One of the most amusing things to come out of the Singapore
General Election, comes from Singapore’s most (in)famous blogger, Ms. Wendy
Cheng, who blogs under the name of Xiaxue, locked the blog that made her so
famous. The story and the reasons for locking the blog that made her so (in)famous
can be found at:
You could say that I have jealousy issues when it comes to
Ms. Cheng. Her daily readership is probably more than what I’ve achieved in a
decade and while I struggle avoid being turned into a digit in office land so
that I can blog without worrying about advertisers, Ms. Cheng earns from
advertisers what I can only dream of from winning the lottery. It goes without
saying that she is significantly better looking and I guess people would rather
look at a young girl with a halfway decent figure than a tubby bald man. Call
me a snob, but despite her “success,” she writes drivel designed to turn on the
lowest common denominator or white men (who as a rule of thumb have strange taste
in Asian Women)
Just as my fellow writers on TRemeritus and Independent
Singapore take on the Singapore Government and its supporters, Xiaxue has famously
taken on foreign workers for having the audacity to be on Orchard Road (because
they might molest our girls – which in this case should read the Chinese
variety) and the disabled (especially those who have the audacity to take issue
with the able bodied taking what is theirs – things such as specially reserved
parking lots. – Ms. Cheng even got herself published in the Today newspaper by
writing a piece on the joy she got taking a piss in toilets reserved for the disabled.).
In short, Ms. Cheng is a little like a non-political version
of Trump – awful but strangely addictive. Even people who loath her can’t help reading
the stuff she writes. Her commercial success is in part thanks to her awfulness.
It draws people to her blog like flies to shit and traffic in turn leads to
greater interest in advertisers.
Having said everything that I have just said about her, I think
of Xiaxue as I do of Donald Trump -chemotherapy. Her very existence is actually
representative of something good in Singapore – namely greater participation in
the public discourse. When Xiaxue says something, people react – even if it is
to take a view that is contrary to hers.
In Singapore, we’re a little obsessed with “harmony.” Sure,
harmony is on balance, wonderful. However, when officialdom is given the power
to define harmony, it becomes open to abuse. Harmony is often described as
anyone who disagrees with the official version of what life should be – no matter
how mild that disagreement may be.
I take myself as an example. I’ve been bashing out pieces
for public consumption for the last decade or so. I don’t consider myself
particularly extreme in any shape or form. Nor do I consider myself
anti-establishment. I am, on the whole, quite OK with PAP as the government. I
don’t think they’ve done enough to “lose elections.” However, I have disagreed
with policies that various governments have come up with. I don’t think the
government’s handling of Covid-19 was a disaster (immediate comparisons being
with the US and Brazil) but I took issue with their handling of issues
involving home based businesses and more importantly their refusal to take a closer
look at foreign manpower.
Yet, despite not being terribly political, I have been told by close friends whom I’ve worked with that I am a “political writer” and “anti-establishment.” Why would that be? The problem here is the fact that I’ve disagreed with certain policies, made my stance relatively clear and therefore disrupted “harmony.”
The second problem with harmony is that it leads to
complacency. When you don’t have problems to deal with, you don’t think. Life
will be fine. I think of Mike Tyson, once the most fearsome boxer on the planet.
In his biography, Mike Tyson admits that he took winning as the natural state
of affairs to the extent that he never bothered to train. Buster Douglas on the
other hand trained like a madman and so, Buster Douglas won. The same applies
to harmony. Too much of it has unintended and unhealthy side effects.
Xiaxue is funnily enough healthy because she disrupts us
from our harmonious slumber. She says something about migrant workers and we
react. Suddenly, we start thinking about the issue, because she’s said
something about it.
While I generally don’t encourage mob rule, I also think
that there’s something positive about cancel culture. I see cancel culture as a
sign that people care enough to react to something. I know that there are
arguments against cancel culture:
However, I believe that cancel culture helps brands think.
In Singapore, its been too easy for big brands to disregard opinions as
irrelevant to the larger picture. I remember the Straits Times once ran a piece
on how big brands didn’t need you the insignificant consumer. Cancel culture
shows that this is not true. Consumers have the right and the power to tell
brands who they want them to associate with. People do buy according to values
and this can only be a force for good it forces brands to behave.
Xiaxue, will no doubt find a way to survive. While there are
advertisers who will abandon her, there will be those who continue to support
her. While she may not be pleased with
being on the wrong end of cancel culture, its clear that the good that she’s
done for Singapore is being enhanced by her being part of cancel culture.
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