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Christmas In Disneyland

By Scrymarch (Fri Dec 22, 2006 at 11:52:55 PM EST) Disneyland (all tags)

So we moved to Disneyland recently. So far the Magic Kingdom is treating us pretty well.

I've never been to any of the original incarnations of Walt's theme park vision, but like much of the rich world I've wandered through its progeny. Seaworld. Hollywood On The Gold Coast. Etc. This place has better eating and more trees. Also, lots of shopping malls. The food court food is bizarrely good. Shopping malls and food courts are everywhere, woven tightly into the national fabric. For the first few weeks I was here, every time I was in a supermarket I saw one or two people - child, or child at heart - chasing each other through the aisles. It's very familiar territory, I suppose. A natural playground.

I am not a natural mall inhabitant, but so far the anthropological goggles keep me from getting annoyed. When B first arrived she was wearing a different pair, borrowed from Gibson, or possibly bought at a tenth of the price from a counterfeit market. And indeed, once you put the dystopian goggles on, it's easy to get creeped out. Lots of cameras. Government posters encouraging you to do good works. Pleasant videos on the metro about how to prevent a terrorist attack by vigilant dobbing in of suspicious characters. Racial quotas. Too clean. But take the goggles off and it's mostly just people working hard and doing ok. A lot of places it's people working hard and not doing ok. The question is: are things getting better?

The unfashionably strict regulation of certain social mores that Disneyland is famous for has, from my reading, been relaxed in recent years. Personally, I have not yet been arrested for swearing or for looking at women in a lewd manner on public transport. Though the shareholders have regular, clean, elections, a change of management is not likely in the near future.

I have a new job with a corporate title that makes it clear exactly which lower rung of the global plutocracy I slot into; some kind of knight or baronet I believe. The location of Disneyland, at a big intersection, makes it easier to notice these things. They're foregrounded.

While not at malls, local hobbies include overtime and sitting examinations.

Merry Christmas.

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Christmas In Disneyland | 18 comments (18 topical, 0 hidden) | Trackback

So you are arguing that Singapore's by cam (4.00 / 1) #1 Sat Dec 23, 2006 at 09:00:04 AM EST

political structure is not political at all, but corporate? That a disney-state is the inevitable end result of the Asian style of capitalism: the development-state?

How does that reconcile with Queensland having similar policies? Qld isn't the state of Joh anymore.

cam
Freedom, liberty, equity and an Australian Republic

Corporate politics is still politics by Scrymarch (4.00 / 1) #6 Sat Dec 23, 2006 at 10:34:29 PM EST

Firstly you shouldn't read too much into this, I kind of just found it amusing to write a whole post without naming the country I lived in.

I think the run of transfers of power via democratic elections that happenned throughout SE Asia in the 90s show a Disney state isn't the inevitable outcome of development state policies. I suspect it only happened in Singapore because they both followed some excellent economic development policies, and kept corruption minimal. The political elites in the PAP have certainly enriched themselves in this process - they're far better paid than US parliamentarians, for example.

The Disney aspect comes from strict civic regulation (eg, spitting being illegal) while a political elite runs the country with relative benevolence and success. There also is very little reporting of factions within PAP, reinforcing the corporate aspect.

The Disney tag is unfair. It's a real place, not a theme park. I just find it amusing. There's a tension at the moment where they try to bring the GDP into full rich country territory. There's a deliberate focus on making Singapore more of a cultural centre. How can you do that without becoming more liberal?

How does it link with Queensland? It doesn't so much anymore - Queensland, like many other states in east Asia, had a peaceful democratic transfer of government in the 90s. It's a post-development state, like Korea or Taiwan, but without the massive military issues with a close neighbour.
_{The Political Science Department of the University of Woolloomooloo}
[ Parent ]

Joh had the capability to disrupt centralisation by cam (4.00 / 1) #7 Sat Dec 23, 2006 at 11:15:50 PM EST

too, with his appointment of a Senator enabling supply to be blocked and constitutional crisis. Though IIRC WA did too. Beattie doesn't have that option - he pretty much has to suck up what Canberra spits out.

Thailand dabbled in democracy until a coup could reassert its dominance on national policy. Japan remains a one party state, same as China. Other than Indonesia and South Korea, the big tiger nations are still static politically.

