Wednesday, February 13, 2008

Money Madne$$

Singaporeans are a money-mad people. Or should I say have become a money-mad people. Witness the game show "Deal of No Deal', a franchised game show currently running on Mediacorp TV, where people show off how much they love money. Participants and the 'live' audience have no inhibitions in dancing, jumping, shouting, screaming and even praying (to whom I am not sure) at the very thought of winning more money (or not losing the pile they have already accumulated). A true display of naked greed in the temple of capitalism if ever there was one. The fantastic thing about it all is that even people who may not have a direct stake in the game, both those in the studio and those in front of the goggle-box at home, unfailingly urge the contestant to refuse any deal that the boss offers, even when the probability of winning is very low. Well, it is not your money to lose, so what the heck, right? And not too long ago, we had been mouthing "Who wants to be a millionaire"? Well, they must have axed the show because nobody in Singapore won a million $. The show must have developed a credibility problem.

That's not all. Even those who worship at real temples are not immune. It was reported that devotees at the Kwan Im Thong Hood Cho temple were fighting to be the first to get their joss sticks onto the giant urn, believing that those who do so on the first day of the Lunar New Year will have exceptionally good luck for the year. As soon are these first joss sticks are planted in the urn, they are removed so that others can plant theirs in. The dieties notwithstanding, this ritual almost turned into a riot had it not been for the watchful eyes of the very human Police who, very wisely, were standing by. It would appear that in this whole ritual, the dieties have been chucked to the backseat as fortune rushed to the fore. These dieties to whom the joss sticks and prayers are offered really do not get any respect at all. I don't know why 'devotees' do not see the irony and sacrilege in it all. Perhaps the thought of striking it rich with the strike of the sticks into the urn over-rides any other consideration. Yes, they have come to worship - not the dieties - but wealth and fortune.

Truly no place escapes the money madness of Singaporeans nowadays. Not in a place of worship, not in the studios, and certainly not in the citadel of capitalism - the office. Even the normally serious and otherwise excellent actor, Mr Adrian Pang, has not been spared this mad greed over money. And what did they say? Sex and money are natural bedfellows? Just look at the skimpy and often see-through bustlines of the costumes worn by the girls with the bxoes (gosh, can't spell properly just thinking about it!). Sometimes I wonder if one didn't win the money, one would nevertheless go home satisfied with the feast on those bountiful boobs positioned at level with the boxes. I bet the positioning is done quite on purpose.

4 comments :

Anonymous said...

"Well, it is not your money to lose, so what the heck, right?". Well said comrade!

"I don't know why 'devotees' do not see the irony and sacrilege in it all". They are blinded by money as You have rightly put it.

Low(from the top) and high(from the bottom) are in vogue and the lasses, old and young, surprisingly think it is big deal. Well, we are all born NAKED.

It is all about vices and not prosperities. The corruption of souls started soon after our country becomes independent. saintmoron.

Anonymous said...

"Money, money, money must be funny in a rich man world" lyrics from aAbbas song.

Anonymous said...

in recent decades, religious institutions have changed its tune in regard to greed. in tandem with changes and for changes( all out of greed), they have changed greed to a more acceptable word and called it GRACE!

by relating grace with prosperity as part of salvation, greed went under the radar screen and became acceptable to the masses that thronged these religious institutions. as a result, they perpetuated the great divide between the haves and have-nots and oppressed the weak and needed.

these deluded worshipers have been contributing to the evil in the world without their knowing.

such irony in the finest example of hypocrisy.

Anonymous said...

thanks to our 'environment', i mean society. no money no talk. thanks also to 'our parent' for creating this environment, i mean singapore government. what a way to turn us to money chasing idiots. 5C dreams to tight us down using loans. fucking spiders. see thru it already. better to have simple life.