10 ms·

I am from this region and have lived in Kenya for a while during childhood. Most people don’t really care about being punctual as life is pretty easy there. The

by leyth 9y ago

I am from this region and have lived in Kenya for a while during childhood. Most people don’t really care about being punctual as life is pretty easy there. There is plenty of resource to go around, even with the rampant corruption. They have this interesting saying that goes: “haraka haraka haina baraka” "hurry hurry has no blessing." All in all, they’re pretty good people, welcoming to all, including racist Europeans who until today continue to plunder the natural resources of the whole region.

jimmywanger 9y ago
> ... including racist Europeans who until today continue to plunder the natural resources of the whole region. Funny, I didn't know you could generalize the tendencies and behaviours of the inhabitants of one entire continent with wildly varying cultural tendencies. And Kenya is in East Africa - the Chinese are now moving in for resources. For most corrupt governments Chinese companies are far easier to deal with. They just want the resources - don't really care about paying bribes or human rights violations unless it starts cutting into their bottom line. Note that the only thing that runs on time as mentioned in the article is the train line built by Chinese people.
- eesmith 9y ago
  "I didn't know you could generalize the tendencies and behaviours of the inhabitants of one entire continent with wildly varying cultural tendencies." I'll juxtapose that with your own comment from a few weeks ago: "I really miss Asian food and Asian people." - https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=15884615 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=15884615 I'll also point out that your comment "Men don't find education and accomplishment as attractive as women do - they find youth and beauty important also." at https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=15736661 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=15736661 is an even larger generalization, given that it applies to the tendencies and behaviors of all the world's cultures.
  - jimmywanger 9y ago
    I don't know what your point is, other than that you can generalize or cannot? And the two points are not the same. Asia is predominantly one ethnic group (Han) and 1.2 million speak Chinese. Also, due to climate and culture from being a society for over 5000 years, the food is roughly the same. Also, there are genuine morphological differences that set most Asian people apart. People generally gravitate towards people who look like them. There are genuine differences between the biology of men and women. Europeans are a huge mixed bag. Danish people look nothing like Greece people, and Polish people look nothing like Italians, and many of their languages come from different roots, with completely different cultures. Unjustified generalizations such as lumping all Europeans together ignores the huge difference between them. Also, the statement itself is odd - are they nice to racist European but mean to racist South Americans?
    - eesmith 9y ago
      My point is that you express surprise when someone else generalizes by using the term "racist Europeans" when you yourself make continent-wide generalization. I can't help but interpret your "surprise" as a shallow rhetorical technique than anything meaningful. Your numbers are off. The Han Chinese are less than 1/3rd of the population of Asia. 4.5B Asians - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Asia https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Asia - and 1.3 B Han - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Han_Chinese https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Han_Chinese . "Asia", of course, is somewhat of a cultural construct, as there is no clear boundary between Asia and Europe. If you mean "Chinese" or "Han", then say so. Otherwise, are you really missing a good glass of Mongolian mare kumis in Reno? Or the adhan being called out by a muezzin from the mosque? Neither are common in SF. I'm sure all those people in India would be pleased to know that Indian cuisine is "roughly the same" as Chinese food. I'm sure that fans of the different regional cuisines of China will be glad to know you think Shandong and Sichuan cuisines are "roughly the same." "There are genuine differences between the biology of men and women." Absolutely. And irrelevant. Your previous generality wasn't so generic. "Europeans are a huge mixed bag." Umm, India has 29 languages with at least 1 million native speakers and is "one of the most religiously and ethnically diverse nations in the world" - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Culture_of_India https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Culture_of_India. Indonesia, which is mostly located in Asia, has hundreds of ethnic and linguistic groups. "completely different cultures" 71% of Danes, >90% of Greeks, >87% of Poles, and 83% of Italians are Christians. (The main denominations are Lutheran, Eastern Orthodox, Catholic, and Catholic, respectively - "roughly the same" religion.) Tell me how it is that this is "completely different" in the way that approaches the differences between the major religions of Asia - Hinduism, Buddhism, Sikhism, Chinese folk religion, Shintoism? Ancient Greek and Roman history are part of the standard Western education. Until only a few hundred years ago, the educated class in all those countries could communicate to each other in Latin. All four of those countries are now in the EU. "look nothing like" .. I can't help think of the old racist saying "black people all look alike to me." It's as if you didn't realize that the cross-race effect might be an issue. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cross-race_effect https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cross-race_effect . "are they nice to racist European but mean to racist South Americans" Which racist South Americans do you know of who have gone to Africa "to plunder the natural resources of the whole region"? Anyone like Rhodes, or the many other British people convinced of the superiority of the Anglo-Saxon race? For that matter, which South American countries have a history of African colonialism? The European ones include the Britain, Portugal, Spain, Belgium, the Netherlands, Sweden, Denmark, Prussia, Italy, and Germany. I may have missed a few. Ahh, I see Russia had a short-lived/not official colony at Sagallo. I won't count that one.

