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Joke that turned into serious discussion
+ Show Spoiler +On October 22 2015 01:42 Scip wrote:
It just feels so... Oriental. Sigh. That's because it's been made to be so!/ your observation is correct. Yoga, in western societies and more specifically in it's popularized form, has been appropriated through the lens of orientalism in a really problematic way. For the others who seem confused as to what is undoubtably scip's intended meaning, orientalism refers to the social construction of Asia as "the orient" - an image that portrays Asian cultures as carnivalized/exoticized in a way that typically doesn't reflect the actual culture very well if at all due to being based on exemplifying the differences from the Western norm. Often, problems with their roots in orientalism stem from people actually believing things they've learned through orientalist works, which is more common then you'd think. "Why weebs can a problem" also stems from this, primarily when they project anime onto reality in a way that actually negatively effects people. gj scip, go tackle those neo-orientalist hipsters with your disdain.
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On October 22 2015 02:57 Scip wrote:Show nested quote +On October 22 2015 02:12 jcarlsoniv wrote:On October 22 2015 02:11 ticklishmusic wrote:
Also Scip, what's wrong with being Oriental? The real reason is that he's afraid doing yoga will get him in touch with his spiritual side, only to confirm his deepest fears - he'll be lost in an abyss where his soul should be. I've already explored that place there's isn't even a hole where soul is supposed to be I do love spending time inside my head, be it evaluating and modifying my behavior or justifying my beliefs and opinions, but I haven't come across anything that would even resemble the description of a soul. I guess I'm too left brain hemisphere focused, maybe our resident expert Mordek here could provide a diagnosis?
I was saying that very tongue in cheek because many people find yoga and meditation to be very spiritual activities, which I'm fairly certain is where your aversion stems from.
People mentioned yoga as a good core/cardio workout, but the most important aspect of it for me is the meditation. And I'll speak from my perspective, cuz I do believe there are many ways to meditate successfully.
It's much different than spending time inside your head and analyzing your thoughts, actions, and behavior. It's, in fact, entirely the opposite. It's about removing yourself from your environment and thoughts entirely - literally centering your focus on nothingness. So to say that you're too left brain oriented (heh) for that kind of activity is very strange for me - it's an activity that centers around getting away from your brain.
Yoga incorporates this meditation focus while also working your body for flexibility and strength.
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I just spent 3 hours troubleshooting an electrical issue, I checked everything, voltage at the controller, voltage in the field, at every splice, continuity, etc.
The issue? It was running off a fucking generator..
I feel like an idiot, but I've never run into this problem before.
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The soundtrack Rebel Galaxy uses is one of the best I've heard in years for a game. I am very much pleased with picking it up.
For those of you curious imagine a game in which Jim Raynor roams around in his battlecruiser and has space battles and makes a living for himself because reasons. It's kind of like that.
+ Show Spoiler [It's not monday but it's m…] +
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This Scip weaboo orientalism discussion is funny as shit.
Yoga is actually pretty awesome, although I can completely understand not wanting to do it because of the image it represents.
I actually ranted about that for a couple pages in the Bali writeup that I didn't post here. Woops.
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Wait since when is Scip a weaboo, he's like completely different from the stereotype I have for that.
Well I guess he does have an Ahri bodypillow.
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Weaboo is really a comparative term.
On this forum, Scip and Requizen and I are all weaboos. Among others.
When I go to anime expo, I am often the least weaboo person in the room.
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On October 22 2015 04:08 TheHumanSensation wrote:That's because it's been made to be so!/ your observation is correct. Yoga, in western societies and more specifically in it's popularized form, has been appropriated through the lens of orientalism in a really problematic way. For the others who seem confused as to what is undoubtably scip's intended meaning, orientalism refers to the social construction of Asia as "the orient" - an image that portrays Asian cultures as carnivalized/exoticized in a way that typically doesn't reflect the actual culture very well if at all due to being based on exemplifying the differences from the Western norm. Often, problems with their roots in orientalism stem from people actually believing things they've learned through orientalist works, which is more common then you'd think. "Why weebs can a problem" also stems from this, primarily when they project anime onto reality in a way that actually negatively effects people. gj scip, go tackle those neo-orientalist hipsters with your disdain.
h8rs gonna h8 gotta sk8 m8.
Hating people for doing something that doesn't hurt anyone that is solely based on their lack of education is pretty embarrassing.
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Orientalism hurts a lot of people, though.
