On Xenophobia

There is something that has been irking me for quite a while, and up until this point I had not really figured out what exactly was the cause of the said irksomeness. But before I launch into a tirade over the mess, let me just simplify the issue to just one word.

Xenophobia.

That seems to be a really hot topic these days, what with the massive global-scale machinations of the labour market, where anyone anywhere can be part of the supply of both skilled and unskilled labour. Sounds lovely, isn't it, free market principles at work, correcting the imbalances that exist in each of the domestic markets to ensure maximal economic output. But as almost every developed nation has discovered, this fluidity of the global labour market has created the rather uncomfortable position of xenophobia, a word that hasn't seen the light of day since the end of World War II a good fifty odd years ago.

But why xenophobia? Aren't we all humans at heart? Haven't we learn from the mistakes of our forebears that discrimination was one really good way of ensuring that we will never have true peace? I think that it is not the case for some people to actually fear foreigners, but the circumstances that surround it are causing such reactions to occur with startling frequency. It is not so much as the numbers that is causing the xenophobia, but the general perception of clustering that is causing the rift.

As a guest in a foreign land, I will not talk much about what I observe here. Instead, I shall use my own country as an example to explain the model that I have regarding the current state of affairs. In Singapore, almost everyone was an immigrant or a descendent of an immigrant---the natural numbers of native Singaporeans who have already lived on the island prior to Sir Stamford Raffles' 1819 establishment of the island as a major port are known to be small. A sense of community was eventually forged during the public housing expansion phase of the HDB, which basically broke up the many kampong communities that were centred roughly along ethnic or cultural lines.

Why the building of a sense of community regardless of ethnicity? I think it appeals to the social nature of humans in general; when forced to be in a new situation surrounded by strangers, one will end up trying to make a few friends here and there, willing to forgo some of one's inhibitions and biases just to maintain the veneer of sanity through building social ties. This is the fundamental way in which the modern Singaporean identity/society is formed. We are united not along ethnic or cultural lines, but by our common experiences, grouses and other generic/ethnically neutral issues.

But of course, that is just a nostalgic history lesson. There are two things that I would like to point out from my anecdote. First, when allowed to develop naturally, people tend to want to cluster with people whom they know, or are at least similar to them in some sense due to the comfort derived from familiarity---this is the formation principle of the kampong in yonder year. Second, it is only when an external force is applied to break up these clusters do you see an effort to take a bold step out of one's comfort zone to adapt to the new surroundings.

The problem with xenophobia in Singapore lies in the fact that the more recent foreigners who are entering the country are still in the ``kampong formation'' phase, where what they do, who they see and where they stay have large amounts of freedom. If we choose to view this from a more utilitarian perspective, there is no incentive for them to step out of their comfort zone and adapt to the new culture that they are currently embedded in, since they have easy access to whatever it is they were bringing in to the country. This is not a bad thing---when one is in a different land, having familiar faces to hang out with is one very good way of ensuring sanity. The problem comes, however, when the group starts to take a life on its own and literally enforces exclusion, either via a superiority complex, or via a cannot-care-less perspective. It is these transformations that end up generating the friction necessary to develop xenophobia.

Do I have a solution for this? Quotas are not going to solve the problem---they will only delay it for another time. Telling locals to be more tolerant is just missing the problem altogether. I think that the important thing that needs to be done is to remind the foreigners who end up being in a country for the long term that they are guests of their host country, and that they have a social incentive of not being a clique. That last bit will prove to be the hard part in any solution involving population integration.

Friday Night Mumblings

It has been a while since I last sat down just to... listen to music. That's right, actually playing the music at a level that is beyond the threshold of ignorance so that I can listen to the lyrics and feel the song. I don't really know when was it that I started to switch over to non-verbal music (like soundtracks or classical instrumentals) to provide background ambience to keep my mind together as I work on things; it occurred some time within the last year, that's for sure.

I'm definitely no audiophile, but my go-to headphones for listening to stuff is the Bose IE2. Surprisingly, music that passes through it sounds pleasant---it might not have the response that self-proclaimed audiophiles demand, but as a set of headphones used with few if any equaliser tweaks, it works pretty well for me. But this time, when I really want to listen to what is going on, I pull out my over-ear headphones---the ATH-M50 from Audio-Technica. It is roughly the same price as the Bose IE2 (might be cheaper), but due to the larger drivers present, provides a much fuller sound than the IE2. This means that at moderate loudness, the timbre of the music is just so full and rich. The only caveat is that I need to enable the on-board SRS signal processor to push the low frequencies enough such that the driver of the ATH-M50 is sufficiently exercised---I don't have that problem with the IE2.