by leyth 9y ago

jimmywanger 9y ago

> ... including racist Europeans who until today continue to plunder the natural resources of the whole region. Funny, I didn't know you could generalize the tendencies and behaviours of the inhabitants of one entire continent with wildly varying cultural tendencies. And Kenya is in East Africa - the Chinese are now moving in for resources. For most corrupt governments Chinese companies are far easier to deal with. They just want the resources - don't really care about paying bribes or human rights violations unless it starts cutting into their bottom line. Note that the only thing that runs on time as mentioned in the article is the train line built by Chinese people.

eesmith 9y ago
"I didn't know you could generalize the tendencies and behaviours of the inhabitants of one entire continent with wildly varying cultural tendencies." I'll juxtapose that with your own comment from a few weeks ago: "I really miss Asian food and Asian people." - https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=15884615 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=15884615 I'll also point out that your comment "Men don't find education and accomplishment as attractive as women do - they find youth and beauty important also." at https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=15736661 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=15736661 is an even larger generalization, given that it applies to the tendencies and behaviors of all the world's cultures.
- jimmywanger 9y ago
  I don't know what your point is, other than that you can generalize or cannot? And the two points are not the same. Asia is predominantly one ethnic group (Han) and 1.2 million speak Chinese. Also, due to climate and culture from being a society for over 5000 years, the food is roughly the same. Also, there are genuine morphological differences that set most Asian people apart. People generally gravitate towards people who look like them. There are genuine differences between the biology of men and women. Europeans are a huge mixed bag. Danish people look nothing like Greece people, and Polish people look nothing like Italians, and many of their languages come from different roots, with completely different cultures. Unjustified generalizations such as lumping all Europeans together ignores the huge difference between them. Also, the statement itself is odd - are they nice to racist European but mean to racist South Americans?
  - eesmith 9y ago
    My point is that you express surprise when someone else generalizes by using the term "racist Europeans" when you yourself make continent-wide generalization. I can't help but interpret your "surprise" as a shallow rhetorical technique than anything meaningful. Your numbers are off. The Han Chinese are less than 1/3rd of the population of Asia. 4.5B Asians - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Asia https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Asia - and 1.3 B Han - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Han_Chinese https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Han_Chinese . "Asia", of course, is somewhat of a cultural construct, as there is no clear boundary between Asia and Europe. If you mean "Chinese" or "Han", then say so. Otherwise, are you really missing a good glass of Mongolian mare kumis in Reno? Or the adhan being called out by a muezzin from the mosque? Neither are common in SF. I'm sure all those people in India would be pleased to know that Indian cuisine is "roughly the same" as Chinese food. I'm sure that fans of the different regional cuisines of China will be glad to know you think Shandong and Sichuan cuisines are "roughly the same." "There are genuine differences between the biology of men and women." Absolutely. And irrelevant. Your previous generality wasn't so generic. "Europeans are a huge mixed bag." Umm, India has 29 languages with at least 1 million native speakers and is "one of the most religiously and ethnically diverse nations in the world" - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Culture_of_India https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Culture_of_India. Indonesia, which is mostly located in Asia, has hundreds of ethnic and linguistic groups. "completely different cultures" 71% of Danes, >90% of Greeks, >87% of Poles, and 83% of Italians are Christians. (The main denominations are Lutheran, Eastern Orthodox, Catholic, and Catholic, respectively - "roughly the same" religion.) Tell me how it is that this is "completely different" in the way that approaches the differences between the major religions of Asia - Hinduism, Buddhism, Sikhism, Chinese folk religion, Shintoism? Ancient Greek and Roman history are part of the standard Western education. Until only a few hundred years ago, the educated class in all those countries could communicate to each other in Latin. All four of those countries are now in the EU. "look nothing like" .. I can't help think of the old racist saying "black people all look alike to me." It's as if you didn't realize that the cross-race effect might be an issue. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cross-race_effect https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cross-race_effect . "are they nice to racist European but mean to racist South Americans" Which racist South Americans do you know of who have gone to Africa "to plunder the natural resources of the whole region"? Anyone like Rhodes, or the many other British people convinced of the superiority of the Anglo-Saxon race? For that matter, which South American countries have a history of African colonialism? The European ones include the Britain, Portugal, Spain, Belgium, the Netherlands, Sweden, Denmark, Prussia, Italy, and Germany. I may have missed a few. Ahh, I see Russia had a short-lived/not official colony at Sagallo. I won't count that one.