Little things about Western culture that annoy you.

[EvilPicnic]

As an english person the idea is bottled tea is just... horrific.

And isn't the whole point of culture that it is defined by differences?

 

[Nickolai77]

*snip*

Don't mean to de-rail the thread, but am i right in thinking that you teach English as a foreign language abroad? I'm interested because it's something i am considering doing after graduation from university. For starters, how did you get into teaching abroad?

I'm not that guy, but I am teaching ESL in Japan. The biggest thing you need to have is a good grasp of English spelling and grammar. Depending on where you want to expatriate to the other things change. Like, as far as Japan and Korea go, all you need is a 4 year degree in, wait for it, anything. Obviously studying something like English, or English Linguistics, will look better than Pre-Industrial Basket Weaving. If your looking at Japan, than the two main ways people teach here are as JETS, which is a government exchange, and eikaiwa, which are private "conversation schools." The JET program is pretty good money, but you have no say where you will go, whereas with eikaiwas, there in which ever city you want. If you have any other questions, feel free to ask.

I've spoken to a post-grad who taught English with JET program. He got a posting to a small remote rural village but still loved the experience never the less. I remember him saying that they prefer it if you have a TEFL qualification, but he got on the program because of his good-record in organising sport events.

But in terms of questions, how long is the training for ESL? Do you think it's similar to other teaching English programs? Also, how long are the placements and what would you say the down-sides were?

Finally when you say four year degree i presume that's with the American university system? In England, most degrees are three years and only four if you have a years work placement or if you are studying maths or a science.

 

[Pyroguekenesis]

The fact that all American FPS tend to make themselves the heroes - ALMOST ALL THE DAMN TIME.

Reread this sentence. Find any problems with it?

You wouldn't expect an English FPS, or a German one to make themselves the bad guy, would you? Why should it be an exception for American developers?

Not just the FPS genre, generally the devs make their nationality, well, the protagonists, if it's not a completely new setting, say a fantasy world.

OK, I think I might have come across the wrong way. I would like some variety cause rarely do I ever see any FPS that doesn't have a distinct line between the 'good' and 'bad' side. Maybe American was not the right word - Western games?

 

[Captain_Fantastic]

I am canadian and i honestly agree with pre much all of this
i watch anime and i hate people who say cartoons are for kids
i cannot stand north american popular music thus why i listen to northern european heavy metal
i agree that workers are the backbone of society and need to be treated well (free healthcare FTW!!!)
im just not a fan of christianity in general
i have seen a few cases where american children are raised to believe that america has won every war ever and if it were not for america we would have lost ww2 for one the canadians and australians were feared by the germans and on d-day canada penetrated(lol) farthest into occupied land than anybody else on the first day and another point the soviets were marching fairly fast onto german land on that side of europe. now don't get me wrong im not saying the u.s.a didnt do anything im saying that it did not do everything as some may be lead to believe
and now i want to taste some of this magically amazing tea that you speak of

 

[Hatter]

Western games, I have another problem. Stop making Eastern countries the enemy, please? I mean, in all of your war games it's always about the West facing fascists or communists. Usually in Russia or China or Vietnam or Korea or somewhere. Can you just... stop that? In fact, how about some political depth. Like, go for a Metal Gear Solid but better. You know, Tom Clancy likes to write novels and all that. I've got a perfect game with political and psychological depth and characterization. While not make a game where the protagonist is a woman in the Chinese Red Guard, that details her motivations and psychology within the political climate of her country? I don't like first person shooters, but I would play that. Stop being so patriotic for a second, and see things though the eyes of another.

That's kind of an unfair thing to say. I mean, it isn't as if companies have the money or want to risk the money to just make random interesting games. They stick to what sells. The storylines/elements from CoD and the like are so used because they sell AMAZINGLY well, so they won't see a reason NOT to make some random storyline. Plus, people don't identify as well with non Americans in foreign situations that they don't know about, so it makes sense.

