Little things about Western culture that annoy you.

[Coreless]

By "Western" you mean American, because most of those things don't apply in the Western world as a whole. In fact, 100% of your examples were American examples.

Also, I take offense to a number of your stereotypes of Christianity. Your argument against Sundays is rather unfounded because most people simply don't like working every single day of the week. It's much more efficient to have one day of the week where almost no one works, especially in an office environment or anything involving group work. Also, not all Christians nor all of Christianity is "oppressive" and conservative; a majority, perhaps, but you should be blaming the *people*, not the religion, especially when you consider that the religion specifically teaches that we should treat one another with kindness and respect regardless of background.

Oh, and the Sunday rule applies everywhere, not just the West. Japan for example doesn't have school on Sunday.

As for video games, blame the publishers instead of the developers, especially considering the job market. If a developer has the choice between having a stable job making a standard game or taking a risky job involving a new game that might not even be published depending on certain situations (i.e. cancellation), they're going with the safe option. Very few people want to be starving artists.

Do you have any better ideas for video game enemies in modern times set in the real world? Our last big enemy WAS Soviet Russia, and our enemy now are terrorists. There aren't really many more realistic options than that.

You don't have to listen to Western pop if you don't want to. If there's a commercial with it, skip it with Tivo or do something else in the meantime. If it's on the radio, change the station or use your ipod/computer.

Also, cartoons were specifically made in the first place to be aimed at children. That's not saying that all cartoons are for children, just that in most cases it's hard to take the genre seriously simply because it looks cartoony. Most anime AND most western cartoons are made for kids though are made for kids. There's a reason why the main anime/manga genre is called shounen; the kanji literally mean "young age".

And just a note, most action oriented anime tend to use cheap tricks like make the background a single color instead of what's actually in the background, do still shots of characters only talking, repeating the same actions over again during a battle, etc that western animators tend to avoid. In most western cartoons for example, people actually DO THINGS while they're talking instead of sitting in one place. Compare an episode of Naruto to an episode of Justice League: Unlimited and you'll see what I mean.

There were no women in the Red Guard, they were all teenagers, and the Red Guard had nothing to do with shooting people.

When celebrities do stupid stuff they a lot of the time don't end up making money out of it. Prime example being Charlie Sheen.

This is coming from a person who loves Japanese culture btw.

Good to see some common sense in this thread.

 

[Dimitriov]

Hate to have to tell you this but the 'East' is actually religious. Like, most of the people in most of the countries. Hinduism? Buddhism? Shinto? Islam? Taoism? Do any of those sound familiar?

I was mostly contrasting to East Asia. Not the Middle East or the areas of Central Asia that are largely Muslim.

East Asia, aside from a few places in Southeast Asia, is mostly atheist. Korea, Japan, and China are all quite atheistic. Shinto is hardly followed by anyone anymore. And Buddhism is certainly a minority in Korea and Japan both.

*raises eyebrow* Something like 75% of Japanese people say they practice Buddhism still... And even in China traditional fortune telling, charms, and the like associated with Taoism are very prevalent.

 

[Meeper454]

ITT: People arguing over whether western or eastern culture is better.

That said, I'd love to see more game developers try something different and more adult-oriented cartoons.

 

[Canned Spam]

You appear to have confused the Western World with the US. One or two of them also apply to the to the rest of the West, but that's about it.

 

[Ice Car]

Second panel sums part of it up rather nicely. "Oh, that game is for kids, you shouldn't play it". Same goes for "Oh, you like something because it's cute, what's wrong with you?"

Same goes for "You're gay because you have Anime girls for avatars". Or, "All people who like anime are the babbling, Japanese-obsessed, annoying people who don't shut up, when there are in fact many of us who are interested in anime and are able to hold intelligent conversation and not be annoying. Hell, I'm even considered to be at least 2 years ahead of my peers in intelligence, yet I love anime.

I hate generalizations not only in the West, but in general. I hate how people make assumptions without actually having anything to back it up, and how we are all supposed to be "manly", if we are men.

 

[sharpshooter188]

My complaint is fairly simplistic. Our (North American) TV shows. Oh GOD. The furthest joke we can see are stupid quips about the human reproductive system or relationships. It makes me face palm every time. I actually stopped watching tv altogether with the exception of a few netflix shows that ended up getting cancelled. Family guy, SP, were funny at one point. But I hear the same lines uttered from a lot of friends and it irks me a bit. I don't wish I was from another land (Though I would discourage you from challenging me to defend my countries honor because frankly we have none.) or anything but some things could DEFINITELY be improved around here.

