Pat12 @ Pat12 @lemmy.world

Native language French, fluent in English, practicing Cantonese and German.

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2 yr. ago

? because you always need ibuprofen for something, it's cheaper to buy in bulk, and it's more conveneint to have it laying around already than having to go and get some when you need it already

i wish there were more people on here, i feel like i'm talking to a wall

i'm pretty sure i'm basically the only poster on r/hongkong and i'm not even a mod there (which would be a valid reason for being the only poster)

well sure, lots of people commit suicide by hanging themself but that doesn't stop us planting trees or building bridges, i consider the uk way to be overly cautious, for the majority of people ibuprofen is not a problem and i think it's frustrating to just get little amounts

I thought we were talking about the UK? Why does it matter whether it’s prescription in the US?

the question is asking what's something that americans/europeans do that makes no sense to you. the fact that i can't get a big pack of ibuprofen like i can in the US doens't make sense to me

it wasn't COVID, this was before COVID

ibuprofen is not a prescription medicine, it's over the counter. you can get 2 packs x 500 in costco in the US. (source)

rubbing alcohol (when i was there at least) was not readily available, i think the govt regulated it because they didn't want people to get drunk or something.

Could you expand on “get govt permission for everything”? I’m from Germany, and I honestly can’t remember when I last got “government permission”, if ever. Maybe my driver’s license?

in the UK it seems there's a regulation for everything and/or you need to get a license for everything, i've even seem memes like "oi bruv have you got a loicense for that"

for example, tv license, getting a dog license, not selling ibuprofen in large quantities (regulation), not selling rubbing alcohol (regulation), the restriction on kitchen knives, butter knives being considered an "offensive weapon"

https://knowyourmeme.com/photos/1356162-count-dankulas-hate-speech-trial

Auto bonds increased in kind, as lenders packaged those loans together and sold them as securities on Wall Street, where ratings agencies labeled them as largely safe investments.

can you explain this in layman's terms? this means the loans that people take to buy cars, they got packaged together and sold as an investment for other people?

ngl i haven't actually heard of someone blaming foreigners for their kid's drug problem before

"You see drugs everywhere and most of the drug addicts are South African rather than foreign nationals. So, what's happening? Are they feeding our own brothers and sisters so that it can be easy for them to take over?" she says.

That rhetoric sounds familiar but not in a good way

ethnicity and nationality is not the same btw

"Ethnic membership tends to be defined by a shared cultural heritage, ancestry, origin myth, history, homeland, language, dialect, religion, mythology, folklore, ritual, cuisine, dressing style, art, or physical appearance. Ethnic groups may share a narrow or broad spectrum of genetic ancestry, depending on group identification, with many groups having mixed genetic ancestry."

nationality is just where you live, you might not have heritage to that place

Could you elaborate on the lost sense of traditions?

i mean the things that are associated with their home culture is lost, like an associated religion, wedding traditions, etc.

Israel is an important geopolitical ally in a region that is quite hostile to the US generally.

yes, it'd explain why the govt supports it but it seems many americans support it and they are not even jewish

Why do americans support israel so much, especially blindly/ignoring any problems? they don't have any historical relation to it right?

I’d say at least the europeans I know more readily give away personal information, i.e. stories, anecdotes, details about themselves and their lives. In latin america you never know who’s out to get you, what with many abductions being perpetrated by family, friends or other close ones. Particularly money is a no-go topic in public spaces.

this seems more like an american thing to share information?

They also allow corporations to openly bribe politicians and call it lobbying. Somehow, those “corruption index” reports always say the US is clean.

and you're saying this doesn't happen in other countries? lmao

I'll copy my comment from the other question:

I should preface my comment that community orientation, respect, and ethnicity/respect for your heritage are big parts of the area i'm from.

I’ve worked in Western Europe. I don’t know why but there seems to be a lot of taxes for everything. You have to get govt permission for everything. People seem to rely on the govt to provide things rather than have some agencies fill niches that aren’t filled by the govt (for example I saw signs like don’t help homeless people, the govt is helping them).

I’m from an Asian country, we don’t have much tax, we don’t rely on the govt for anything (we can’t), and we have many NGOs. I think it’s similar in America.

As an Asian, there are a few things I can note about Europeans.