Last I checked, all of the enemies in those games are actual enemies. More or less, I think it was last year that Russia was threatening hostile action against the U.S. and there's north Korea, remember how they were telling everyone that those missile tests were just "satellite" tests? There were a good number of countries with ships of the coast ready to intercept some bombs in case they decided to attack. And then there's china, the place that developed a missile specifically for the purpose of destroying aircraft carriers, and heavily alluded to the idea that they had U.S. ships in mind, AND made a videogame that has you fight against what seems to be Americans as part of a recruiting campaign.

I might not have my facts completely straight, but the point is, it makes more sense than having Canada as the enemy.

 

[Toriver]

*snip*

Don't mean to de-rail the thread, but am i right in thinking that you teach English as a foreign language abroad? I'm interested because it's something i am considering doing after graduation from university. For starters, how did you get into teaching abroad?

I'm not that guy, but I am teaching ESL in Japan. The biggest thing you need to have is a good grasp of English spelling and grammar. Depending on where you want to expatriate to the other things change. Like, as far as Japan and Korea go, all you need is a 4 year degree in, wait for it, anything. Obviously studying something like English, or English Linguistics, will look better than Pre-Industrial Basket Weaving. If your looking at Japan, than the two main ways people teach here are as JETS, which is a government exchange, and eikaiwa, which are private "conversation schools." The JET program is pretty good money, but you have no say where you will go, whereas with eikaiwas, there in which ever city you want. If you have any other questions, feel free to ask.

I've spoken to a post-grad who taught English with JET program. He got a posting to a small remote rural village but still loved the experience never the less. I remember him saying that they prefer it if you have a TEFL qualification, but he got on the program because of his good-record in organising sport events.

But in terms of questions, how long is the training for ESL? Do you think it's similar to other teaching English programs? Also, how long are the placements and what would you say the down-sides were?

Finally when you say four year degree i presume that's with the American university system? In England, most degrees are three years and only four if you have a years work placement or if you are studying maths or a science.

Allow me to continue the discussion as a former JET myself, now working with a different company doing essentially the same thing (PM me if you want info on that company).

I can't comment on getting the TEFL as I don't have one and am not currently in training to get one. Most programs for schools and eikaiwa in Japan don't require them, but some of the better paying ones do.

A standard placement in JET and similar programs working in schools is a renewable one-year contract. On JET, the policy states that you can work up to three years, and if you're a stellar ALT (Assistant Language Teacher), you can stay on another two years, at the discretion of the school board of the city you're placed in. But in any city I've been in that's had a JET, you're pretty much allowed to stay five years unless you screw up so bad they have to send you home early, and the only way to really do that is to break the law. One downside with JET is that their training is pretty much a four-day workshop in Tokyo when you first arrive where they pretty much just repeat the mantra "Every Situation Is Different", meaning that no two placements are alike, and ship you off to your placements, giving you little idea at all of what to expect or how to do your job. After that there may be prefectural or local training workshops throughout the year for the ALTs in the area, but those are also of little to no help. You've pretty much gotta learn on the job. The placement situation can potentially be another downside: if you don't like where you're placed on JET, you can't do anything about it unless there is a dire need for you to be moved. You will stay in your one placement for the whole time you are on JET, and without an urgent need, you are not allowed to transfer, especially not to another prefecture.
The other downside of JET that I can think of compared to other dispatch organizations/companies is the timing of your decision to stay or leave for the next year. Most JET contracts start in late July or early August, and they ask you whether you want to renew your contract for the next year in January, and you have to decide by February. This is because it takes a long time to find all the new ALTs for those who are leaving and get them ready to go. January and February are, of course, in the dead of winter, which gets people's mood down in general and if things aren't rosy otherwise in your placement, can lead to bad or premature decisions about contract renewal. I know this from my very own experience. I was only on JET for two years because this happened to me - I caught the winter blues and chose to leave, only for things to get much better with the start of the new school year in April, and soon after, I didn't want to leave anymore. I spent last summer scouring places like GaijinPot searching for other opportunities in Japan instead of jobs back home. In the end, in the name of staying in Japan, I signed on with my current company, and have been regretting that decision almost every day since then. (Again, PM me if you want to know why.)

