Why is Taiwan so unfriendly, cold, closed, repressed, self-hating, lonely, alienating, negative, soulless?!

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Falcon
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Re: Why is Taiwan so unfriendly, lonely, alienating, cold, closed, repressed, negative, zombie-like, soul-draining, etc?

Post by Falcon »

At least the older Taiwanese rednecks in the south are very friendly and talkative.

The older Taiwanese in the US are totally "unfriendly, lonely, alienating, cold, closed, repressed, negative, zombie-like, soul-draining, etc." They are the stereotypical computer scientists and doctors who are corporate robots and soulless money-making machines.


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Re: Why is Taiwan so unfriendly, cold, closed, repressed, self-hating, lonely, alienating, negative, soulless?!

Post by Winston »

Check this out. In 2004 I was the only one claiming online that Taiwan was not friendly or open. Back then everyone said I was wrong and disagreed. Now people are starting to agree with me. See below. So as usual, I was definitely ahead of my time. Now there are new webpages, posts and articles saying similar things about Taiwan as I did. So I'm no longer the only one.

https://tw.forumosa.com/t/taipei-is-not-friendly/160287

https://tw.forumosa.com/t/are-there-mor ... /88829/104

https://tw.forumosa.com/t/boring-taiwan ... sa/88433/3
Gain
Nov 2015
I’m Taiwanese and I think Taiwan is super boring. One of the most boring countries in the world, if not the most boring one.
https://startabusinessintaiwan.tw/blog/ ... ays-to-go/

This is a mixed article but the author is ultimately pro-Taiwan friendliness.

https://laorencha.blogspot.com/2011/04/ ... aiwan.html
I have noticed that a lot of the foreigners who leave Taiwan feeling as though it’s a lonely, uncaring, monolithic and monolingual place – or worse yet, leave thinking that the Taiwanese are mannerless boors (which is only true insofar as you believe American etiquette to be the pinnacle of good taste), do so because they are wrapped up in specific ideas of how social etiquette works, and aren’t necessarily open to it working a different way. That’s not to say that the person I met for coffee was close-minded or unwilling to try – I didn’t know him well but he didn’t seem to be.
A commentator agreed with me:
Don Juan Corzo said...
I just read a survey is absolutely wrong by labeling Taiwan the friendliest nation.
There's a major misconception here.
Yes, they are very nice if you need help, but most are closed in terms making friends and openness.
If you're a tourist you'll get the false impression of them being friendly, but if you live and work here you'll realize how shy / rude many can be, especially generation X'ers and Millennials.
I've had strangers give me a ride on their scooters when I was lost or give me an umbrella when it was suddenly raining, but the kindness stops there. Most taiwanese coworkers can be closed and make you feel like an outcast, speaking Chinese to each other and ignoring you, even when they are able to speak English,. No interest in making social conversation about your family, hobbies, experiences, etc. This seems to MO especially with women.
At first, I thought I did something wrong culturally to make the people I met so distant, but I found my story repeated and heard from many other expats. You can see this more evidently when riding the train. No one speaks to each other casually; they're just on their mobiles or pretending to be asleep.
This antisocial behavior that's been developing the past 10 to 15 years, according to expats who've lived here that long. Other expats don't see this or don't agree because they've been influenced culturally and become "taiwanized."
Some say it's because Taiwan has become more developed and it follows the social detachment pattern of other developed nations. But that's not entirely the case for Hong Kong and Singapore have friendlier populations, where even flirting and romancing is far more acceptable publicly. Taiwan unfriendly vibe mimics developed Japan's similar apathetic society. 50 years of hard Japanese influence, like it is also in (North ? and) South Korea.
I found many to be even vindictive if you make them lose face with criticism or complaints.
China, where I lived two years before coming here and which ranks badly in the survey, has far friendlier and open people, including women.
I met women easily I'm still friends with today in Guangzhou, Chengdu, Hangzhou, Zhengzhou, Beijing, Shanghai, etc. And I'm talking most are just genuine friendships, platonic relationships.
Chinese start conversations in trains or subways and offer you a snack to share, even a beer sometimes.
Losing face in China doesn't mean a precursor to a vendetta, but a chance to mend and improve on the mistake or the trespass.
Even dealing with journalists, I found them more approachable in China. Reporters there were more eager to exchange ideas and experiences with foreign colleagues despite censorship. Here the few I met act like they're not interested in knowing what you have to say, unless, of course, you represent a major news outlet like BBC or New York Times.
A university professor in Taipei told me that holier-than-thou attitude is one of the reasons the country is in decline after its 101 boom.
Sorry for the rant, but I'm sort of tired of hearing or reading that Taiwan is such a friendly place. The heart of Asia, Ha!

September 4, 2016 at 2:10 PM
A Taiwanese Girl Living Overseas Won't Return Because, "I Don’t Like The Taiwanese Culture"
https://international.thenewslens.com/article/30849
Someone once asked me why I don’t want to go back to Taiwan, get a job and settle down. I answered with something that might sound harsh to the Taiwanese, “Because I don’t like the Taiwanese culture.”