Europeans seem to have lost their sense of traditions, to me as an Asian it doesn’t make sense since keeping our traditions and values is a huge part of our culture and society. Americans do this too but at least they seem to retain some notion of their ethnicity like they recognize their heritage is Irish or German or Chinese or Native or whatever.

Europeans also accept blame for bad things they did in the past (which is a good thing) but I think they can go overboard to compensate for that (to their detriment). I don’t think accepting blame for things in the past is a thing that’s done in Asia; we rewrite history instead. It would help if we acknowledged what we did and can have better relations with others moving forward.

Europeans identify more with nationality than ethnicity. For example, someone from Czech Republic moving to France is considered French. In North America I think they would be considered Czech-French. In Asia they would be considered to be a Czech expat living in France. Our ethnicity matters a lot.

In North America and Europe for some reason people refer to elders by their first name? We would never in 1000 years think of doing something like that, it's considered extremely rude. We either use their surname (like Mr.X) or Uncle/Auntie.

In terms of politics, both US and Europe seem quite extreme to me. Europe seems very liberal, you can do what you want, there doesn't seem to be any boundaries and people will tolerate anything. In the US people are extremely polarized with politics, both left and right. I've never heard of many other countries where there seem to be so many people per capita with conspiracy theories or violence with protests or lack of support for people (like old people or mental health issues, there's no community support, there's so much individualism). People seem to just accept things that seem unthinkable in a developed country (like texas not giving water to workers in heat).

I consider this to be the opium wars but reversed, someone tell me i'm wrong

damn, there goes my intention of making ceviche for dinner

Why? As I said: France was always a mixture of ethnicities, the 19th century didn’t change anything other than the skin colour of some of the French citizens (or is that what you’re hinting at?).

"France's population dynamics began to change in the middle of the 19th century, as France joined the Industrial Revolution. The pace of industrial growth attracted millions of European immigrants over the next century, with especially large numbers arriving from Poland, Belgium, Portugal, Italy, and Spain.[10] In the wake of the First World War, in which France suffered six million casualties, significant numbers of workers from French colonies came. By 1930, the Paris region alone had a North African Muslim population of 70,000. Right after the Second World War, immigration to France significantly increased. During the period of reconstruction, France lacked labor, and as a result, the French government was eager to recruit immigrants coming from all over Europe, the Americas, Africa and Asia. "

This is what i'm referring to (the quote is from wikipedia). People from Poland, Belgium, Portugal, Italy, Spain, North Africa, Asia, and Africa would be considered French to a French person right? but to us they are expats who've moved to France. We wouldn't consider them French necessarily.

For me personally, someone being Dutch is based more on their attitude towards the Netherlands and other Dutch people: anyone who is loath to run into other Dutch people when abroad and who loves to complain about specific stupid policies of the Dutch government counts as Dutch to me.

Yes, this is the kind of thing that seems distinctly European to me.

Excluding people based on how they look, irregardless of what else (intelligence, special talents) they bring to the table, is widely considered to be racism

ethnic minorities being segregated/excluded is a separate issue (this ties with being able to speak Cantonese, govt policies for education, etc.). I wouldn't say that ethnic minorities/skin colour minorities are excluded from things in society per se, it's that they are viewed as foreigners and not "real HKers". Racism is very much a thing in Asia, i would say more so from older generations, i think younger generations are more open minded and understanding.

Thanks for the other explanations as well

there allways is a danger that it could go against the peoples ideals or even their interests.

isn't this the same reasoning for govt though? politicians will say one thing for votes and do another thing. If anything it's worse to trust a govt who will more likely go against people's interests. At least an NGO has a stated aim.

what does it mean that europeans consider NGOs to be undemocratic?

if your ancestry is from belgium/north france then you would be belgian/french with dutch nationality. I suppose when we refer to France we mean French before the 19th century immigration.

It differs a bit where I'm from. I have a friend from Malaysia who identifies as "Tamil-Malaysian" (Tamil being the ethnic group and Malaysian being the country). In HK we have a lot of ethnic minorities. Speaking frankly, if you look chinese, you would be considered HKer right off the bat, if you look any other skin colour (white, other asian, etc) you will be considered a foreigner living in HK even if your family has been there for generations. Here is a video i found as an example where some Indians who were born and raised in HK struggle to be seen as HKer