Dear Editor,
I read with some concerns about The Independent Singapore’s featured news: Singaporeans slam netizen who mocks local activists as “woke SJWs” (May 23).
There are some strange phenomena and inequalities in any era and place in society.
This will require the joint participation of all parties, such as policy leaders, employers, trade union leaders and social workers, to find out the root cause or the key points of the problem and actively cooperate to solve it.
So, labelling social workers as “woke social justice warriors” for their social obligations seems an exaggeration or a misnomer.
For example, we shouldn’t compare outstanding and influential contemporary figures such as Mahatma Gandhi and the outstanding and far-reaching founding father of Singapore, Lee Kuan Yew, even though their achievements and struggles had similarities because they were also different in many aspects.
So, we cannot generalise it. Their merits and demerits should be evaluated and positioned or concluded by historians.
As far as any social activists know the nature, objective and the entrusted social responsibility of their projects well, and not to violate or cross the red lines of the law, we should respect and pay tribute to their time and efforts devoted to the benefit of the entire society or human beings.
The most important thing is that we must analyze from an objective perspective whether the reports and opinions of today’s social activists are true, well-founded and logically meaningful.
If all of the above are met, we should respect their opinions and rights. There’s no need to be picky and sarcastic.
Thus, it is meaningless, irrational, irrelevant and inappropriate for the netizen, namely LaksaTang on Reddit, who posted a meme featuring a two-panel comparison, juxtaposing historical figures with contemporary Singaporean activists.
Anyway, I agree that comparing historical and modern figures overlooks the context, complexity and challenges unique to each era.
Teo Kueh Liang
The views expressed here are those of the author/contributor and do not necessarily represent the views of The Independent Singapore
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