Post ASe4qI7tLLE88m9ZmS by skinnylatte@hachyderm.io
(DIR) More posts by skinnylatte@hachyderm.io
(DIR) Post #ASe4qDzEjZvXIm4bjc by skinnylatte@hachyderm.io
2023-02-13T17:20:22Z
0 likes, 0 repeats
I have a theory that Chinese Singaporeans are okay with our political systems and are also big into evangelical Christianity because (1) we all have daddy issues (2) we like authoritarianism.I’ve been yelling about it for nearly a decade and I have only gotten more pessimistic https://popagandhi.com/2014/07/singapores-so-called-moral-majority/#Singapore
(DIR) Post #ASe4qEXyePiT2WKLsu by skinnylatte@hachyderm.io
2023-02-13T17:22:43Z
0 likes, 0 repeats
Here’s an entire podcast series about the time in 2009 that a bunch of powerful elite Chinese Singaporean Christian women ‘steeplejacked’ a secular feminist org. We took it back, in probably the most democratic grassroots uprising, but they’ve only just retreated underground in some truly nefarious ways https://aware.org.sg/saga/
(DIR) Post #ASe4qF0gvegWTZlHdo by skinnylatte@hachyderm.io
2023-02-13T17:24:12Z
0 likes, 0 repeats
Instead of straight up homophobia, they’ve just hitting us with ‘love the dinner hate the sin’ BS like this https://sg.news.yahoo.com/christian-group-truelove-hit-fresh-045622675.html
(DIR) Post #ASe4qFa8nr2cFWLatc by skinnylatte@hachyderm.io
2023-02-13T17:30:11Z
0 likes, 0 repeats
Personally I believe the risks posed to secular society in Singapore are entirely from the elite Chinese Christian circles, but political power is too entrenched in this world to care. It’s like living in a society run by Republicans who are actually smart and technocratic, but who have far scarier beliefs if you dig hard enough. I grew up among the evangelical Christians of Singapore, I am terrified of them.
(DIR) Post #ASe4qG62tEYtqTH4cq by skinnylatte@hachyderm.io
2023-02-13T17:35:18Z
0 likes, 0 repeats
And that is not unique to Singapore. Every country in southeast and east Asia is impacted in some way by the mashup of 60s Pentecostal revivalism, 00s Australian charismatic ‘C3 church’ church planting, prosperity gospel mixed with ethno-nationalism. You see it a lot in Singapore and Korea, but also among elite Chinese business communities in Malaysia and Indonesia. Turns out ‘believe this, get that’ is an irresistible message, esp when critical thinking isn’t promoted in our societies.
(DIR) Post #ASe4qGcIxIMlSWMpuK by technomancy@icosahedron.website
2023-02-13T17:50:04Z
0 likes, 0 repeats
@skinnylatte a lot of the armchair-anthropologist white people analysis I've heard tries to make a link between the influence of deep-seated confucian thinking and being ok with authoritarianism but I'm kind of suspicious of this analysis as it seems a bit too tidy or simplistic; what do you think?
(DIR) Post #ASe4qHMkAdVrmY5vI8 by angdraug@mastodon.social
2023-02-13T18:06:02Z
0 likes, 0 repeats
@technomancy @skinnylatte Good point. For one, Chinese culture is also where Taoism, the world's oldest anti-authoritarian religion, originated.As yet another white person armchair anthropologist, I'd theorize that the causal relationship between Confucianism and authoritarian governments is not unidirectional.
(DIR) Post #ASe4qI7tLLE88m9ZmS by skinnylatte@hachyderm.io
2023-02-13T18:08:41Z
0 likes, 0 repeats
@angdraug @technomancy it's more that evangelism overlaps neatly with the decline of confucianism, which presents an opposing viewpoint to strongmen traditionally (perhaps in favor of their own).
(DIR) Post #ASe4qIsKYgNESnsfAG by skinnylatte@hachyderm.io
2023-02-13T18:08:47Z
0 likes, 0 repeats
@angdraug @technomancy in singapore at least, the evangelism also creates an irreconcilable rift between ethnic chinese people and our old traditions. everything is 'idol worship', everything 'old' is chinese, everything modern is christian, but also also many superficial ways of linking both (jesus is chinese! as explained by christian chinese numerology)
(DIR) Post #ASe4qJTCLbreJ986d6 by angdraug@mastodon.social
2023-02-13T18:18:03Z
0 likes, 0 repeats
@skinnylatte @technomancy Yikes. Sounds very similar to the antagonistic blending of Christian and Pagan traditions in Belarus a thousand years ago (which is how we ended up with the Pagan ritual of Kaliady becoming a part of Belarusian Christmas tradition).
(DIR) Post #ASe4qJzoOLx5wIO9Sq by skinnylatte@hachyderm.io
2023-02-13T18:19:34Z
0 likes, 0 repeats
@angdraug prepare to have your mind blown. https://answersingenesis.org/genesis/chinese-characters-and-genesis/Less numerology and more characters, I guess. It’s a powerful idea I’ve heard from almost every Chinese or Korean evangelical. Everywhere.
(DIR) Post #ASe4qKWmPmK7aXoTqq by angdraug@mastodon.social
2023-02-13T18:30:17Z
1 likes, 1 repeats
@skinnylatte In modern Russian online slang, this is called СПГС: Deep Meaning Seeker Syndrome. A very popular kind of brain rot in authoritarian societies.
(DIR) Post #ASe4qLbQPzdKvEzhjM by skinnylatte@hachyderm.io
2023-02-13T18:15:29Z
0 likes, 0 repeats
@angdraug @technomancy I think the desire to attain American style capitalistic success through hustle and grind (work hard enough and be chosen and success will come, not being rich is your personal failure) is more present in high growth societies and more relevant than Confucian thinking
(DIR) Post #ASe4qM0EvjU0ACbWPQ by angdraug@mastodon.social
2023-02-13T18:31:46Z
0 likes, 0 repeats
@skinnylatte In case it's not obvious from the name, it describes someone who keeps looking for hidden meanings (that validate themselves and their world view) in every mundane and random thing.