Daily Lessons from Life 17 June 2011 - German TV show makes fun of Singapore

"German TV show makes fun of Singapore - AsiaOne Thu, Jun 16, 2011

An episode of a German television show - Galileo - was dedicated to making fun of Singapore.

Videos that surface on YouTube showed the show's correspondent traveling to Singapore to explore its 'oddities'.

The show opens with the host saying Singaporeans are "strange human beings that enjoy smiling, getting their temperature checked and eating disgusting food."

In Singapore, the correspondent tries to enter a building only to be stopped by a woman who takes his temperature before allowing him to enter.

He mocks the health precaution and says, "Imagine if you had to be checked for a fever every time before you entered a shop. Sounds strange, but it is an everyday occurrence in Singapore."

He then visits Nirvana Memorial where he meets a monk who gets a salary.

He says that in normal temples, monks receive alms from devotees, but in Singapore, they have money sent to their bank accounts.

The host also goes on to meet Singaporeans who keep songbirds and the Singapore Paranormal Investigators (SPI)."

Well. Singaporeans need not be annoyed at such 'shows'. If the German public believed what this guy, not even sure if the show is big or what in Germany, it just shows that the Germany public is not very bright, which I am sure if not the case.

As to Taiwanese and the Mainland China, or anyone for that matter, making fun of Singapore, chilled man. It is obviously NOT true that Taiwanese or PRC Chinese made fun of Singapore. Just some of them. It happened all the time with any country.

Lessons for me are:

1. if we are 1st World Citizen, we take such silly digs calmly and without too much emotion. This is especially so if the actions highlighted are just minor irritants;

2. there is no need to help this minority to promote their 'shows' and lend credit to them. Period;

3. there are more important things to worry about in Singaporea than some shows in some remote countries that nobody really know about!

Singaopre does has its oddities. Just like any other human societies in this tiny world.