all things in balance
Non-deterministic
Posted on 10/11/2009 7:07:14 PM PDT by Niuhuru
I'd like to know have a good discussion on the differences of Eastern mentalities and by contrast, Western mentalities. Stuff like family values, politics, cultural preferences, justice systems, etc.
Aristotle
Just one note: Several items have fundamental differences. First, Eastern cultures value length of time versus speed. Look further ahead is more important than immediate results. At the same time, there is more calculation in Eastern cultures with ROI, return on investment. We started to get this in the 80s but abandoned it when it became passe with pop culture jokes about it. Think long term, very, very lon term, even beyond your lifetime.
Western: The individual is king.
Eastern: The individual is nothing.
And remember, Russians are Occidental in appearance, but Oriental in character.
Like an ant surving the colony.
Good analogy. I think philosophical bees, but along the same lines.
Asia has very few liability lawyers.
In Asia one takes care. Where one steps. What one pays. What even, one wishes for. Amazingly good, and amazingly bad things can happen more readily than most westerners are prepared to even understand.
The Eastern societies are vertical. Almost no two people are equal. Ever.
In America one craves the edge, which has been taken off by decades of terrified corporate risk offices rounding edges, installing child-proof caps, and turning our world into a giant, sensation-free marshmallow.
Western society is lateral. Everyone seeks to be, and to make others - the same as everyone else.
Situation: Your son falls off the neighbor’s porch.
Western: you sue your neighbor and take the deed to his house.
Eastern: you spank your son, apologize, then pay cleaners to remove bloodstains.
Situation: Your daughter fails a test in school.
Western: you scream at the teacher, and get the grade changed to an A for eAffort.
Eastern: you tell your daughter she has shamed the past 1,000 and future 10,000 generations and no longer consider her your child.
The closer societies come to the political and economic ideals of Locke, Montesquieu and Smith, the more successful they have been and will be. What we consider “Western cultures” have been much closer to this geographically, etc. and have therefore thrived, relative to “Eastern cultures”. Since approximately Marx and Nietzsche, Western cultures have caught a bad virus (a Prussian export, like Lenin) and have lost direction. Meanwhile, Eastern cultures have picked up much of these values from Western cultures and have closed the gap. They caught the virus as well. It is lying dormant because the East is still too enthused about buying a car to get into self-loathing.
“The Eastern societies are vertical. Almost no two people are equal. Ever.”
And I will add, Eastern societies believe material wealth is evidence of favor by a higher power. Hence, they are comfortable with ‘keeping their place’ and rarely challenge authority, whether within a family or a nation. The concept of ‘equality’ as we know it is unheard of.
Too simplistic.
Eastern meaning Chinese/confucius/tao or Eastern meaning Hinduism?
Even the Chinese confucius values are different from the tao.
The biggest difference of the west vs Confuscius is that the west sees the individual as important, whereas Confucius sees society and family as more important than individual’s wishes.
as for the tao, I can’t help you. It seems to be closer to Plato’s “Mean”...
Hinduism assumes this world doesn’t matter; confucius says it does and God doesn’t matter.
As for the west: do you mean Christianity or Materialism/the enlightenment?
It’s as fruitless to generalize about “Eastern” values as it is about “Western” values. Americans are as different from the French and Germans as the Japanese are from Koreans and Indians.
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