 

[Coraxian]

Vacuous, empty-headed fools who gather a hodge podge of philosophies from across the world in some half-baked idea of new age philosophy, often with completely conflicting ideas usually obtained on some pretentious 6 month mission abroad to find themselves. Rather than appreciating the beauty and difference of each and every worldview they create their own monster-mashed version that they use to judge others from a self-appointed pulpit, mocking those who differ for being conservative simply because they simply do not agree with them, be it on dietary habits, religion, sexuality or social order. Likewise I hate the classical western view of sneering at the rest of the world for not being like them but its the former that really gets my goat for the air of faux superiority it entails.

Thank you for saving me the time needed to put my thoughts on this into words by just allowing me to copy this eloquent statement.

Also: The original post is more about American culture than Western culture, as many have already pointed out. The quote above can, in my eyes, be seen as applying to Western culture, but then again, it may as well apply to people in general and might not be culture specific.

 

[SenseOfTumour]

Marketing would be my big problem, along with this feeling that you're nothing without an iphone.

There's a few new tidal waves of pointless 'must buy' shit out every year, and while I'm cool with the iphone if you're really using it, if you bought it just to 'fit in' and have a $400 portable fart app, then damn..I dunno what to say.

On top of that, anything that has a value vastly less than it's price. For instance, most branded clothing, sure it might be 10% better quality than an unbranded shirt, but at 7 times the cost.

I guess what I'm saying is, I can see the point in going to a restaurant at $100 a head every now and then, over a $10 McD's meal, while it's maybe not 10 times better, it's a lot better, usually.

However, people who willingly pay 500 or 1000 bucks for a meal, and then order $1000 bottles of wine to go with it, it's just a dick move designed to show how rich they are. There's no way that $1000 bottle is even twice as good as a $20 one.

I guess at least it's putting stupid people's money back into the economy, in the same way rappers spend half a million on bling, and actors and rock stars will buy 7 BMWs , one for each day of the week.

In short, brand names, most of the time they're just a code for 'this is priced about ten times more than it's worth, but we know you'll buy it, sucker.'

As for Coke n Pepsi, just send everyone in the world a $5 coupon and a note saying 'try it', it'll probably be cheaper than one Xmas ad campaign, and you'll never need to advertise again.

Coke exists, WE KNOW!

 

[SenseOfTumour]

Oh and Law, I don't really have an answer, I like the jury system, but it's expensive and there's always the risk of pulling 12 idiots out of the random system.

However, we do need to do something to stop people applying frivolous lawsuits, like complaining you lost a foot while a surgeon was busy stopping you from dying. Sometimes bad shit happens, they stopped it being worse. I don't expect you to be grateful, but damn, you're just pushing up the price of medical care for everyone for every million you sue for.

when there's obvious negligence, fine, but like the guy suing MS for 500 billion, the concept of law isn't your personal playground.

(I fully understand that some 'frivolous' cases are justified, like the McCoffee thing where they served her a near boiling coffee, dangerous to anyone.)

 

[Stark14]

Lilith, your little rant has inspired me to sign up. Well done. Here's why I don't agree, though you raise some good points.

First, in reference, I'm American but have lived in Shanghai, China for the past six years, and I've traveled fairly extensively within Asia. I'm pretty tight with the Korean and Japanese communities here, and have dated ladies from both of these interesting cultures. So I know something about Asian culture, despite not being Asian myself.

I think you're painting in very broad strokes here. You are - I think - comparing America and Japan, not the East and the West. China is as different from Japan and Korea as America is from Germany and Greece. There are commonalities between the three - and all are rooted in ancient China, just like many Western traditions can be traced back to Rome or Greece - but in the modern era there are extreme differences, as well. My experience is as a China expat for quite some time, so with your experience of having lived in Japan will be quite different, I'm sure.

The bottled teas here suck. They are awful. Is the tea better in the shops and restaurants? Sure. But the junk at Lawson's or Family Mart (yes, Japanese convenience stores are all over Shanghai) is over-sugared and gross. Does the tea also suck in America? Quite possibly, I've never tried it. But almost everything served here is so sugar-laden as to make it unconsumable (not a word).

