Stupid Genius

- Making mistakes is our rights, learning from them is our responsibilty.

- "I have no choice" is another way of saying "I've have chosen the easier option"

- Genius is 99% perspiration and 1% inspiration - Thomas A Edison

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Location: Singapore

Monday, November 16, 2009

I was in Dragonfly with my boss friend, Kwanghan. We were talking about 1 of the female singer, I think her name is Kelly. Kwanghan was telling me that he dislike people who dye their hair blond. 崇洋 he says. For those who don't know, 崇洋, when directly translated, is "worshipping caucasians", or dare I say it, Angmoh. It refers to Singaporean Chinese who thinks the Angmoh ways are better than our Chinese ways. I share his view on people who are 崇洋.

But, after some observation, I realise Kelly is not 崇洋. She's 哈日. 哈日 direct translation to English is "likes Japan". It refers to people who likes things from Japan. It's not so much as worship.

How do I link 崇洋, 哈日 and progression together? For us South East Asian countries, we were colonized by the Ang Mohs some time back in our history. They were our leaders, as such, the older Singaporeans look to them as a class above us. And this admiration got passed down to their offspring. So people start to follow their lifestyle, buy their products, follow their religion. Then I look at the Japanese. They follow some of the Ang Moh lifestyle too. They dye hair their colour. But they are not 崇洋. They are still very in touch with their culture and roots. It's more like they thinks certain ways of Ang Moh are nice and chosen to adopt it, rather than blindly taking in all Ang Moh ways. And they managed to adopt the Ang Moh ways into their own that people were following Ang Moh ways through them. That's what I call progression.

There's another kind of progression that I am interested in. Racism. I've used the words "Ang Moh" numerous times in this article. It's racism they say. Same as Blacks, Cheenas, etc. In the olden times, I would say those words are racism. They are used in tones of despise. It divides people. If you are white, you are a class above, if you are black, you a class below. But in this day and time, I thought the tones of despise has melted away. The Blacks are not slaves anymore, but they are still black. Equality don't turn them into white. But they don't have to. That's the meaning of equality. I don't mind being called Cheena, or Yellow. That's what I am, and I am proud of it. Just as long you don't say those words to me in tones of despise, I can find no problem with it. Those words were used to divide people, and it was to be avoided. To show progression, we have to show that we are not afraid to use them anymore because they no longer carry the demeaning meaning they used to have.

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Anonymous Anonymous said...

先將一個人的生活過好,才有能力過好兩個人的生活........................................

1/16/2010 1:06 PM  
Blogger Debbie Joe said...

Hi Yew Mun, well I left a long drawn out comment and then realized that I had to fill out a google account. Oh well. I really like your writings and postings. They are very good and interesting to read. I thought the one about race was interesting to read. Of course, I am white. My daughter, Heather is white. However, Heather is 1/4 Chinese (Cantonese from Hong Kong)and 1/2 American Indian. I want to trace Heather's roots back to Hong Kong someday because that is where her Grandfather is from. I have good friends that are black and of course, we have a black President now (Barack Obama) which I think is very good. I voted for him. There is still racism in our country unfortunately. ie. My 84 year old father is racist against blacks which is the way he was raised and he never was able to get "with the times". I think that racism is truly ignorance. Everyone should be treated equally no matter what race you are. I was married to a "Chinaman" (well he was 1/2 Chinese and 1/2 American Indian) but he always called himself a Chinaman. I am truly intrigued with your writings and would like to see more in the future. Best Regards, Debbie L. Joe

1/23/2010 2:24 PM  
Blogger 逛街 said...

This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.

2/05/2010 12:43 PM  

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