venting about Chinese elites, for posterity

[amw]

I want to talk more about my culture/ethnicity/heritage/whatever and how it plays a part in the places i want to visit when i travel, but i will leave that for a future post. I still want to write a Köppen post about travel planning too

Comments

[benicek]

I wonder how politically sustainable this is. It sounds like 1930s Japan.

[amw]

I think it is changing to some degree with the younger generation, at least in the workplace. But because it's so ingrained in the political culture and in education, i think it's changing slower than it would in an otherwise equivalently rich and educated country. I think there is awareness in the government that if they have too many "yes men" it will be a weakness, but they also don't want to go full glasnost because they see that as a threat to the party.

I guess the church is a great example of how if you do it right you can keep this going for hundreds of years. You just need to keep your people believing that without the structure as it is, they would face a much worse fate.

[nahele_101]

We have a lot of Chinese expats here that bring their money over, buy up old houses, smash them flat, put in a house that is "pin to pin" and fills the entire lot with concrete and 90 degree angles, and then they tend to shit on their neighbors. It's ugly as shit, and I hate watching my city being paved over by people hiding their money from the government in other countries and destroying my city with it. It's legal though...so...

It's interesting in that the Chinese who were raised up here don't tend to act like that, but the ones who move here do. I have them as patient's sometimes, and have had instances where the families expect a doctor to come in and do everything. I quickly shut that down. "I want to see doctor!" "Nope, not gonna happen." Anyways, I've dealt with the "elite" (in their minds" that you speak of, so can relate somewhat to your rant.

[amw]

I think there is a big class factor involved with this. Even inside China there are plenty of people who don't behave in this sort of fashion - in fact, i'd say it's the vast majority who don't! Of course, they all know they need to play the game and do what the man with the power says when it comes to getting things done in the bureaucracy (government or business), but between one another there isn't quite as crushing of a condescending attitude, at least not from everyone

[king_of_apathy]

That sounds frustrating.

It's been a while since I got involved in an online argument. I used to indulge in a few over facebook, but the end result was almost always putting in a lot of effort into what I imagined to be a convincing argument, only to have us both walking away convinced we'd won.

[amw]

I try to avoid them too. Sometimes i do share my opinion on a controversial topic because i am trying to work through my thoughts for myself (like here on LJ) or because someone made a blanket statement that i feel misrepresents me or people like me. I usually don't intend for it to get into an argument, but when i take the time to put together a sincere comment and it gets an immediately dismissive response, i think i get into a sunk cost fallacy and follow up again when it's obviously not worth it any more.

[geminiwench]

On mother's day my mom went to visit her grandson (my sister's son) and his family. They asked her to come to church with them, since their grandpa (my brother-in-law's father) is their church pastor and the whole family on that side goes... and so.... mom went, although she had reservations.

1. No one wore masks for the inside service EXCEPT my mom. 150 people... in a room... singing... no masks. No vaccinations either because... "they" don't believe in covid, and they must keep faith in god protecting them.

2. Turns out the mother's day sermon was about how *important* it is that women are subservient to the superiority of men, and mother's day is about the one good thing ABOUT women... which is their ability to have children. But... if you miscarry, or have a hard birth... it's because you're a sinner and god is punishing you for being a weak-willed woman.

3. [oppressors] like to say that it's "cultural", but really it's just the same old shit that oppressors pull everywhere.