What do Asians think of Westerners?

phuketrichard · Post by **phuketrichard** » Fri May 22, 2015 10:20 am

prehaps reword it
how do you as a Barang think asians feel about us Barangs?

LOL

MekongMouse · Post by **MekongMouse** » Fri May 22, 2015 10:23 am

phuketrichard wrote:prehaps reword it
how do you as a Barang think asians feel about us Barangs?

LOL

He feels they overcharge him and steal from him. Isn't that what this thread is about, jsp?

phuketrichard · Post by **phuketrichard** » Fri May 22, 2015 10:31 am

i'll answer for Thailand, Cambodia

They think we are rich an crazy
why else would someone from a rich country come live here?

They know we will NEVER stay but will return home one day

and to all you that really believe if u speak the language will be more accepted..
nice pipe dream
Yea its nice to converse with them but ......

and to those that try and assumulate into their culture by acting more like them, ( wearing sarongs, driving a samlor etc etc) their fucking laughing at you wondering what the fuck is wrong with you.

You are who you are, dont try an be someone else.

Satiated Parrot · Post by **Satiated Parrot** » Fri May 22, 2015 10:40 am

phuketrichard wrote:i'll answer for Thailand, Cambodia

They think we are rich an crazy
why else would someone from a rich country come live here?

They know we will NEVER stay but will return home one day

and to all you that really believe if u speak the language will be more accepted..
nice pipe dream
Yea its nice to converse with them but ......

and to those that try and assumulate into their culture by acting more like them, ( wearing sarongs, driving a samlor etc etc) their fucking laughing at you wondering what the fuck is wrong with you.

You are who you are, dont try an be someone else.

I think that's true. And I don't think there's anything wrong with not being accepted as a local. Most non-white immigrants to the west aren't really accepted as locals, even when they're born there. I think the real locals (in both situations) are more concerned about whether you accept and respect their ways and allow their ways to take precedence.

Edit: I want to explain this a bit further. Richard's sarong point was spot on. They don't understand why a westerner would adopt their ways if we didn't need to or want to. For example, they wouldn't like it if you called their food 'disgusting' but would find you weird if you ate at cheap street stalls every night.

John Bingham · Post by **John Bingham** » Fri May 22, 2015 10:47 am

The thread title is misleading. It should be "Do you agree that Asians are all evil cheats?"
If you don't agree you are obviously wrong and in denial, and probably part of a conspiracy to cheat the OP even more.

Rain Dog · Post by **Rain Dog** » Fri May 22, 2015 11:31 am

John Bingham wrote:The thread title is misleading. It should be "Do you agree that Asians are all evil cheats?"
If you don't agree you are obviously wrong and in denial, and probably part of a conspiracy to cheat the OP even more.

Your stalking of SCC/JSP ---- and to a lesser degree myself has really become outright creepy.

Can't you just let a thread take it's course, without misrepresenting what was said?

Pandering for some back-slaps I take it.

juansweetpotato · Post by **juansweetpotato** » Fri May 22, 2015 11:34 am

Rain Dog wrote:
juansweetpotato wrote:OK so lets not generalize as no one ever does that. Its just not human. I think what you are saying is that if people are viewed as a group it isn't accurate, but if one takes a person out of the group and has personal contact with them , their view changes. Hmmmm.
I think you are forgetting the impact of media.
If you don't want to share your views that's OK, but for me this is not only an interesting topic, but could well be a life saver in the not too distant future.
No -- I am not talking about generalizing regarding the Target (in this case "Westerners") I am saying that Asia is far too diverse to lump everyone together and then expect to have a coherent discussion about "What they think".

I think if you go to Sapporo, Shanghai, Singapore, and Sihanoukville you might find widely divergent views about "Westerners" and those views will be further split by age, social status, and amount of personal contact they have actually had with westerners.

BTW, FWIW I think our Cambodian Participants here have already started a thread on how they think Cambodians view Barang.

In my experience, 20 years in SEA, the only consistent theme as to seeing how we are viewed is that we are more "Free, Open, and Expressive" while they feel more restrained by societal expectations. How that is processed depends on the individual's own worldview. Some "admiring" our ability and freedom to express ourselves --- Others resenting what they see as "Boorish Behavior" on our part and lacking in traditional Confucian values.

Genuine question. If a Cambodian person wanted to learn about "Westerners" and relied solely on reading K440 to form their opinion, what do you think they would conclude?

Cheers,

RD

Good post . Just want to pick up on your last sentence:

Genuine question. If a Cambodian person wanted to learn about "Westerners" and relied solely on reading K440 to form their opinion, what do you think they would conclude?

Genuine question. If a Cambodian person wanted to learn about "Westerners" and relied solely on reading/ watching Asian media to form their opinion, what do you think they would conclude?
That's really what this thread is about. Especially when dealing with Cambodia as we are headed for another contentious period in Cambodian history. Not only that, but in world history too.

Samouth · Post by **Samouth** » Fri May 22, 2015 11:43 am

I read all the comments and declined to give my takes on this as the topic is really broad. It would be better it the op narrowed it down to specifically focus on how Cambodian thinks about Westerners. However, the answers would be still diverse as different Cambodians have different perspectives on and experiences with Westerners.

I have no problem with you guys saying the majority of Cambodian thought all white people are rich, because it is true. I think the stereotype stemmed from the lack of knowledge about and interaction with them (Westerner). According to my experience i thought say you guys are just like us, there are poor and rich people.

