El_Caudillo wrote:Your Dad seems to a really enlightened guy. However, I like you am not sure that a supposedly worsening economy can be blamed for the repressed tenancies of modern youth in Taiwan. Basically what we are seeing is an increase in misanthropy. Technology is one cause, accentuating basic shyness and judgmenta-ism. I don't think the news here in Taiwan helps - it seems to make people scared of everything, including of course foreigners looking for babes. A woman was telling me that English teachers had a bad reputation for looking for girls in bars, so I should be careful. My counter was, oh yea, and what exactly is wrong with looking to hook up in bars?! Also I suspect the youth here is actually too spoiled and haven't really gone through hard times - yet
Often as a white guy I've heard Asians say we are sexually promiscuous to which I counter: Yes BEFORE marriage, unlike you guys where sex life takes off with MULTIPLE partners after marriage. Although this seems quite an aggressive thing to say - more often than not they agree with me.
However, as in response to your expat friend from Chiayi, I personally prefer Taiwan to Indonesia as a place to live. To be honest people here are pretty good to me, there just aren't the opportunities here that there are in China for money and girls or Indo for girls and travel...but man think WORK here - and people seem damn honest.
Yes I think that's a key word here: MISANTHROPY
I get the sense that people in Taiwan and America have developed a misanthropic attitude. A misanthrope is someone who dislikes people in general and tries to limit their social interaction with others to as little as possible, especially strangers. I get the sense of that attitude in America and Taiwan. People fundamentally dislike others, especially anyone they don't know. It's an attitude and rubs off on each other. Maybe it's in the energy field too, and people absorb it.
I also have some theories about the social disconnection in America and Taiwan, compared to their mother homelands of Europe and China, respectively, which have far better social connection and social life. Here they are. It's a multi-part theory:
The immigrants that went to America, from the early Pilgrims and Puritans to present day, were not the kind of people seeking social connection.
1. Firstly, the Pilgrims and Puritans who came to America in the early 1600's, by all accounts, seemed like uptight rigid repressed people. Not mainstream Christians, but a super repressive type. Religious fanatics tend to have issues. So these were probably not well adjusted people. England was a Protestant country, so why did they feel the need to leave it? If they were persecuted for their religion, it was probably cause they did something wrong or were abnormal or had unsavory practices that make them bad examples of Christians who took everything to the extreme. They are probably the foundational cause of why America is more uptight and puritanical than Europeans are. You can't even show a naked breast in an American magazine, whereas you can in Spain with no problem, for example. Other religious extremists followed too, such as the Quakers, Amish and even modern day Ukrainian Pentacostals. These types are usually very withdrawn and in their own world, separate from outsiders, and are very religious as well. So basically they are seeking to be separated from others, not to connect with others.
2. After the religious pilgrims, other settlers that came to America in the 1700's and 1800's were usually those looking for privacy, free land, or to make money. People usually come to America to MAKE MONEY. They don't go there for social connection or to make friends or to experience a rich culture. Thus, the type of immigrants that America draws are MATERIALISTIC types. They are not seeking social connection. They probably wanted to GET AWAY from people in their home country, because they didn't like people very much. Thus they may have been misanthropes. They were seeking social DISCONNECTION and privacy. They wanted to own their own land and not be bothered by others. And they were not prone to loneliness since they weren't seeking social connection. If they had a wife and family of their own, it was usually enough. They didn't need any friends beyond that. Also, materialistic types who are focused on money aren't that social or easy to connect with. They are greedy by nature and do not have rich souls.
So, since the white Americans today are descended from such immigrants, they probably inherited the same personality types as their ancestor immigrants did. And they were also probably brought up in the same materialistic and individualistic values that their forefathers believed in, which encouraged independence and the drive or greed to make as much money as possible. Hence the Americans today are similar to their forefathers from both their genes and the values they were brought up with. We all know that much of our personality traits come from our genes, so this would be a very plausible explanation. If so, then it would explain why Americans today also prefer privacy and space over social connection, and are too materialistic and money crazed to care about having real friends or connecting with others.