I thought it funny in Gibson's article that a bunch of people, public, private and media were locked up for leaking the countries growth rate. "Don't let Wall Street find out our figures before we are ready! Wait... we are a country, not a company?"

How can you do that without becoming more liberal?

The state buys blue poles.

cam
Freedom, liberty, equity and an Australian Republic
[ Parent ]

Asian tigers by Scrymarch (4.00 / 1) #8 Sun Dec 24, 2006 at 12:09:12 AM EST

There's a huge difference between a one party state which respects individual rights and has regular clean parliamentary elections and one where only one party is legal at the highest levels of government. Though Japan is run by one party the factions within the LDP are more like the factions within the US parties, and voters can act on that to give reformers genuine policy mandates. Koizumi's post office reform is the perfect example of this, where he aggressively took on the dinosaurs in his own party. Abe has slipped backwards in this regard.

Taiwan has a very active polity and had a peaceful transfer of power from the Guomindang to the DPP.

Its unfair to say Thais dabbled with democracy, they've been grappling with it essentially since King Bhumibol ascended the throne. The lapse back to the bad old days of coups is tragic. At least it was bloodless.

Other countries like Malaysia and Singapore also had peaceful transfers of power within the main party.

And did you miss the Vietnamese Communist Party deposing their leader in an open vote of delegates to the 2006 convention? Unprecedented, and provoked by a massive corruption scandal bravely exposed by the national press.

blue poles

:)

They're trying be a producer as well. Asian contemporary art is hip, it's amazing what a growing middle class can do for a culture's fashionability ...
_{The Political Science Department of the University of Woolloomooloo}
[ Parent ]

The one party states by cam (4.00 / 1) #9 Sun Dec 24, 2006 at 08:57:39 AM EST

whether democratic or autocratic generally respect rights as long as they don't challenge the authority of the party running the place. Joh was like that and he existed in a democratic system. NSW will end up like that if it isnt careful. One party democratic system are just as dangerous as autocratic systems. Russia is a good example. Anything that is challenging the neo-Kremlin is being dealt with violently, however Russian living standards are increasing as is consumer spending. This is because you are ok in Russia to liver liberally unless you challenge Putin's authority - in which case the outcome is violence.

Japan has had one turn-over of party-machine government recently which suggests it is still a competitive democracy. But the disagreements and challenges within the one-party systems are effectively disagreements between elites. They may not have been taken to the ends such as the coup in Thailand. But it remains a politically privileged system. Would a Pauline Hanson appear in the Japanese, Malaysian or Singaporean system?

Economic liberty is important and the modern juntas, autocrats, tyrants and even the semi-totalitarian-one-party-states have worked out that populations are more forgiving of political tyranny if the economic system is open. But that shouldn't be a substitute for genuine liberal democracy. Pluralism requires a highly competitive and fluid political environment.

cam
Freedom, liberty, equity and an Australian Republic
[ Parent ]

Rights by Scrymarch (4.00 / 1) #12 Mon Dec 25, 2006 at 06:06:18 AM EST

I don't think it's true that autocratic states generally respect individual rights except when they threaten their power. Often in autocratic its simply convenient to persecute minorities for kicks. Japanese guidebooks don't warn tourists about being shaken down by police. That's more than I can say for Russia.

Economic liberty is important and the modern juntas, autocrats, tyrants and even the semi-totalitarian-one-party-states have worked out that populations are more forgiving of political tyranny if the economic system is open.

Many of them have even found they can be more popular if they keep in line with social mores - conservative some places, sexually liberal in others ... just don't threaten the political monopoly. It's probably better in that it reflects a consensus between elites and the population at large, but it worse in that it allows an autocratic status quo to last longer.

Would a Pauline Hanson appear in the Japanese, Malaysian or Singaporean system?

In Malaysia and Japan they regularly elect fairly outspoken candidates to parliament (but not government). Outspoken candidates in Singapore tend to go bankrupt from libel actions.

But that shouldn't be a substitute for genuine liberal democracy.

