Reading Pockets, Polka Dots, Bad English, Buttons and Hem Lines

[Vung Tau, 4/16/24]

After 14 years, I finally disabled anonymous comments at my Postcards from the End of [the] America[n Empire] blog. For weeks, an anon has come on to state the temperature and humidity in Vung Tau, to prove, I suppose, that Vietnam is uninhabitable. Commenting on a photo of a thin old man lying on the ground, anon said he was lucky if dead. On and on, he drones. This morning, there’s also this from an anon, “Is the blatant disregard for fashion sense a middle finger to the French Colonialists? Seems like a statement.”

Despite its heat, the southeast corner of Asia contains more humans than the rest of the globe. Very few are white, however, so fine, don’t live or even come here. Stay in Europe, USA, Canada and Australia. I hear you, anon. Decades ago, I bought an elementary school geography book from around 1904. Thought it was charming. Among its statements, “These equatorial countries are too hot for white people.” Others consider the tropics paradisal. There are many Russians in Vung Tau, Phan Thiet and Nha Trang. Many whites live in Thailand and Singapore.

As for clothing, poor people everywhere tend to dress sloppier. There’s a long running website, People of Walmart, featuring bas couture Americans. Even when neat, they’re attired differently from the middle class or rich. What prompted anon’s comment was an itinerant seller of lottery tickets. She’s always dressed in the same maroon plaid shirt over a yellow outfit with black polka dots. Though clearly very poor, this lady is not blatantly disregarding any fashion sense. Many others in Vietnam dress similarly. They find such outfits beautiful. If anon can sense “a statement,” there’s no “disregard.” Since the French were booted out in 1954, no Vietnamese are protesting them, least of all a dirt poor seller of lottery tickets born in the 1990’s.

Fresh off the boat, I realized soon enough I was dressed all wrong. My Kmart jeans were only half cotton and had upside down V’s on their back pockets. Other kids wore Levi’s, Lee and Wrangler. It took me five years to buy my first Levi’s. With my first job in San Jose, CA, I had enough money to shop at Eastridge Mall. Still in Puyallup, WA in 1976, I envied other kids their colorful T-shirts with cartoon figures, team logos or cute sayings. With a red marker, I wrote on an old green shirt, “SEATTE SOUNDERS.” When people laughed at the missing L behind my back, I had no idea why.

Just a century ago, every nation had its own dress. The universal adoption of Western clothing has often been weird, comic or even farcical. The most obvious example of this is the bizarre English found on billions of T-shirts worldwide. Three recent Vung Tau examples, “New York City our hearts American flag,” “SORRY ISCREWO UP,” “ROSTON.” Most marvelous, though, are the modified Victorian dresses worn by the Herero of Namibia. Though disappearing like nearly everything else beautiful, I saw examples in Windhoek. The strutting Congolese dandies, known as sapeurs, should leave you speechless.

Ngô Đình Diệm would wear an áo dài and khăn đóng turban to greet foreign dignitaries. Nehru had his stylish suits. Gandhi didn’t just readopt native dress, but decided to be “in line” with “the millions of compulsorily naked men, save for their langoti four inches wide and nearly as many feet long.” India and Egypt lead the world in eschewing foreign clothing.

Though jeans aren’t ideal for this climate, they’re irresistible as an American symbol. In the 90’s, they were especially craved as gifts from overseas relatives. A friend remembers, “You could smell them when the box was open!” In Sơn La, a guy just wanted to touch my Levi’s. Hoodies, too, have become common.

Last week, a young woman caused an uproar when she stood naked by a busy road near Saigon. Two accomplices photographed her. All three are expected to be arrested, then fined. Public nudity won’t catch on here. There are no Pride Parades or Naked Bike Rides. Ten thousand naked people rode through Portland in 2019. That won’t ever happen in any Muslim country either.

In 5/25/20, I ran into a group of blacks in Waegwan, South Korea. I assumed they were Africans until I noticed a well tatted man with sagging pants. Though Westernized enough, Koreans don’t dress like that. They were American soldiers from nearby Camp Carroll.

This morning, I was cheered by Kevin Barrett’s latest, “Radical Muslims Target Taylor Swift Concerts ‘Out of Pity for the West.’” Most hilarious is a photo of a disgusted bearded Muslim holding a remote control, with this caption, “FBI Uncovers Al-Qaeda Plot To Just Sit Back And Enjoy Collapse Of United States.” From their statement:

We feel for those poor Americans trapped in their increasingly moronic and decadent culture. And nobody symbolizes the moronic decadence of contemporary America quite like Taylor Swift. So we thought we could alleviate some of that suffering, and make life in America at least marginally more bearable, by blowing up Taylor Swift and some of the soulless plastic-brained utterly superficial human zombies who idolize her…the so-called ‘Swifties’ […]

After seeing family in the USA, Barrett is much relieved to return to Morocco. Vietnam, too, is much saner, as is Laos, Cambodia, Thailand, Indonesia or, well, just about every country outside the ballyhooed West. It’s fine if you don’t believe me.

In this heat and humidity, I hear more laughs and see more smiles. In their ridiculous clothing and with little cash, these people still manage to be more serene. Than whom?! you ask.

Again, I hear that sidewalk café lady singing. She charges just 40 cent for a black, and a beer mug of hot tea is free. They do everything wrong here. Though her songs are all sad, she smiles often.

[Vung Tau, 4/19/24]

[Vung Tau, 5/24/24]

[Vung Tau, 12/12/23]

[Vung Tau, 4/30/24]