But anyway, I talked about the latest Cherry Boom album that I got recently. I spent a whole day listening it as ambient, but when I listened to it with my over-ear cans, mmm, they just sound lovely, as always. Compared to the first two albums, the whimsicality of the music is less pronounced, a playful tone but with an air of maturity of the band as a whole. A really nice addition that I'm sure I will listen to again and again over time.

This might have been brought up before, but there is something magical about Faye Wong's ``Eyes On Me''. I, for one, can never get the lyrics right from listening, but the tonal quality of it is that of a lovestruck female, and Faye Wong actually does it in a sufficiently haunting/wistful voice that it is just plain enticing.

But ballads and alt-rock music aside, these days the non-verbal music that I've been listening to are a mix of the ``old staple'' and new stuff. The ``old staple'' I'm referring to here is the soundtrack of タイヨウのうた, featuring the ``surfer beat'' hybrid with strings of 澤野 弘之, the composer of the soundtrack. As for the new stuff, I'm referring to the ``Smooth Jazz'' internet radio station hosted on Sky.fm. Previously, I would listen to the ``Piano Solo'' channel, but for some reason the saxophone seems to have a stronger calling on me.

Alright, I have no idea what I'm writing any more. It feels almost alien yet somewhat familiar to be writing out a blog entry in the middle of the night, alone, with my desk lamp providing the only source of illumination. Somewhat familiar...

Oh on a final note before ending this, I've decided that I am skipping NaNoWriMo this year. Two reasons: I don't really have a story to tell and more importantly, I will be in the deepest of the deepest piles of shit if I actually went ahead to do it, considering that I just have so many things to do this semester. Totally not worth it.

Okay, I'm done here. Till next time.

Orienteering

So apart from the functionality of the kitchen, there were a couple of other interesting things that had happened since the last update.

First off, I finally tried out orienteering, the sport that I had read about a very very long time ago in a Hardy Boys Casefiles book (yes, I knew about orienteering since I was around 14 years old or so). John and I went with a friend of his out to Robinson Park in Peoria. I think that it is a very interesting civilian NAVEX that requires both the physical ability of dealing with the varied terrain and the mental ability to decide how best to run the course from control point to control point given the terrain and individual constraints. It really reminds me of my secondary school days where I would spend hours reading an atlas to study the geographical features via the topographical maps, and the map reading section of the `O'-level geography exam. A pity that orienteering only makes sense outside of Singapore---the terrain in Singapore is sufficiently boring and small with few non-urban areas left. I suppose I should try to enjoy it more while I am still here.

Next up, I finally got the new Cherry Boom (樱桃帮) album ``Only''. It was released in 2010, but it was only recently that I managed to get my hands on it. As always, they have that nice alt-rock pop sound that is addictive and whimsical. Probably not as good as their first album, but still a nice piece of work. Now, if Lesley Roy had another album out, I would be much happier.

Finally, I have decided to spend some money to get yet another Lamy Safari pen, this time for red ink. I think that I need more colours for annotation, and really, I cannot stand using non-fountain pens these days. Something about the amount of surface pressure needed.

Anyway, that's all I have for now. Till next time.

Kitchen---Cleaned!

Ah, time for a quick blurb again. The kitchen is finally dealt with, with the cabinets cleaned out and the utensils/cooking implements in place. Food has been sorted out and now we are more confident with the stock that we have for cooking and consumption. The floor has been mopped, and everything is spick and span. Now we are left with giving away/selling some of the old stuff to folks and then the apartment would be inspection ready.

After doing all that cycling for moving a while back, I decided to sit down and compute just how much cycling I do on average. Here are my results:

Activity	Distance/mi
Home to office and back	2×2.3×4 days
Home to office to ARC and back	2.3+1.5+2.2
Home to ARC and back	2×2.3
Office to lunch and back	2×0.8×5 days
Total approximated distance	37

And that does not include any miscellaneous cycling that I need to do for various tasks like geocaching or grocery shopping.

No wonder I feel that my legs are tired sometimes.