When I was in Sacramento, California, working at Sacramento City College (the best, and really only enjoyable job I've ever had in this rather sorry life) I took an anthropology class with a young lady professor who told us one day (I don't recall why?) that her father was an "American white guy" but her mother was "from one of the hill tribes in Southern China and Northern Indo-China" (I assume she was referring to the Hmong or one of the related hill tribes).
I recall in that class we went over the very strict hierarchical structure of East Asian societies. She mentioned that here in the West and in America in particular we have an almost enforced tradition of equality. The French Revolution put a real damper on being a royal or a noble. Thanks to Dr. Guillotine. The saying "Don't lose your head!" took on a whole new meaning in France at that time. That enforced equality carried over in regard to age. The elderly, for the most part, were no longer venerable.
So smart, upper class people gave up their white wigs and began wearing the long trousers of the lower classes. But it seems that in East Asia social hierarchy still prevails. Elders must be treated with respect and deferred to by youth. I know when I was in the Philippines I was ALWAYS deferred to as "sir." I kept looking over my shoulder thinking some dignified, elderly man must have been right behind me in line. But they were talking to me! Here I'm just "hey you", or most humiliating of all "pops." That really makes my blood boil! "Don't call me that!" I want to say. I ain't nobody's "pop."
I found that in every Eastern Asian country where I lived they had a high regard for their ancestors and older family members but the view of old people who weren't in their family varied widely.
Taiwanese had the biggest regard for random old people even in the workforce. Mainland Chinese found old people worthless except as babysitters for grandkids. Thais are somewhere in-between
I was teaching a class on financial terms to a group of uni educated women in China and when we got to lifetime value the subject went to their own lives and they all wanted to be dead by 60 because they couldn't see the point in living when you were so old and decrepit. I was 59 at the time and wondered if I should just jump from the 30th floor I was teaching on or shuffle on. I decided to shuffle on.
The Chinese there view anyone from 45 or 55 to be elderly and people that age, especially 55, are described that way in the media.
I had funny encounters at gyms when lifting weights. Occasionally young men would just come up and stare at me as though I was a monkey in a zoo who had learned to play the banjo.
In Thailand people over 40 are viewed as too old for work and over 30 it is hard to get a job but there is a lot of respect for old people in everyday life. When people meet, if it isn't obvious, they will find out how old the other person is. it is important to acknowledge that the older person is in fact older and deserves respect. The older person in a conversation gets the honorific "pee" so our esteemed host would be referred to as pee Linh in conversation.
Your comment brings to mind the dystopian futuristic movie, "Logan's Run." Without "spoiling" it I'll just say in America's future the authorities have found a way to deal with the elderly.
Which brings to mind, whey in God's name do the Republicans want to do away -- or at least privatize to put into the hands of the Wall Street vultures -- Social Security? The only answer I can arrive at is Republicans, representing their big money capitalist-corporate backers, hate the working class. The only thing the working class is good for in their eyes is to make money (create wealth) for their capitalist masters. Once a member of that working class is used up they had best die and get out of the way.
Many people, especially more affluent ones, to the right of divide hate the idea of grandma not starving unless she has been a prudent investor. There is a real fixation on I've got mine F you. They would much rather have their money waisted on foreign wars than helping others. That is also why the American medical industrial complex makes healthcare so much more expensive than in more civilized countries
One thing that frustrates me about many perhaps most Americans is they are unable to understand that they are in a "working-class" and that the upper class in America, the financiers and capitalist don't really "work" in the traditional sense for a living. To oversimplify the situation, the financier and the capitalist class makes its wealth by getting other people (the working class) to work for them.
Just for an oversimplified but concrete example: If I work at McDonalds and add $100 of value per hour to their income and they turn around and pay me the federal minimum wage of $7.25 an hour, about 92% of the "value" I am creating from my labor is going to McDonalds shareholders and executives.(After they meet their expenses, of course.)
But I've already gone on too long and belabored this point. Sorry. I'll get off of my soap box before I slip on the soap and crack my head open...
Don't beat yourself up Thomas (says the dude who can harsh himself like none other). I'm an aspiring community college graduate and some of the people; teachers, employees, students whom I've been fortunate enough to encounter within the Ivy (Indiana Vocational) Tech system have been bright spots among some rough times. Watching an English teacher perform Beowulf in Old English was an experience I'll never forget. It was more than a recitation. She had a theater background and expressed, almost sang the "poem" beautifully. It was kind of sad how bored and petulant many of us looked as she put her heart into it. Things like that keep me going.
On my early trips to Asia, I saw the respect young people gave to the elderly. Even on my first few trips to Taiwan starting in 2011, when I was nearing 60, it was visible in public places. When my wife and I rode a crowded bus or train, some young people would virtually always offer their seat to us. On subsequent annual visits, I watched this tradition slowly die. By 2017 or 2018, not only the elderly, but even pregnant women and the obviously handicapped would be ignored and left to stand. Nowadays on a crowded train, all the young people studiously focus on their phones, so they can pretend not to notice you.
