Archive for the ‘East-West Cultural Differences’ Category

Russia, Ukraine, and USA. Who is right?

Saturday, March 15th, 2014

This is a scary situation.  I’d love hear all your opinions, especially people from both Russia and from the Ukraine.  Please share with your friends as well.  This is just so important.

Let’s start with who is NOT right.

The USA.  I am just sick and tired of their war efforts.  What the HELL are they doing?  Oh ya, just trying to make money and control the world.  Wonderful……

I should say that a lot of American people know this and agree, so I don’t blame them at all.  But their government is absolutely out of control.  Obama and John Kerry look, talk, and seem like reasonable people, but clearly, they are not.

I’m not an expert on the situation, but I have been following it closely from many different information sources, and I’ll tell you what I think is going on.

This is important for the whole world, so please pay attention to this kind of stuff.  Don’t be like most people who just bury their heads in the sand and think, “I’m not interested in world politics” or something.  You should be.  We all should be.

So what I know is this:

Russia and the Ukraine have a long history, and it’s a complicated one, and the West (USA) knows almost nothing about it and it’s none of their business.  Several years ago, Russia gave back a part of land to the Ukraine, and now Putin wants it back.  I don’t know why, and I don’t know the history.  This is just what I understand.  The point is, this is a battle between the Ukraine and Russia over this piece of land.

Imagine if the US and Mexico were fighting over some part of land between them.  Do you think the US would be ok with Russia or anyone flying across the world and helping Mexico?  HAHAHA

Obviously not.  And Russia wouldn’t do that.  No one would.

I also hear that the Ukraine is having a lot of internal political struggle.  The US helped fund a very aggressive government in the Ukraine to help take over the country.  There was some kind of internal battle.  Obviously the US will give money to any group in any country if they believe that group will help the US in some way (ultimately financially).  This is sick, but it’s what the military does all the time.  And the people in the US military often don’t agree with what they are doing, they find out later and report how bad it all is.

I will post a video from an American guy who does a lot of research on many political issues.  I think it’s at least interesting and should be shared.  Please comment, no matter where you are from, and let me know what you think is going on, what will happen (will there be a real war) and what is the purpose of all this?  Who is right, who is wrong, and what is your media saying in your country?  I hope the Russians and Ukraine writers can try to make intelligent comments, and if we don’t agree with each other, we can at least do so respectfully.  Thanks guys.  Share this and make it popular!!  Watch the video too.  Can’t wait to read what you guys think and know about this.

We will of course be discussing this and more in the VIP!!  Also, keep coming here every day because I’m writing more and more blogs to make you think and improve your English.

 

Banning the word “Bossy” – Ridiculous!

Wednesday, March 12th, 2014

There are a group of feminists who are trying to ban the use of the word “bossy” to describe women.

High profile chicks are behind this.  People like Beyonce and Victoria Beckham (David Beckham’s wife).

Let me give you the basic “low down” (the main idea) first of what is going on.  This is insane.

“Bossy” is a word used to describe both men and women.  It means that someone is kind of “acting like a boss” of a situation in which they are not the boss.  For example, if I told you, “Hey Susan, clean my shoes”, that is incredibly “bossy” because I’m not Susan’s boss and I can’t just tell her what to do, as though I own her.

It’s always a negative word because it’s about people telling and demanding other people to do something.  Even a good real “boss” shouldn’t act so bossy.  It’s rude, and there are more polite ways to do it.

But now, these “feminists” are trying to get people to stop using this word which has been used for probably hundreds of years.  It makes me sick.  I find it quite ironic to think that they feel they should be the boss of such a huge cultural topic.  Who made them the boss of which words are right and which ones are not?  They seem pretty damn bossy to me!

I believe men and women are equal, but not the SAME.  They should have equal rights, but we shouldn’t get all men and women to act and think and do everything as one identical type of person.  I’m NOT saying women should be forced to be a certain way and men should be forced to act differently, people can and should do whatever they want, as long as it is not hurting others.

Is it unfair or wrong that women often have long hair and wear make up and earrings while men do not?  I don’t think so.  I don’t want us all trying to be the same.  Does long hair and make up make you better or worse?  No.  It just makes it easy to see who is a man and who is a woman.  (I mean, it’s pretty easy most of the time anyway, but you get my point.  We don’t all need to be the SAME, in order to have equal rights).

