SEPTEMBER 30 — THE grass is always greener on the other side i.e. the idea that we (humans in general) often tend to imagine other people’s lives and circumstance as better than our own and better than they really are.
It’s a simple and generally valid concept but one clearly not fully understood by blogger Nas Daily (real name Nuseir Yassin).
The young (he’s 26) Israeli (but of Arab origin -- this isn’t racist, it’s relevant ) vlogger/blogger has made a career and built up a substantial audience by posting one- to two-minute videos of himself every day (for years).
Usually the videos focus on his travels and experiences in various countries (he’s been to over 60); his posts now receive millions of views and earn him enough revenue to travel full-time (a sweet gig).
It’s really a remarkable achievement as Nas is not white, not female and frankly not particularly attractive or controversial — the usual prerequisites for successful vloggers.
But people have responded well to his short clips and in a way his vlogging success embodies this millennial driven age.
No more 60 minutes of painstakingly filmed and crafted documentaries. Instead we have 60-second clips shot with phones and selfie sticks and edited in minutes, not months.
The short sometimes breathlessly narrated pieces can seem a little manic but in some ways are more authentic than the studied, meticulously crafted National Geographic epics of old.
The danger though is that this one-minute gonzo style makes the viewer totally reliant on the perspective of the creator. And Naz’s perspective on Singapore hasn’t gone down too well.
Our Israeli (but Arab) hero, who has apparently visited Singapore six times and vlogged about it even more than that, released a video — titled “The almost perfect country” — heaping praise on what he considers to be a well-run, tolerant, prosperous and harmonious society,
These few minutes of high praise from a foreign fan rather than pleasing our island natives seemed to enrage them.
There was an outcry as keyboard warriors of all races and class united (very rare) to decry the outrage of a video that said our country was pretty great.
Nas was accused of being paid by the Singapore government to produce his saccharine stories. He was told to get out of his bubble and to experience the real Singapore with its inequalities, racial discrimination, and rising living costs.
The outcry against the clip was such that it became a national news item and forced the creator to reply (he called us as a nation of cry-babies!).
The whole episode might seem like storm in a tea cup but it is rather telling.
It teaches us the nation really does have a problem. That we’re so ready to criticise and hate on someone who speaks positively and politely indicates a pretty deep self-loathing issue.
Whether the loathers are in the minority or majority isn’t clear; I assume they aren’t the majority but there are certainly a lot of them (no single troll could post all that hate).
But if these critics had taken literally five minutes to watch his other videos on Singapore they’d have realised he’s surprisingly aware of Singapore’s problems in terms of rising living costs and inequality (see his video “Crazy Poor Asians”).
Most importantly it highlights the importance of perspective. When these critics tell Naz he should experience (the supposedly miserable) life of an an ordinary Singaporean before commenting, he responds with the fact that as an Arab Israeli facing considerable discrimination and real conflict — Singapore does seem pretty perfect.
Naz approaches Singapore from the point of view of a tourist and he likes it. Of course this doesn’t capture the everyday reality of most Singaporeans — how could it?
However, on a deeper level our selfie stick-wielding cinematographer should perhaps moderate his breathless praise.
I don’t believe it was paid for (you think our government is so generous meh?) but I see why people came to that conclusion about “The almost perfect country.”
It looks like some sort of North Korean propaganda clip edited for Snapchat and pumped up with amphetamines.
