Of Singles, Parents and Single Parents
The recent Singapore Idol Contestant Maia made a comment sometime ago when asked about her single parent status. Without batting an eyelid she replied,"There are lots of girls out there who play. Then they go for an abortion, I don't."
Commendable and definitely a very responsible answer. Last week she was voted out of Singapore Idol. I can't comment too much on her singing because I hardly followed any of her performances. A little secret to share with you guys - I know who is that guy that got her autograph. *Winks*
Alright, Maia's not the main topic. Somehow her image popped into my head when I thought of swinging single parents and swinging singles. Is there any particular direction of responsiblity we can pinpoint to? Critics have long labelled the "MTV Generation" as the era of erosion for moral values. However, I quote a classic example of a long-running TV sitcom series as early as 1996. It's titled Murphy Brown where a successful TV news journalist is also a single mother.
Just for news trivia - Her Son Avery was actually played by Haley Joel Osmont.
Can we quote this long running sitcom which was so popular in Singapore in the early 1990s as one possible reason for the shift of mindsets for views towards swinging singles, divorce and single parenthood? Yes I am expecting the Media to shoulder some responsibility for the change of values. While it partners with the rising influence of globalisation and glorified the image of a single parent, the other effect it brought was the possible image of a swinging single.
Karl Marx had a theory which was imprinted in my mind so strong that I saw the immediate logic and marvelled. It's called Commodity Fetishism. Basically it means the strong emphasis on material wants in our everyday lives. You would probably identify the trend as materialism. In a Capital City like Singapore, isn't material stability a top priority here? Our Culture identifies a "good man" as someone who possesses the 5 Cs. Brings to mind the very term that Shylock uses to describe Antonio in the Merchant of Venice; that a man's worth is directly measurable in material terms. Gone are the traditional technocratic thinking that "love is everything" and we have values like friendship and filial piety advocating support for family and friends no matter what is the circumstances. These days, we would be more concerned about being able to afford this and that.
When I was watching the Musical Mamma Mia one of Donna Sheridian's friend commented that in their days, the father would pay for the entire wedding. It could have been interpreted by the audience as a sacarstic remark at "making the irresponsible guy pay" but the literal translation seems to hint that by using material wants you can amend the faults or wrongdoings you have committed to a certain extent.
Our system of punishments seem to understand this point perfectly - to the point we have labelled by some foreign journalists as being a "fine" City.
A recent song by Natasha Bedingfield that's constantly hitting the airwaves of Perfect 10 is called "Single" which sings of a young lady's joy at being single. She proclaims herself as a status of declaration for independence. An excerpt from the song goes like this:
I'm single
(Right now)
That's how I wanna be
I'm single
(Right now)
That's how I wanna be
A combination of all the above-mentioned factors and you would probably have a swinging single who's happy with their current status and having the time of their lives indulging in commodity therapy. Take a look at our current interpretation of the statistics that raised worrying issues - Our singles are marrying later on the average demographic calculations. And the main reason they quote? Not enough money. It's like.. in the past days when a baby was born they father would go "Yippee!" Fast Forward to the global city era and the father would probably say "So soon?" and activate his mental calculator. He'd be thinking about how expensive the baby would be, like the baby is being reduced to the level of a commodity's maintenance as well.
The State has interpreted this rising concern & amended policies like baby bonus and longer maternity leave in their Civil Service Sector, not to mention the recent amendment of 5.5-day week [alternate Saturdays] to 5 day week but no reduction in the amount of working hours. We shall cross our fingers and observe.
Well, this has been one lengthy post. But indeed while I was organising other articles have caught my attention and more blogging will be done. Till then, Carpe Diem. Life is short, play hard. *LOL* I am definitely sounding like a TV advertisement.
Commendable and definitely a very responsible answer. Last week she was voted out of Singapore Idol. I can't comment too much on her singing because I hardly followed any of her performances. A little secret to share with you guys - I know who is that guy that got her autograph. *Winks*
Alright, Maia's not the main topic. Somehow her image popped into my head when I thought of swinging single parents and swinging singles. Is there any particular direction of responsiblity we can pinpoint to? Critics have long labelled the "MTV Generation" as the era of erosion for moral values. However, I quote a classic example of a long-running TV sitcom series as early as 1996. It's titled Murphy Brown where a successful TV news journalist is also a single mother.
Just for news trivia - Her Son Avery was actually played by Haley Joel Osmont.
Can we quote this long running sitcom which was so popular in Singapore in the early 1990s as one possible reason for the shift of mindsets for views towards swinging singles, divorce and single parenthood? Yes I am expecting the Media to shoulder some responsibility for the change of values. While it partners with the rising influence of globalisation and glorified the image of a single parent, the other effect it brought was the possible image of a swinging single.
Karl Marx had a theory which was imprinted in my mind so strong that I saw the immediate logic and marvelled. It's called Commodity Fetishism. Basically it means the strong emphasis on material wants in our everyday lives. You would probably identify the trend as materialism. In a Capital City like Singapore, isn't material stability a top priority here? Our Culture identifies a "good man" as someone who possesses the 5 Cs. Brings to mind the very term that Shylock uses to describe Antonio in the Merchant of Venice; that a man's worth is directly measurable in material terms. Gone are the traditional technocratic thinking that "love is everything" and we have values like friendship and filial piety advocating support for family and friends no matter what is the circumstances. These days, we would be more concerned about being able to afford this and that.
When I was watching the Musical Mamma Mia one of Donna Sheridian's friend commented that in their days, the father would pay for the entire wedding. It could have been interpreted by the audience as a sacarstic remark at "making the irresponsible guy pay" but the literal translation seems to hint that by using material wants you can amend the faults or wrongdoings you have committed to a certain extent.
Our system of punishments seem to understand this point perfectly - to the point we have labelled by some foreign journalists as being a "fine" City.
A recent song by Natasha Bedingfield that's constantly hitting the airwaves of Perfect 10 is called "Single" which sings of a young lady's joy at being single. She proclaims herself as a status of declaration for independence. An excerpt from the song goes like this:
I'm single
(Right now)
That's how I wanna be
I'm single
(Right now)
That's how I wanna be
A combination of all the above-mentioned factors and you would probably have a swinging single who's happy with their current status and having the time of their lives indulging in commodity therapy. Take a look at our current interpretation of the statistics that raised worrying issues - Our singles are marrying later on the average demographic calculations. And the main reason they quote? Not enough money. It's like.. in the past days when a baby was born they father would go "Yippee!" Fast Forward to the global city era and the father would probably say "So soon?" and activate his mental calculator. He'd be thinking about how expensive the baby would be, like the baby is being reduced to the level of a commodity's maintenance as well.
The State has interpreted this rising concern & amended policies like baby bonus and longer maternity leave in their Civil Service Sector, not to mention the recent amendment of 5.5-day week [alternate Saturdays] to 5 day week but no reduction in the amount of working hours. We shall cross our fingers and observe.
Well, this has been one lengthy post. But indeed while I was organising other articles have caught my attention and more blogging will be done. Till then, Carpe Diem. Life is short, play hard. *LOL* I am definitely sounding like a TV advertisement.
posted by Inarticulate at 9:52 AM
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