On Singles and Conflicting Obsessions.

I just read an article about a controversial website in Indonesia that aims to support singletons and promote the view that being single is a choice and there’s nothing wrong with it.

(I concurred, naturally.)

It seems that in Indonesia, young people are expected not only to marry, but to marry young and to a partner chosen by their parents. There is a cultural view, apparently, that marriage is a devotional act to the parents. The website aims to question this view, and also likes to make little jokes based on famous quotations such as I have ex, therefore I am and Ask not when I will get married; ask what you can do for your country.

I liked it, but then the reporter had to go and interview a psychologist and university lecturer (bloody academics again) who supports the site. He said:

There is an impression that if you are single and unmarried, you are a loner, emotionally unstable, and unable to act like a grown up.

So what’s wrong with that? It’s certainly true in my case.

And then came the final turn off:

Parents should encourage their kids to start thinking about what his/her purpose in life is. Instead of asking when you'll be married, parents should ask 'What is your plan in life? Can marriage help you to achieve it?’

He’s kidding, right? It’s bad enough having that sort of target-obsessed-culture crap thrown at you in the workplace. Apply it to life and you’re likely to need a lot of laxative and anti-stress medication.