Perspective on the US from an expat working in China

[Aliantha]

I think some people in this thread are missing the point completely. This is my perspective as someone totally not biased in any way about the particular subject at hand.

From what I can see, Riddil was talking about the attitude of 'some' Americans and the opportunities that 'some' Americans choose to disregard. From what I can see, Riddil was trying to show that Americans have all the chances in the world and yet don't take them, while people living in repressed cultures are grasping at every straw to make something of themselves. I also see that Riddil is not suggesting the 'all' Americans are like this, nor are 'all' Chinese, just that there are some people who like to cry 'woe is me' when they perhaps should be taking advantage of the fact that they live in a so called, free country.

I don't see any insult there to anyone at all. Only someone seeing that the world he knew is not quite as perfect as he once thought it was.

[TheMercenary]

Originally Posted by Aliantha

I think some people in this thread are missing the point completely. This is my perspective as someone totally not biased in any way about the particular subject at hand.

From what I can see, Riddil was talking about the attitude of 'some' Americans and the opportunities that 'some' Americans choose to disregard. From what I can see, Riddil was trying to show that Americans have all the chances in the world and yet don't take them, while people living in repressed cultures are grasping at every straw to make something of themselves. I also see that Riddil is not suggesting the 'all' Americans are like this, nor are 'all' Chinese, just that there are some people who like to cry 'woe is me' when they perhaps should be taking advantage of the fact that they live in a so called, free country.

I don't see any insult there to anyone at all. Only someone seeing that the world he knew is not quite as perfect as he once thought it was.

Hey, I respect the view that we could do things better, but do not for one minute try to compare and contrast our societies, that is total bull shit and China will lose on every front. I can show you some hard ass kicking Americans who will put most of the rest of the "western" world to shame. And for every one lazy American I could show your 10,000 Chinese surfs sitting on their asses making lead filled toys to send to the US, because the Brits are certainly not taking them!

http://www.npr.org/templates/story/s...oryId=12442199

[Aliantha]

Originally Posted by TheMercenary

Hey, I respect the view that we could do things better, but do not for one minute try to compare and contrast our societies, that is total bull shit and China will lose on every front. I can show you some hard ass kicking Americans who will put most of the rest of the "western" world to shame. And for every one lazy American I could show your 10,000 Chinese surfs sitting on their asses making lead filled toys to send to the US, because the Brits are certainly not taking them!

http://www.npr.org/templates/story/s...oryId=12442199

There are hardworking and lazy people everywhere. I don't think Americans necessarily have a caviat on that.

It's nice that you love your country so much Merc, but surely you're not blind to the fact that there are some things (in fact many things) that America is not best at.

As for the 10000 Chinese surfs sitting on their asses making lead filled toys, well all I can say to that is, they're earning a living. Better than sitting on their asses collecting welfare.

[TheMercenary]

Originally Posted by Aliantha

There are hardworking and lazy people everywhere. I don't think Americans necessarily have a caviat on that.

It's nice that you love your country so much Merc, but surely you're not blind to the fact that there are some things (in fact many things) that America is not best at.

As for the 10000 Chinese surfs sitting on their asses making lead filled toys, well all I can say to that is, they're earning a living. Better than sitting on their asses collecting welfare.

No doubt, compared to the 100,000 Chinese surfs sitting on their asses collecting absolutely nothing, sure.

[Aliantha]

Originally Posted by TheMercenary

No doubt, compared to the 100,000 Chinese surfs sitting on their asses collecting absolutely nothing, sure.

Do you really believe people in China sit around doing nothing? Are you not aware that the Chinese people are known to be one of, if not the most industrious group of people in the world? Have you never heard anything of the Chinese work ethic?

[TheMercenary]

Originally Posted by Aliantha

Do you really believe people in China sit around doing nothing? Are you not aware that the Chinese people are known to be one of, if not the most industrious group of people in the world? Have you never heard anything of the Chinese work ethic?

It is not a "Chinese" work ethic, it is an oriental work ethic. There is much poverty in China, much more than in any other country by shear numbers alone, I don't know about the percent. Rural China is very poor. There is not enough work to go around, although I would bet that is a regional thing. I have not been there since the late 80's...

http://cellar.org/showthread.php?t=16013