Basket.

Before we go on to the latest blinkered letter, a couple of things:

1. Pine cone.

2. Yes, I had dog meat in China. No, it was in no way accidental. It was delicious, and I would have it again in a heartbeat. Now you may proceed to call me "murderer", "gross" or simply scrunch up you face and keep saying "eeee" over and over. Or all of the above, but the third reaction is my favourite.

Seriously, though, I see no good reason why dogs are special. Most of us eat pork, chicken, beef, fish or squid without a second thought. But when it comes to consuming canines it seems child molesters might get a freer pass from many people.

I believe there should be only two criteria for refusing to consume an edible animal, assuming it is prepared in a hygienic and humane manner:

1) You do not like the taste, or are prohibited by your personal and religious beliefs from consuming that animal

2) That animal is rare and must be preserved.

Eating dog meat is not prohibited for most major religions, and dogs are most definitely not rare. So is there any rational reason at all not to treat dogs like pigs, which are slaughtered and consumed by the vast majority of the world and Singapore population without a second thought? Because dogs are smarter? No, they aren't - pigs are very intelligent as well. Heck, some fish are capable of recognising their owners, and octopi are amongst the smartest animals in nature. However they get served up at Japanese restaurants and no one appears to object.

So ultimately it's an emotive response, which is understandable given how many people keep dogs as pets. In that case I will say that no one is about to hold a metaphorical gun to anybody's metaphorical heads and force them to consume dog flesh. If you personally won't eat it, fine, it's your choice. But if anyone who isn't a vegetarian tries to stop the consumption of dog meat or rails against it, that person is a hypocrite. Pure and simple.

Your pork chops are equal to my spicy braised dog, and don't try to use your heart to rule my head.


Right, let's get to the latest gem from the ST Forum, then.

Horrified by many profanities in matinee show on NS life (ST Forum, 14 July)

I ATTENDED the matinee show Own Time Own Target at the Drama Centre in the National Library building over the weekend. One magazine lauded it as a 'laugh out loud, rediscovery of zany side of national service'. I presumed this meant it was a family-type show and took my two teenage sons, aged 16 and 14, to the show on the premise of a MediaCorp-owned magazine review.

To my horror, I was cringing uncomfortably in my seat the whole show, highly disturbed by the language used. I do not have a problem that the language was coarse and in dialects. But it was offensive when every sentence and curse uttered by the officers (rightly or wrongly, provoked or otherwise) at the NS boys in the drama was a profanity of the female genitals.

The show was a full house, with young and old, males and females equally represented. I am sure I was not the only one who was disturbed by the excessive cursing and swearing by the officers at the recruits. My observation was that people laughed out loud not at the clumsiness of the recruits but mostly because they felt uncomfortable with the profanities.

As a mother, I find it hard to imagine that after years of sheltered school life where students are taught values, to be gentlemanly and polite and respect their elders, these boys have to do NS run by officers who do not blink an eye when they curse their mother, sister, girlfriend and the whole female population by way of conversation.

My boys were shocked to realise that NS is a rite of passage where they will be officially subjected to bullying, shouting and cursing - nothing gentlemanly at all.

If this is a light-hearted look at life of NS boys during basic military training, I fear to know what my boys will face in their real-life situation when they enlist. Please, someone, assure me this is not so.


I don't think this is a necessarily terrible letter. It's more of an incredibly blinkered opinion. It is perfectly natural for mothers to want to protect and shield their children from some of the more unsavoury aspects of life, but - and this is not exactly a new lesson, is it - they can't do that forever.

The first thing everyone has to understand is that there is an enormous amount of swearing in the SAF. Depending on your unit, anywhere between an overwhelming percentage to a slightly less overwhelming percentage of it will be in Hokkien and will refer to the private bits of female human beings. It's inescapable, and trying to pretend beyond a certain point that this word does not exist and is not used in the military is just foolish.

I would be more understanding, for instance, if the sons in question were 4 and 6 years old respectively. But they are 14 and 16. Not exactly all that young, and certainly old enough, I think, to be exposed to this fact of military life. It might be letting them down easier if they know to expect being sworn at, or coming across such profanity, in their term of service. The alternative is entering the SAF completely ignorant of the sort of people you might meet and the sort of things they might say. Not a good idea, is that? It's not like you can ask the more earthy members of society you will inevitably meet in the armed forces to keep quiet or change the way they talk.

NS is not full of gentlemen. Your sons' schools might have been, but NS is a completely different ball game. It is better for you and your children to realise that now, rather than on Tekong after the parents leave.