The person who asked me the question was very agitated and could only blame me for using the wrong words.

The Taiwanese culture I’m referring to isn’t historic relics or literature, but the distance between people and how they get along with one another.

I feel very uncomfortable when living in Taiwan, sometimes even painful. Everything I do is restricted, no matter when and where, and is bond by an unreasonable ethic and value system.

I felt nothing when I was still in Taiwan. It only hit me when I was in France.
http://www.city-data.com/forum/world/12 ... en-15.html
Yes, I am a Taiwanese, Taiwan is very boring, ugly ...
Taiwanese are a depressed, pessimistic bunch. Sorry for the negativity lol.
And of course, there are still articles and posts that claim that Taiwan is super friendly, warm, open and easy to make friends in. See below. WTF? Feels like the Twilight Zone. We truly must all be in a different universe. I couldn't make friends in Taiwan if my life depended on it, no matter how outgoing or extroverted I try to be, so how can it be "friendly"? I'm not gonna lie and claim Taiwawn is "friendly" just to be politically correct and conform to the pro-Taiwan cult, which ignores anything negative about Taiwan no matter how true.

Pro-Taiwan friendliness articles

11 Reasons Why You'll Fall in Love With Taiwan's People
https://theculturetrip.com/asia/taiwan/ ... ns-people/

TAIWAN HAS THE FRIENDLIEST PEOPLE IN THE WORLD
https://www.neverendingfootsteps.com/ta ... ple-world/

Why do people often say people in Taiwan are really friendly, especially compared to the rest of Asia?
https://www.reddit.com/r/taiwan/comment ... aiwan_are/

The thing is, these articles that claim that all Taiwanese are friendly are ranked well in Google. It's as if it's ok in Google's eyes to overgeneralize or make blanket statements about a country as long as it's POSITIVE. But not if it's negative, no matter how true. That's a clear double standard for sure. Like I said, it's all about political correctness, not truth. And as I said before, in American culture (and perhaps around the world too) it's ok to LIE as long as it's a POSITIVE lie, because a positive lie is more acceptable than a negative truth, no matter how true. That's because political correctness is more important than truth in America and perhaps in most modern cultures too. That's why the life of a truth seeker is often lonely and marginalized.

Also, another thing I noticed is that the pro-Taiwan crowd tends to be cult-like in that they always like to ignore anything negative in Taiwan, no matter how true. This is unusual because in other Asian countries, expats tend to be willing to talk about the pros and cons there, including the good, the bad and the ugly. But in Taiwan, there seems to be some sort of censorship and cult-like brainwashing, like Amway, among locals, visitors and expats, where everyone is expected to be pro-Taiwan and only say positive things about Taiwan, never anything negative. You can feel this in Taiwan, this "push" to only say positive things, such as "Taiwan is friendly", "Taiwan is beautiful" etc, in order to conform, even if you don't really feel that way. It's like pushed and thrust onto you, like propaganda or mind control. And of course, since most people are conformists and cave in to peer pressure, they will comly. Except for me of course. I'm way too brutually honest to do that and lie and go against my true feelings and observations.

You can see this cult-like brainwashing and censorship in the pro-Taiwan crowd, for example, when Rock debated me about whether public parks in Taipei or Shenzhen are bigger. Of course everyone knows that public parks in Shenzhen seem like 100 times bigger, so big that you can get lost in them. But in Taipei, the park Rock took me to was so small that we walked across it in 5 minutes. No boats on the lake either. Anyone can see the difference on maps too. So there's no debate. But Rock denied it because his pro-Taiwan cult brainwashing wouldn't allow him to say that anything in China is better than Taiwan, no matter how true or obvious or provable. Surely that's a sign of brainwashing for sure, to deny obvious facts that are apparent to everyone. Only someone brainwashed or in a cult would do that. It's like a form or religion.

To give another example, when I stayed at a girl's home in Taichung from Couchsurfing,org, her grandma saw me and acted very grouchy, grumpy and suspicious and demanded to know who I was. Very rude and crude, not friendly at all. My host saw it too. But when I mentioned it afterward, she denied seeing any grouchy face on her grandma even though it was clear for anyone to see at point blank range. Obvious denial of course. I don't know why Taiwanese like to deny obvious things like that, even if it's right in front of them. My dad does this too sometimes. I will point out to him lots of grouchy, angry, pissed off faces in Taiwan that look like they are ready to scold someone at any moment, and he will not see them, as if his mind filters them out and doesn't want to see them. This has happened with Rock a number of times too, I swear.

So yes, this definitely seems to be a form of cult-like brainwashing, censorship and mind control for sure. Only the brainwashed and biased would deny obvious things in front of their faces that are as clear as the blue sky. No joke. Why can't everyone be as honest and truthful and good in critical thinking as me, I wonder?
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