Charlotte Ashton's Article on Misery City Singapore: The Accurate Word to Use Should Be Thoughtfulness Instead of Compassion -- Some/Many Singaporeans Don't understand What Thoughtfulness is

I read how quite a few people commenting in the local media(letter in TODAY, NTU students) who misunderstood Charlotte Ashton's BBC article where she describes Singapore to be a Misery City with a massive compassion deficit. They misunderstood her article and said that she should have asked for a seat if she wanted one. However, the point of her article wasn't about whether or not the seated commuters would really give up their seats if they were asked, but whether or not they had put in much thought in looking out for others' needs before others even ask for it(being thoughtful is more than being helpful), just like the thoughtfulness of the sensitive and gracious Singapore Girl(flight attendant in Singapore Airlines) being sensitive to what passengers need before they even ask for it. Being thoughtful of others is the same as being caring for them.

ANA seems to have got on SIA's tail:

Singer Stephanie Koh explains in a video about how the people in an Australia airport were thoughtful enough to ask about her laptop when she accidentally dropped it. That is the exact thoughtfulness that Charlotte was talking about in her article and what some locals still cannot understand to be missing. Being too subservient and lack of room for thinking freely for themselves and others have really made some/many Singaporeans stupid to not understand the meaning of being thoughtful of others. 

Why I am not proud to be Singaporean
http://youtu.be/ydANJ5qLHG4?t=8m58s

The focus of Charlotte's article was on thoughtfulness/consideration that is why it discusses the reasons why commuters could lack thoughtfulness/consideration due to being too concerned with other matters such as earning money or being too concerned with themselves.

I feel that the word Charlotte used in her article to describe the commuters shouldn't be "compassion" since such a quality doesn't necessarily lead to the required physical help. A better more accurate word to use should be "thoughtfulness" or "consideration". The quality of being thoughtful or considerate can be recognized from a person's appropriate physical response to the needs of others.

Commuters on a train can have compassion but can fail to show it due to being distracted by their phones and therefore fail to react considerately/thoughtfully/appropriately/responsively/caringly to those who need a seat. But if they are thoughtful/considerate enough of those who might need a seat, they would choose not to be distracted by their phones but be constantly aware of those around them who might need a seat.

Having compassion is just one thing but having thoughtfulness/consideration can encompass compassion as well as having the constant awareness, adaptability and responsiveness so that one can respond considerately/thoughtfully/caringly to the needs of others.

Another example would be the people who are reading newspapers on the train who have much compassion but can fail to bring about any appropriate response from such compassion towards any needy person around them who might need a seat due to lacking thoughtful awareness by being too distracted with their paper. So even if people are innately compassionate, they can fail to evoke any considerate/kind/caring actions from such innate compassion if they choose not to be thoughtfully aware of those around them who might need a seat.

It is more important for commuters to have thoughtfulness/consideration that can lead to the appropriate physical response to those who need help in public, rather than just having innate compassion that may fail to come about to lead to an appropriate physical response to those who need help.

But whether or not Charlotte has used the right word to describe the commuters in her article, her experience still made her feel miserable about Singapore after all.

I wrote a blog post about Singaporeans being too subservient due to Asian upbringing, which is why I feel they can lack the skill and ability to be thoughtful for themselves and for other people's well-being.

My Letter in TODAY Newspaper About Charlotte Ashton and "Misery City" Singapore: Allow women to consume snacks in MRT stations to alleviate morning sickness

Allow women to consume snacks in MRT stations to alleviate morning sickness
http://www.todayonline.com/voices/allow-women-consume-snacks-mrt-stations-alleviate-morning-sickness

The vast number of letters that came before me in the local newspapers were very focused on arguing away the problem faced by Charlotte Ashton(no matter how rare it is), rather than trying to find ways to prevent a similar case from happening again. 

Not even a single letter among the countless letters before mine in the whole of the last 2 weeks mentioned the ways to alleviate morning sickness, even though many of the writers were women and husbands who had children before.

This only reflects that many Singaporeans are not as compassionate and helpful as they would like others to think they are, which further reinforces Charlotte's points in her article that Singapore is a misery city. 

So in the end, is her article on Singapore being miserable too far-fetched or more accurate than what many of us would like to think of it? 

I wrote about how Singaporeans can be too subservient(lack leadership and initiative) due to their Asian upbringing, and lack the critical thinking skills to think on their own to adapt to uncommon situations(Courage) to therefore be more socially-responsive. The many letters before me have reflected such deficiencies. 