The deification of the cute. This - honestly - is one of the most annoying things about girls in Asia. They remain infants until their mid-30's. 35 year old women with hello kitty dolls hanging from their mobile phones, giggling and laughing like 16 year old American high-schoolers, watching children's (sorry, they are for children) cartoons in their free time? It's infuriating. Apparently Asian guys really like their girls to act like they are still in high school (or middle-school, even) - but almost none of the non-Asians living here can stand it. ESPECIALLY the Western females, who roll their eyes and get unbelievably annoyed by the whole spectacle.

Funny you should mention cartoons. Did you know that Kung Fu Panda caused a massive stir in China? The Chinese were amazed that a Western studio could so eloquently capture Chinese culture and wrap it in such an entertaining package, while their own cartoons are idiotic (EVERY Chinese movie is about the Monkey King or the Journey to the West - they rehash the same storylines over and over again). The West doesn't do adult cartoons? Archer? South Park? Yes, not the same dramatic self-important ones that come out of Japan, but those are uniquely Japanese, not Asian. Grave of the Fireflies, beautiful. You're right, that is not American style.

Western pop music sucks. Eastern pop music sucks more. Seriously. J-pop, canto-pop, K-pop, mando-pop, blech. It's seriously awful. I would rather listen to Keysha or Gaga on endless loops than the crap that is played on the radios in taxis here. Now, there may be good non-popular pop music out there in Asia. I don't know it. But I do know that there is seriously awesome Western music still being made - Arcade Fire, the National, the Stars, etc.

Oh, and someone mentioned reality shows. They are EXTREMELY popular over here as well, at least in China. Thank god no Jersey Shore yet, though.

Why do modern video games suck? Because of consoles. Stop making games for the ADD fast-twitch masses and go back to the PC crowd. (Please God let Skyrim be spared) Civ5 - ruined. Dragon's Age 2 - ruined. Witcher 2 - ruined. Please please please bring back games like Europa Universalis, Morrowind, Ultima frickin Underworld . . . . the death of games coincided with the rise of consoles - most of which probably come from Japan, right?

Anyway, I'm off to stir fry some vegetables, then I'll hop on my bike and pedal over to the Jing'an Worker's Stadium to teach Chinese folks and expats how to play Ultimate Frisbee.

Don't get me wrong, I love Asia and Asian culture, but the parts you are praising (the popular shows, movies, music) I honestly don't think are any better than what we offer Stateside.

 

[Images]

Thank you for saving me the time needed to put my thoughts on this into words by just allowing me to copy this eloquent statement.

Also: The original post is more about American culture than Western culture, as many have already pointed out. The quote above can, in my eyes, be seen as applying to Western culture, but then again, it may as well apply to people in general and might not be culture specific.

My thanks for your thanks!

I've often voiced this view and believe you me on a University campus it does not garner many cheers!

Here is a great example...

I was doing some video editing when one of the girls in the suite started chastising another (very loudly to be heard by others) for having had a burger for lunch. The shouter not only made the usual cries of cruelty to animals (which is usually counted as a valid argument) but then started saying that humans were intrinsically designed to be herbivores, right down to our teeth. Apparently while on holiday in Goa, some Dutch guys who were members of some form of hippie commune had explained that our incisors and canines were originally meant to cut hard vegetables and that it was because of the Catholic church's large investment in animal herds that they pushed the idea of eating meat onto people (except on Fridays because of a deal worked out with the fishing unions). I am not making this up. What is worse is that the gathered people all started nodding at how it made sense and that it explains how ancient Celts and Hindus are linked by a spirit of vegetarianism. Even though I really had to work on my project I really couldn't take any more of this crap and went on a rant about firstly that though I respected someone's decision to be a vegetarian, that the entire conspiracy theory was batshit insane, secondly that there was certainly no doubt that humans are originally designed to be omnivores and thirdly how there is absolutely no link between the Celtic and Hindu religions.

Their response? That I was close minded, brainwashed, racist and apparently an anti-vegetarian bigot. I went back to work feeling a little bit sadder for the human race. Oh and the girl who was shouted at did become a vegetarian...except for the time I saw her drunk as a skunk eating a doner kebab...with the shouter. Strangely enough at that moment they told me off for the cigarette I was smoking as being a blight on the underpaid tobacco pickers before asking me for one. Gordon Bennett!!

 

[funguy2121]

That list of cuteness seems sadly stark.

This is what I'm talking about here. What adult is this preoccupied with cutesiness? Women who collect puppy calendars? Most of the examples I gave are borderline nauseating.

