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WaywardSoothsayer — No.
Published: 2013-05-26 01:15:40 +0000 UTC; Views: 1652; Favourites: 78; Downloads: 0
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Possibly unpopular opinion incoming. If you can't handle a simple opinion or are here to act like a self-righteous zealot, please leave now. Think before you comment, please.I think it's fine time to share another little story.
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So, there's this student I had in a couple of my classes/shared the same studio as me this last semester. I had a thousand bones to pick with this kid, but one of the most infuriating things he did one night when I was working on some Chinese homework in the studio was interrupt me while working and acting like a little know-it-all about Chinese culture.
No, he wasn't Chinese. He was sitting there claiming he knew this and that about Chinese culture (when in reality, everyone knew the only 'Chinese' thing he was possibly into was probably a handful of mediocre kung-fu, military, and horror movies/cartoons/videogames) and was trying to teach me to speak Cantonese and teach me what Cantonese cuisine was.
...And I'm the Chinese person. Don't even. My family immigrated from there. I'm a first-generation Chinese American, still very in touch with my roots, history, and culture from my ancestral homeland. I can understand and speak (fairly well, if you exclude specialized jargon terms for specific topics and disregard my heavy accent) Cantonese fluently, and am picking up Mandarin. I can read some characters (in both simplified and traditional forms) and write some of it as well. Attempting to 'teach' me how to speak my own bloody language (with bad pronunciation, mind you) with the five or so phrases learned from movies or manhua TV adaptations and telling me what my people's culture is and isn't based on a wee bit of exported pop culture is a downright insult.
I wanted to call him a string of very ugly phrases in Canto right there and then, but it was going to be a waste of breath. Pfft. Even with the semester over, the very mention of that kid's existence makes me want to vomit.
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I have no problems if people are into a country's pop culture and enjoy things from it. I don't mind if people are genuinely interested in learning about a certain country's history and culture. It's chill if someone wants to become an expert on another country and study it in depth/move and live there for an extended period of time. It's all cool. What gets on my nerves very quickly is when people have the gall to act like a certified expert on everything about a country when the only things they know are stereotypes and colloquial slang phrases they picked up out of a handful of movies, videogames, and cartoons. This goes for all countries.
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Comments: 25
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Finally, someone who has said it! Thank you!
It's sad that so many people don't understand that enjoying a country's pop culture doesn't mean you know a lot about the actual culture. Pop culture and culture are not the same thing just because they have both have "culture" in them. Pop culture has to do with media and entertainment, not the general culture.
There is absolutely nothing wrong with liking a different culture/cultural appreciation because that NEEDS to be encouraged. There's a fine line between cultural appropriation and cultural appreciation.
Never ever base an entire culture on its pop culture. Lots of weeaboos, Koreaboos, and Chinaboos have a nasty habit of doing this. There's obviously nothing wrong with liking a culture's pop culture but if you love the culture then you should learn more about the actual culture instead of making assumptions and stereotyping.
Weeaboos thinks that anime/manga is the core of Japanese culture (how is it the core of Japanese culture if it's only been around for a century?) and use anime/manga as a Rosetta Stone which is why they believe that anime/manga are realistic depictions of Japanese culture when they're not because they're created for entertainment purposes. To them, there is no such thing as fiction smh. Yes, not all weeaboos love anime/manga, it's just that most of them do.
Koreaboos think that K-pop and K-dramas are the cores of Korean culture. They think that all Koreans look like K-pop idols, not realizing that the average Korean person does not look like a K-pop idol. Average people don't look like celebrities duh. I love K-pop but I don't get along with all fans plus if I encounter a Koreaboo, I'll run for my life because I happen to be Asian (I'm not Korean btw) and Koreaboos would blindly assume every Asian they see is Korean just like how weeaboos blindly assume every Asian they see is Japanese.
Chinaboos are just as bad as weeaboos, Koreaboos, and other Asiaboos. I noticed that a lot of them happen to be Koreaboos as well and apparently became Chinaboos because some K-pop bands like EXO have Chinese members.
I mean I love Japanese culture and pop culture, does that mean I know everything about it? Hell no. I'm still learning. I may love anime, manga, Japanese video games, Japanese stationery products, and Japanese street fashions but I also love the actual culture as well because I find it relatable (in certain aspects) and unique. Of course, I don't love everything about Japan. It's impossible to love everything about a particular culture.
