Kiasu

laser51088 SG

Was wondering, is it just singaporeans that are kiasu, or is it everybody, and singaporeans get the 'flame' cos some nutcase singaporean coined the word and use it on ourselves

and why all those kindness movement and all that, doesn't seem to be effective and feels like a wasted of govt funds. . .

going out soon, suddenly thought about this kiasuism label on singaporeans and posting a thread b4 i forget, will think more later. . .

nismoS132 SG

the local media (and all our other brain-washed comrades) have an inferiority complex. that is all.

MooKu SG

I don't think it's a sin to be "kiasu". We thrive on competition, and we excel Mr. Green But that's of course not to the extent of giving ourselves a bad name. If you wanna rush to the store giving out freebies, sure! but I seriously don't see the need to queue overnight or fight with the other "queuees" over some freebie.

Campaigns... effective to a certain extent. The Kindness Movement brought about the yellow guidelines in MRT stations [underground ones] and nowadays more people are following it and standing at the side, letting the people come out from the train before entering. Maybe it's not so effective cos some Singaporeans are passive [I must admit sometimes I'm one of those] and they can't be bothered about this kind of things...?

Stevenson101 SG

go to any developed country, check out the super malls there during a big sale and you will see that kiasuism is not solely a Singaporean trait.

Gun SG

Originally posted by laser51088:
[b]Was wondering, is it just singaporeans that are kiasu, or is it everybody, and singaporeans get the 'flame' cos some nutcase singaporean coined the word and use it on ourselves b]

There was a store opening promotion in NYC which got pretty violent when it drew crowds by raining US$ notes in public.

So are Americans kiasu also ?

Such universal trade of the human species is unjustIy stereotyped upon many a Singaporean that reflects complete lack of self-reflection of the accusor.

f.1 SG

highly publicised, highly criticized….

laser51088 SG

exactly, so how do we get critics to realise that and stop all the kiasu thing? especially stuff like 'being kiasu makes someone a singaporean', its like, wtf!

anyone got ideas on how to spread d message now that the forumnites here are pretty much convinced that kiasuism is universal? not saying that the feeling of fearing to lose all the time is right, but that perhaps singaporeans have emphasised to much on this so-called unique trait of ours. . . perhaps the only thing unique is our name for it. . .

MooKu SG

Kiasu... does not just refer to grabbing freebies.. but it also shows in our education system, which is rather well-known in the world is it? Maybe to the outside world... people see us as competitive in many many many areas... more than them.. that's why we're labelled "KiaSu".....

Gun SG

Originally posted by MooKu:
Kiasu... does not just refer to grabbing freebies.. but it also shows in our education system, which is rather well-known in the world is it? Maybe to the outside world... people see us as competitive in many many many areas... more than them.. that's why we're labelled "KiaSu".....

Isn't being competitive a positive trade in today's cut-throat 24/7 world ? That certainly doesn't justify name-calling in the 1st place when one seeks to survive. That goes to other stressed up urbanites in HK, Tokyo, Shanghai or NY.

In fact, if you wanna take issue with local education system, you'd better take a look at the sort of pressure-cocked, kiasee-kiasu environemnt of Beijing University, Taipei U and Japanese education system. Singapore's pale in comparision in areana of competition and super kiasuness.