It's not. By I think there's clearly a better situation in Russia than Burma, and Malaysia than Russia.
_{The Political Science Department of the University of Woolloomooloo}
[ Parent ]

Elites by Scrymarch (4.00 / 1) #13 Mon Dec 25, 2006 at 06:12:32 AM EST

I might be getting all pessimistic after reading Peter Turchin, but all successful political changes have to be transmitted via elites. If those elite factions relate usefully to opinions in the populace, that's a symptom of a working system.
_{The Political Science Department of the University of Woolloomooloo}
[ Parent ]

: Our structures are still heirarchical by cam (4.00 / 1) #16 Tue Dec 26, 2006 at 08:18:28 AM EST

so elites will continue to have undue influence in that environment. Our main two systems of power, politics and economic are still hierarchical systems though democracy and capitalism allow disruptive agents to come through and top into popularity. They are far better than autocracy and central-planning which are hopelessly hierarchical.
The organisational systems which underpins politics and the economy is bureaucracy, which is a hierarchical system, though more devolved and collegian than it has been in the past. Democracy, capitalism and bureaucracy remain predominantly scarcity structures.
cam

Freedom, liberty, equity and an Australian Republic
[ Parent ]

You got chewing gum lah? by ReallyEvilCanine (4.00 / 2) #2 Sat Dec 23, 2006 at 10:29:41 AM EST

You learn Singlish, Ah Beng, or you just act blur?

: Wha? by Scrymarch (2.00 / 0) #4 Sat Dec 23, 2006 at 09:38:33 PM EST

Too much Singlish make me too lan that one.
_{The Political Science Department of the University of Woolloomooloo}
[ Parent ]

I haven't been there . . . by slozo (4.00 / 1) #3 Sat Dec 23, 2006 at 05:47:17 PM EST

. . . and reading this confirms for the 46th time that I have absolutely no desire to see it for myself . . . cary.

Hell, even the iron fist ruled Chinese say that Singapore is too strict!

Heh by Scrymarch (4.00 / 1) #5 Sat Dec 23, 2006 at 10:01:56 PM EST

Didn't you live in Shanghai? Maybe it was outside. Now that's a city that pissed me off. What an angry, dog eat dog place. Hell of a museum though.

To me, Singapore seems a nicer place to live than visit. I've never been much of a one to shop for pleasure. The reality doesn't really add up to the stuff written about it, like Gibson's essay.

In many ways China is trying to become Singapore, but two orders of magnitude larger, and with outer provinces. For that matter, apart from freedom of the press, Britain is trying to become Singapore as well. Ever heard of an Asbo? Singapore is the future many governments are aiming for. Leaving the question, what's the future of Singapore?
_{The Political Science Department of the University of Woolloomooloo}
[ Parent ]

the future of Singapore is . . . by slozo (4.00 / 1) #10 Sun Dec 24, 2006 at 11:38:19 AM EST

. . . a big smiley face on a billboard saying "Smile or be Executed".

Never saw the "angry" in Shanghai . . . I didn't live there though - too westernised, lol. Yes, China is trying to become like Singapore . . . but they will never ever get there.

Didn't know about that ASBO thing until googling it . . . weird law.

[ Parent ]

You're wearing those Gibson goggles again by Scrymarch (2.00 / 0) #11 Mon Dec 25, 2006 at 05:53:48 AM EST

... it's not really like that at all. Falun Dafa even hand out their kooky newsletters.
_{The Political Science Department of the University of Woolloomooloo}
[ Parent ]

and, like many of their neighbors by aphrael (2.00 / 0) #14 Tue Dec 26, 2006 at 12:04:04 AM EST

execute people for pot possession.

If television is a babysitter, the internet is a drunk librarian who won't shut up.
[ Parent ]

Falun Dafa execute people for pot possession? by Scrymarch (2.00 / 0) #15 Tue Dec 26, 2006 at 06:59:02 AM EST

Even the CCP doesn't claim that ...

I believe Amnesty has estimated SG has the highest per capita execution rate in the world. Not a pretty response to a few hunger provoking giggles.
_{The Political Science Department of the University of Woolloomooloo}
[ Parent ]

falun dafa doesn't. by aphrael (2.00 / 0) #17 Tue Dec 26, 2006 at 02:26:59 PM EST

but the governments of singapore, malaysia, and indonesia do.

If television is a babysitter, the internet is a drunk librarian who won't shut up.
[ Parent ]

: Don't forget Thailand, Laos and Vietnam ... $ by Scrymarch (2.00 / 0) #18 Wed Dec 27, 2006 at 08:29:08 AM EST

_{The Political Science Department of the University of Woolloomooloo}
[ Parent ]

Christmas In Disneyland | 18 comments (18 topical, 0 hidden) | Trackback