Monday, July 10, 2006
Yellow Box
I thought about blogging about this for a long time, but never got around to do anything about it. So ladies and gentlemen, here we have it: the public places smoking ban!
I frankly have no issues with the government wanting to clam down on smoking in public areas. Let's face it, who wants to eat with some dumbass blowing smoke into our faces? It'll just leave a bitter taste anyhow. However truth be told, the smoking ban has suddenly just become some witch-hunt to discriminate. Simply put, by marking out boundaries in the local coffeeshops and eating houses, they have effectively managed to brand all smokers as outsiders to the larger society.
Let's not kid ourselves the purpose behind the ban. Isn't it just a covert way of saying: 'Hey kids, look at all these 'things' that are seating within that box. They are all baddies!' How would you like it if we had boxes for all the other minority races? Singapore has come so far in combating against racism and discrimination, yet we are unable to translate that to our social graces.
Some of the smokers that I've spoken to feel rather maligned. They respect the various amounts of money pumped into research that concludes that smoking is all bad and how second hand smoke harms the repiratory system etc etc... However, what they don't understand that even though they have made tremendous effort to blow their smoke away, walking away from the crowd when they smoke, not smoking in front of infants and children, they are still being branded as 'baddies'(this was something actually overheard at a coffeeshop). I'll be the first to admit that this bunch of people are just the minority. Most of the smokers out there don't give two shits about it.
The problem therefore lies with the social graces of the society. Singapore cannot be considered a first class country and state if simple social graces are absent in everyday life. Having a first class economy doesn't translate to first world citizens. I don't see the Japanese government drawing up lines everywhere, marking boundaries for smoking. Yet the people of Japan know their social graces.
If we Singaporeans need a 'yellow-box' to keep us in check, doesn't that say alot about ourselves? Hell... you can draw and demarcate however you want, but if the people do not change, then the entire action of doing it (I must admit, with a goodwill purpose in mind) is useless.
We must educate the general public and inculcate within them the gracious habits and manners of a modern society. And it's only through that can we say that we are first class and world class. No number of boxes can ever give us that.
Take it easy, Keep it real...
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