On the need for civil discourse.

Once upon a time, discourse between people in public was conducted with civility. At least, this was the ideal. However, this no longer seems to apply, in the modern world, particularly on the internet.

Recently, I wrote a post about the experience of native English speakers, encountering Singlish. It was a distillation of the experiences of many native English speakers that I have known in my life, from all walks of life, and from all the major English speaking countries. All confessed to have been baffled by Singlish at times - and all thought, basically, that it would be better if a more standard version of English were current, from the point of view of effective communication. Only one liked Singlish, a Canadian, who thought it was "funny". Basically, Singlish made him laugh, so he liked it.

Now, one would have thought that getting an external perspective on the local linguistic situation might be of interest to Singaporeans. However, this has not been the case. The post has been greeted with great hostility in some quarters - such hostility that I wonder if it is even worth engaging such people in conversation, in any form.

One poster, in particular, whose comment I posted, went on to write on his or her own blog in a defamatory fashion. Their post is filled with ad hominem attacks (personal attacks) upon me. It seems to be motivated by a lot of anger and quite a bit of spite. It is a most unpleasant post and one that is, actually, libellous in several instances. This is not what I call civilized discourse.

When I grew up and received an education, I imbibed the idea that when engaged in intellectual discourse that one should never attack the bearer of an idea, and only to argue with the idea itself. That notion doesn't seem to be understood in the Singaporean blogosphere. It seems that Singlish is a minor communication problem, here - the greater one is the lack of respect for civil discourse.

A nation that speaks a corrupted version of English, I can accept, though I would advise that they be conversant in standard English, as well, for purposes of international communication - but a nation that has lost - or never had - an understanding of civil discourse really is unnacceptable. When Singaporeans indulge in uncivilized attacks on others, instead of engaging in well-behaved discourse to come to an understanding of ideas, they show, ultimately, what is lacking, in some people here: an appreciation of what it means to be a civilized being, in a sophisticated world.

I didn't fully appreciate how lacking some Singaporeans are, in basic civility, until I saw the reactions to my post. It has been enlightening...it has also lowered, somewhat, my opinion of the element of society responsible. One got the impression that the posters were the kind of people who would engage in lynchings, in other times, and places.

I have to give some thought to this: perhaps it is not worth trying to engage local people in any kind of discourse at all. A civilized conversation is only possible with those who have learnt what it means to be civilized. One poster, in particular, most certainly has no idea what that means. Some others are not far behind.

(If you would like to learn more of Ainan Celeste Cawley, a scientific child prodigy, aged eight years and seven months, or his gifted brothers, Fintan, five years exactly, and Tiarnan, twenty-eight months, please go to: http://scientific-child-prodigy.blogspot.com/2006/10/scientific-child-prodigy-guide.html I also write of gifted education, IQ, intelligence, the Irish, the Malays, Singapore, College, University, Chemistry, Science, genetics, left-handedness, precocity, child prodigy, child genius, baby genius, adult genius, savant, wunderkind, wonderkind, genio, гений ребенок prodigy, genie, μεγαλοφυία θαύμα παιδιών, bambino, kind.

We are the founders of Genghis Can, a copywriting, editing and proofreading agency, that handles all kinds of work, including technical and scientific material. If you need such services, or know someone who does, please go to: http://www.genghiscan.com/ Thanks.

This blog is copyright Valentine Cawley. Unauthorized duplication prohibited. Use Only with Permission. Thank you.)