Disneyland with the Death Penalty

[stone]

The William Gibson artical about Singapore claimed that orderliness stifled creativity:-
http://www.wired.com/wired/archive/1.04/gibson_pr.html
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Disneyland ... th_Penalty

I'm no fan of depravity but I was spooked by the clinic like ambience of Singapore when I visited ten years ago. I found it more human when I visited last year. Perhaps that was because of the massive imigration they have had. A Singaporians has told me that they have found it a bit of a shock having all of the recent incomers with raucous ways(by Singaporian standards).
I suppose places like Detroit etc have had massive outpourings of creativity. It seems tragic if creativity only occurs in a troubled enviroment.

[smurff]

The first time Singapore appeared on my mental memory map was a couple of decades ago, when they had banned chewing gum.  Bubble gum was a big part of my life then, and I could not imagine being in a place where I could go to jail for possession.

Actually, as I recall it, there was an American kid there who was sentenced to "caning" for graffiti and vandalizing neighbor's cars.  It grew into a big international incident.  He got his butt lashed with the cane in the end, anyway.   I didn't care that much about his plight--had our parents caught us doing something like that, caning would have been the least of our worries.  But the banning of bubble gum--now that was a big deal.

[Ad Orientem]

I had a four day port visit there in the late 80's when I was in the Navy and recall being extremely impressed with the place, especially with how clean it was.  We were warned before going ashore that they had draconian drug laws, but I did not realize just how tightly wound Singapore was until I had occasion to answer the call of nature in a public facility.  And there I was standing in a public bathroom that was so clean you could eat off the floor, attending to my needs (the standing up kind) and while doing so I noticed the large sign in several languages that warned of a $500 (I am guessing Singapore currency) fine for failing to flush when finished.  It wasn't until I was washing my hands that I noticed the security camera pointed at the urinals.  And this was in the 1980's!