All the authors observations ring true, and they all stem from one simple fact: China was a very poor country just forty years ago, and even today is only a middle income country.
The uncomfortable truth is a lot of the things westerners take for granted are, in fact, luxuries. Arts and creativity is a luxury. Freedom to pursue passion is a luxury. Compassion is a luxury. Self-esteem is a luxury. If you barely have enough food to feed your family, as a significant number of Chinese people were in the 60s and 70s, you cannot afford any of these.
China has grown richer at a remarkable rate, but the mentality shift can take generations.
Much of Europe was dirt poor before the war. There were actual food riots in Amsterdam. The Netherlands didn't get sewers until the 1950s. Showers became mandatory only in the 1970s.
We take our decadence and degeneracy for granted but it is all new. There are people alive now who remember Christianity.
HeavenFox · · focus · HN ↗
All the authors observations ring true, and they all stem from one simple fact: China was a very poor country just forty years ago, and even today is only a middle income country.
The uncomfortable truth is a lot of the things westerners take for granted are, in fact, luxuries. Arts and creativity is a luxury. Freedom to pursue passion is a luxury. Compassion is a luxury. Self-esteem is a luxury. If you barely have enough food to feed your family, as a significant number of Chinese people were in the 60s and 70s, you cannot afford any of these.
China has grown richer at a remarkable rate, but the mentality shift can take generations.
seydor · · focus · HN ↗
TitaRusell · · focus · HN ↗
We take our decadence and degeneracy for granted but it is all new. There are people alive now who remember Christianity.
watwut · · focus · HN ↗
And accusations of "degeneracy" and "decadence" were there all the time anyway. We have centuries of those complains.