East Vs West

"We are not living in a western country, DO NOT follow the western cultures. We DO NOT believe in boy-girl relationships. WE ARE ASIAN" - Ms. Lina, Head Discipline Teacher of Catholic High School.

When it comes to this comparison with western ideals versus eastern ideals i can't help thinking how behind the older generation is. My school is a perfect example of a constant struggle against the inevitable progression of the younger generation to a more liberal status. Our school's disciplinarian board has even gone to such extents as to banning "fancy" glasses. Not only are there imposing a rule on a practical necessity of many visually challenged individuals, they PURPOSELY give a vague guideline - "Fancy". Leaving the new rule as subjective as possible so that whenever they fancy, they decide what is "fancy".

The misconception of the older generation is this:

Eastern culture is NOT imitating Western culture
Eastern culture is EVOLVING


To prove this point, i shall elaborate the two things that older generation think the younger generation is imitating:

Fashion & Freedom

So what is the view of the older generation in regards to freedom? Well, they view our open-minded and rebellious nature as ill traits cultivated by western media. However they could not be more wrong. Moving towards liberality is only natural to a civilization's progression. Look at societies that are now considered to be open-minded such as britain or america, do you think they were always that way? No, have you forgotten such battles as the right to vote for women. In the olden times relationships between young individuals were deemed dastardly and unthought of. If a father were to catch a young man with his daughter late at night, he'd just pull out his rifle and shoot him!

Even in our own society itself we can see that we are way more open than we were in the old days. At least more parents now are willing to consider letting their children out for parties and outings. Our step towards a more open-minded society regarding relationships and such is but an evitable step to a more modern culture. Just like how our chinese ancestors abadones their feudal pigtails.

Then there's fashion. Now i really don't understand how they can relate asian fashion to western fashion. In the eyes of asians, the in fashion would be the "la la" or "ah beng" style (which i highly detest). Nonetheless, the so called most fashionable characters of western media are a far cry from ANYThING lala. Perhaps you may argue that letting your pants down low is an imitation of the gay american singers (boyzone), but that is as far as the similarities go. And what be it of a simple simliarity, the reason for the modernization of the human race itself is because it is a shared imitation of different facets. Such as how English is derived from many languages, such as how a simple photocopying machine has over a hundred patents.


A message to the older generation:

Accept it.