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Comment by commandlinefan | Hacker News Reader

> I’m in Singapore now

https://immiguides.com/immigration-guides/singapore/

- Singaporean citizens of Chinese heritage tend to enjoy preferred treatment over their Malay and Indian counterparts. Examples of overt discrimination include employment ads specifying that someone must be of Chinese origin to apply.

- the Singaporean government censors sexual, political, religious, and racially sensitive material. Lawsuits are often used to quiet dissidents. Journalists often self-censor, to limit their legal liability. This also limits the development and prevalence of non-commercial art

- members of the LGBT community face discrimination in Singapore. Male on male sex is illegal. It is difficult for members of the LGBT community to find housing (landlord discrimination).

- punishments commonly involve caning and long prison sentences.

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Isn't it sad that, in spite of what you described, the US is perceived as substantially worse than Singapore by people around the world? Via https://www.reputationinstitute.com/country-reptrak - Singapore is 20, US is 34.

That's simply because the press and academia in the USA are extremely biased towards one political side.

Most of the people who think the current political or social state of the USA is horrible have never opened a single book about asian, african or eastern europe policies.

While everyone is formatted to be shocked by what is going on in the USA, they refuse to even see that torture (including citizens) and hardcorde censorship is routine and legal in a lot of asian countries.

Most Americans have had an expectation of American Exceptionalism.

To quote John F Kennedy:

“I have been guided by the standard John Winthrop set before his shipmates on the flagship Arabella (sic) three hundred and thirty-one years ago, as they, too, faced the task of building a new government on a perilous frontier. "We must always consider", he said, "that we shall be as a city upon a hill—the eyes of all people are upon us". Today the eyes of all people are truly upon us—and our governments, in every branch, at every level, national, state and local, must be as a city upon a hill—constructed and inhabited by men aware of their great trust and their great responsibilities.”

Just goes to show the negative PR campaign is working.

Obviously the U.S. has problems, but on the whole it is pretty great. I’ve traveled quite a bit and lived in other countries, and some are better in some respects, worse in others by a large margin.

People complain about police at schools in the U.S. (and it’s fair) but I don’t feel comfortable in Paris walking by a Jewish school that has soldiers with rifles standing outside either. YMMV. ️

The sad part (speaking as a non-American who has lived in the US) is that the negative PR campaign doesn’t even come from America’s enemies, it comes from within. And it’s not driven by ill will, as far as I can figure out, but petty tribalism.

At some point in the past few decades it became de rigeur among a certain fraction (eg those in this thread) of the US population to shit on their own country at every opportunity, to distinguish themselves from those flag-waving yahoos in the other tribe. Patriotism became heavily tribalised, and saying good things about America in certain parts of the country gets you ostracised as one of those uneducated Republican types who is too stupid to see that absolutely everything is so much better in every other country and if it isn’t then it doesn’t count.

Combine this with the US saturation of global media, and you can turn on the TV in every country and see Americans shitting on America. Eventually the message starts to sink in.

People in America need to get more perspective, and quit letting every single thing that comes out of their mouth be determined by some boring red vs blue conflict.

You're being downvoted, but having grown up between conservative enclaves (overseas military base, Texas A&M) and ultra progressive domains (years in NYC and Seattle), I've seen firsthand, without choosing a side, that patriotism and apologism has very much become an American Right wing position, while those on the left are increasingly ashamed of the American flag. Particularly since the election of Trump.

This sort of thing is unique to the United States as far as the developed world is concerned.

https://edition.cnn.com/2019/12/17/us/north-carolina-student...

Agreed that it would be better if it did not take soldiers standing outside of schools to protect the Jewish community but at the same time doing nothing wasn't an option and there has - as far as I know - so far not been any harm to bystanders on their behalf.

Sorry, I don’t really understand the point of your post in relation to what I said. Could you elaborate?

>Singaporean citizens of Chinese heritage tend to enjoy preferred treatment over their Malay and Indian counterparts. Examples of overt discrimination include employment ads specifying that someone must be of Chinese origin to apply.

Not to defend this, but I expect to see this among smaller employers in US tech hubs in the future.

Anecdotally, I know two PRC nationals who spent two years in Singapore working for employers that discriminated. They had nothing but bad things to say about their workplaces when it came to code quality, leadership, and how women were treated (both of them are female).

I know it's a sample size of two, but it makes me think that you wouldn't want to work for an employer that favors Chinese applicants as anything but a last resort.

Keep in mind that these companies are often fulfilling three things simultaneously: allowing a PRC national to gain citizenship in another country through an avenue that involves significant financial investment, laundering/protecting RMB (often the same thing in China), and, finally, functioning as what most of us consider a viable business (turning money into more money). These are listed in order of prioritization.

It's ok if the business fails completely and never turns a profit, as long as the first priority is accomplished. Accomplishing the first and second is ideal. Ending up with a viable business and a financial return on your initial investment is just a nice-to-have.

Every country has its own issue but for most people those issue above would not affect their life. I'm neither LGBT nor interested in politics so these are not that relevant so I would rank living in Singapore highly above USA. Perfect blend of eastern and western culture/life.

Don't forget that there's only one political party.

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