Now, I can also comment on other benefits to choosing JET over other companies. For starters, and this is a big one, with JET, you will be working directly for the school board. I repeat, this is a big one. Most other companies will tell you that it is actually an advantage to work for them over being directly hired by the school board because the school board will abuse you. In most cases, this is patently false. You actually will likely be treated better by the school board than another company. In my case, when I was working directly for the BoE, I felt more like a full member of the staff at the school, and the school treated me that way, rather than just that guy who shows up a couple times a week and takes up a desk space. In many cases, you also have much more access to help for your daily life in Japan in those times you need it. With the company I work for now, I have to contact the company, whose closest office is in a completely different prefecture, and they will often refuse to help me. My BoE on JET had a person basically whose job it was to help us out with anything we needed, and she rarely, if ever, decided she was not going to help, and often, only after ensuring that she just could not help in the first place. I swear, the office I work for now looks for the solution that screws us employees over the most and opts for that. However, this point is definitely an Every Situation Is Different thing, and other BoEs will likely not be so helpful: keep that in mind. Lastly, JET also provides a decent Japanese language correspondence course for those who want it, in four different levels, so if you stay through four years, you can get through them all. It's helped me in my own Japanese study quite a bit, and I was thankful to have it.

Anyway, I'm sorry this is so long. If you or anyone else has more questions for me about JET or anything else relating to teaching in schools in Japan, please PM me. I may open up a Q and A thread on it if you'd like me to.

 

[Malaclemys]

What I hate about the western world is the battle against intelligence. You are born and raised in a community that teaches you to be a working robot that absorbs a bunch of information like free candy, without thinking about it in the first place. Also, I hate how everything else except Christianity and western science is regarded as mysticism, satanism, occultism and what-not, even though Hinduism and Buddhism have shown themselves to lead to real knowledge (Compare Christianity's depiction of how old the universe is against the Hindu one).

I hate how everything you don't understand is regarded to as scary, bad, stupid and gets banned.
Have you ever wondered why most psychedelic substances are forbidden, while alcohol and tobacco are still being sold, even though alcohol is one of the most dangerous drugs used for recreation (I would put it on-par with heroin, because it also makes you very dangerous to others, unlike the former)? Have you ever wondered why we needed a John Lennon to tell us things that the easterns have known for a few thousand years?

I also hate how all our languages put a border on our mind. There are things you can't explain with words. That is when I put them in musical form. Eastern languages are a bit more free in my opinion, but I still feel cornered when trying to explain a few things.

I hate capitalism and democracy, because that relies on a bunch of retards choosing the retard kings. The general mind also changes when you wave a shiny object in its face. The media is also as free as they were inside the SSSR, but silencing is a bit more silent.

I hate how people hate communism, even though they actually hate its badly-executed form (and socialism) and don't even know about the sociopolitical concept itself. Did you know that "Imagine" by John Lennon is a description of communism?

I hate how the media spreads outrageous stories, which lead to half of the population being paranoid how their baby could struggle with his bedding and get strangled in them. That's why they buy special bedding. Same as with doors, corners, plug sockets, tables, playgrounds (US playgrounds are no fun at all, but now they're "safe"). Never mind that those aren't real dangers. Never mind that your kid is a hundred times more likely to be involved in a plane crash, or a thousand times more likely to be involved in a car-accident.

I also hate what the escapist hates. Let's take something that has proven itself to be profitable and rape it until everyone hates it! Let's pay a million dollars for something that has already been done a couple of hundred times, but NO, this time, in our game, our guys will be bigger and will only be able to carry a pistol, a wrench and two grenades and will fight a horde of communists/aliens/"aliens" who have lived inside the earth/terrorists/alien terrorists/viruses/alien viruses/Al Qaeda/Al Qaeda with Osama Ben Laden being an alien.

