Monday, September 26, 2011

Reports Of Violence In The City

She was body slammed against the doors of a SBS bus by a Caucasian male who later told the police that she was talking too loudly on the phone and making a lot of noise. All the working mother did was to make a call to her daughter, informing the kid that mom will be home late because of the traffic situation. Her bus bully tapped her on the shoulder, told her to shut up, let fly with the profanities, and challenged her to call the cops if she dared. She did.

Apparently the tiniest sounds can trigger irrational rage in some sick people. Dr. Pawel Jastreboff introduced the term misophonia in 2002, and this is the most common term for this malady. Dr Masha Johnson, an audiologist in Portland, Oregon runs an online forum on misophonia ("dislike of sound"). For people with misophonia, gum chewing, lip smacking, swallowing, slurping and gurgling can send them into a blood-boiling rage. "The reaction is irrational," said Adah Siganoff, 52, but yet she can no longer eat with her husband.

A neuroscientist at the University of Texas believes the condition is probably a "physiological abnormality" in brain structures activated by processed sound, "There is no known effective treatment." Johnson said misophonia is sometimes confused with hyperacusis, in which sound is perceived to be abnormally loud or physically painful. Misophonia patients like sound, the louder the better. But some can't stand a dog licking his paws, the common soft, hardly audible sounds that irritate them most.

But how does one explain the action of the Caucasian Bentley owner smashing with his bare fist the windscreen of a Mercedes-Benz driven by a lady who had allegedly cut into his lane? The top executive at Royal Bank of Scotland overtook her, stopped, got out of his limousine and started shouting like Bruce Banner ("Don't make me angry, you wouldn't like me when I'm angry"), adding two punches to the shatter-proof glass for good measure. No arrest has been made. In another road rage incident, angry motorist Ong slammed his clenched fist against the windscreen of dentist Dr Ho who had honked at him for stopping his vehicle at a pedestrian crossing to let his daughter alight for school. The cracks cost $1,391 to repair and Ong was fined $4,000 for mischief. He could have been jailed for up to 2 years and/or fined.

With or without a medical explanation, no one should be at the receiving end of a violent outburst. But when it does occur, and the cops turn did up, it must be infuriating to read that "both parties were advised on their legal recourse." Maybe the law enforcement types have a graph that trends resolved incidents of violence, and unresolved incidents of violence, just like the CNB charts. And an IT system ready to take the rap when peace is not preserved in the city.

Ms Lim, the working mom who was physically attacked in public, intends to press charges, saying: "We need to send a signal that we will not tolerate bullying on the bus." That plus the police's selective inaction.

12 comments:

  1. What happen to Tin Pei Ling's case of lying to the election department in her declaration form? Any news??

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  2. Police and the courts are more interested in harassing opposition politicians and punishing the "little people" than upholding real rule of law and justice. Sad state of spore today under the pap regime. 60.1% agrees!

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  3. Looks like living in Singapore can be quite unbearable for some people and our reservoirs are fast becoming the favorite quick destination to reach out to heaven.

    More PAP years of re-making Singapore ahead, I suppose.

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  4. Is it OK for me to tell my son to stop eating with sounds a pig would make when eating?

    Am I sick?

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  5. No need to see the graph chart. Cases involving local singaporeans is open/shut case.. Jailed or fined or death sentence.
    Cases involving local singaporeans and foreigners will take forever to resolve. Like that Innosceu or Caucasians beat up taxi drivers etc..
    Cases involving foreigners only, probably will never take place..probably a shut case right away.
    This is the land SG has become.

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  6. Are these aggressive foreigners creating perversions to our local justice system?
    Or, is our justice system failing?

    patriot

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  7. we miss Temasek Review. Will they ever return?

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  8. Are our police force getting "soft" on foreign talents?

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  9. Looks like FTs thinking we need them more than they need us.

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  10. Get to the root of the problem.

    Make the people who caused the problem accountable.

    Vote wisely again in GE 2016.

    And make sure you convert at least one other voter to also vote wisely with you.
    40% today.
    80% in GE 2016.

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  11. Quite simply living in Singapore can feel quite unbearable for foreigners as the lack of consideration by singaporeans is just something most expats have never experienced before. For example all of the constant construction, loud talking on phones, dogs barking, pushing onto the mrt, spitting in the street, Leaving public toilets disgusting with piss and water all over the floor, never letting anyone out at a junction or into another lane, swerving into traffic without indicating or looking, walking so slowly and texting that everytime someone try to get somewhere they take an extra ten minutes.......should I go on? The fact is that until the western world came to singapore it was an uncivilised dump, if all the expat talent went home Singapore would one again crumble as expat taxes and common sense in business keep this lazy little island going!

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  12. I suffer from this disorder too, it is excruciating to even hear someone smack their lips, let alone being stuck in a jam. Just imagine someone scraping their nail on a blackboard x10 the volume for an extended period of time. Every little sound is amplified, especially a child's voice on the other end. I'm a 16 year old female in Singapore, and I want to almost break every phone I hear ring or shush every angry driver. I have friends who think of my pain as a joke and would purposely keep chewing loudly til I slapped them in the face and still had to reprimanded. If only, you could experience what I live through everyday in Singapore with constant blaring noises and speakers (especially morning announcements and the horrid singing of my classmates during national anthem). The least one could do is to treat this seriously. Thank you..

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