Jesus, that guy sounds like has an inflated ego and I'm so sorry that you have to deal with his bullshit. I feel ya. Who doesn't hate it when people outside of your culture think that they know more about your own culture than you do?
I have encountered non-Vietnamese people who think that they know more about Vietnamese culture than I do and I'm Vietnamese. Most people who think that they know more about Vietnamese culture than the actual Vietnamese think that we're all dark-skinned and that none of us are pale when we don't all look the same. I'm pale and I'm Vietnamese. Pale skin is actually coveted in Vietnam just like in Japan, Korea, and China.
There was a non-Vietnamese guy who had the audacity to tell me that certain Vietnamese names (I listed the Vietnamese names that if pronounced the English way sound like swear words and offensive words in English) are pronounced differently when I ALREADY KNOW. He did not understand that Vietnamese is a tonal language so it's FUCKING HARD to write down the exact pronunciation. Sadly, since I don't look like a stereotypical Vietnamese person, lots of people think that I'm not Vietnamese.
Lots of people who think they know everything about Vietnamese culture only like it because of the pho. Pho is a Vietnamese dish but its roots are actually inspired by the French. Vietnamese culture is not one of those "original" cultures, it bootlegs other cultures, (not saying that it's bad because American, Japanese, and certain other cultures do the same as well) and is mostly influenced by Chinese culture.
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YES YES YES. This is why I passionately hate weebs. They try to pretend they know everything about Japan, when in reality they're just fools, and make people who actually know something about it look like an idiot.
I happen to like Japanese pop culture (casually), but I also love the language (which I'm learning, as my mother is from Japan), the food, the history, everything ...
With other countries I do not know as much but I'm always continually trying to learn more. Usually I'll try to go for a country without so many "aboos" to stay faaar away from this problem uvu
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I have no problems if people are into a country's pop culture and enjoy things from it. I don't mind if people are genuinely interested in learning about a certain country's history and culture. It's chill if someone wants to become an expert on another country and study it in depth/move and live there for an extended period of time. It's all cool. What gets on my nerves very quickly is when people have the gall to act like a certified expert on everything about a country when the only things they know are stereotypes and colloquial slang phrases they picked up out of a handful of movies, videogames, and cartoons. This goes for all countries.
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If Finland fans (and with Finland I mean my home country, not character from Hetalia) act like weeaboos, I shame my eyes out off my head.
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Weeaboos always think they know Japan just by watching tons of anime.
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It's stupid because they think they know Japanese from it, when in reality, anime characters have horrible grammar
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"I have no problems if people are into a country's pop culture and enjoy things from it."
I dunno. As an admitted 'Hillbilly Sinophile', I'm probably even more annoying than this person is, in certain ways.
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This reminds me of a friend of mine. He was an okay guy, but he would always bring up Japanese customs and culture whenever he wanted to justify his viewing of weird-arse cartoon pornography. Gah. Not good for the brain.
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Indeed, it is not very good at all, to put it lightly. I don't think a single 
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This sounds exactly like my (soon-to-be-ex) best friend, who acts like she know everything there is to possibly know about Japan, just because she's read a few manga's. She also pretends to know tonnes about other countries, when she really doesn't.
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I honestly don't understand why people do that.
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She thinks it makes her look really intelligent, but it actually makes her a laughing stock.
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It's embarrassing is what that is.
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Well...Me be norwegian. And its getting boring to be asked about blackmetal and stuff because im Norwegian. And that people take knowledge of the norse mythology out of marvel of all things..or whoever made the Thor Movie.
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I feel for you. That must be so incredibly obnoxious.
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Yeah. Especially since i DO enjoy metal. but thats heavy metal, thrashmetal, not blackmetal. That often makes people get really obnoxious about blackmetal.
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When are people going to stop latching on cultures they know jackshit about?
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Probably never. My parents told me people were acting like this towards them back when they were teenagers years ago.
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Oh god, there are wannabe Chinese people now? If I were you I would punch that kid. I can't stand those people... Just out of curiosity, how old is that guy?
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The last I heard, he was 24 or so.
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