No, the pun between sheep and deportation doesn’t work in either French (renvoi) or Italian (espulsione). I would also like to point out that Sicherheit means both safety and security.

I think the “black = bad” metaphors predate slavery or even European awareness of sub-Saharan Africa. We have two black sheep (deadbeats, ne’er-do-wells) in my family, so I don’t really see that as a racist metaphor.

And I swear I did not in any way photoshop that second image. Both were clipped from “20 Minutes,” a Swiss tabloid in Berne.

I love that muslims sitting around are threatening to the Swiss. That’s rich.

Singapore is a restrictive place, but it doesn’t quite fit expected norms. I lived there in 1989, and while, granted, my impressions might be dated, here’s what I saw…

Most foreigners like myself didn’t venture outside Orchard Road or the work complex where they earn their daily bread. One weekend day, I and another foreign co-worker traveled east, just to see what we would see. We did it mostly on foot, and until you hit the middle class onclave on the coast (where people were buying what looked like 1940’s-era teardowns for rebuilding and considering themselves very lucky to have a home with a yard), it wasn’t uncommon to see neighborhoods that looked like Bangkok without the waterways. The locals in these neighborhoods thought we were absolutely nuts to pass through, but neither of us received more than surprised stares.

The political party that runs the show in Singapore, the People’s Action Party, makes a very deliberate point of ensuring that all three major ethnic groups – Malays, Tamils and Fukanese – have some visible, active political representative or representatives. I never saw any ethnic hatred crop up between them, but it also was a pretty common thing to rarely see any of these groups working together except through local branches of international companies or hotels, or the kids hanging out together at local McDonald’s or Burger King’s.

There is a definite dislike of any, and I mean ANY group that is perceived to be an alternative power structure to the existing one. When I was living there, for example, there was a minor scandal in the breakup of a charismatic-fundamentalish Chinese Christian group that as far as I could tell was doing nothing wrong. Any sector of the city that seems likely to vote a non-PAP member into office gets a visit from an official telling them up close and personal that if they continue on said course, no neighborhood improvement funding of any kind could be expected until the next election cycle comes around. And, unlike in the USA, the PAP was more than willing to sue rivals out of at least financial existence through accusations of slander.

And then there’s the restricted magazines and newspapers. I didn’t know whether it was weirder that less than 400 copies of the Asian Wall Street Journal were available in the entire city, or that, after a ten-to-twelve hour day at work, the odds were better than even that I could still purchase a copy.

Yes, they have urine sniffers on elevators, but that’s almost a quaint notion nowadays, implemented in the 1960s to force “European” standards of cleanliness and such on the population that wanted to work in the international business community and government. This was also the same place that was unafraid to display homosexual dating behavior in a series of TV cartoon ads regarding being careful not to catch or spread AIDS – remember, this was 1989. (This was also the same place that gave us a cab driver who took us to work for a monthly fee, and who, as a result, offered not only.his own recommended set of prostitutes, but at a discount for trusting him as a long-term option for transportation.)

It was also the same place that had some of the most terrifying ads I’ve ever seen warning people to be wary of being out at night (one incident with a knife left me cold the rest of the evening after I saw it), and this in a town that I could walk through at two in the morning without a worry in the world.

It was also the same place that had a tiny prison, fenced and electrified, as part of a rather large roundabout in a remotish part of the city (never found out who was inside, but confirmed it’s purpose – nothing around the small building that would give the impression that it was an infrastructure station of some sort).

Does anyone have a more modern interpretation of Singapore these days?

Thanks for bringing it to light!!

From your account, my friend didn’t have it as bad as he fitted right in with his physical characteristics. His “American” accent, however, attracted some negative attention as Americans seemed to be associated by many Singaporeans with potential “troublemaking”, especially since his visit came not too long after the Michael Fay case (American caned for vandalizing a Singaporean Justice’s car with spraypaint & eggs).

I am a black haired, brown eyed, olive skinned girl and as soon as we crossed into Switzerland I was treated weirdly. People crossed the other side of the street rather than walk past me. A woman with a baby carriage zipped the cover over the carriage as she came close to me and then after passing me unzipped it, like just breathing the same air as me might harm her child. I was so unnerved I had my Russian boyfriend walk me to the restroom (I have never ever asked anyone to do something like that before or since). We were supposed to stay there for a few days but I was so freaked out we left after a few hours and went to Germany.