🇪🇺 Europe | Why Europeans Think Asia is Poor and Backwards

[TT]

@OysterOmelet

Asking Europeans who are already in Asia whether they’ve been to Asia LOL.

Your thread title question wasn’t so specific, was it.

@OysterOmelet

I’d never consult you on methodology

Ok, but I have published a survey paper, and taught methodology, and served on journal editorial boards, so…

[OysterOmelet]

@TT

Ok, but I have published a survey paper, and taught methodology, and served on journal editorial boards, so…

Wow that’s so intimidating. Journals never publish anything methodologically unsound.

[BiggusDickus]

@OysterOmelet

@TT

Ok, but I have published a survey paper, and taught methodology, and served on journal editorial boards, so…

Wow that’s so intimidating. Journals never publish anything methodologically unsound.

Of course journals do, that’s why there are procedures in place to limit this

[TT]

@BiggusDickus

Of course journals do, that’s why there are procedures in place to limit this

Yeah, some stuff is so bad the editor just rejects it without bothering to send it for double blind review. Anyways, I wasn’t planning on volunteering to check the manuscript

[PeiHua-Connie]

@PeiHua-Connie

Europeans and most Asians are not fat, so not much need worries.

Nice dinner here in Europe tonight

Show us what your Brazil town looks like after you arrive today

Europeans and most Asians are not fat, so not much need worries.

Nice dinner here in Europe tonight

Show us what your Brazil town looks like after you arrive today.

[Noper]

@OysterOmelet

Asking Europeans who are already in Asia whether they’ve been to Asia LOL.

And people on a forum for residents of Taiwan hold negative views of Asia because the only Asian country they’ve been to is Thailand.

[Noper]

@PeiHua-Connie

Europeans and most Asians are not fat, so not much need worries.

Ranking (% obesity by country)

28% of the UK (if you still consider them to be part of Europe) vs. 36% of the US. Catching up!

[Noper]

@yyy

Passport-free travel was perfectly normal before WWI

That would have been a perfectly logical response if we were discussing international travel 120 years ago rather than in the present tense.

[Noper]

@OysterOmelet

OK let me clarify one more time.

I got the notion that Europeans think Asia is poor and backwards from reading this forum.

Now that I’ve been going to Europe virtually every year, I see why. They only go to Thailand, and they have no interest in the Far East.

So Europeans who hang out on a Taiwan forum think Asia is poor and backwards, and the reason for this, as you’ve discovered, is that they only go to Thailand.

If that’s how you clarify, I’d hate to see how you confuse.

[Noper]

@afterspivak

It’s mostly the Brits and the French (as well as the Americans and the Soviets) that messed around in the twentieth century, with Germans and Italians also doing their share of damage too.

The Swedes are an interesting case. As an ally of the Dutch they were involved in the colonization of what is now Tainan. Does this mean I can get residency in Sweden?

Guy

And Native Americans can get Dutch, UK, Spanish, or French citizenship, I guess, depending on which tribe they are from.

[Noper]

@Andrew

Saw this comment on a Taiwan-related Facebook group earlier today asking for recommendations as to beach locations with active nightlife, good restaurants and bars, and swimming:

Haha. Yeah. This is understandably perplexing for visitors to Taiwan. Actually, it’s still perplexing to me after many years here. It seems like a relatively new concept to Taiwanese that people might enjoy beaches or bars, let alone beach bars. I can think of, like, 2 1/2 decent beach bars on the whole island, and they’re all new within the last few years. Why is Taiwan decades behind so many other countries in figuring this out. I realize there are historical reasons, but if countries with the histories of, say, Vietnam or Cambodia can do this, surely Taiwan can with all of its relative advantages.

Anyway, I hope you suggested Nanwan to them. That’s the only place I can think of in Taiwan with all three of those variables, though their “night life” tends to close down pretty early.

[Noper]

@OysterOmelet

@Gain

Many of them have this hilarious delusion that their healthcare makes them better than America, lmao.

I’ll never understand why they brag about getting free stuff.

Imagine an American bragging about receiving food stamps. No shame in that, but what a weird thing to be bragging about.

