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10 sats \ 11 replies \ @Undisciplined 6 Apr \ parent \ on: Tips to survive a long-distance relationship meta
How much of my rant resonated with the situation in Singapore or the other countries you're familiar with?
The feedback I got from Gen Z in America indicates that I was mostly over the target here.
Geez idk. I m still reeling from the below-the-belt hit that my country has one of the lowest fertility rates in the world 🤣
On a serious note, certain things in Singapore are different from your circumstances. I will tell you more about it tomorrow!
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South Korea 🇰🇷 is 0.72
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I think the low birth rate problem is particularly pronounced in Asian societies - Taiwan, South Korea, Japan all come to mind
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The west is following the trend, but it's not gotten as severe as the situation in East Asia (+ Singapore) yet.
How do people think about Singapore culturally, btw? I tend to think of it as basically an East Asian country, even though that's not where it is.
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We are situated in Southeast Asia, along with Malaysia, Indonesia, Thailand. In fact, 10 Southeast Asian countries banded together to form the Asian version of Euro; we call it ASEAN.
Singapore is an interesting mix of contradictions, for sure. We emphasise on “Asian values”, namely community before self & filial piety. Not to say that Westerners can’t be filial towards their elders but hey, you need ideologies to keep the people in check. But our thinking is decidedly Westernised, particularly due to America’s soft power. We are also fans of the work-life balance prevalent in Scandinavian countries. Our brightest students aspire to take up government scholarships to study at the Ivy League universities like Harvard haha
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Maybe this is outdated, but I had definitely heard that Singapore has very strong Chinese cultural influences. Is that kind of rolled in with the "Asian values" you mentioned?
By the way, filial piety is borderline non-existent in the west. That probably should have found it's way into my rant.
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Yes, definitely influenced very much by Chinese culture. 76% of Singapore’s population is Chinese.
Well not emphasising on filial piety could be a good thing. We now have the Parent Maintenance Act where parents can sue their children for not supporting them in their sunset years. Quite sad to see how our society has degenerated
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I've been advocating something like that to replace our Social Security program. Here taxpayers are on the hook to support retired people, even if they have kids who could easily afford to support them.
The program is technically bankrupt and is projected to become an unfathomable drain on our economy in the coming years.
Looking forward to it.
I remember a viral video from a long time ago about "National Night" in Singapore, where the government was trying to get people to have sex at least once a week.
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Omg this is major cringe. I don’t think this was endorsed by the government though. National Night sounds like a Mentos advert: https://www.businessinsider.com/mentos-national-night-video-you-have-to-see-this-crazy-video-singapore-made-telling-people-to-procreate-2012-8?amp
Thankfully I was in Japan when this was released. shudders
I m happy to spill the dirt on the major gaffe made by a Singaporean politician: https://www.asiaone.com/singapore/you-dont-need-much-space-have-sex-josephine-teo-no-flat-no-child-belief. It’s freaking hilarious
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That's great! Just do it standing up in a closet or something.
I really thought National Night was a government initiative. It's a little sad to learn that it wasn't.
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