The state of the New Normal

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An honorable member of the Coffee Shop Has Just Posted the Following:

New Blood of the PAP
Add to that, the PAP has probably recovered somewhat from the bad PR that existed around the time of 2011. Again, the PAP has not totally lost its legitimacy. People are not talking like Chee Soon Juan who thinks that the PAP should be overthrown. But the people are wondering why the PAP has allowed things to slide so far and so fast. Still, they look to the PAP as the people who can solve their problems. Because part of who they are is to remove the ability of their political opponents to solve any problems at all.

At the same time, they are learning quickly the meaning of soft power. Part of what came up during the “new normal” was a kind of nostalgia for times past, and a lot of that got factored into SG50. It’s only been since around the turn of the century when people started loosening the shackles of their oppression and started talking about who they really were. I myself have been denied, during my childhood, a deeper understanding of what Singapore really is like as a nation.

History books were simply not being written. Suddenly, today, instead of indie rockers living on the fringe of society, we have an indie pop museum (that I’ve yet to go visit). Absolutely incredible. There have been a few incidents where the ministers have had unpleasant confrontations on social media. But I think they’re learning quickly what to say and what not to say. And they’re brushing up on their “common people” appeal. Lee Hsien Loong is finally getting some love for learning how to queue up at a hawker centre.

Will it be enough? I’m not sure. A lot of these things are easily done. They are surface improvements. Deeper down, are they addressing the real concerns of Singaporeans? Well that’s not what I want to talk about in this blog post. This one is supposed to be about politics. Nobody doubts that SG50 is really about propaganda, and it’s one year before the crucial elections. Actually all the elections from now on will be crucial. That’s why the new normal is called the new normal: all the shit that the PAP has to deal with now has become part of normal normality.

That said, the paradox is this: PAP candidates...http://sieteocho7-8.blogspot.sg/2015...ew-normal.html


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