Nothing gets Americans off quite like freedom.
Sure, other countries are free. But not America free.
- Proud fucking American! Made in U.S.A., bitch!
And if you could rank freedom around the world,
we're number one! We're number...
Oh, there is a freedom ranking.
And we're ranked...
Awww.
Turns out freedom is constantly being redefined.
After 9/11, Americans were told that trading civil liberties for security was the new normal.
And people all around the world trade away freedoms every day.
But could big tradeoffs ever actually be worth it?
I've come to Singapore, a crazy rich place with some of the strictest laws on Earth.
I sat down with journalist, Conrad Raj, to learn how the government keeps its people in line.
Let's talk about some of the Singapore laws.
What are some of the more extreme ones?
The one that restricts speech,
gatherings,
Right.
protests.
Like many laws in Singapore, they are there to instill some fear.
You can be fined for selling gum or forgetting to flush the toilet.
But prostitution, ha! They're OK with that.
Gun ranges? Sure.
It's a carefully designed system of carrots and sticks.
The carrots are the prostitutes, the sticks are the actual sticks they use to cane people.
Tell me about the caning!
There is a guy, I mean, that they assign to do the caning.
Does he have a nickname? Is he, like, Kenny "The Cane"?
No, no, no.
And they can give you up to 24 strokes.
Right, right, right.
And uh -
I needed about 26 to cum.
Yeah.
Could you say something wrong here right now and be in trouble?
Could be. But at 72, what the heck?
I don't have a wife so there's no other collateral damage.
What, you used to have one? She said too much?
Even with their strict laws and severe penalties,
the government has shown that it can be reasonable.
As a former British colony, they decided to emulate London's Speakers' Corner,
famous for drawing big crowds to engage in raucous debate.
So I sent our cameramen down there to get a shot of this hot bit of democracy.
What is this Speakers' Corner I've heard of?
Without any restriction, you can say whatever you want.
Uh, there are still certain restrictions.
But you don't have to get a permit or anything?
You have to, you have to.
You still have to get a permit?
You still have to get a permit.
And the police station is just around the corner.
But you're not being watched by cameras or anything like that.
Probably, you would be.
Right.
But apart from the cameras, the police, and the permit, you're just free to do whatever you want?
Yeah.
Right, right. Good.
Good, good.
If Singapore is going to claw back some of its civil liberties,
maybe the answer is the country's young people.
Throughout history, younger generations have fought social injustice around the world.
So I met with a group of college students to see how they're planning to take on "the man".
Everything I know about Singapore comes from the movie "Crazy Rich Asians".
Right? That movie's accurate, correct?
All: Nope!
Not one bit.
What do you feel about all of Singapore's rules?
Ummm, I'd say they're quite fair.
I feel that the law is necessary for the country to function.
I think that the rules were to allow us to grow to this point.
Yeah, I do think Singapore has a lot of opportunities despite the rules.
Part of the social contract is accepting that some civil liberties
are restricted or suspended.
OK then...
It seems that these young rebels are actually pretty happy.
In fact, according to a U.N. survey on happiness,
Singapore has climbed the rankings in recent years to 34,
ahead of more democratic countries like Italy, Spain, and Japan.
Maybe that's because Singaporeans get free healthcare and giant tax savings.
Basically, the government is giving away a bunch of free shit
so no one complains.
But even in Singapore, some things are too important to keep quiet about.
Have you ever wanted to speak about something but couldn't?
Yes, multiple times.
And what are those things?
Like, they frown upon stuff that is LGBT related.
As a person who comes from the LGBTQ+ community, it's very restrictive here.
That's right. While being gay isn't technically illegal here,
Singapore has come up with a very Singaporean way of criminalizing it.
It is illegal to have gay sex?
Yes.
But it's not illegal to be gay?
Yeah.
I can wanna have a cock.
But I just can't have a cock.
That's right.
Is there gay night clubs?
There was one placed called Spartacus in Chinatown.
Spartacus. And then they come in there and they raid the place and they go,
"You're a gay!" And then another person stands up and goes, "I'm a gay!"
"No, I'm a gay!" "No, I'm a gay!"
With all this social injustice, is anyone speaking truth to power?
Now, I don't wanna brag, but nobody's better at calling out politicians than comedians.
Meet Sam See. He's trying to make it as a standup in Singapore without pissing off the authorities.
Have you ever been pulled off stage?
Uh, yes. A number of times.
I've had to learn how to sort of dance around the line.
How to get close enough, but not too close where I get arrested or go to jail.
Do you find as a gay man that it's a difficult thing here in Singapore?
It's something that you try your best not to think about.
Right.
Especially since I go on stage every other night to say, "hey, I'm gay."
And I know it's technically illegal to promote it positively.
Right. Could you argue, if you got in trouble, that you're playing a character?
Oh, yeah. But they're not gonna buy that.
I've sucked off too many people in this country.
What would be enough to go to jail?
The closest I've gotten is just making government jokes and gay jokes at the same time.
Like if you go, "this guy in government is a homosexual", would that be...
crossing the line?
Yeah, because it's true. That's the worst part.
So, there are people in Singaporean government that are gay?
Which country doesn't have gay people in the cabinet?
A cabinet is a form of a closet.
Mhm.
But fancier.
Yeah, it's a fancy closet.
"Oh my God, did you hear? He filibustered me last night."
So dirty.
TV programming: Does it get censored before it gets here?
Cleavage gets censored. Cigarettes get censored.
Alcohol bottles get censored.
How do you censor a cigarette? Do you just pixelate it?
Yeah, just pixelate it. So they're just smoking a Japanese penis. That's what it looks like.
Some porn is regulated right?
Oh, yeah. They've blocked all the good stuff, so...
PornHub is down.
PornHub's down? But I've accessed PornHub this morning.
I did!
I think I can get porn right now.
I've never seen PornHub before! My god!
You're about to. You're in for a treat.
We'll see if we can get some gay stuff for ya!
Good!
Do they get fisting?
Do you want a gay fisting porn?
Yes! Do you want a gay fisting porn?
Alright. This is what I'm in for.
Boom shakalaka.
Oh!
PornHub. We've got porn.
23-year-old meth addict. Extreme fisting.
Just like you requested, young man.
Thank you, sir. You're very kind.
Right. Scott, can you get a close-up on that?
I don't - I've forgotten what the reason I'm doing this is.
You know, it's easy to judge Singapore,
to say that they're all willing to give up too much.
I mean, free speech and porn?
But let's not assume that they're super jealous of us either.
Would you ever want to live in the U.S.?
Before, maybe. Now, not really that much.
And why, because of Trump?
Yeah, I don't feel like they treat foreigners that well.
The impression of foreigners on them wouldn't be as good.
You would be worried about not feeling welcome there?
I think people now don't have the same perception of the U.S. as we used to have ten, five years ago.
Right, right, right.
American's like to say that they're the greatest country in the world because of their freedom.
What do you say to that?
I'd say they're a lot less free than they think they are.
Right.
You're not free to go to school without fear of getting shot at.
Freedom comes at a cost.
Is that just a cost you don't want to pay?
Walking on the street and knowing that...
the likelihood of me getting shot or blown up is a lot lower than somewhere else in the west,
it's of great comfort to me.
Overall, is trading civil liberties for security a good deal for the Singaporeans?
Put it this way: More Singaporeans will agree that it's been a good deal.
But I think things could have been liberalized far more than they are now.
And without harming security.
Security is an excuse often to bring out more restrictive laws.
Right.
It really is a false choice.
Freedom or security.
That's a message our government needs to hear too.
Luckily, we still have the right to complain.
It's a great privilege, but it's only worth something if we use it.