I think the “West” has sucked big time with this topic.  Asian, Russian, Eastern European, and MANY other cultures of modern day women are not thinking in this way.  They are honouring being feminine, and not trying to make things exactly the same.  If you make men and women think, talk, dress, and act exactly the same; it may seem “fair” in some weird sense, but it’s not making people happier. Not men, and not women either.

If some man or woman is acting bossy, I will ALWAYS keep using this word, and I don’t care what anyone thinks.  This is insane, and you can see clearly how badly the west is trying to ruin femininity with this fake idea of trying to be “equal” or trying to “empower women”.  I believe in empowering women, just not at all in this way.  This is completely ridiculous and I would love all your thoughts, from both men and women, all over the world.  Please comment below, whether or not you completely agree or completely disagree.

Add and I will be discussing this in the VIP room as well.  Will be an AWESOME one.

And here is the article I read about this nonsense.  I read about it other places too.  Might be interesting for you to check out.  :)

Would One Language Stop War?

Monday, October 21st, 2013

Imagine if the whole world spoke one language.  Seriously, imagine it for a minute…

Would there be war?  Who would be fighting in it?

I believe that most people throughout the world do not want war.  They will say they want it if their country MUST fight, but they would prefer a peaceful world.

The problem is that the world is really terrible at understanding other countries and other people’s perspectives.  It’s so much easier to go to war with a culture that seems so different than it is to go to war with a country who is almost the same.

The western governments (especially US) are really effective at making other countries look like they are either filled with a horrible culture, an evil dictator as a leader, or filled with psycho terrorists.  This makes people scared, and when they are scared, most people will just believe whatever their government tells them, and whatever they see on TV and the news.

Most people are too busy paying attention to sports or the latest pop songs anyway.  They don’t know much about what is going on in the world, and they don’t really care.  It’s sad, but it’s true.

War is a huge business and that’s the main reason it continues in my belief.

It seems obvious (and totally crazy) to me that most countries in the world almost seem to “enjoy” their ignorance about other countries.  We all learn that our own history is better than it is, and that the history of other countries is worse than it is.  This pride and misunderstanding keeps the hatred alive, and it allows the possibility of war to always be present.

Could we all just learn one language and at least learn enough about one another to stop the fighting and killing?  I think so.  I just don’t think the global bankers and the government leaders in the world want that.  They prefer the fighting, killing, money, and misunderstanding.

Try to have a conversation with anyone about other countries.  Talk with them about Iran, North Korea, USA, Iraq, Syria, China, Russia, Brazil.  Listen to their opinions.  Ask them how they get their information and why they believe it so strongly.  You will see that most people feel confident they know what is going on, but when you ask them “how they know” you’ll see they are just people who easily believe what is in the news and what their governments (school system) tells them.

Love to hear your thoughts on why war keeps continuing, who really benefits from this, and would one language help to either stop it, or almost stop it.  Don’t be shy :)  Please share below.

Love to see you in the VIP!!  You’ll love it if you aren’t already in there.

University and College Education TODAY

Sunday, August 25th, 2013

I was born in 1979.

When I was growing up, I remember everyone around me saying that I NEED a university education if I don’t want to have a terrible life.  I believed it.  Almost everyone I knew believed it too.

At that time, university wasn’t SOOO expensive.  Students could pay for school with a good part time job.  They didn’t graduate with a huge debt and crazy student loans.

Things are very different now.  University is unbelievably expensive, and more and more students are going to school.  It seems that everyone believes that having a university degree will somehow just “magically” give them a good job when they graduate.  Well, with so many people having degrees, the “good jobs” are getting harder and harder to find.  Students in the US are paying an average of $27 000 USD per YEAR just to go to school.  Some students are paying a lot more.  When they graduate, they have an insane amount of pressure to pay back a crazy student loan, and it’s harder and harder to find a high paying job just by showing people your degree.  A lot of employers now realize that A) too many people have the same thing, and B) It’s really just a “fancy” piece of paper.

With technology changing so fast as well, colleges and universities aren’t really able to “keep up” with it all, and really prepare students with the proper knowledge they will need for the jobs of the future.

Chinese students have been going to the US in HUGE numbers over the past 10 years or so.  They are growing so fast.  I just read in a really interesting article from the Wall Street Journal that about 70% of them return to China after graduating to find a job, and less and less of them can find a good job.  They’ve almost “wasted” their parent’s hard earned money, and it’s not their fault either.

