[quote=“Spack”][quote=“Vannyel”]Educate or brainwash?
Is it like in the U.S., where the school teach the kids that it’s bad to smoke and they should go home and bug their parents to quit? Very effective.
[/quote]
Informing people, who might not know otherwise, that chewing betel nut can cause oral cancer should be commended. Health education saves lives, Vannyel. [/quote]
Sure it does…and where are all these ‘saved’ lives going to live on this overcrowded island (or world)? 
[quote=“Vannyel”][quote=“Spack”][quote=“Vannyel”]Educate or brainwash?
Is it like in the U.S., where the school teach the kids that it’s bad to smoke and they should go home and bug their parents to quit? Very effective.
[/quote]
Informing people, who might not know otherwise, that chewing betel nut can cause oral cancer should be commended. Health education saves lives, Vannyel. [/quote]
Sure it does…and where are all these ‘saved’ lives going to live on this overcrowded island (or world)? [/quote]
I know you’re ‘only joking’ but that doesn’t make it any less of a repugnant idea.
A problem may be that when we observe a culture different from ours we continue to make value judgements based on our own culture rather than attempting to look objectively at another culture. What may be disgusting, immoral, sick, wrong, savage and crude in one culture may be beautiful, noble, moral, refined, right and elegant in another.
The Dutch arrived in Taiwan and observed people living in a manner that people from Amsterdam, influenced by the Dutch Reformed Church, found savage. The Dutch instituted administrative measures intended to end longstanding cultural practices like adultery, abortion, idolitry and witchcraft. To the Dutch Christians these acts were abominations, but to the Siraya they were natural and essential ways of life. The drop in abortions led to a rise in birth rates beyond normal sustainable standards and eventually led to an increase in Han/Fan marriage as Ping pu women found Han men more attractive for their ability to provide for larger families. The rest is history.
Some may see the effects of betel disgusting and harmful, but to a culture that has been chewing for centuries it may be simply a way of life that is accepted. It may also be preferable to assimilation.
Maowang, I think you have the wrong end of the stick.
What is repugnant is the idea implicit in Vannyel’s comment that we shouldn’t be saving the lives of aboriginals because this island is already overpopulated. I think it was intended as a humorous remark.
actually, I skipped all that and was continuing from above. I don’t have much time to write…
Actually, if it was only a matter of economics, the government should be encouraging everybody to chew betel nut and/or smoke cigarettes (and not just in Taiwan). In the long run, killing people with cancer before they reach retirement age is cheaper than the short-term medical expense. Once they reach retirement age, they don’t work and are eligible for a pension, and they will still need medical care as they age and approach death, so you aren’t saving anything on health care costs either.
Of course, there is a little more than just economics to consider.
[quote=“Spack”]Maowang, I think you have the wrong end of the stick.
What is repugnant is the idea implicit in Vannyel’s comment that we shouldn’t be saving the lives of aboriginals because this island is already overpopulated. I think it was intended as a humorous remark.[/quote]
Why do you insist on reading something into my question? Please don’t twist a simple question into a moral issue.
robert…[quote]Of course, there is a little more than just economics to consider.[/quote]
What else is there to consider?
If the government - any government really cared about it’s citizens then alcohol, tobacco, and unhealthy food would all the illegal by now. All have been shown to lead to an early death.
I wonder if there is a way to extract and package up the Betel nut stimulant, so it can be imbibed in a more tasteful way. Put it in gum or something.
Betelnuts killed my father-in-law (caused oral cancer that metastasized to lungs). I side with health.
Sorry to hear about your father in law.
I was unsure as to what the actual carcinogenic agent in the betel nut is. If it is not the stimulant itself, there may be an opportunity for a “Betel nut Nicorette”, I guess is what I’m proposing.
Arecoline. Confirmed carcinogen via oral submucous fibrosis.
