I have written many posts about the patriarchal nature of Singapore and how it ‘rules’ rather than governs.
I’ve pointed out that there are many good things about this place but some [like putting in machines to ‘sanitise your hands prior to opening a door’ – see pic below] are going to the extreme.
However the one thing I found quite amazing is that this weekend, when I went to see James Bond, there were loads of people in the cinema with children around the age of 5 with them.
Now I haven’t got any kids – and I appreciate how hard it must be to see films with ‘mature content’ when you have them … but this was ridiculous and most of the film was spent hearing the sobbing of scared little kids!
OK, so it is really the responsibility of the parents, but in a country where the Government tell you to ‘smile at foreign dignitaries, ‘be nice to others on the road’ and ‘honour intellectual property’ … I am just shocked they haven’t ordered cinemas to stop adults taking kids to see movies of ‘questionable infant content’.
If an adult was found showing porn movies to a kid, they would be arrested for ‘child abuse’ and improper conduct’ … and yet in cinemas all around the land, this sort-of thing goes on and on and on – another example of money first, values second … and it is making me sick.
People are so quick to jump on the youth-brands-corrupting-youth bandwagon … but the reality is that many of the so-called ‘family brands’ [from cinemas to Macca’s] are doing far more damage to society than Grand Theft Auto or James Bond ever could do and yet they are rarely questioned on a political level.
Hell, if Macca’s did an ad like the one below [“The Most Useless Photo In The World?”] … rather than be seen as re-iterating firmly established racist/prejudice views … they’d probably be congratulated by the Singaporean Government for representing a multi-cultural life.
One rule for one … another rule for the other – often decided on your ‘brand character’, ‘hypothetical values’ or ‘money you pay in tax to the Government’.
