I was reminded of this article by way of Tomorrow - Wired 1.04: Disneyland with the Death Penalty - an essay on Singapore by William Gibson written in 1993. It led me to think about what Mr. Gibson might have missed out on.
For one, the grassroots are definitely changing, what with the rise of blogging as an avenue of free speech. Media isn’t monopolized any longer, thanks to Tomorrow, and a whole other bunch of bloggers out there who dare to say their peace.
Also, he derides (although gently) the lack of an underground culture in Singapore - apparently he only saw two classic rock-type brudders and that constitutes all of Singapore’s underground. And also the lack of Shonen Knife was cited.
Sure… ask a Music Junction shop for Shonen Knife why don’t you… doesn’t the fact that something is “underground” means it’s not visible to the tourist? Take Seattle… (supposedly) huge underground vibe. I’ve been there about 5 times and, honestly, it seemed pretty boring to me. Probably because I couldn’t find or be part of any “underground”! And that’s the whole point isn’t it?
Just wanted to say my peace…. Still, I agree with him on Singapore being a little too strict a police state though… but you could argue that either way.
technorati tags:singapore