I hate how everyone believes every bullshit thing the media says. The war heroes have died heroic deaths while "protecting the lives of innocents" and are killed by the "evil, fanatic" Muslims, while in fact, your guys were raiding a country and right before their death were flexing with their big guns and arguing about how much Arabs they're going to kill. Morals all the way!
Also, take your time to read a bit about the Qur'an. It isn't a book about fanaticism, wars and hate. It's a book of knowledge and morals, that have been misinterpreted by a shitload of people and that's the people you hate. I happen to know a bunch of Muslim believers that are a lot better than any Christian I've met.

I hate Christianity. It is completely misinterpreted. The new testament is a book about eternal love, that has been transformed into a book of hate, holy wars, arrogance and ignorance.
There's a guy called Jesus Christ who says we should love each other and stop being pricks towards what we do not understand by putting in a little effort into understanding it (the concept of eternal love) and of course the bunch of pricks in front of him say "Yeah, but they don't understand eternal love! LET'S KILL THEM!" and the little story was perfectly redacted by a greedy and hateful church.
Actually, what I just said was that I love Christianity in its essence, but hate the public interpretation.

I hate the destructive lifestyle. These people just don't care. Fancy a bit of tea? No, thank you! I'll drink a few liters of cola and then ride around in my big car, shouting profanities to everyone who tries to be reasonable. D'you want a bit of milk before bed? Nah, I'll just get ass-drunk and make my family's life miserable, thank you!

I hate your child-raising attitude. You never listen to your children. You tell them what they want, you orchestrate their life and even in their late-teens you think they know nothing of the world and you have supreme knowledge and they should just shut up. My mother raised me properly, teaching me to think for myself and asking me what I want and what I like, instead of forcing me to do things. We had arguments, but we both entered those with the mindset that we could be wrong and respected each others opinion, no matter how ignorant or free-spirited it seemed, until we both reached a conclusion.
She also let me learn by getting hurt, because that's how a real life lesson should be. There was no teen angst against my parents (or rather parent), because she was understanding. I did smoke cannabis and my mother said she didn't like it, but she wouldn't stop me unless she sees it hurts me. I stopped smoking cannabis because I lacked that "My parents don't like it, so I should be a little **** and do it, just because I'm such a big rebel" attitude and because I got tired of it - it's not THAT fun.
Also, surprise! I don't have any mental illnesses such as ADD, ADHD, psychosis, schizophrenia and what-not, and I am also emotionally, physically and spiritually stable and I believe that is because I have a proper mom, not a helicopter one. She didn't tell me when to come home or when to go to bed, that's why I didn't feel the need to disobey and did those at reasonable hours. Also, I didn't have to whine on the phone for an hour just to get a night out. I just said "I'm going to spend the night *insert something here*" and she says "Okay, do you need anything?" which doesn't lead to me abusing my freedom. I also didn't have allowance. She gave me a lot of money and let me spend it the way I like. I didn't abuse this one too. I spent the month with 50$, which included one or two meals a day, clothes and fun.
Now I love that woman still and she will never be sent to those horrible places, where they keep the senile sedated, or never let them have any fun. She's staying with me and I actually like that.
What are you like to your parents? Or what are your children like?

Yes, I do believe parenting is the biggest problem in the western world.

 

[Mr Somewhere]

I'm sorry, but this seems to be a laundry list of generalisations. Also, I take it by "Western" you mean American.

 

[thylasos]

I hate (this one is petty) how we have to add taxes onto the ticketed price, as opposed to the European system.

Oh really? I live in Europe. Same system here.

Where's that, mate? I've not seen people adding VAT at the till in continental Europe, I'm fairly sure. I've seen the price sometimes listed with and without tax, in certain situations, but not the "there's a different price from the one listed" thing that apparently happens in the US...

