Do We (Westerners) Still Matter ?

[endure]

Did we ever matter in a country that's had no great western influence at all? I think that 'we' (as in westerners) have an overweening idea of our own importance.

"...overweening....."

What on earth do you mean!

overweening

   

1.

presumptuously conceited, overconfident, or proud: a brash, insolent, overweening fellow.

2.

exaggerated, excessive, or arrogant: overweening prejudice; overweening pride.

[endure]

Hollywood movies of the international blockbuster type variety still appear quite dominant here.

i always thought that it was great that the local samui cinima showed soundtrack hollywood movies and did my best to make sure my family supported the theater by going to the movies every week. The owner of the theater has now changed policy and will no longer be offering soundtrack or hollywood movies. I will not allow my children to watch most of the thai movies screening so he has lost my business and imho i dont think he cares.

So you won't allow your children to watch movies made in the country you've decided they ought to grow up in?

[Jingthing]

Most modern Thais dress in a western style, as does most of the world these days, except for the traditional Islamic parts of it. I don't see Thais reverting back to their traditional dress styles or Japanese/Chinese/Korean traditional dress styles either.

Western style fast/junk foods also continues in popularity in Thailand. Not saying that is a good thing. Sushi and congee also remains popular. Like I said before, it's MIXED.

Edited April 7, 2011 by Jingthing

[zzaa09]

We never did matter

Something that we still won't accept nor understand.

[zzaa09]

Hollywood movies of the international blockbuster type variety still appear quite dominant here.

Which of course doesn't determine popularity. It's always been heavily promoted - popular or not.

[zzaa09]

Perhaps the real reasons and whyfores is that the Thais have finally caught on......the game from the West just isn't challenging any longer.

[Ulysses G.]

Hollywood movies of the international blockbuster type variety still appear quite dominant here.

Which of course doesn't determine popularity.

It doesn't? What exactly does?

[StreetCowboy]

I rarely see professional people adopting traditional Chinese, Korean or Japanese dress in their day-to-day business activities.

I rarely see any movement towards traditional Chinese, Japanese or Korean ways of legally enforcing contracts.

The Japanese domestic companies lead my industry, and yet I have very few Japanese competitors as a consultant. Indeed, the Japanese consultants employ a lot of gaijin on the front line projects.

Not sure if any of that matters...

SC

[samran]

another ego stroking thread....

how insecure are you blokes?

yes, you are loved.

Quite the sex beast aren't you?

So the wife keeps telling me.....

[yermanee]

another ego stroking thread....

how insecure are you blokes?

yes, you are loved.

Quite the sex beast aren't you?

So the wife keeps telling me.....

Ooooh,

That's why the - Honorary member - :lol:

Yermanee

[samran]

another ego stroking thread....

how insecure are you blokes?

yes, you are loved.

Quite the sex beast aren't you?

So the wife keeps telling me.....

Ooooh,

That's why the - Honorary member - :lol:

Yermanee

greatly worshiped 5555555

[Ulysses G.]

That's why the - Honorary member -

That usually signifies a spell as a TV moderator sometime in the past.

Edited April 8, 2011 by Ulysses G.

[samran]

That's why the - Honorary member -

That usually signifies a spell as a TV moderator sometime in the past.

yes, before one wises up and figures out that it is more fun being outside the tent pissing, well, in every direction.....

[yermanee]

double post

Not only double post but indicating double usage of member also.

cheers

yermanee

[samran]

double post

Not only double post but indicating double usage of member also.

cheers

yermanee

what can I say? Apart from being young and vigorous, I am a legend in my own lunchbox.

[Jingthing]

The style of MEDICINE most widely practiced in Thailand -- WESTERN.

[zydeco]

The type of economic/social system most widely practiced in Asia? Corporativism. Alas, the West opted for anarchic laissez faire abstractions and forgot about how to create an effective organic body politic that brought the nation together and believed in advancing through struggle.

[Huey]

"We" matter to everyone we have always mattered too. Heck they still love my cultural stuff even though it's a shadow of what it was in the 80's-90's.

[zzaa09]

I rarely see professional people adopting traditional Chinese, Korean or Japanese dress in their day-to-day business activities.

I rarely see any movement towards traditional Chinese, Japanese or Korean ways of legally enforcing contracts.

The Japanese domestic companies lead my industry, and yet I have very few Japanese competitors as a consultant. Indeed, the Japanese consultants employ a lot of gaijin on the front line projects.

Not sure if any of that matters...

SC

An interesting {and related} item of cultural paradox. Perhaps, the most perplexing one of all Asian cultures: Japan might be more "Western" than Western cultures, yet there is nothing whatsoever Western about the Japanese culture.

[zzaa09]

The type of economic/social system most widely practiced in Asia? Corporativism. Alas, the West opted for anarchic laissez faire abstractions and forgot about how to create an effective organic body politic that brought the nation together and believed in advancing through struggle.

Actually, the Chinese invented corporatism some 500 years ago {Ming} - the model has stood ever since.

[zzaa09]

The style of MEDICINE most widely practiced in Thailand -- WESTERN.

That's why they are sicker than the days of yore.

[Jingthing]

The style of MEDICINE most widely practiced in Thailand -- WESTERN.

