badboybubby wrote:captain with all due respect i can see how the idea of "educating the populace (locals) to have more humanity" could get you in trouble...it comes across as somewhat arrogant and 'colonial'...

i'm not saying that that's how you mean it, it just comes across like that...

I know it sounds that way but on the contrary my friend I'm full of good intentions and only wish nothing but the best for these people. Thanks for the heads up

Captain Steve Rogers wrote:

badboybubby wrote:captain with all due respect i can see how the idea of "educating the populace (locals) to have more humanity" could get you in trouble...it comes across as somewhat arrogant and 'colonial'...

i'm not saying that that's how you mean it, it just comes across like that...

I know it sounds that way but on the contrary my friend I'm full of good intentions and only wish nothing but the best for these people. Thanks for the heads up

It might be good to express how it's different to how it sounds. A big focus in Christian circles at the moment is "lose the hero complex" for anyone working overseas. Basically if you're not coming with a 'servants heart' you need to check your motivations...

StroppyChops wrote:

Captain Steve Rogers wrote:

badboybubby wrote:captain with all due respect i can see how the idea of "educating the populace (locals) to have more humanity" could get you in trouble...it comes across as somewhat arrogant and 'colonial'...

i'm not saying that that's how you mean it, it just comes across like that...

I know it sounds that way but on the contrary my friend I'm full of good intentions and only wish nothing but the best for these people. Thanks for the heads up

It might be good to express how it's different to how it sounds. A big focus in Christian circles at the moment is "lose the hero complex" for anyone working overseas. Basically if you're not coming with a 'servants heart' you need to check your motivations...

Agreed, and I think anyone working in the education or development sector in a third world setting needs some cultural orientation and an understanding of the decolonialisation process, in order not to behave like a 19th Century missionary. Unfortunately the "Captian"does come across as having a colonialist mentality with a belief in the superiority of his own culture and a desire to impose this unreflexively on "the natives". Without insight and understanding, good intentions are insufficient. As we all know "The road to hell is paved with good intentions"

Below is a cut and paste re a similar discussion I posted on 440 a couple of months ago.

Captain America wrote:

Dengued wrote:Happy Bhudda, telesales, splinter, captain america and very likely a couple i've missed, keep up the good work.

Thanks Dengue! just trying to do everything I can to educate Cambodia into having a little bit more common sense while trying to show them more human traits like humility, less arrogance, selflessness, honesty, and positive thinking just to name a few

Glad you are taking up the "white mans burden"



Western Intervention and The Colonial Mindset
Colonisation of language is at work everywhere, amongst highly educated populations, but is peculiarly virulent in colonial culture. ‘The West’, that self-styled epitome of advanced civilisation, energetically reinvents its own history, to perpetuate the colonial mindset.

Writers such as Fanon and Freire pointed out that colonised peoples experience psychological damage and need to ‘decolonise’ their minds, so as to become less deferential to imperial culture and to affirm more the values of their own cultures. The other side to that is the colonial legacy on imperial cultures. Western peoples maintain their own culture as central, if not universal, and have difficulty listening to or learning from other cultures. Changing this requires some effort.

Imperial culture also conditions the humanitarian aid industry. Ideological pressure comes not just from the development banks but also the NGO sector, which maintains a powerful sense of mission, even a ‘saviour complex’ about its relations with the rest of the world. While ‘development cooperation’ may have once included ideas of compensation for colonial rule, or assistance during a transition to independence, today it has become a $100 billion a year industry, with decision making firmly in the hands of western financial agencies.

Quite apart from the dysfunction of many aid programs, this industry is deeply undemocratic, with powerful colonial overtones. Yet many western aid workers really believe they can ‘save’ the poor peoples of the world. That cultural impact is deep. Aid agencies not only seek to determine economic policy, they often intervene in political and even constitutional processes. This is done in the name of ‘good governance’, anti-corruption or ‘democracy strengthening’. Regardless of the problems of local bodies, it is rarely admitted that foreign aid agencies are the least democratic players of all.

http://www.globalresearch.ca/western-in ... et/5425633

John Bingham wrote:

Samouth wrote:This thread is too long to read to understand more about khmer 440. However i am wondering if this is true, at khmer 440 every threads involving local/khmer, posters tend to look down us?

I don't agree. There have been Cambodian posters on there for many years, there are at least 3 who still post regularly. Anyone who keeps "looking down" on Khmers will be called out for it. Some of the worst offenders have migrated to this site.

And some are still there. As you know, many look down on Khmers yet pretend to be ambivalent, after all they're making a lot of money out of them. To suggest that no one on 440 looks down on Khmers is a joke. Search for the term 'rice-wogs', for example. You conveniently forgot to mention that.

In my opinion, someone may pay lip service to Khmer culture, but he/she may continue to rip off Cambodia to fill his/her pockets. Why is that deemed acceptable? Actions are more respectable than words.

The colonial attitude is very present in some posters on both sites, imo, let's be fair..

John Bingham wrote:

Samouth wrote:This thread is too long to read to understand more about khmer 440. However i am wondering if this is true, at khmer 440 every threads involving local/khmer, posters tend to look down us?

I don't agree. There have been Cambodian posters on there for many years, there are at least 3 who still post regularly. Anyone who keeps "looking down" on Khmers will be called out for it. Some of the worst offenders have migrated to this site.

3 local posters in over 10 years - Wowser, that is progress.

Some of the worst offenders have migrated to this site.

Agreed.

John Bingham wrote:Some of the worst offenders have migrated to this site.

Yes, haven't they though. And then they pick up and continue the same conversations, animosity and bigotry for which others chose to leave 440.

The Captain has unwisely left unasked,

How, specifically should I change in order to be more successful ?