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The underlying negative impact of orientalism is that all Asians are the same.
This directly hurts Asian people by eroding their cultural heritage in the west.
I'll give an example related to yoga.
Yoga comes from India. It is a deeply deeply Indian thing
It has migrated to the west, and that's awesome!
However, due to western peoples refusal to educate themselves on this sort of thing, all of the following happens:
Yoga has become really big in Bali. Bali has seen a huge influx of tourism, and I mean HUGE. People go to Bali instead of India because its easier. In Bali the local language uses the English script, its closer, its smaller etc. But its still Hindu, and therefore people think it gives them an Indian experience so they can go there for yoga. All sorts of expensive yoga resorts are in Bali now and you actually can learn yoga there. You can also ride elephants there even though elephants are not native to Indonesia and were specifically brought there recently because tourists were confused at not seeing elephants when they visited.
There's all sorts of reading you can do about how the effect is to erode and potentially destroy the local culture, which is unique and amazing. This exact topic is literally the graduate thesis of a friend of mine. One of the biggest cities in Bali, Kuta, is commonly joked at by the locals as no longer being part of their country but being part of Australia.
A more direct example would be that my yoga teacher in San Diego was literally fired from her job because the administration of the university where she worked received complaints from students that she was making her yoga classes religious. She wasn't making the yoga classes religious, but she was making them more authentic and a closer experience to what Indian yoga actually is, and neither the students nor the teachers who fired her bothered to actually learn what they were talking about before passing judgement.
An easier to grasp and non yoga related example would be something like this.
If a Chinese person has to deal with Indian stereotypes in his day to day life because people think that Indians and Chinese people are the same because they're both Asians, does that negatively effect him? Of course it does.
The idea that people would really believe that Chinese people and Indian people are the same may sound hilariously stupid and ignorant to you, and it is. But its also a thought that's a lot more common than you might think.
When we have new volunteers come to Thailand, I am often giving them crash courses on Theravada Buddhism because what they think it is is completely disjoined from what it actually is, and it can end up with them doing things that the Thai people find incredibly insulting.
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Jesus, this is the same rhetoric that stormfront and other far right organizations use...
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What.
Are you saying that I'm being racist?
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On October 22 2015 06:12 Fildun wrote:
Wait since when is Scip a weaboo, he's like completely different from the stereotype I have for that.
Well I guess he does have an Ahri bodypillow.
He says "nyaa" out loud. He links recordings that are supposed to be simulate a girl licking your ear. Worst of all, he watches anime.
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Here let me try to make it simpler.
White guy goes to Indonesia. Gets off plane.
White guy: "where are the elephants?"
Local: "there's no elephants here. This is Indonesia."
Good, positive reaction -
White guy: "oh! I didn't know that. Thats cool."
Bad, negative reaction -
White guy: "well go get some! I'm in Asia I want to see some fucking elephants."
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I'm so confused by that post.
edit - Like, I'm not arguing, cuz I don't know enough about the culture and situation to have an informed opinion.
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Which part is confusing you?
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United Kingdom30775 Posts
It's as if cultures miraculously appeared out of nowhere and are sacred and not from generations of invasions/competition/cultural mixing.
It's "damaging" but that's evolution of a culture, it's damaged in a way by ignorance to transform it in to a new culture. You know, culture.
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How white man walking in and influencing the culture means that they perceive all Asians the same. I really think it's a smaller, more vocal amount of the population than you're suggesting. And moreover, the world is globalizing, cultures are adapting to that. Some more rapidly than others.
Yes, people are ignorant of foreign places and their cultures. This is ubiquitous, and not something unique to the white man.
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It sounds like people are getting caught up in my first example. Maybe it's a bad example.
Look more at the last example.
In Thailand, touching a Buddha statue is so insulting I wouldn't be surprised if it got you thrown out of a temple.
But in the west lots of people think you touch Buddha statues for good luck.
Now, misunderstandings in cross cultural stuff happen. They're normal.
But what's a little different about this sort of thing is that you've got lots of people going around the west and online teaching things that are not true and purposefully educating people in ways that create these misunderstandings.
The larger impact of this misinformation is not only that people from that culture have to deal with it in their everyday lives, but they can actually be forced to change their behavior to closer match the misinformation rather than educating people.
Like, what if people insisted that Arabs all wear turbans with such fervency that Arabs actually started to wear turbans to comply with that. Can you see how that would negatively effect people?
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EPT
