Quote:
Originally Posted by retsoor
You write eloquently (surprisingly so for this forum), you are taking a keen interest in this discussion...
...so forgive me if my initial post came across as somewhat simplistic and essentialist, that's not my way of thinking at all.
I may have (once more) underestimated this forum, I didn't expect to meet cultural critics like you here...
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Hi Bro retsoor,
Thanks very much for your points and your very kind and flattering comments. Much appreciated. I am pretty much a persistent lurker and an occasional contributer but if my humble comments or biased views are welcome, I am actually more than willing to share them wholeheartedly, provided that I manage to find the time.
HAHAHAHAHAHA!!! Not in this forum? But why? While membership of this community is fluid and constantly shifting, I agree that one should never underestimate one's fellow cheongsters. After all, you have folks that can offer you timely and pertinent legal advice, sell you a penthouse with a most fetching view of Surfers Paradise, or draw up a comprehensive personal investment plan for you with a customized and diversified portfolio to work your money harder, all around here. So what's a trigger-happy, loudmouthed wannabe cultural critic? Hardly worth his weight in salt, to be honest.
We are all guilty of gross simplifications and overly essentialist pronouncements. There is nothing to begrudge or forgive. And whatever it is, I was also really quite taken aback by how Confucian and Sinicized Vietnam appeared to be when I first visited the country many years ago, even after reading so much about the country and its people. The only other country outside of Greater China that I've personally experienced and that I'd say is even more "Confucian" in every rigid sense (and perhaps this observation stands true even if you lump in the
entire Sinosphere) is probably South Korea. Nothing wrong with recognizing the common threads in all of us. Why care about roots if they cannot be routes to understanding? But to be honest, I can also see a similar (or even greater) level of notional familiarity being directed elsewhere. We do have a personal duty to resist the temptation of digesting the world through an essentialized way of viewing cultures and identities. Strangely or not, I do find the greatest personal affinity with the lifestyles, consumption choices and socio-political orientations of certain individuals and urban communities out there in the rest of the developed economies (even in places that "our leaders" tell us are as "different" from "us" as birds are from bees) so maybe there is a certain degree of Middle Class First World conceit implicit, I'll have to admit nonetheless. Heh, I would like to see myself as a global citizen but what does that mean and entail? Especially when notions of citizenry and civil activism are so tied up with the whole ideological construct of the nation-state and an international political system built to reify this "reality".
Bro, your attempt to introduce a debate on the issue of virginity is certainly laudable. I have yet to go through the paper (available at the link you posted) in any detail so I can't really comment. I'm sure it makes a delicious read anyway. Probably save it for a cold rainy night with some cheap Thai "whiskey". Suffice to say, virginity is a social construct sited in specific historical or culturally-specific contexts and hardly an universal ideal. It is really a patriarchal device that reveals quite a bit about male notions (and fantasies) about female subjectivity and sexuality. I don't think this is just airy fairy ivory tower wank because these male desires are actually transformed into justifications for a wide variety of oppressive social structures and mechanisms of control, most of which ultimately have more to do with male inadequacies and an unfettered desire for power and ownership. Just think about how an idealized belief of unblemished womanhood can be used (and are still used) to defend and excuse plain bloody murder in countless examples of "honor" killings. Interestingly, the weird sense of tragedy mixed with humor that has greeted the story of the adulterous Vietnamese woman (see post above) also demonstrates to some extent the double standards and hypocrisy of prevalent norms of femininity, sexuality and family, especially the way these are mediated through the narrow influence of the dominant male gaze.
Maybe one day we should have an ex-WL spouse of a Samster bombard the forum with posts imploring the world to help her locate her philandering deserter of a husband. Now wouldn't that be interesting for a change? Tragedy is rarely black and white. And you really wouldn't be able to feel it in your veins and loins until you are truly stuck in it.
Hahaha, please pardon my verbiage, will you all?
Gosh, seems like I've just been thinking aloud once too many a time yet again. Anyway, thanks for taking your time to go through my demented words. Have fun and see ya.