Do you consider things like good public education, fire departments and other emergency responders, police and military who protect law-abiding citizens from those who would want to harm them or their property, clean water, working roads, etc. to be “free stuff” that no one should never brag about doing a good job of providing? Or do you consider these to be things that any wealthy nation with a well-functioning government strives to provide as part of the greater good? Most countries outside of the US put healthcare in this category, as well. I’m personally very thankful Taiwan does.

[Andrew]

@Noper

Anyway, I hope you suggested Nanwan to them.

I didn’t, largely because I’d never heard of it and had to google it now.

Looks alright, but that would mean leaving Taipei.

(Also, if I have time to do that, I have time to go to Thailand or the Philippines instead! Much better than trying to enjoy the food, nightlife, and beaches in Taiwan, IMO.)

[Noper]

@Andrew

@Noper

Anyway, I hope you suggested Nanwan to them.

I didn’t, largely because I’d never heard of it and had to google it now.

Looks alright, but that would mean leaving Taipei.

(Also, if I have time to do that, I have time to go to Thailand or the Philippines instead! Much better than trying to enjoy the food, nightlife, and beaches in Taiwan, IMO.)

Ha, well yes, but you’re not going to find any beaches in Taipei. Have to go to the outer reaches of New Taipei at the closest, and those don’t really compare to those down south.

I agree that it’s almost just as easy (and maybe almost just as cheap) to go to Philippines or Thailand, and that’s why I haven’t been back to Nanwan since international travel without quarantine resumed, but during the pandemic that place and Cijin were the best available approximations.

[OysterOmelet]

@Membrillo

Anyway, maybe Europeans think Asia is poor because, in fact, it is a poor continent.

Well there you go, matter resolved. No more dumb questions or quarreling with the fact that Europeans think Asia is poor and backwards.

Next time someone wants to pick a fight with my assumption, I’ll just link to your post.

[OysterOmelet]

@Noper

Do you consider things like good public education, fire departments and other emergency responders, police and military who protect law-abiding citizens from those who would want to harm them or their property, clean water, working roads, etc. to be “free stuff” that no one should never brag about doing a good job of providing? Or do you consider these to be things that any wealthy nation with a well-functioning government strives to provide as part of the greater good? Most countries outside of the US put healthcare in this category, as well. I’m personally very thankful Taiwan does.

I’m not against public goods. Would you brag about being on food stamps?

[OysterOmelet]

@Noper

So Europeans who hang out on a Taiwan forum think Asia is poor and backwards,

No. One more time: Multiple people on this forum have said Europeans think Asia is poor and backwards. Since all on this forum all have lived in Taiwan or live in Taiwan, they know Asia is not homogeneous and Taiwan isn’t poor by world standards. They don’t think that way themselves, it’s what they said of Europeans.

See the posts I linked for what I’m talking about.

@Noper

and the reason for this, as you’ve discovered, is that they only go to Thailand.

Yes

[Noper]

@OysterOmelet

@Membrillo

Anyway, maybe Europeans think Asia is poor because, in fact, it is a poor continent.

Well there you go, matter resolved. No more dumb questions or quarreling with the fact that Europeans think Asia is poor and backwards.

Next time someone wants to pick a fight with my assumption, I’ll just link to your post.

So now your question is “Why do Europeans understand basic math?”

[Noper]

@OysterOmelet

@Noper

Do you consider things like good public education, fire departments and other emergency responders, police and military who protect law-abiding citizens from those who would want to harm them or their property, clean water, working roads, etc. to be “free stuff” that no one should never brag about doing a good job of providing? Or do you consider these to be things that any wealthy nation with a well-functioning government strives to provide as part of the greater good? Most countries outside of the US put healthcare in this category, as well. I’m personally very thankful Taiwan does.

I’m not against public goods. Would you brag about being on food stamps?

Yes, a nation boasting of having a good public health system is exactly like an individual bragging about being on food stamps. Your logic is truly flawless in this thread. Got anything else for us?

[Taiwan_Luthiers]

I noticed foods in Germany tends to be healthier. A lot less refined grains for one. I lost weight when I was there.