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by bugbuddy 1y ago
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- alephnerd 1y agoMy SO's family is from the portion of Gia Lai neighboring Cambodia. Gia Lai itself is fairly poor, but ime the neighboring half of Cambodia is even poorer and desperate. It's the same story in the Mekong Delta as well (having had to go to extended family weddings in rural An Giang). And calling out the relative lawlessness in Cambodia is not racism in any shape or form. Based on your comment history, it seems you are reflexively defensive about Cambodia to a startling degree. Cambodia was dealt a bad hand, but so was Vietnam and Laos as well, yet neither have the same degree of institutionalized criminality that you see in Cambodia. The problem at the end of the day lies with the country's leadership, and a quasi-reformed Khmer Rouge member like Hun Sen just isn't the right leader to help Cambodia develop out of the LDC category. Heck, Bangladesh (historically a peer of Cambodia) was also formed due to a tumultuous history and severe instability in the 1970s-90s, but concentrated on state capacity development - something which Cambodia's leadership thumbed their nose at in the 2010s.
- bugbuddy 1y ago[flagged]
- alephnerd 1y ago> How do you know they are “desperate” Based on the fact that Cambodian day laborers come to work as migrant workers in a region that Vietnamese (Kinh or Jarai) try to leave if they can. HDI metrics themselves also represents that fact. Gia Lai - one of the poorest provinces in VN - has a higher Human Development Index (HDI) than all of Cambodia. > Given the recent developments in Bangladesh Yet the average Bangladeshi earns more money, is significantly more educated, and has a longer life expectancy than the average Cambodian. Cambodia's HDI remains well below it's LDC peers across Asia, and that divergence only really began in the 2010s. > Based on your biased opinion given your relative partiality toward Vietnamese... I have been fairly open on HN about my criticisms about Vietnam, such as the authoritarian regression under To Lam along with VN's increased hallmarks of falling into a real estate and export economy induced middle income trap > Cambodia has cooperated with the foreign government consistently South Korea has literally banned Korean nationals from travelling to vast portions of Cambodia today and is considering cancelling aid projects because of non-cooperation from the Cambodian government. > I see no such thing In English, "you" is often used in the 3rd person as well, especially when communicating on a forum where conversations and readers are not only the OP ------------- There is no reason why Cambodia can't pull off a similar developmental story like Vietnam or Bangladesh, yet Cambodian leadership in the 2010s and today has dropped the ball because any attempt at making Cambodia a more open economy would undermine rent seeking activities.
- jjangkke 1y ago[flagged]
- bugbuddy 1y ago[flagged]
- pmarreck 1y agoI may not agree with all your comments here but I do agree that name-calling/pigeonholing of this fashion is simply unproductive
- alephnerd 1y agoI think they are just a hypernationalistic Cambodian, Khmer American, or a former expat in Cambodia. I saw content from similar types of accounts during the Thailand-Cambodia conflict and the Techo Canal crisis. But yea, it's stupid tbh and shows how badly Hun Sen is wreaking Cambodia. The only reason Vietnam is where it's at today is because of being friendly to foreign investors and working on rooting out criminalization in the 2010s. Otherwise, VN would have languished. Cambodia has the right pieces to become the next VN, but is completely squandering the opportunity. This kind of ploy to leveraging hypernationalism to mask weak economic growth (an LDC like Cambodia should not be growing at 5-6%) and increased isolation.
- dang 1y agoPlease don't cross into personal attack, regardless of how wrong someone is or you feel they are. https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html
- bugbuddy 1y agoCitations needed for almost everything you just wrote. On the other hand, South Korea has the right to do whatever it wants within its rights. I strongly support South Korea in its geo-strategic calculus to isolate Cambodia government. They must have very good reason to believe this is the right course of actions. Cambodian government should learn from this experience and improve its law enforcement and its own geo-strategic planning. > There is no reason why Cambodia can't pull off a similar developmental story like Vietnam or Bangladesh Again with the Bangladesh comparison. Can you google Bangladesh and read news about it in the last year before commenting?
- skrebbel 1y ago> * To call a country full of any type of people is the definition of racism* This is bullshit. This kind of stuff isn’t black and white. Am I racist for calling Monaco a place full of rich people? Of course not, I’m describing the situation people are in, not their characters. Same holds here.
- bugbuddy 1y ago[flagged]
- cindyllm 1y ago[dead]
- laughingcurve 1y ago[flagged]
- bugbuddy 1y ago[flagged]
- tremon 1y ago> debate and honest exchange of ideas Yet in your first post in this thread, you accuse your parent of racism and astroturfing. Real honest debate you got there.
- bugbuddy 1y ago[flagged]
- JumpCrisscross 1y ago> I did not call him a racist. I said his statement could be understood as racist This postmodern redefinition of racism really needs to be discarded. It’s done so much damage by giving actual racists cover, since if everyone is racist then racism isn’t a problem.
- zahlman 1y ago> To call a country full of any type of people is the definition of racism. "The USA is full of people who believe in freedom of speech". Racist?
- bugbuddy 1y ago[flagged]
- laughingcurve 1y agoHow does calling a country full of people who are sad and desperate for a better life discriminate against them? This is the same kind of rhetoric I would hear someone use as an appeal to helping them. Hearing about these things makes me more kind and empathetic to the people involved - not less. It feels like you are trying to do a good intentioned thing here but maybe it’s misaligned to more malicious folks compare with how most people read these comments
- bugbuddy 1y ago[flagged]
- JumpCrisscross 1y ago> Negative stereotyping of a whole group is racism I’m not in Cambodia. The only way I can relate to its people is by stereotyping. Saying we can’t negatively stereotype basically says you can only have positive opinions about this country or you’re a racist, which is absurd.
- bugbuddy 1y ago> Saying we can’t negatively stereotype basically says you can only have positive opinions about this country This logical fallacy is a False Dichotomy (also known as a False Dilemma or Black-and-White Fallacy). This fallacy occurs when an argument incorrectly presents two opposing options as the only possibilities, when in fact a wide range of other options exist. How it applies to the statement: The statement "Saying we can’t negatively stereotype basically says you can only have positive opinions about this country" creates a false choice between: Option A: Engaging in negative stereotypes. Option B: Only having positive opinions. This completely ignores the vast and reasonable middle ground, which is legitimate, specific criticism.
- WalterBright 1y agoDifferent cultures are ... wait for it ... different. There are cultures I would not want to live in. There's a reason why so many people are desperate to get into the US.
- bugbuddy 1y agoYes, I agree the US is an a great country. The US culture is still the most influential in the world. Everyone loves American foods, movies, and consumer products. Cambodians love American culture. Young Cambodians are desperate to see new American movies, try American foods, and get their hands on new Apple products. They love Facebook. The majority of Cambodians favor the US over China: https://www.statista.com/chart/32058/preference-for-us-china-as-ally-among-asean-countries/ https://www.statista.com/chart/32058/preference-for-us-china... Interestingly, the majority of Thais favor China over the US. The most likely reason I guess would that a very large percentage of Thais claim some form of Chinese ancestry.
- dang 1y ago"Please respond to the strongest plausible interpretation of what someone says, not a weaker one that's easier to criticize. Assume good faith." "Please don't pick the most provocative thing in an article or post to complain about in the thread. Find something interesting to respond to instead." https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html Edit: please see https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=45597318 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=45597318 also. I'm sympathetic for where you're coming from, even though I don't fully understand—but this implementation is not working.