I am not. I left Sacramento in 2019 when I was eligible for early Social Security. I was given "forced" retirement and put out to pasture like an old horse. I returned to my old home town of Bridgeport, Connecticut in 2022 after 37 years of work and school in Sacramento. I could no longer afford the rents there in Sacramento.
Do you know the Weatherstone coffee shop in Midtown Sacramento? Perhaps you will allow me to buy you a cup of coffee there someday if I ever manage to return? Down on 15th and I street. Great coffee there!
I know the place! My husband and I would love to meet you! We've been in the 911 truth movement for many years, and are vehement anti-vaxxers. So many of our former colleagues from the movement became true believers regarding covid. Richard Gage says that 25% of 911 truthers took the jab! So disappointing. And we know some who did.
I distinctly recall the morning the Twin Towers came down. It was early morning and I was getting ready for work. I had a small, crummy, black and white T.V. back then and for some reason I turned it on around 8 a.m. (Maybe I heard something on NPR?) I had been up in, I think the South Tower in 1994. Seeing them come down on T.V. I thought, "oh, that's interesting" but I didn't really think about what had happened. Fortunately at that time I had access to a blog on the Internet called "whatreallyhappened" put out by a very astute guy named Mike Rivero. Within, I'd say a day of the event Rivero was questioning the whole official narrative about the Twin Towers and Building 3 which came down in an obvious controlled demolition a few hours later. Without Rivero's astute questions I probably would have just accepted the official story about the 19 terrorists. I'm no structural engineer so I know little about building construction and such but I began to learn quite a bit in the following months.
And I later saw many of Richard Gage's presentations and learned a lot from him. I'm surprised he wasn't "taken out." You probably recall the Dutch demolition expert who was killed when his car magically veered off the road. I can't recall his name. He went on the record saying the Twin Tower take down was an expert demolition. That sealed his fate.
Anyway Mike Rivero's on-line news aggregator site "whatreallyhappened.com" is a very good source of news not vetted by the American establishment.
Great piece, Linh. I often feel bad about my poor Vietnamese. It's nice to hear what I'm missing through you. Have a great trip and a good flight back.
Sounds like a pain in the butt to do this every 3 months. On one hand it forces you to travel, on the other hand the schedule is determined by someone else.
When I was in Sacramento, California, working at Sacramento City College (the best, and really only enjoyable job I've ever had in this rather sorry life) I took an anthropology class with a young lady professor who told us one day (I don't recall why?) that her father was an "American white guy" but her mother was "from one of the hill tribes in Southern China and Northern Indo-China" (I assume she was referring to the Hmong or one of the related hill tribes).
I recall in that class we went over the very strict hierarchical structure of East Asian societies. She mentioned that here in the West and in America in particular we have an almost enforced tradition of equality. The French Revolution put a real damper on being a royal or a noble. Thanks to Dr. Guillotine. The saying "Don't lose your head!" took on a whole new meaning in France at that time. That enforced equality carried over in regard to age. The elderly, for the most part, were no longer venerable.
So smart, upper class people gave up their white wigs and began wearing the long trousers of the lower classes. But it seems that in East Asia social hierarchy still prevails. Elders must be treated with respect and deferred to by youth. I know when I was in the Philippines I was ALWAYS deferred to as "sir." I kept looking over my shoulder thinking some dignified, elderly man must have been right behind me in line. But they were talking to me! Here I'm just "hey you", or most humiliating of all "pops." That really makes my blood boil! "Don't call me that!" I want to say. I ain't nobody's "pop."
The indignity of it all!
I found that in every Eastern Asian country where I lived they had a high regard for their ancestors and older family members but the view of old people who weren't in their family varied widely.
Taiwanese had the biggest regard for random old people even in the workforce. Mainland Chinese found old people worthless except as babysitters for grandkids. Thais are somewhere in-between
I was teaching a class on financial terms to a group of uni educated women in China and when we got to lifetime value the subject went to their own lives and they all wanted to be dead by 60 because they couldn't see the point in living when you were so old and decrepit. I was 59 at the time and wondered if I should just jump from the 30th floor I was teaching on or shuffle on. I decided to shuffle on.
The Chinese there view anyone from 45 or 55 to be elderly and people that age, especially 55, are described that way in the media.
I had funny encounters at gyms when lifting weights. Occasionally young men would just come up and stare at me as though I was a monkey in a zoo who had learned to play the banjo.
In Thailand people over 40 are viewed as too old for work and over 30 it is hard to get a job but there is a lot of respect for old people in everyday life. When people meet, if it isn't obvious, they will find out how old the other person is. it is important to acknowledge that the older person is in fact older and deserves respect. The older person in a conversation gets the honorific "pee" so our esteemed host would be referred to as pee Linh in conversation.
Hello Mr. DuClur,
Your comment brings to mind the dystopian futuristic movie, "Logan's Run." Without "spoiling" it I'll just say in America's future the authorities have found a way to deal with the elderly.
