Observations and inanities by a second-shift assistant supervisor in the Puppy-Grinding division of the Evil Atheist Conspiracy® (our motto: "Sure it's cruel, but think of the jobs!"), your host, Brent Rasmussen.
A Misconception about Singapore
I promised myself that I'd write about Singapore and its screwed up politics as soon as I left. Well, I left a week ago, but I'm still going to keep you waiting for a bit more. Now I'm going to deal with one misconception that I heard twice at Yearly Kos and that my father heard once when traveling to the US about two years ago.
Apparently, some Americans believe that in Singapore you're liable to be caned for chewing gum, spitting on the sidewalk, or any similar trivial offense. That's just bullshit. Singapore forbids selling gum but not chewing. There are fines for spitting or littering, but they're unenforced. Caning is reserved for things like moderately serious drug offenses, vandalism, and robbery.
What did happen was that an American tourist got caned for spraying paint on cars. This shows that the Singaporean criminal code was written by lunatics who hadn't heard of the idea of proportional response. But it doesn't mean that lesser offenses will get you caned, too.
Saying that you can get caned in Singapore for spitting makes about as much sense as saying that in the US, you can be executed for protesting outside a free speech zone. On second thought, it's more like saying that you'll be executed by a firing squad composed of second amendment loons.
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Proportionality
When the tourist got caned, a LOT of people said that we ought to start doing it here. I'd always asked them, "since speeding kills a lot more people than vandalism, would you also favor caning for people who are caught speeding?"
That shuts 'em up. Funny how draconian punishment seems like such a good idea for offenses that you don't personally commit.
Woo
What did happen was that an American tourist got caned for spraying paint on cars.
An event which was parodied by Weird Al Yankovic in his song, "Headline News"...
http://www.com-www.com/weirdal/headlinenewssong.html
Ahhh.. useless knowledge. Gotta love it.
- Matt
I always thought Singapore was really onto something...
...with caning people for vandalism and antisocial acts. Seems like they'll bloody well remember not to do that again.
Sorry to sound like a jerk but I see way too much of this on campus. Caning doesn't seem that disproportionate.
Disproportionate response
I disagree with decrpitoldfool on this point. I see a lot of vandalism too. Lots of young people and not a few older folks commit property damage. The key word there is property. Some in this country value property more than health and life. So what if someone tags your dumpster or the side of a building? It costs you money but it doesn't actually harm your body. Yeah, I think they should be punished. Making restitution by cleaning up that and other messes seems appropriate. I imagine there would be substantial humiliation for a tagger forced to scrub and neatly paint the side of a building he defaced. But rending flesh for making a mess is ridiculous.
Apparently, it's not even necessary
Singapore's crime rate is very low, but that's more due to culture than due to the law. Japan's criminal code isn't distinguishable from a retentionist Western one, and yet Japan's crime rate is yet lower than Singapore's. There's very little evidence that draconian punishments such as Singapore's deter crime, but on the other there is some evidence that they encourage crime via a brutalization effect.