Woke up today and read about ‘Crazy Horse’ going to be shut down. Sigh. When it first came to Singapore, I wanted to watch it just to experience what it might be like but I found the price too high as I was just a student then. The thing is, I think that there might be a fair number of Singaporeans like me who are interested in such performances but find the price prohibitive. In any case, my plan was to wait until I started working, had some spare cash and treat myself to the performance. It seems now, that if I want to watch it, I have to do it real soon.
Anyway, there has been some discussion about why ‘Crazy Horse’ failed in Singapore and price is probably one of the reasons. But it is definitely not the only reason and like Alex of YawningBread predicted, Singapore’s tendency to get all dogmatic when it comes to morality has contributed to the failure of ‘Crazy Horse’. The amount of restrictions placed on ‘Crazy Horse’ really handicapped it.
Anyway, I’m thinking about our ‘Crazy Horse’ experiment and its failure when I remembered something my pastor said.
Ignorance is not Virtue
Simply put, if a man is caged up, henpecked by his wife, nagged too death and prevented from meeting any other women, the wife cannot say her man is a good man who is faithful to her.
However, if the husband was working late in the office one day when the hot 21 year old secretary walks in, strips naked and says to him, “Take me, take me now.” and he, instead of jumping her on the spot with wild abandon, picks up his suitcase, walks out the office, looks for the intern fresh from NS and tells him, “the secretary is looking for you” then proceeds to go home to his wife and spend time with her, then the husband can possibly be considered faithful. He has been tempted and made the choice not to succumb to it.
Virtue is about choice and choosing correctly.
Singapore wants to create a country of moral people. That is not wrong. But handicapping our arts scene which is essential to create a vibrant cosmopolitan city because we want to protect the moral values of our country is silly. We aren’t so much protecting it as stifling its development. Moral people are those who choose to do what is right, and have the ability to discern if something is good, bad (or even evil) and what is really just a matter of taste.
Come on, just a simple google search can provide something more titillating than what ‘Crazy Horse’ is probably showing.
The way we are going, Singapore will create a people (i.e. mainly guys) who go to such performances expecting to be titillated, and leave at best disappointed and at worse to go look for some really titillating experiences than a nation who go to such performances to experience and appreciate an artistic performance which stimulates all our senses and not just a single organ below.
Don’t protect us by limiting our choice. Protect us by educating us. Let us learn what is considered art, and what is just hardcore pornography (here I am definitely reflecting a religious bias because I think hardcore pornography is immoral with no artistic merit). Let us then choose and in our choice we exercise, we have become moral.
Choice. It is what differentiates the virtuous from the ignorant.
In any case, I’ll probably try to squeeze in a day I can go see the performance. It would be a waste to miss it. And besides, I cannot afford to go to Paris any time soon.
the holy goose | 26-Jan-07 at 10:27 am | Permalink
What you call choice, I call temptation. Your pastor should have prayed “lead us not into temptation…”
iantimothy | 26-Jan-07 at 12:34 pm | Permalink
Temptation is not a bad thing. Choosing to succumb to it is. Of course, we should try and pray that we are put in as little situations as possible where we can be tempted. But we should not fear temptation. Because the virtuous will be able to choose not to be tempted. So temptation and choice are two different things. You are not calling the same thing I am referring to by another name - they are two different things.
Yes. We should pray that we will not be lead into temptation but i believe God will not allow us to be tempted beyond what we can resist. There is a bible verse on this.
And if we are not informed and discerning, how can we be able to grow and mature and be strong enough to resist greater temptations.
Allow people to choose where they stand by equipping them with the necessary tools to make the correct decision. Don’t decide for them. And sometimes, there are certain matters which are indeed a matter of taste. We got to acknowledge that. Don’t with one broad sweep, lump everything into two sides. And that is what I feel we tend to do in Singapore. We must appreciate that it is a scale. And if we continue to lump things so simply into two sides, people will be less discerning. And that will be a loss for our nation.
coolinsider | 26-Jan-07 at 1:01 pm | Permalink
Interesting post about Crazy Horse and religion. I was invited to the opening of Crazy Horse when it first opened as an industry player. I wasn’t particularly impressed then and somehow certain things just didn’t seem right. Even at that early stage, many of us sensed that this outfit isn’t going to last. Do check out my blog post on this at:
http://coolinsights.blogspot.com/2007/01/haughty-horses-and-clueless.html
Feel free to comment!
redbean | 27-Jan-07 at 2:54 am | Permalink
‘Protect us by educating us.’
It should be, Don’t treat us like children. We are more mature than you think. And please stop nannying us.
I also post at http://www.redbeanforum.com
middle red dot | 27-Jan-07 at 5:02 am | Permalink
One truth that businessmen cites from age past till present is this : ” In any market, when a product is really good, it will sell and its sales will be sustainable!”
Crazy Horse fails partly because it’s not a good product!
iantimothy | 27-Jan-07 at 5:13 am | Permalink
Hello Middle Red Dot. I am not sure whether Crazy Horse was a good product or not because I have not yet seen it. But from what I read, the Crazy Horse in Singapore might not have been allowed to stage as great a performance as it could possibly have because of restrictions imposed on it.
Also, I do believe even if you have a good product, it does not mean there will be sales. Think the Apple Newton. It was an awesome product. Too awesome in fact. Way ahead of its time. A product’s success is not just a function of its inherent qualities. The context in which the product is in also makes a difference.