Breath before taking umbrage

 Recently in Singapore the word 'umbrage' was the top search word in Google. It arose from a comment made by the CEO of SPH who used the word while losing his cool at a press conference. The video of Ng Yat Chung pointing his finger, raising his voice and saying "I take umbrage at that comment " became viral and perpetuated tons of jokes, criticisms, mean comments against him and even petition for his dismissal.

Well, this guy was a Lieutenant General before he left his military career to become CEO of 2 sinking companies. I must admit I was no saint and partook in the joy of sharing cruel jokes about him just to assuage my pain in losing money on SPH shares.  

Later when the meanness of netizens seem overboard  I imagined how this poor guy will feel now that he has become the country's number one laughing stock. To be fair to him he was sent to manage a sinking ship and a sunset company with no corporate experience whatsoever. Still my son said he could have declined or retired if he knew he could not contribute. He has the financial means from his past income as an outstanding military man for more than 2 decades. But again given that he had been the chief of Army, how could he burst his ego and bring himself to declare that he was incapable of running a company.

I feel that there is a lot of projections going on and he is a juicy target. During this pandemic the mental well being of many netizens has suffered. There is fear, anxiety, sadness, anger and general unhappiness/dissatisfaction. NYC's boorish manner towards a young journalist provided a valid reason for people to vent their hatred and anger on him without feeling guilty or mean. For some he created some merriment which people have been deprived of for quite awhile. Moreover he is viewed as an elitist who had assumed top positions just by virtue of being a government scholar on a charted path. People's general unhappiness over the great divide in pay between CEOs/Ministers/top civil servants and the man in the street now finds a good target to lash out. People's disillusionment with the  meritocratic system upon which our society has been built heightens when one of these so called 'talent' fails miserably. To them NYC represents the elites  and stands in as a good punch bag accentuated by his elitist arrogance.

Sad it may be for him, he does provide a good reminder to people that one must always try to be aware of one's emotions before reacting. Breath, step back, think before taking umbrage.