Purple is my favourite colour

Today's one of the rare days I'm at home, on a weeknight, and Watching TV. So 'The Arena' was showing this debate between KoolPurpleSkool and CombiGreen over the motion that Singapore's service standards have a long way to go. The individual styles of the debaters were so different; one might attribute it to the English vs Chinese culture thing, but watching CombiGreen people debate just reminded me too much of my communist secondary school. The whole philosophy of 'trying harder', the aggressiveness with a hint of condescension they try to pass off as 'style' and 'power' (not intentionally, I presume - maybe just young impressionable minds reflecting some aspects of school culture.) - it was all a bit much. Like they were trying too hard.

Maybe it's just my bias towards KoolPurpleSkool, but I did think that they looked a lot less insecure and they actually debated, instead of reciting some very well Googled speech. Not to mention Purple did not debate as if their lives depended on it. I like detachment. I think over-involvement and emotional outpourings are more manifestations of the less likeable sides of human nature. Too messy.

But I was glad KoolPurpleSkool won despite a horrible start. Although it felt a bit weird watching them identify themselves with 'Singapore', despite being foreigners. But maybe that's why they won. Because being too long in The Machine makes you spew whatever you hear and get from The Machine, and what you say may be what The Machine wants you to think, which may not stand under closer scrutiny.

Somewhere during the debate, I was suddenly reminded of my college's Lit tutor's oft-quoted line from Yeats, that goes "The best lack all conviction, while the worst / Are full of passionate intensity" and I was wondering if it applied.