East vs West
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Don't believe everything you thinkThe liminal space Veteran
Watching The Sympathizer on HBO based off the book. Its set in the 70s and doesn't shy away from the racism of the time, anyway there is a scene where a college professor asks the main character who is half Vietnamese half French about the distinctions between his oriental (Asian) and occidental (Western) sides. It's an uncomfortable scene and the protagonist responds in an eloquent but slightly confrontational way.
I suppose these are pretty stereotypical distinctions, but to me who's a westerner but spent lots of time immersed in Asian culture it seemed to be fairly spot on. Here's his response"
Contradiction, the crux of the issue has always been about contradiction. The occidental side of me sees contradiction as something to be overcome, but the oriental side as something to endure. Hence the oriental side of me is never afraid to accept contradiction when faced by an unexpected turn of events and say, "I expected this". But the occidental side says, "What, why did this happen?" and immediately begin to analyze. The oriental me feels comfortable in a crowd, but the occidental side is always ready to take the stage. I think in two frames of mind, either/or to the occidental side and both/and to the oriental me. So accordingly half of me values independence while the other half appreciates interdependence... At which point the professor interrupts uncomfortably
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Illumination.
https://crimethinc.com/2024/04/01/a-moment-of-illumination
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Do you mean in your view there are positive or even preferable things about the western mindset?
No I mean there is no vs if you have no set mind or mind set on views...
I suppose I could say and rather than vs. In my mind vs is just a term for comparison rather than competition. I take the yin/yang view of dichotomies, they oppose each other, they play off each other and contain the seeds of the other within them. I find it useful when discussing and thinking about things to juxtapose opposites, but that frame exists within the idea that there are no absolutes and its all a spectrum.
When one looks at the general positives and negatives of the East vs West, one finds that the opportunity to incorporate the best of both. Of course, this must be done with care. When successful, this blend creates a rich conglomeration grater, more wondrous than either separately.
The constant churning of cultures is necessary to prevent cultural stagnation and decline. The key is to not keep an open mind.
Peace to all
The ancient West became Judeo-Christianity, which is inherently intolerant & fundamentalist. Thus even the various Western reactions against or from Judeo-Christianity. such as Colonialism, Marxism, Fascism, Liberalism, Wokeism. etc, are similarly inherently intolerant & fundamentalist.
The Eastern mindsets, even genuine Islam (not Western created Saudi Wahhabism), are characteristically more accepting & pluralistic. The pluralism of the East and Middle-East never ever existed in the West once Judeo-Christianity took over.
There are so many flavours of East… Egyptian, Middle Eastern, Indian, Thai. It’s wondrous that the Earth contains such a richness of human culture.
I kind of feel like the attitude that one is superior and one is inferior is itself a western attitude.
I'm not sure if I'm making sense, but the Caste system in India, for example, is definitely an Eastern attitude, as is the inherent idea that females are not as valuable to society as males, in the Sino-oriental mind-set. Or am I picking out irrelevant factors, and misunderstanding the discussion? Apologies if this is so, I do not wish to derail the discussion, or create a 'smoke and mirrors' situation.
I think that's part of my point, or perspective, that its about pros and cons that it is about one or the other as a whole being superior or inferior.
Think I can contribute to this.
The findings of the World Values Survey are: with increasing (mostly economic) development, values and norms change in a predictable way towards what at least we in the developed countries would call more enlightened values. Culture still plays a role, but its role is limited. In this sense, Karl Marx was right (that economics determines culture) and thr famous sociologist Max Weber was wrong (that culture determines economics).
So, in eg India, the values supporting the caste system and lesser value of women will most likely go away on their own as the country develops.
The same happened in the West: the values supporting eg. slavery and the lesser value of women also naturally went away with development.
In many ways the suppression of the feminine in patriarchal agricultural cultures has been amongst the great tragedies of history.