Cultural Differences Part 2

I've realised that people do read what you write in your blogs and take it seriously. At least people I know, so I'm trying to be more discerning about my blog posts.

Take for instance the first part of this series of blogs about the cultural differences between Singaporeans and other people. It was meant to be as honestly put down as possible, but I have a feeling I might have put too much of myself into the post. I'm writing from my perspective, but trying (and hopefully succeeding) to get as wide a perspective as I honestly can. I believe that it shouldn't be only from my viewpoint because then I'll not present as honest a picture as I hope to.

In this post, I guess i should be discussing the different concepts of rudeness that Singaporeans and other cultures have, to my rather limited knowledge. For me, it is extremely rude to eat with your mouth open and make smacking sounds. For them, not so much and it is a bit disconcerting when having a meal with someone who eats like that. However from what I have been able to gather it is gross to them when someone eats quickly. They kinda seem unable to eat food fast and anyone who eats in this manner kinda grosses them out. (I am a major culprit, cos I eat super fast)

Also Singaporeans are by nature slightly gruffer in their mannerisms and are not known for having excellent interpersonal skills. Somehow being curt and abrupt is not rude, but making ironic statements or light-hearted jokes is seen as a taboo action. This is one of the more perplexing things for me, because I hate it when people are very curt for no reason.

There are many other semi-irritating cultural quirks that make Singaporeans somewhat unique, like their insistence that they know everything (which is not that unique cos as far as i know Sri Lankans are like that, so are Americans and I believe i'm a lot like that too). Another one is the Govt. knows best, which might be true, but it shouldn't stop you from at least considering the possibility they are wrong. Blind obedience leads to dictatorship. They also tend not to be very direct with what they want to say and often you are left guessing as to what they actually mean (this is more relevant to working in an office, I'm super blunt and tell it as it is most of the time, so as you can see occasionally I'm not the most popular person).

I mean I could go on for hours about and in fact I know some people do, cos on Facebook there is a group called "Singapore Sucks" which debates the irritating habits of Singaporeans and speaks out against the government policies that are unpopular. Its more like a Singapore bashing group, but if you take away the blatant racism and stupid comments, there are a few valid points being discussed.

Peace.