tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10698887.post2312861849545748315..comments2023-10-22T18:25:39.688+08:00Comments on The View from Taiwan: Please Stop This Type of Ethnocentric ReportingMichael Turtonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17974403961870976346noreply@blogger.comBlogger22125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10698887.post-68447645077701948052011-03-09T11:59:09.622+08:002011-03-09T11:59:09.622+08:00"Think how badly they dropped the ball on Sco..."Think how badly they dropped the ball on Scott Walker. 168 stories in the New York Times on Christine Odonnell(sp?) but only 8 on Scott Walker who pretty much said in advance what he was planning to do."<br /><br />Have you missed the analysis showing that he, in fact, NEVER once said he was going to try and bust the unions by revoking collective bargaining rights. He is now claiming that he had been saying he would all along, but this is itself a lie being repeated uncritically by many sources.Roy Bermanhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02404504492160833658noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10698887.post-55670669663643780612011-03-04T15:56:00.354+08:002011-03-04T15:56:00.354+08:00"Hawaiian priests who bless the missiles befo..."Hawaiian priests who bless the missiles before a THAAD test"<br /><br />We do that? Insane.<br /><br />I think the reporter could have researched to make sure the West didn't do such stuff...its one thing to have some weird people in Oklahoma blessing cars, but missiles?????<br /><br />Red AAnonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10698887.post-69293791931088334202011-03-01T15:59:19.180+08:002011-03-01T15:59:19.180+08:00[b]I dont think so. This is an old trope in wester...[b]I dont think so. This is an old trope in westerners writing on the Orient.[/b]<br /><br />Reporters don't really know there subjects. Michael Crichton had an interesting name and idea for this. You read an article about something you know a lot about and see how badly the reporter got it wrong, but then you read the rest of the newspaper and believe what they write as fact. There's a reason that an industry that used to enjoy 20+% profit margins and huge influence is going through a massive downsizing and degradation of it's influence and product. <br /><br />Think how badly they dropped the ball on Scott Walker. 168 stories in the New York Times on Christine Odonnell(sp?) but only 8 on Scott Walker who pretty much said in advance what he was planning to do. While conservatives and tea partiers didn't like the mess that came out after Odonnell's campaign, they also realize that without her a lot of republicans would of lost due to an effective use of media influence on their campaigns.Okaminoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10698887.post-50111656934371207392011-03-01T13:35:35.562+08:002011-03-01T13:35:35.562+08:00To put it in an analogy, It's like a person af...<b>To put it in an analogy, It's like a person after a US presidential election not knowing anyone who voted for the other candidate and expressing surprise that the other candidate won over theirs.</b><br /><br />I dont think so. This is an old trope in westerners writing on the Orient.Michael Turtonhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17974403961870976346noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10698887.post-257235422558555752011-03-01T12:58:02.998+08:002011-03-01T12:58:02.998+08:00My favorite illustration of myth vs. reality is ta...My favorite illustration of myth vs. reality is taken from the tsunami that surged across the Indian Ocean a while back.<br /><br />Western tourists stood on the shores of Thailand's resorts marveling at the curious phenomenon of the receding sea. Their "scientific" curiosity (or the need to "experience" things) was repaid with death, since most didn't know what a receding sea meant.<br /><br />Meanwhile, down the coast in Southern Thailand, the elders of an indigenous tribe observed the same phenomenon, which caused them to recall their traditional myth of the "angry sea" that swallows people. Those folks hightailed it to the hills--with only one death among their population--a young person who didn't believe that "old story.".Marcnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10698887.post-2713241971973525872011-03-01T12:19:20.401+08:002011-03-01T12:19:20.401+08:00I don't know of any faith based view that I ho...I don't know of any faith based view that I hold.<br /><br />I don't know any way to determine how one supernatural view is less nonsensical than another. Do you?Michael Turtonhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17974403961870976346noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10698887.post-981900139761301502011-03-01T12:10:25.772+08:002011-03-01T12:10:25.772+08:00I think you are overblowing this. Knowing AP/AFP w...I think you are overblowing this. Knowing AP/AFP writers(I abhor the title journalists for them), none of them actually know religious(Christian, Muslim, Hindu, Jewish) people. Reporters tend to be an atheistic bunch.<br /><br />To put it in an analogy, It's like a person after a US presidential election not knowing anyone who voted for the other candidate and expressing surprise that the other candidate won over theirs.Okaminoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10698887.post-6983792605942316552011-03-01T10:48:20.355+08:002011-03-01T10:48:20.355+08:00I think you take your point a bit far, Michael. E...I think you take your point a bit far, Michael. Even if we accept that religions are based in murk and falsehood, that doesn't take us to 'All supernatural beliefs are <i>equally</i> nonsense.' Athiests hold faith-based views too--and while an unapologetic heathen meself, I am concerned enough for my neighbors' feelings so as not to immediately launch into the 'stupid shit' variety of rhetoric. (I seek to convert you, bro.)Gavin Sullivanhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15612234548832060875noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10698887.post-75774786020883377342011-03-01T10:15:27.680+08:002011-03-01T10:15:27.680+08:00Well said Michael!!!Well said Michael!!!Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10698887.post-7206544496409603312011-03-01T09:31:29.272+08:002011-03-01T09:31:29.272+08:00Anon, a small segment of Christianity opposed slav...Anon, a small segment of Christianity opposed slavery rather recently in history. The mainstream denominations all supported it.