture and not focus on the fact that he is angmoh. Not all are like this one particular shocking black sheep.
My opinion is, no matter what she did (and we do not know), it will never justify his means of “reply”. Why did the woman herself not handle it and the man had to step into the picture in such a drastic manner? If it had been the woman fighting back, the whole incident will not be blown up (so much). I don’t condone violence but if anyone bangs into me and walks away with nary an apology, I will not take it lying down (literally and figuratively).
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November 18th, 2007 at 1:46 am
Rachel: I think it was mentioned somewhere, that woman did react towards our dear “princess”. What made that guy stepped in, is unknown… or at least not explained.
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November 18th, 2007 at 2:08 am
I guess even if we try to apply reason and logic to all of this, emotions will skew the way we think.
As Sicarii has pointed out, there are people who feel sidelined because of these Ang Mohs and are thus unhappy. Also there will be people who think that since the guy whack the girl, he is totally in the wrong.
But I think this is just a start, we can wait for the deluge of more such blogposts :p
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November 18th, 2007 at 2:33 am
arzhou: There bound to be people who thinks it is wrong for a man to hit a woman, even if the woman comes running after a man with a chopper in the hand. That’s for sure…
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November 18th, 2007 at 9:39 am
You can always do a search for the post
In the admin dashboard. And, a search bar here would do nicely.
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November 18th, 2007 at 9:41 am
Yeah, I think it is for bloggers like us who are fortunate enough to be able to see the huge problem in biasness to try in our own little ways to right the balance. As for this incident, the evidence seems so compelling towards the princess (not even gonna capitalize lol), though of course if we want to remain objective we probably cannot come to a conclusion with this amount of evidence. Whatever it is I think that the woman was a prick to blow the bump up like that. Whatever the hidden reason that made her angry with the princess, there was no need to scream and shout like that.
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November 18th, 2007 at 10:42 am
Even if we didn’t know the other side of the story, a man hits a woman, in this case, a woman is totally wrong. Unless you are in self-defence mode.
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November 18th, 2007 at 11:39 am
“There bound to be people who thinks it is wrong for a man to hit a woman, even if the woman comes running after a man with a chopper in the hand. That’s for sure…”
Those are the kind of people we can safely ignore for fear of brain damage
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November 20th, 2007 at 12:43 pm
Ed, I happened to locate the post that you are searching. Here it is….
http://www.mr-endoh.com/life/thanks-i-truly-appreciate-it-but-i-dont-like-the-feeling-of-weakness/#comments
How sweet of me, what do I get?
May I have my board please?
Time is running out !!
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November 20th, 2007 at 5:35 pm
Janice: Oops, I share my precious kopi with you? Hehe.
I try to get both your boards by tonight or tomorrow morning.
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November 23rd, 2007 at 9:48 am
Agree with you Ed. Frankly speaking, “princess” herself wasn’t that polite in her posts as well. I believe we should look at the whole picture rather than hearing one side of the story.
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November 28th, 2007 at 11:40 am
Can’t really disagree. After all, it can never be a fair analysis. Even asking the parties involved might bring us subjectivity.
Objectivity is a sum of history’s subjectivities. That said, all the little pieces of subjective opinions are grouped and formed into an ‘objective’ analysis.
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