2020-04-24

Different Doesn’t Mean Wrong!

I just realize that the East Asian culture has an anti-diversity or pro-orthodoxy part, kinda like monotheism. For thousands of years, kings heavily prompted only one philosophy, the Confucianism. Other ideas were considered unorthodox and eventually marginalized. So, East Asian cultures lack the mechanism of tolerating different options. In this sense, East Asia today, or even East Asian communities in the Western World, share something with Medieval Europe where anyone who said differently to the Pope's teaching were burned, exiled, banned from owning properties, etc. It happened to me several times that some Chinese American, or Chinese Chinese, friends broke up with me on professional things, e.g., terminating research collaboration, because I said something about the Chinese Communist Party that they disagreed -- there was no debate, i just posted on FB/TW. Because no one is holy and no one monopolies the truth, it's better to live with, and to enjoy different opinions. I am very proud of my culture heritage. But the pro-orthodoxy or "solo-truth" mentality, is something I do not agree -- hey, I do not say it is wrong nor do I hate my background. Happy Asian Pacific American Heritage Month of 2020!

我突然意識到東亞文化是一種容不得異見的文化。你看韓國,所謂民主,前總統會被後總統搞死,不止一次了。在美國,敗選的政治人物無所謂,前總統不會被搞死。在東亞,幾千年的「罷黜百家,獨尊儒術」,使東亞人民相信,很多事情只有一個正解,其他都是錯的. 所以,若兩人觀點不同,只有兩種可能: a) 你是SB,腦殘,無腦,etc. b) 你是大逆不道,我不和你寫paper,不和你開公司,不和你在一個team,甚至把政治觀點帶到performance review中. 絕對不可能兩人都是對的或者錯的。東亞人民還活在中世紀的歐洲,和教皇意見相左的人士被燒死,被流放,被不能擁有房產,不能上大學,etc.

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