Which brings to mind, whey in God's name do the Republicans want to do away -- or at least privatize to put into the hands of the Wall Street vultures -- Social Security? The only answer I can arrive at is Republicans, representing their big money capitalist-corporate backers, hate the working class. The only thing the working class is good for in their eyes is to make money (create wealth) for their capitalist masters. Once a member of that working class is used up they had best die and get out of the way.
Many people, especially more affluent ones, to the right of divide hate the idea of grandma not starving unless she has been a prudent investor. There is a real fixation on I've got mine F you. They would much rather have their money waisted on foreign wars than helping others. That is also why the American medical industrial complex makes healthcare so much more expensive than in more civilized countries
One thing that frustrates me about many perhaps most Americans is they are unable to understand that they are in a "working-class" and that the upper class in America, the financiers and capitalist don't really "work" in the traditional sense for a living. To oversimplify the situation, the financier and the capitalist class makes its wealth by getting other people (the working class) to work for them.
Just for an oversimplified but concrete example: If I work at McDonalds and add $100 of value per hour to their income and they turn around and pay me the federal minimum wage of $7.25 an hour, about 92% of the "value" I am creating from my labor is going to McDonalds shareholders and executives.(After they meet their expenses, of course.)
But I've already gone on too long and belabored this point. Sorry. I'll get off of my soap box before I slip on the soap and crack my head open...
Don't beat yourself up Thomas (says the dude who can harsh himself like none other). I'm an aspiring community college graduate and some of the people; teachers, employees, students whom I've been fortunate enough to encounter within the Ivy (Indiana Vocational) Tech system have been bright spots among some rough times. Watching an English teacher perform Beowulf in Old English was an experience I'll never forget. It was more than a recitation. She had a theater background and expressed, almost sang the "poem" beautifully. It was kind of sad how bored and petulant many of us looked as she put her heart into it. Things like that keep me going.
On my early trips to Asia, I saw the respect young people gave to the elderly. Even on my first few trips to Taiwan starting in 2011, when I was nearing 60, it was visible in public places. When my wife and I rode a crowded bus or train, some young people would virtually always offer their seat to us. On subsequent annual visits, I watched this tradition slowly die. By 2017 or 2018, not only the elderly, but even pregnant women and the obviously handicapped would be ignored and left to stand. Nowadays on a crowded train, all the young people studiously focus on their phones, so they can pretend not to notice you.
Yo, pops! It's what I say to all my homies. It only takes a soupcon of trust to turn an insult into an endearment.
Are you still in Sacramento? I am.
Hi Peggy,
I am not. I left Sacramento in 2019 when I was eligible for early Social Security. I was given "forced" retirement and put out to pasture like an old horse. I returned to my old home town of Bridgeport, Connecticut in 2022 after 37 years of work and school in Sacramento. I could no longer afford the rents there in Sacramento.
Do you know the Weatherstone coffee shop in Midtown Sacramento? Perhaps you will allow me to buy you a cup of coffee there someday if I ever manage to return? Down on 15th and I street. Great coffee there!
I know the place! My husband and I would love to meet you! We've been in the 911 truth movement for many years, and are vehement anti-vaxxers. So many of our former colleagues from the movement became true believers regarding covid. Richard Gage says that 25% of 911 truthers took the jab! So disappointing. And we know some who did.
Hi Peggy,
I distinctly recall the morning the Twin Towers came down. It was early morning and I was getting ready for work. I had a small, crummy, black and white T.V. back then and for some reason I turned it on around 8 a.m. (Maybe I heard something on NPR?) I had been up in, I think the South Tower in 1994. Seeing them come down on T.V. I thought, "oh, that's interesting" but I didn't really think about what had happened. Fortunately at that time I had access to a blog on the Internet called "whatreallyhappened" put out by a very astute guy named Mike Rivero. Within, I'd say a day of the event Rivero was questioning the whole official narrative about the Twin Towers and Building 3 which came down in an obvious controlled demolition a few hours later. Without Rivero's astute questions I probably would have just accepted the official story about the 19 terrorists. I'm no structural engineer so I know little about building construction and such but I began to learn quite a bit in the following months.
And I later saw many of Richard Gage's presentations and learned a lot from him. I'm surprised he wasn't "taken out." You probably recall the Dutch demolition expert who was killed when his car magically veered off the road. I can't recall his name. He went on the record saying the Twin Tower take down was an expert demolition. That sealed his fate.
Anyway Mike Rivero's on-line news aggregator site "whatreallyhappened.com" is a very good source of news not vetted by the American establishment.
Great piece, Linh. I often feel bad about my poor Vietnamese. It's nice to hear what I'm missing through you. Have a great trip and a good flight back.
Where are you now, Linh? Cambodia?
Hi Peggy,
I'm taking 4:30AM minibus to Saigon tomorrow, then a 8:45 bus to Phnom Penh. Should be there by 3PM. I love Phnom Penh!
Linh
Thanks... safe travels!
Visa runs can be a pain. Is it still every 30 days for visitors not entering through airports?
Hi marantz820dc,
Yes, that's still the law, so I'll have to fly back in.
Linh
Sounds like a pain in the butt to do this every 3 months. On one hand it forces you to travel, on the other hand the schedule is determined by someone else.