 

[Malaclemys]

Where's that, mate? I've not seen people adding VAT at the till in continental Europe, I'm fairly sure. I've seen the price sometimes listed with and without tax, in certain situations, but not the "there's a different price from the one listed" thing that apparently happens in the US...

In Bulgaria, we have 20% VAT, but Bulgaria should definitely not be considered an European country.

 

[mitchell271]

I hate (this one is petty) how we have to add taxes onto the ticketed price, as opposed to the European system.

Oh really? I live in Europe. Same system here.

Oh sorry. lol. thought it was all throughout Europe. I knew they had that in Italy and Germany so my bad.

 

[Vallds]

In Bulgaria, we have 20% VAT, but Bulgaria should definitely not be considered an European country.

It's on the European continent, therefore a European country no matter which way you look at it. it's part of the EU too, and that you can leave from, but not its geographical location, that be set in literal stone.

 

[I-Protest-I]

Stop making bad guys with English accents, and stop thinking we all speak like the queen I'm from bloody Yorkshire I talk like Sean bloody Bean not the queen.

 

[Malaclemys]

It's on the European continent, therefore a European country no matter which way you look at it. it's part of the EU too, and that you can leave from, but not its geographical location, that be set in literal stone.

You could be right, but if you compare Bulgaria to a modern European country you see that one gives you education, a place to live and other forms of social stability, the other takes it away from you. Not very European.
So, geographically (And we're not even talking about distribution of wealth, culture and tourism) speaking - you're right, but anything else - No. Just no.

 

[Nemu]

This is a troll post, right? Because I had to stop and actually laugh out loud for a good minute after reading "Cartoons are not for children".


Yes.

Yes they are.

Japan would like a word with you. As would South Park.

Way to omit this part of my original post:

Obviously, there are adult-themed titles/series, but all-in-all, cartoons are for kids.

 

[Nemu]

but all-in-all, cartoons are for kids.

Oh hell I'm still laughing at this post.

Just because the majority of the West sees and produces cartoons for kids, doesn't mean that cartoons are for children.

It means that we unfortunately look at them as for children.

Well, not all of the East's cartoons are aimed at adults, either. Japan and Korea produce animation for both adults and kids, but fansubbers aren't going to necessarily record and sub/dub them. They're just gonna go with stuff that is popular and going to increase viewer interest and participation, it just so happens taht the popular stuff is the stuff that airs later in the afternoon/evening (when teenagers and adults are home and able to watch tv)..

I assure you, I'm not begrudging your interest in either as I am fanatical in my devotion in both toons and games. Your OP basically focused two small facets of western culture (while naming a scant few others), so I found it hard to take it as a "rant" about western culture as a whole, more like either a troll attempt, or that of a person who's rather involved in said small culture in Japan and taking from the country some of it's best cultural facets while ignoring others (you know, like the whole "women are still regarded as second-class", et al).

Still, cool discussion. I enjoy spirited dialogue that inspires more than a 3 word reply. :B

 

[Nickolai77]

*snap*

Wow, thank you for that very detailed response! I think i'll save your post to my computer for later reflection. I suppose my final and last question would be about entry requirements. This former JET i spoke to said that they prefer it if you have a TEFL qualification, but you can still get in without one. He thinks he got past the interview because he had a good record in organising sports for kids. I don't have such (recent) experience on my CV, but i'm thinking of trying to get a two week placement in a local school after my summer exams next year, which should be adequate enough. So, what kind of entry requirements do you need for JET and perhaps other teaching English abroad programs?

You may as well PM me back, since this is waay of off-topic.

I may create a thread at a later date asking about teaching English abroad, there seems to be a few Escapists whom do it.

Thanks again!

 

[cdstephens]

It would seem you are engaging in a little bit of East-worship, after all.

Absolutely not. And I shouldn't even have to explain this since my topic said it's "little things about Western culture that annoy you" and a preface that I am not bashing any cultures, obviously, because I said "little things". It's disappointing that a person can't even dislike the littlest things about Western culture or not find them utterly superior to some aspect of Asian culture without people rushing to the defense of the West on the smallest, most insignificant things. This is honestly comparable to someone saying "Little things about New York that annoy you".

