From: mkagalen@lynx.dac.northeastern.edu (michael kagalenko)
Subject: Re: Russian Speakers in Estonia
Organization: Northeastern University, Boston, MA. 02115, USA
Date: Mon, 4 Jan 1993 00:11:37 GMT

In article <Jan.3.14.54.15.1993.26935@pilot.njin.net> hubey@pilot.njin.net (Hubey) writes:
>In article <Sorokin.41.726070743@ps1.iaee.tuwien.ac.at> Sorokin@ps1.iaee.tuwien.ac.at (Sorokin Zhenya) writes:
>
>
>
>> Referring to *asiatic* was NOT insulting. My father is a professor for 
>> Chinese literature (ancient and modern), hence my respect to asiatic culture 
>> is very high. However, there are big differences in life order in european, 
>> islamic and far-eastern societies. 
>
>Well, I guess what I was pointing out was that the word 'asiatic'
>like negro, and nigger is insulting. A better term is simply
>'asian' like 'european'. And yes, there are differences among
>cultures.                       ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^

And in the following passage :


>> In "asiatic" sense, law is personified by the boss.
>
>I've seen this written in a few places by purported scholars. When
>I said something like "Traditionally the Confucian system just accepts
>the authority in power." --which I got from a book written by a
>Western scholar--the retort was; "How is that much different than
>most people in any country?"
>
>Most people accept the 'boss' in every country. The ideals
>enshrined, somewhat romantically, that only in the West do we
>see people fighting injustice and oppression is a silly myth and
>and insult. There have been plenty of revolts in plenty of countries
>against their rulers spanning millenia.


So, there is NO differnce among cultures, according to you ! 

>
>This is in keeping with the 'asiatic despotism' attitude. This 
>idea is passe among most clear thinkers. 
                          ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
Do you belong to them ? ;-)

>The 'age of enlightenment'
>was the primary motivation for this myth. And the real reason
>for it was probably to try to lift the tyranny of dogmatic
>religion.


>> As a result, corruption is considered both immoral and illegal in modern 
>> western societies, whereas it is simply a part of the way of life (i.e. 
>> moral) and to some extent even legal in "asiatic" culture. 
>> To see it quantitatively, just mention what a big class in western countries 
>> all sorts of lawers are. The same profession is almost absent in "asiatic" 
>> societies. 
>
>Corruption is corruption everywhere. I think these attitudes displayed
>above are an example of what I'm talking about. If you post this to
>soc.culture.asian, you might get roasted :-).. Corruption exists
>everywhere, and is tolerated just like cancer.

So in America cancer is tolerated ? That's funny ! I used to think that 
many people are fighting to get rid of it. 


>This observation might be correct but neither the implications nor
>the basis for it (which you've described above) are correct.
>
>It's difficult to really understand what causes these Life-Cycles of
>nations and how they come to that state. The earliest attempt
>at explanation comes from Ibn Khaldun who advocates a kind
>of Life-Cycle Theory of Nations. Ayn Rand tried to explain this
>similarly by postulating a three-type-class society; and the 
>latest along those lines is the work of an Indian philosopher
>who posits a four-division system and a cyclical life cycle.
>
>They're all interesting reading. At least they're a good
>antidote to the 'asiatic mind' type of pseudo science as
                ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
>practiced by some purported scientists in the west. There
>are more books that can be read on the subject.

It is true, that type of society usually referred to as
"asiatic" may be better (in certain cases) for the development of 
mind & culture, than western - type society. (Therfore previous passage 
is irrelevant; you're saying that there're a lot of great thinkers in
the east - that's correct. "Ex oriente lux". But you're posting that
fact as a counterargument to the statement, that asian society has
different attitude toward law - & this is absurd)