Also, I don't see how some of them are related.

Referring to the Halo and Ann Coulter references, are you? It was late, and I thought it was funny.

While it is more of a norm in East Asia to be an Atheist.

I don't know where you're getting your intel there, but I'm certain that Asia isn't a wellspring of atheism and agnosticism. It would seem you are engaging in a little bit of East-worship, after all. Their tea is so much better than ours, they embrace whatever-the-Hell-I-think-cute-is, and they're all atheists! I'll give it to you on the tea, theirs is pretty damned good.

I do think the reaction to My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic by some people can be a bit sad. For all reasons. If the West liked cuteness more, there wouldn't be such a negative reaction towards it by those outside of the fandom, and there wouldn't be such a "wow, I can't believe I like this" reaction from so many of the fans. Also, that "it's for little kids(girls)" applies to pretty much all cartoons, sadly. That's a perspective I wish didn't exist here or anywhere.

God, enough with this "the West doesn't like cuteness" bs. Has it not occurred to you that there is a difference between something that is generally cute (such as a real-life dog that doesn't speak licking your leg) and something that is look-at-me cutesy ("Don't worry, be happy")? "Wow, I can't believe I like this" is something I've never thought and something I've never heard anyone other than a Brony say. So again, I don't believe you. "It's for little girls" does not by any stretch apply to all cartoons. I watched Animaniacs when I was 12. I still watch Futurama. I never had the slightest interest in Barbie, or Gem, or My Little Pony, because as a non-little girl I am not interested in pastels and fake cutesiness and effete hyperactivity, just like the overwhelming majority of the population. The difference is demographics. My Little Pony is a show made for little girls, based upon an older show made for little girls. They never had grown men in mind. Bronies love to quote each other quoting each other paraphrasing the creator of the show as saying that parents can watch with their kids and yet, by and large, Bronies are single males without children. So I guess what I'm saying is, "Wow, I can't believe you like this."

 

[Stark14]

Oh, and one more point - you mention 'socialism' and the West and how we mistreat our workers - China treats its workers HORRIBLY. Many of the practices that organized labor fought for decades to reform in the States are alive and well in China - no respect for worker health, 12 hours workdays, etc.

What you want is a European system of worker protection - which is of course very Western. 'Communist' Russia or China never treated their workers very well. The USSR and China today were / are just plutocracies - - basically what modern America is unfortunately moving towards. Luckily we are just one of many Western nations, and Canada / France / Germany / NZ etc are all much more enlightened.

 

[Stark14]

Oh, and one more point - you mention 'socialism' and the West and how we mistreat our workers - China treats its workers HORRIBLY. Many of the practices that organized labor fought for decades to reform in the States are alive and well in China - no respect for worker health, 12 hours workdays, etc.

What you want is a European system of worker protection - which is of course very Western. 'Communist' Russia or China never treated their workers very well. The USSR and China today were / are just plutocracies - - basically what modern America is unfortunately moving towards. Luckily we are just one of many Western nations, and Canada / France / Germany / NZ etc are all much more enlightened.

 

[kikon9]

I hate the societal stigma behind gender. The idea that men need to be hairy-chested buffoons and women need to be curvaceous whores. It really pisses me off.

 

[Chased]

?All generalizations are false, including this one.? - Mark Twain

 

[LITE992]

Pop music is extremely generic. They all use the same bass drum, clap, bass drum, clap beat, edited voices that repeat-eat-eat-eat, and god-awful samples. In addition, every other song has to have a rapper in it by law. We go from one girl trying to sing about partying to a guy talking about his niggas and his ho's. Its genericness knows no bounds.

 

[guise709]

Isn't that what makes America so great? It is called the land of opinions for a reason the whole country is so diverse. Sure some of those things are bad but I like that everyone has on opinion and is so different. Yet the best part of it is that in times of crisis despite everyones differences they all convene together and take on a monumental challenge which we can see in history time and time again. I love American history it is fascinating and times are exciting once again so I wonder how and if we will be able to pull out of this financial problems we find ourselves in.

As for what I hate about the west? I hate those with an unhealthy fixation for Japan (weeboos). I have been to Japan it is nothing like the one people think it is. Leave the tourist spots and you will find a depressing confirmist society with the highest suicide rate per capita where the collective youth have peter pan syndrome.

Nothing wrong with enjoying anime but when it is everything of a culture it gets pretty redonkulous.