I shouldn't have to do this, and I'm sad that I do. But it looks like I'm going to have to anyway since people apparently can't accept the idea that the West isn't superior in every single tiny, insignificant way. I personally like the West overall better than the East. Just my personal taste perhaps. But while the West has "white privilege", the East has Asian privilege. In fact the East is probably more racist than the West. Then there's that whole problem of "shame culture" in the Sinosphere that makes people afraid to be themselves. In Japan it's called "Tatemae and Honne", but it exists to some degree in all Confucian cultures. This has led to huge amounts of shut-ins and suicides. And a general unhealthy fixation with normality and false "harmony". Many big parts of Asian culture are absolutely suffocating. And I realize the parts of Asian culture I like bigger are overall, little, I wish other people would do the same and not rush to the defense of the West over petty, trivial things like they're important. Also, I don't know why I'm feeding these posts either, since not everybody is taking issue with the thread and just sharing their little gripes, too. This thread has a healthy life of it's own now and I'm not helping it with these silly walls of text.

Look, like I've stated before, I could have just as easily made this same topic about the East. Except without the "little" part, because my gripes with Eastern culture are much bigger overall are much bigger than the West. And I'm quite grateful that I live in the West. But apparently that's not enough for some people, you have to like every little meaningless thing about the West. I guess that's another thing that annoys me about the West, then. Or maybe that's the internet. Do I seriously, seriously need an Eastern version of this topic for people to shut up about this?

I also appreciate the fact that people here think things like, "the East and West don't truly exist". But do you people also not use terms like jRPG and wRPG? Because if you believe this, you should also believe that terms like "jRPG" and "wRPG" are silly terms to describe games.

Except you're directly stating that Eastern culture is better in regards to these little things than Western (or should I just say American, since that's all you ever talk about) culture, which in some cases are blatantly false. You're not just criticizing, you're saying that one place does it better than another, and many of the ones you do complain about that you don't say the East does better is grounded in false logic, like this one: "Places being closed on Sunday. Christianity, this is your fault. Seriously, don't disable one day of the week just because of one silly mythological book that was written in the desert while their brains were frying from the heat. People have days of rest, it's called whatever day of the week they desire."

If you're going to come in here and say that another culture does certain things better than our culture AND say that our culture sucks in those certain things, expect some flak.

Are you serious? We're the only one with disproportionate characters?

Absolutely not. I said nothing like that. There is a such thing as different cultures in the world. You ever heard reviewers out there deride jRPGs for not being "manly" enough have having too much androgyny?

They're wrong that there's something wrong with androgyny and that jRPGs need to be "manlier" like wRPGs. But they are right that Asian media has a greater tendency towards androgyny.

Surely you have come across these reviewers that say Asian media has a greater tendency towards androgyny while the West has a greater tendency toward manliness and curvaceous characters. They're common in the video game industry.

Tell that to Dead or Alive, Street Fighter, Soul Caliber, and every single Japanese hentai site on the internet.

http://www.hdwallpapers.com/photo/Anime_pictures/Dead_or_Alive_kasumi

Male Japanese characters can be a lot more androgynous and a lot less manly, but female Japanese characters are developed with the exact same fixations as Western characters are.

Also, I'll just leave this here: http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/FanService/VideoGames

 

[Tiger Sora]

Christian religious nuts, political correctness and rap. Some of the worst things to come out of just America itself.

Really glad I was born in Canada. We seem so much different than America, yet the same. Were the non-asshole brother. The kind that holds the door open for strangers, or helps the little old lady across the way.

And western cartoons...... much like the republican party. A big fat white guy riding an elephant afraid to change. One day the ways will change, we'll be more like Japan, but doing the animation in our own style. But for now..... at least I and others have MLP FIM.