To be honest, most of my friends are foreigners and i have more interactions and hanging out with them than i do with my Cambodian friends. i find it so easy to hang out with Westerner comparing with Cambodian. Culture different is not a big deal at all, i try to adopt theirs and they do the same thing, so we finally managed to come to the point where we can get along with each other well. What i like the most of Westerner is that they don't really take thing seriously and i feel so close with them. We eat and drink together and sometime they ate my leftover foods ( My Cambodian friend will never do that). They respect and give me more value than the majority of Cambodian i know. It is great as most of people i know hate discrimination and racism.

Rain Dog · Post by **Rain Dog** » Fri May 22, 2015 11:45 am

juansweetpotato wrote:
Rain Dog wrote:
juansweetpotato wrote:OK so lets not generalize as no one ever does that. Its just not human. I think what you are saying is that if people are viewed as a group it isn't accurate, but if one takes a person out of the group and has personal contact with them , their view changes. Hmmmm.
I think you are forgetting the impact of media.
If you don't want to share your views that's OK, but for me this is not only an interesting topic, but could well be a life saver in the not too distant future.
No -- I am not talking about generalizing regarding the Target (in this case "Westerners") I am saying that Asia is far too diverse to lump everyone together and then expect to have a coherent discussion about "What they think".

I think if you go to Sapporo, Shanghai, Singapore, and Sihanoukville you might find widely divergent views about "Westerners" and those views will be further split by age, social status, and amount of personal contact they have actually had with westerners.

BTW, FWIW I think our Cambodian Participants here have already started a thread on how they think Cambodians view Barang.

In my experience, 20 years in SEA, the only consistent theme as to seeing how we are viewed is that we are more "Free, Open, and Expressive" while they feel more restrained by societal expectations. How that is processed depends on the individual's own worldview. Some "admiring" our ability and freedom to express ourselves --- Others resenting what they see as "Boorish Behavior" on our part and lacking in traditional Confucian values.

Genuine question. If a Cambodian person wanted to learn about "Westerners" and relied solely on reading K440 to form their opinion, what do you think they would conclude?

Cheers,

RD
Good post . Just want to pick up on your last sentence:
Genuine question. If a Cambodian person wanted to learn about "Westerners" and relied solely on reading K440 to form their opinion, what do you think they would conclude?
Genuine question. If a Cambodian person wanted to learn about "Westerners" and relied solely on reading/ watching Asian media to form their opinion, what do you think they would conclude?
That's really what this thread is about. Especially when dealing with Cambodia as we are headed for another contentious period in Cambodian history. Someone was telling me every 40 years.

I think the media here is very sensationalistic and negative ---- but equally for Khmers and Westerners. I doubt local Khmer News has much impact in cities where westerners already live. Maybe in some villages where nobody has seem a westerner before.

In Phnom Penh for example (where there are a lot of Westerners) I think people would more likely form their views based on interactions and observations but overlaid on whatever pre-existing biases they might have.

Keep in mind the very word Farang/Barang --- implies "Foreign, alien, different" ... I am not sure a lot of people do a lot of cognitive processing about race stereotypes beyond that.

Cheers,

RD

juansweetpotato · Post by **juansweetpotato** » Fri May 22, 2015 11:53 am

Samouth wrote:I read all the comments and declined to give my takes on this as the topic is really broad. It would be better it the op narrowed it down to specifically focus on how Cambodian thinks about Westerners. However, the answers would be still diverse as different Cambodians have different perspectives on and experiences with Westerners.

I have no problem with you guys saying the majority of Cambodian thought all white people are rich, because it is true. I think the stereotype stemmed from the lack of knowledge about and intersection with them (Westerner). According to my experience i thought say you guys are just like us, there are poor and rich people.

To be honest, most of my friends are foreigners and i have more interactions and hanging out with them than i do with my Cambodian friends. i find it so easy to hang out with Westerner comparing with Cambodian. Culture different is not a big deal at all, i try to adopt theirs and they do the same thing, so we finally managed to come to the point where we can get along with each other well. What i like the most of Westerner is that they don't really take thing seriously and i feel so close with them. We eat and drink together and sometime they ate my leftover foods ( My Cambodian friend will never do that). They respect and give me more value than the majority of Cambodian i know. It is great as most of people i know hate discrimination and racism.

Wow, thanks Samouth.

To be honest, most of my friends are foreigners and i have more interactions and hanging out with them than i do with my Cambodian friends. i find it so easy to hang out with Westerner comparing with Cambodian. Culture different is not a big deal at all, i try to adopt theirs and they do the same thing, so we finally managed to come to the point where we can get along with each other well. What i like the most of Westerner is that they don't really take thing seriously and i feel so close with them. We eat and drink together and sometime they ate my leftover foods ( My Cambodian friend will never do that). They respect and give me more value than the majority of Cambodian i know. It is great as most of people i know hate discrimination and racism.

My Cambodian friend will never do that
Going slightly off topic here, but I always wondered why the street kids in Cambodia will eat the left overs off a tourists plate. I haven't seen them do it with a Cambodian's left overs. And I have never seen it in any other culture I have visited (India, Sub S Africa, Morocco, Egypt, Sri Lanka, Mexico, Guatemala, Honduras, El Salvador etc etc..) It has always made me wonder. I first saw it in 2002 in SNVL and surprisingly also saw it the other day when a street kid wanted my Pork Rice leftovers on 136. ?

Great Post Samouth, but what I really want to get at here, is what are they saying in the media (TV, radio, newspapers etc) about westerners?

What do Asians think of Westerners?

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