Now once in a while, people are born in America who do not have these traits of their immigrant forefathers or parents, and instead care more about social connection than about money and status. These are the "genetic aberrations" like us HAers who end up being misfits or lonely and alienated, because we care more about social connection than money and materialism, which goes against what US culture is about. As you know, US culture doesn't care about social connection and doesn't even talk about it on the news. All it cares about is ECONOMIC issues and politics, which is all you hear about on the news. Social connection doesn't matter to American culture and media. So if it matters to you, you are a freak and invalidated. That's how we HAers feel.
3. The immigrants that came to America in the 20th Century up to today, tend to be Hispanic and Asian. And these too, came to America for money or materialistic reasons. For example, Chinese come to America to make a higher income and also to invest in real estate and gain property values and assets from it. They also come to send their kids to the best universities so they can get the best paying jobs after graduation. For them, MONEY/CAREER=HAPPINESS. Not social connection or friendship or love. They are also very career oriented and care more about status than about making friends or connecting with others. Likewise, the Hispanic and Mexican immigrants also come to America to make money, which they will admit if you ask them, and they hope to return to Mexico rich.
Essentially, the motto in America is: "Be independent. Be competitive. Make as much money as you can." People tend to move to where they fit in. So it's safe to assume that those who beat to that drum will be attracted to America. And those that don't, will not be drawn to America.
Simply put, those who are very materialistic or have strong materialistic goals, tend to not be very open or social with others. Therefore, the types that are drawn to America aren't going to be the most social, open or fun.
So you see, the waves of immigrants who came to America throughout its history were of two primary types: 1) Religious extremists who wanted to be separate from others and withdraw into their own little world, and 2) Those whose primary goals were materialistic, aiming to make money and establish a profitable career or business. Neither of these main groups were seeking social connection or meaningful friendships. They wanted to get away from others and preferred privacy over human connection. They may have been misanthropic in attitude too, disliking social contact with others to the point of minimizing it. They could have had plenty of social connection in their homeland, such as in Europe, but they didn't want that. Hence why America is severely lacking in social connection and why it's more difficult to make friends or talk to strangers in America than most European countries. This "immigrant motivation and personality type" factor is probably one of the biggest reasons for the social disconnection and shitty social life in America.
I think something similar applies to Taiwan as well. Taiwan was originally settled by Chinese immigrants as well. These immigrants came from Fuijan province and others. Why would they emigrate to Taiwan from mainland China? I don't know. Perhaps they wanted to SEPARATE from their motherland of China and get new land of their own. Or perhaps they wanted to get away from other people. Either way, it means they weren't seeking social connection, of which there was plenty of in China, but in fact the opposite. Perhaps they wanted to isolate themselves from others too, like the pioneers that went to America and went westward. If so, then these Chinese immigrants that fled to Taiwan probably had an antisocial disposition to be closed and standoffish toward others, in comparison to their mainland counterparts. And their descendants began adopting the same traits, from both their genes and from their culture. That's why Taiwanese are quite different than mainland Chinese.
Now it is true that Japan occupied Taiwan for 50 years and brought their culture there, which may have turned Taiwanese into being more like Japanese than Chinese. But that would only be a factor, especially since Japanese occupation ended in 1945. I think my theory above is another major factor as well in explaining the social disconnectedness in Taiwan. Nevertheless it is true that Taiwanese have a lot of Japanese traits, such as not making eye contact with strangers, not talking to strangers unless its business related, limiting their friendships to those at their school and work, being very indirect rather than straightforward as mainland Chinese do, etc.
So anyway, I think this theory explains the social disconnect in America and Taiwan, as compared to their mother homelands of Europe and China, which have far richer social connection and better social life. I know it's just a theory and I can't prove it. But it's an educated theory that makes sense and is logical I think.
What do you all think?