opinions!! part i

I have 0 opinions left in my head-space, I've used all of them up.

I need to form some opinions today! Urgently!

I am going to the websites of quasi-reputable local news sources to form some opinions now.

There is a very small-town quality to the articles I am reading. I think it is charming.

Unfortunately, I cannot control my involuntary eye-rolling. I have tried, believe me.

#1 - Headline: Social pressure can help deal with littering habits 

Social pressure may help change littering habits, and only to the extent that the individuals responsible for the bulk of litter in public spaces can have their behaviour altered by top-down grassroots campaigns (this is an oxymoron valid in Singaporean social structures) for a sustained period of time. There are several assumptions the article, the most fundamental of which I will merely list for the sake of brevity: firstly, that there is a qualitative increase in litter—pointed out by our most perceptive PM; secondly, that the behaviour of litterbugs are amenable to "social pressure;" and thirdly, that the individuals who constitute the group of "litterbugs"are homogenous enough that their receptivity to social pressure be assumed. 

I question the efficacy of forming a "Clean and Green Taskforce" consisting of volunteers representing different grassroots organisations, if it is more likely that the taskforce end up duplicating the efforts of existing environmental awareness movements (e.g. 'Singapore, Litter-Free' Campaign.) However, because this is a movement focused within smaller communities or pockets of living spaces, greater attention may be paid to the specifics of each situation. 

This raises a larger question that I have always found to be dubious: what can the public even do to reduce littering, if this theoretical public is also partly constituted by these 'litterbugs'? Additionally, anti-littering laws were implemented during the period of soft authoritarianism when social behaviour was still amenable to legislative measures. Given the supposedly "blasé" attitude about environmental cleanliness that Singaporean have adopted over the subsequent decades, is a reevaluation of current anti-littering laws a reasonable course of action? And on a side note, the use of public humiliation—or Corrective Work Order—presupposes that the act of cleaning public areas is a source of humiliation; the sign of punishment (the bright yellow/orange vests) does not sufficiently signify the shame of the punishment. It is likely that with the stigma associated with cleaning up other people's trash, Singapore will find it hard to break into a culture of having a shared responsibility in maintaining environmental cleanliness and hygiene.