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Joined 10 months ago
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Cake day: January 22nd, 2024

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  • In the American sensibilities, the Democrats are left wing.

    I know we’ve shat on Americans too many times that Democrats are not leftists and Republicans are far-right, but there is a place and time for doing so and I learned to cut Americans some slack. Americans simply have different Overton window because of different history and culture (I have explained before as to why, but I cannot be bothered to write another wall of text about it). Other countries don’t even follow a left and right political dichotomy. Many places, especially in developing countries, vote on personalities than policies. But few of us crap on people from developing countries for not following policy-based discourse, or not following the European-originated sensibilities of “left or right” politics.





  • I watched “The Man in the High Castle”, and the Christian imagery and symbolism in a former Christian Church were replaced with Nazi symbolism. I thought it was a bit farfetched, but now hearing something similar being done by China as part of totalitarianism, it is rather spooky. I’ve heard religious buildings being destroyed, but converting places of worship and blatantly removing its past to align with state ideology is far more surreal and haunting, and I am an agnostic atheist.


  • Having originally come from Asia, I can tell you Asians aren’t exactly good at critical thinking. Yeah, there is stereotype of Asians being smart, but it is more like being good at memorisation and rote-learning instead of applying the theory in practice. Many Asians have engineering and medical degree, but many are still very superstitious (like my parents are). You’d think someone with a scientific background would apply the scientific method outside of work, but not really.

    I don’t blame Asian folks, the blame is squarely on the education system that forces individuals to become unquestioning and obedient workers, who are not encouraged to think outside the box. The Asian education is cutthroat and very much similar to the old Prussian education system. However, the latter is now obsolete, but the former is still thriving.










  • I’ve never been to South Korea, but Seoul metropolitan area is said to be a hypercapitalistic hell-hole. The major employers are the chaebols, or the family-owned corporations including Samsung, Hyundai and LG. They have toxic work cultures but is tolerated because they are major employers in the country, especially in Seoul, where half of South Koreans live. Nearly everyone is overworked for little pay resulting in poor birth rate because everyone have little time to spend with partners and families (the South Korean government actually created a new administrative capital city, Sejong, as an experiment to address the declining birth rate, and it worked by and large experiencing probably the only and highest population growth in the country).

    Moreover, many North Korean defectors are still seen with suspicion and discriminated. So they feel alienated like the man in the article. I guess the best bet for defectors is to work in Sejong as a government clerk, where they could get generous welfare and employment benefits and protections, unlike corporate-employed workers.

    Edit: autocowreck