The Lack of Social-Responsiveness and Courage to Those in Need
http://thethinktankguideforsmarterliving.blogspot.sg/2014/03/singapore-misery-city-lack-of-social.html

Charlotte Ashton and Singapore the Misery City — The Lack of Social-Responsiveness and Courage to Those in Need

(The following is a letter I sent to TODAY newspaper in regards to Charlotte Ashton's BBC article on Singapore. Either it did not get published because the editor rejected it or they did not receive it. I remember there was no confirmation message sent back to me after I sent the email)

The Lack of Social-Responsiveness and Courage to Those in Need

I refer to the March 17th article, "BBC article a good reminder to be more gracious, says PM Lee".

I agree with the Prime Minister that Singaporeans can still do much better in terms of being considerate in public.

Charlotte Ashton was using her own personal experience to make sense of Singapore's ranking on the global survey that found it to be the least positive country in the world. Many people did not realize this and assumed she was using her single experience to judge the whole of Singapore.

Even though Charlotte Ashton's article from the BBC is not a big survey of Singapore's level of graciousness, her experience on a public train that eventually led to her feeling unhappy is a cause for consideration for all locals.

I think that the ability to practice graciousness in public is based largely on one's ability to be socially-responsive, empathetic and courageous(ability to adapt well in uncommon situations). These qualities would allow a person to react adequately to those in need.

Although I do feel that many Singaporeans do possess empathy, I feel that the qualities of social-responsiveness and courage are under-developed in most, which has led to them being perceived as indifferent and uncaring in public.

Native Singaporeans are commonly brought up in very strict Asian households that instilled subservience from a young age. This, as well as Singapore's rote-learning education system, do not provide much encouragement for us to think on our own. The added pressure to be intensely competitive in terms of studies and work has made us even less focused in such a crucial skill.

The overall lack of social-responsiveness has many times in the past gotten the general youth in Singapore to be perceived as being politically apathetic.

Professional medical staff in Singapore are well-trained to take charge of demanding medical-related situations so they stand ready to help those in need. I am quite certain if such medical staff were present during Ms Ashton's plight on her train, they would have immediately assisted her without a thought.

Regarding my thoughts on the train passengers who did not assist Ms Ashton, it is difficult to know if they were actually being indifferent and uncaring towards her plight. Their lack of social-responsiveness and lack of courage are also factors needed to be considered.

The qualities of social-responsiveness, empathy and courage are much needed to overcome adversity to create liberation that can make one feel happy. The lack of such qualities could keep one stagnant in misery.

Mac VS PC — Good Reasons Why I Still Choose PC Over Mac

I have recently been noticing people who use the Mac for their music production and I was wondering why I haven't switched over to using a Mac already since I am just as artistic and stylish like them, and have done much music-remixing and video-editing myself.



The music band Aqua is considered to be technologically-advanced in their early days, their music videos made in 1997 were shot in the widescreen format that is very common nowadays.



Perhaps the main reason I haven't switched over to the Mac is because the Mac just looks too 'happy'. Such a quality is really not the best inclusion for writing non-fiction. I often write non-fiction political and spiritual writing and I always felt that the care-free happy-looking design of the Mac would distant me too far away from the harsh ugly reality, it would be like a culture shock trying to switch back and forth between the two realities. What people say about writers thriving in misery is true. Misery provides deep contemplation that goes on to provide inspiration.

Anyone remember this fairly old movie posted on the left about a writer being kidnapped by a miserable insane woman? And he manages to create great writing during his ordeal? Yeah, that's the kind of restricted misery I am talking about for writers to thrive in their work.

The other reason why I use the PC would be that the good Mac accessories can only be found at a Mac shop. And like true computer geeks, I dislike inadequate support. More accurately, I dislike the lack of adequate support for getting me firmly tied down to my writer's misery.

People reading this would now have a greater understanding why true-blue writers would use PCs and not that merry-go-round fruit novelty called the Mackintosh. PCs provide the lengthy reminder of the cruel harsh reality while the Mac is just similar to some carefree-inducing toy found at Toys R Us — the place for kids living in a perfect world filled with colourful Teletubbies running around hugging one another.

Star Trek demonstrates the divide between the PC and Mac very well. The Federation who uses their bright and happy designer-style computer interface is the equivalent of the sophisticated Mac users.

Sadly, the equivalent of the PC-users have gone extinct in that future time period and can only be found when the Enterprise warps back in time.

I bet many Mac users feel that the PC is just too ugly and dull to match their stylish and minimalistic home deco, but are too sophisticated and politically-correct to never mention it out loud.

Really, the blocky PC design can stand out too much from stylish furniture and deco in the wrong way. It also looks quite rugged and intimidating just like some armour shield thingy being used to fight battles and intimidate opponents. In fact, most hardcore gamers who fight online battles use the PC, the very-functional and scheming people from the corporate world also like to use them.

The guy in the following video should have used a Mac monitor with more rounded edges instead.