Culture shock.

I guess it must be that way for some exchange students.

It probably really hit one such student full force during one of my tutorials on this week, during which we argued upon the finer points of meritocracy and being able to exercise one's rights and have a voice to say what you want, when you want.

So we don't have as much freedom of speech as you do. So you think meritocracy is a sham. (Well, we do too really; it's like our national inside joke.) So you think it's wrong that we're not allowed to protest. (Yeah, we laugh about applying for a license too.)

But chew on this for a minute.

Do you think a country as small as Singapore can tolerate even the slightest level of social unrest without falling into utter chaos? Your country has 50 states. Ours can be traversed within an hour.

Think about the state of affairs in your country and the way things are in ours. Yeah, so we're not allowed to burn our national flag or spit in the streets, but we don't worry about being shot just by taking a walk or by coming to school.

And if everyone cared so much about their own individual rights and so on, what would happen to social stability and unity?

Culture makes a difference. Scale makes a difference. Don't think that what works in your world necessarily works in ours. This must be the first real-life example of ethnocentrism that I've ever come across.

So you can complain about our censorship laws all you like (and really, so do we), but in the end, most of us are happy to live in a country that isn't hated by half the globe and is one of the safest and cleanest in the world. If you ask me, our freedom of speech is a relatively small price to pay for the kind of peace that's difficult to find almost anywhere in these times.

Most of us are happy enough. And sometimes, happy enough is sufficient; we can't all be perfect. So you should realise that neither are you.