So That's What They Call it These Days

..."Integrated Resorts".

Strange that, after debating for a year on whether or not to have a casino in Singapore, the Government announced yesterday that they were indeed going to build...not casinos, but "integrated resorts". These resorts (or IRs for short) would be vibrant shopping, entertainment and business hubs with "casino options" that occupy only 3% to 5% of the total land area allocated for development.

Funny, I don't recall the debate being about IRs. The bone of contention all this while was clearly casinos and casinos per se--if it was IRs with gambling facilities, there wouldn't have been half the public backlash that occurred.

Let's be clear about this. I am neither actively for nor against having casinos or IRs in Singapore, and I have faith in the Government's ability to deal with whatever social issues that arise from such establishments. I am just uncomfortable with the use of rhetoric to disguise the nature of things. Yes, it's politics, but that doesn't make me feel any better about it.

Language is a powerful tool. First there was talk of including other entertainment facilities in a proposed casino complex to make it family-friendly. As of yesterday, it suddenly became talk of building everything-hubs which happen to have, by dint of their sheer everthing-ness, casinos in them.

Real difference, or crowd-appeasing semantic twist? Time will tell.