The price of education is going up fast, the quality is going down fast, and more and more people are joining the workforce with the same degree, the same piece of paper.

They have a huge debt/loan to pay off.  It’s almost like they have a mortgage, but NO HOUSE!

Students in America owe a total of over 1 trillion dollars in student loans.  That is $1 000 000 000 000.  Insane.  Thousands and thousands of students in the US owe more money just in student loans, than the price of a pretty decent house!  I’m not joking.

REAL skills (like learning high level English, computers/internet, and networking) are becoming more important (and not expensive)

Anyway……  Do I think that it’s a terrible idea to get a university education?  Of course not!  But I absolutely think that you should really think about this carefully, and don’t just be a sheep and think that your insanely expensive piece of paper will just magically help you.  You need to think ahead and think “smarter” than most of the other people who just believe whatever they are told by society.

I’d love to know where you are from, how old you are, and what your thoughts are about this topic.  Please share your thoughts about this important topic in the comments below.

I also just watched an AWESOME documentary about this situation and I put that video and the article about international students studying in China here in the VIP community for you guys to enjoy.  You will love both.  There is a lot of great stuff in there that is both really interesting AND will help your English.  I spend so much of my time looking for this kind of stuff for you guys.  I’m sure you’ll love it :)

Again, please let me know your situation, and your exact opinion on this.  If you completely agree or totally disagree with me, that’s totally fine.  It’s great practice for your English to get your thoughts down in writing, and it’s great for all of us (including me) to learn and think about different perspectives.  We can all learn from each other.

Fat tax?

Monday, July 8th, 2013

I’ve always found this to be an interesting story and I’ve heard this being discussed for years now.  I’ll post a link to the CNN article I read at the bottom of this post.

Here is the basic idea:  The fuel (gas) costs for airplanes is HUGE.  Doing anything to save fuel costs is a very important business idea for any airline company.  The problem is that this can be a very sensitive issue.  We all know that it costs more money (a lot more) to fly with very expensive luggage.  But what about if you are fat yourself?  It’s not very easy for the airlines to say, “sorry sir, you are too fat. We need to charge you extra money to pay for the extra fuel required to fly your fat ass all over the world”.

I even remember a debate from years ago about charging super fat people double price.  This idea was not because of the fuel price, but because some people were so fat that they literally needed to sit on 2 seats.  We all know that airplane seats aren’t very big in economy class, and it’s easy to imagine that its absolutely impossible to put 3 super super fat people side by side in 3 seats.  (If you don’t believe that there are many people who are really that fat, then, well, I guess you’ve never been to the USA!)

Anyway, this topic is about any extra weight on a plane costing the airlines money.  Due to “political correctness” and an overly sensitive world (especially in the West) it’s impossible to charge passengers based on their body weight.

One Indian airline company recently had an interesting idea.  They announced that they are going to hire mostly petite (small) female staff.  A lot of airlines do this anyway, but they are making it a policy (rule) and their reason is that it will save them money on fuel costs.  I think it’s obvious that most airlines want to hire attractive young female flight attendants for other reasons, like for all the male passengers who love staring at them (even though men don’t easily admit this).  It’s good for almost any business to have attractive females deal with the customers.  But it’s not easy to just say “we are only going to hire attractive women”.

Anyway, the Indian airline gets to have the “best of both worlds”.  The way they are selling this idea to the public is they are saying that they want small females because it saves them “gas money”.  Apparently, just hiring mostly small women will save the company $500 000 USD per year in fuel costs.  That is a lot of money, AND it’s better for the environment.

I know what a lot of “western people” think about this topic, and I’m interested in your international opinion.  Please share your comments as usual in the comments section below.

1.  Do you think it’s ok for airline companies to start charging heavy people more money to fly?  Why or why not?

2.  Do you think people in the west are “overly sensitive” about these things?

3.  Do you think it’s ok to hire only small females for this job?  Is it fair?  Why or why not?

There are really no right or wrong answers, all of this stuff is just personal opinion to get you guys talking and practising English.  I can’t wait to hear your ideas.

We’ve got the live chat set up now and some more cool movies in here:  Live chat and more cool movies

Here was the original article from CNN.

Can’t wait to read your thoughts!