That's why they are sicker than the days of yore.

Oh really? It couldn't be the higher fat higher sugar diets, the horrific pollution, the urban stress, the drug and alcohol abuse, the vehicular accidents, the chemical laden foods?

[SteeleJoe]

Did we ever matter in a country that's had no great western influence at all? I think that 'we' (as in westerners) have an overweening idea of our own importance.

No offense, but it's rare that I see somebody state something so unbelievably inaccurate -- were you joking?

As for the trend; it's just that -- a trend. It may permanently alter the local aesthetic but it may not. In any case, it's hardly as if the cultures they are adapting are the pure, unadulterated indigenous cultures of the respective countries. I mean Japan, Hong Kong, Korea in case you hadn't noticed they went through their own phases of adopting another part of the world's cultures -- what part of the world was that?

It's all mixed together. But look around, what is Thailand more similar to: traditional Korea or the US/Europe? He*l, which is Korea more similar to?

But why does it matter if we matter?

EDIT: Oops! Just read a page I missed but see that others not only covered my argument but included the part that I decided to leave out (since it would seem like I was belaboring the point).

Edited April 8, 2011 by SteeleJoe

[MAJIC]

Did we ever matter in a country that's had no great western influence at all? I think that 'we' (as in westerners) have an overweening idea of our own importance.

"...overweening....."

What on earth do you mean!

overweening

   

1.

presumptuously conceited, overconfident, or proud: a brash, insolent, overweening fellow.

2.

exaggerated, excessive, or arrogant: overweening prejudice; overweening pride.

Yes

It's in my Chambers Dictionary as well,as you stated.

Never heard of it before,you learn something every day.

[Ulysses G.]

The style of MEDICINE most widely practiced in Thailand -- WESTERN.

That's why they are sicker than the days of yore.

Actually, their life expectancy is much higher thanks to WESTERN medicine - but why take that into consideration as you are obviously obsessed with trying to insinuate that everything about Western civilization is somehow evil and inferior to the 3rd world.

[Thaddeus]

The style of MEDICINE most widely practiced in Thailand -- WESTERN.

That's why they are sicker than the days of yore.

Actually, their life expectancy is much higher thanks to WESTERN medicine - but why take that into consideration as you are obviously obsessed with trying to insinuate that everything about Western civilization is somehow evil and inferior to the 3rd world.

Change 'thanks to' to 'despite' and you would still have an arguable case.

[Ulysses G.]

The life expectancy for Thais in 1900 was 37 years old.

It is 72 for men and 76 for women in 2011. Mainly thanks to Western medicine.

Edited April 9, 2011 by Ulysses G.

[Thaddeus]

The life expectancy for Thais in 1900 was 37 years old.

It is 72 for men and 76 for women in 2011. Mainly thanks to Western medicine.

Source?

[bonobo]

The style of MEDICINE most widely practiced in Thailand -- WESTERN.

That's why they are sicker than the days of yore.

Actually, their life expectancy is much higher thanks to WESTERN medicine - but why take that into consideration as you are obviously obsessed with trying to insinuate that everything about Western civilization is somehow evil and inferior to the 3rd world.

Change 'thanks to' to 'despite' and you would still have an arguable case.

Western medicine, which is more of a science than a culture as it regularly adopts medicinal practices from around the world if they can pass the double blinds, has had much better results than local medicine practices, to include Chinese/Asian medical practices.

I mean, really, drinking a tea of powdered rhinocerous horn in order to increase your ability to perform sexually? (Might as well chew your fingernails as keratin is keratin.) Drinking a slurry of powdered tiger bones to give you strength?

Most of the West has gotten rid of their snake-oil sellers a hundred years ago, but in Latin American, Africa, and Asia, those guys are still going strong.

I was at a jetski tournament in Korat when I slipped on the mud while carrying a powerski and twisted my knee. Within an hour, it was swollen and very painful. The tournament doctor took one look at it and told me I hadn't really injured it, but rather my knee was reacting to my "farang high-fat diet." (I had the tear surgically repaired back in the US a week later.)

The main differences between Eastern and Western medicine is that in the East, medicine is a tradition, a part of culture, and not a part of science. There is no need to research and find new treatments. In the West, science holds sway, and all new things are rigorously tested. And the drug companies do spend billions searching the world for new medicines.

I do have to point out at least one case where tradition in Asian medicine has faltered. Previously, one of teh big reasons tigers were killed was to enable men to retain potency. Then came viagra. Whereas some dried tiger bone or rhino horn might cost $20 or so for a treatment, viagra or the local equivalent can be had for $1, and viagra actually works. So Chinese men have basically quit buying tiger parts in favor of the little blue pill, and the cost of a dead tiger has plummetted.

[Suradit]

We never did matter

Yes...Since Thailand was spared the cultural pollution that negatively impacted those countries that were British colonies, they've not had to rediscover their roots. They've always had a well defined cultural heritage with outside influences coming from Asia, especially China, India and Japan.

You might hear American music blaring away in the farang bars and some of the wealthier teens in Bangkok may have gone the Ameri-McDonald's route in food or other lifestyle manifestations, but those are not the influences most young Thai have been drawn to.

Edited April 10, 2011 by Suradit