{"id":244,"date":"2008-01-11T22:35:48","date_gmt":"2008-01-12T04:35:48","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/bogott.net\/unspecified\/?p=244"},"modified":"2008-01-11T22:35:48","modified_gmt":"2008-01-12T04:35:48","slug":"extremism-in-pursuit-of","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/bogott.net\/unspecified\/?p=244","title":{"rendered":"Extremism in pursuit of&#8230;"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><a href=\"https:\/\/bogott.net\/unspecified\/wp-content\/uploads\/2008\/03\/convenience1.jpg\" title=\"convenience1.jpg\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/bogott.net\/unspecified\/wp-content\/uploads\/2008\/03\/convenience1.jpg\" alt=\"convenience1.jpg\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>I don\u2019t know all that much about Singapore\u2019s political system, and I suspect that while I\u2019m here, at least, I\u2019m better off keeping it that way.<\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph Body\" style=\"line-height: 20px; text-decoration: none\">&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph Body\" style=\"line-height: 20px\">Here\u2019s an example of a hard-hitting local news story: \u00a0On Wednesday night there were investigative reports on two different channels about a pet shelter in the suburbs where anonymous tipsters were alleging that for several days a large number of cats had gone unfed. \u00a0There was a lot of footage of cats, and lots of interview footage of the woman who runs the shelter shrilly defending herself. \u00a0\u201cSure, times are tough, but I fed the cats this morning! \u00a0I skipped lunch so I could afford to feed them!\u201d \u00a0Last night, there was a follow-up report: \u00a0Animal welfare officers have visited the shelter, examined the cats, and declare them to be just fine.<\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph Body\" style=\"line-height: 20px; text-decoration: none\">&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph Body\" style=\"line-height: 20px\">The one thing that\u2019s abundantly clear here is that a large amount of the government\u2019s political power is wielded in obsessive pursuit of convenience. \u00a0Escalators, footbridges, maps, and timetables abound. \u00a0\u201cWe apologize for any inconvenience caused\u201d might as well be the national motto &#8212; I see it on 10 signs a day.<\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph Body\" style=\"line-height: 20px; text-decoration: none\">&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph Body\" style=\"line-height: 20px\">Pictured above: \u00a0Temporary concrete sidewalk installed (in the absolute middle of nowhere) to avoid the danger of muddy shoes. \u00a0Below: \u00a0Elaborate street-crossing and rain-avoidance systems, plus fancy MRT station photos.<\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph Body\" style=\"line-height: 20px\">&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph Body\" style=\"line-height: 20px\"><a href=\"https:\/\/bogott.net\/unspecified\/wp-content\/uploads\/2008\/03\/convenience2.jpg\" title=\"convenience2.jpg\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/bogott.net\/unspecified\/wp-content\/uploads\/2008\/03\/convenience2.jpg\" alt=\"convenience2.jpg\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph Body\" style=\"line-height: 20px\">&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph Body\" style=\"line-height: 20px\"><a href=\"https:\/\/bogott.net\/unspecified\/wp-content\/uploads\/2008\/03\/convenience3.jpg\" title=\"convenience3.jpg\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/bogott.net\/unspecified\/wp-content\/uploads\/2008\/03\/convenience3.jpg\" alt=\"convenience3.jpg\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph Body\" style=\"line-height: 20px\">&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph Body\" style=\"line-height: 20px\"><a href=\"https:\/\/bogott.net\/unspecified\/wp-content\/uploads\/2008\/03\/convenience4.jpg\" title=\"convenience4.jpg\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/bogott.net\/unspecified\/wp-content\/uploads\/2008\/03\/convenience4.jpg\" alt=\"convenience4.jpg\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>I don\u2019t know all that much about Singapore\u2019s political system, and I suspect that while I\u2019m here, at least, I\u2019m better off keeping it that way. &nbsp; Here\u2019s an example of a hard-hitting local news story: \u00a0On Wednesday night there &hellip; <a href=\"https:\/\/bogott.net\/unspecified\/?p=244\">Continue reading <span class=\"meta-nav\">&rarr;<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-244","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/bogott.net\/unspecified\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/244","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/bogott.net\/unspecified\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/bogott.net\/unspecified\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bogott.net\/unspecified\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bogott.net\/unspecified\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=244"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/bogott.net\/unspecified\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/244\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/bogott.net\/unspecified\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=244"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bogott.net\/unspecified\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=244"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bogott.net\/unspecified\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=244"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}