<br /><br />Chinese temples perform all sorts of community functions, including funding scholarships, providing relief in emergencies, providing educational programs, acting as community and political centers, commenting on public policy, etc. You don't see that because you are not part of that.<br /><br />But all of that has absolutely nothing to do with the point of my post, which is that it is purely ethnocentric to engage in "Othering" of Asians for believing in superstitions when westerners believe and do the same stupid shit. It is hard for me to see how a Shinto priest blessing a bullet train is any different from the Hawaiian priests who bless the missiles before a THAAD test or an Anglican priest blessing a stadium. It's hard for me to see how believing in Feng Shui is any different than believing that prayer works, especially since I come from a culture where 40% of the population holds the lunatic belief that the earth was created by a Canaanite sky god less than 10,000 years ago. No educated Asian culture believes anything as completely stupid as that!<br /><br />All supernatural beliefs are equally nonsense. Wouldn't it be better to stop writing from the point of view that "we have religion, they have superstition?" Especially when you're the media.Michael Turtonhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17974403961870976346noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10698887.post-24227848213029089312011-03-01T09:04:41.671+08:002011-03-01T09:04:41.671+08:00Judaism and Christianity do a lot of charity work....Judaism and Christianity do a lot of charity work. They have founded numerous hospitals and universities (including the first ones in Taiwan). Despite scandals, they have a strong ethical component, as manifest for example in the anti-slavery movement. As far as I can tell, neither Daoism nor the Chinese folk religion has any positive aspect (other than cultural interest) to compensate for all the superstition: do such-and-such in order to get such-and-such. Sure, Christianity has stuff like this in it too, but the ratio is much better. (Buddhism seems somewhere in the middle.) <br /><br />Think of it this way: if none of these religions were true, then many aspects of Judaism and Christianity would still be worthwhile. It is hard to see how that could be true of Daoism or the Chinese folk religion. But perhaps posters here can suggest benefits that I've overlooked.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10698887.post-46563150015107647062011-03-01T08:46:39.026+08:002011-03-01T08:46:39.026+08:00Dammit, that's like the third time I did that ...Dammit, that's like the third time I did that too.Michael Turtonhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17974403961870976346noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10698887.post-65594590479457786722011-03-01T07:05:09.722+08:002011-03-01T07:05:09.722+08:00Thanks, FOARP. I'll have to turn on the light ...Thanks, FOARP. I'll have to turn on the light when I read the newspaper....Michael Turtonhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17974403961870976346noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10698887.post-75971104422007313042011-03-01T06:15:30.163+08:002011-03-01T06:15:30.163+08:00oh, one extra quibble - the report is an AFP one, ...oh, one extra quibble - the report is an AFP one, not AP.Gilman Grundyhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06607416440240634159noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10698887.post-16646397199810961642011-03-01T06:04:34.240+08:002011-03-01T06:04:34.240+08:00But then I guess this piece was acceptable to the ...But then I guess this piece was acceptable to the editors at TT because it was written by someone of apparently Asian descent and therefore could not possibly be construed as racist.The fact that it might have been stupid does not seem to have crossed their minds.Gilman Grundyhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06607416440240634159noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10698887.post-46943305249002325622011-03-01T06:01:08.229+08:002011-03-01T06:01:08.229+08:00In my own home town a ceremony is held every year ...In my own home town a ceremony is held every year to bless the fishing boats. The men of the town then compete against the neighbouring village to pull boats along the village green. If we don't do this, the boats will all sink and the town will be punished with flooding.<br /><br />But then that's a religion, not a superstition . . .Gilman Grundyhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06607416440240634159noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10698887.post-39092983599973546122011-03-01T05:22:15.866+08:002011-03-01T05:22:15.866+08:00Well said!Well said!Nickhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10677813136697724099noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10698887.post-44326697281166135462011-03-01T03:16:51.691+08:002011-03-01T03:16:51.691+08:00At least your local Anglican is only sucking the c...At least your local Anglican is only sucking the cash from the pious and isn't poisoning the otherwise-innocent with the burning of carcinogenic paper...<br /><br />Otherwise... all these dolts need to be properly schooled in logic and critical thinking ;)lesnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10698887.post-79767736313606359552011-03-01T03:16:02.225+08:002011-03-01T03:16:02.225+08:00In a further effort to mitigate the scourge of eth...In a further effort to mitigate the scourge of ethnocentrism, I call upon Chinese to begin calling their country "<i>Yi</i> Guo"--"<i>a</i> country" as a replacement for the woefully ethnocentric "<i><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Chinaimg.png" rel="nofollow">Zhong</a></i> Guo".Gavin Sullivanhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15612234548832060875noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10698887.post-53997482111242110522011-03-01T01:22:15.757+08:002011-03-01T01:22:15.757+08:00Chairman Mao and John Lennon would agree with you...Chairman Mao and John Lennon would agree with your views Mike!<br /><br />No ReAnonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10698887.post-27795158332005577972011-03-01T00:32:00.321+08:002011-03-01T00:32:00.321+08:00Get yourself right with the Flying Spaghetti Monst...Get yourself right with the Flying Spaghetti Monster, Mr. Turton, lest his noodly appendage overlook you come the End Of Days!Jasonnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10698887.post-83136168393945293712011-02-28T23:13:38.512+08:002011-02-28T23:13:38.512+08:00This comment has been removed by the author.Anonymoushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15907060405795620941noreply@blogger.com