My biased, outsider’s view of America, a thread:
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Replying to @visakanv
you know, it's still mostly a decent place where people lead unexciting, stable lives. it's still mostly a prosperous country with a reasonable degree of freedom.
1 reply 0 retweets 10 likes -
Replying to @danlistensto @visakanv
what you're seeing here is that the culture war in America has got out of control and that the government (especially the federal government) has become deeply corrupt and inhumane. those are serious problems to be sure but the view from a distance is not really accurate.
2 replies 0 retweets 7 likes -
Replying to @danlistensto
visakan veerasamy Retweeted visakan veerasamy
Yeah I’m admittedly cherry picking herehttps://twitter.com/visakanv/status/945336582369767424?s=21 …
visakan veerasamy added,
visakan veerasamy @visakanvA realization I had when talking with friends from different parts of the world: When you examine a foreign culture, you're going to be most startled or drawn to whatever is most different about it. SG caning, US guns, etc. It may NOT be what its members consider significant!Show this thread2 replies 0 retweets 6 likes -
Replying to @visakanv
it's not really that the corporal punishment is that weird. arguably U.S. supermax prisons are much worse. it's that SG uses corporal punishment for things that we would consider misdemeanors (grafitti, small amount of weed, etc.).
1 reply 0 retweets 1 like -
Replying to @danlistensto
visakan veerasamy Retweeted visakan veerasamy
Different people have different values and sense(s) of what is tolerable, I supposehttps://twitter.com/visakanv/status/887706154372964353?s=21 …
visakan veerasamy added,
2 replies 0 retweets 1 like -
Replying to @visakanv
Mercy and forgiveness ought to be universal values. All societies fall short in their own ways.
1 reply 0 retweets 1 like -
Replying to @danlistensto
I think practically everyone would agree with that statement; where people disagree on is the degree to which mercy/forgiveness means allowing recidivism. Mercy to the criminal can be cruelty to her victims
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Replying to @visakanv
well, that's why I mentioned misdemeanors. who is the victim of possessing a dime bag of weed?
1 reply 0 retweets 1 like -
Replying to @danlistensto
I’m personally pro-weed myself, but if you want to understand Singaporean paranoia around drugs you probably have to go all the way back to the Chinese Opium war(s)
1 reply 0 retweets 2 likes
that makes sense. the world has changed a lot since then though. the problem with extremely harsh crime and punishment systems is they are outrageously difficult to reform later. U.S. is having the same problem with our "war on drugs" bullshit now too.
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