An entry on question and answer site Quora recently went incredibly viral.

The thread was titled 'Why do people hate Singapore?'.

The answer was provided by an 'ang moh' man calling himself Theodore Shawcross. He wrote a 2,033 word rebuttal on why despite some of the flaws being presented on the question thread, Singapore was effectively "the best country, period."

As well meaning as Shawcross might have been, some netizens have cast aspersions on the validity of his biographical claims.

Here's a quick rundown of the purported biography that have raised some eyebrows.

-Ang moh

-Grew up in England

-Moved to US for PhD

-Attended Stanford University (Ranked number 3 on the World University Rankings)

-Prior to that, he attended Oxford University (Ranked number 2 on the World University rankings)

-Chose to reside and raise family here

That educational pedigree seems almost too good to be true. And if some netizens are to be believed, it probably is.

Here are the points of contention they have thrown up in the Shawcross conspiracy.

No LinkedIn account

Theodore Shawcross doesn't seem to have a LinkedIn account, which is quite shocking for a man who claims to have the qualifications he possesses.

A study found that almost half of college graduates worldwide has a LinkedIn account. Other demographics that see a higher percentage of LinkedIn users are from the age group 30-49. Which, if his Facebook account is to be believed, is the age group he falls under.

There was supposedly an account that belongs to one Teddy Shawcross, albeit with no connections, who also went to Stanford.

But it seems to have either been taken down or made private. Either way, a Stanford graduate with no connections provides more questions than answers.

Doesn't seem to like the Internet.

The questioning by netizens seemed to have gotten the best of Shawcross, who replied in a significantly shorter response, claiming he was 'new to this Internet thing'.

His response is plausible, and it might indeed be true that Shawcross, like other technological hold outs do not believe in the social media scene, the Internet or in tech companies as a whole.

That explanation might definitely hold water if he hadn't express his pleasure at experiencing life at Palo Alto, a hotbed for tech startups and giants alike, during his Stanford days.

Which brings us to the final point of contention.

Facebook page is suspiciously new

Shawcross's Facebook page expands on the limited biography he placed on Quora.

While the timeline indicates that he was born in 1980.

The posts were put up significantly later, with the account itself seeing any form of activity only at the beginning of this month.

Waiting till you're 36, when you have entrenched yourself in the most tech-iest place in the world a decade earlier seems to be a bit of an oddity.

Add to that an almost invisible Internet presence, and it becomes hard to believe Shawcross is real.

Is he fake?

To give him the benefit of the doubt, the accounts, on both Quora and Facebook might be a pseudonym, and the 'real' Shawcross fulfills all of his educational claims.

But yeah, Theodore Shawcross is most likely fake. And if his biography, including the ang moh bit, is indeed falsified, that leads to another question.

Why fake an 'ang moh' identity?

¯\_(ツ)_/¯

A Facebook user though, gave an explanation as to why 'Shawcross' might have faked the identity.

Which if true, will show the troubling ease of faking an identity online, as well as provoke a thousand thought pieces on entrenched colonialist mindsets and the Singapore identity. Both equally frightening outcomes.

So what does this mean?

The essay is not completely pointless, the points are still sound, and there is no faking a good argument.

The question now is whether a fake identity takes away, even a little, from that argument.The earlier posts seem to suggest yes, others disagree.

The man in question has decided to cease commentary on Singapore due to the excessive attention.

Top image: File

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