Is it true that Asian culture tend to be very materialistic and shallow?

[Anonymous]

It was a response to another response in a thread on misc regarding races behavior. This response came about from someone saying that a lot of Asian people consider Black people subhuman.

The quote:

" For what it's worth Asians see everyone other race as subhuman unless you make bank. They are a purely materialistic race as a whole (wealth, tangible achievements matter more than character or self worth)."

[The quote above came from an Asian member when expressing their view of their race.]

Yes

No

[BlueCoyote]

Frankly, it's really silly to throw all of Asia into one bucket. You can't pick one Asian country and just assume that all the other 70 countries of Asia work the same way. Also, there is no such thing as an over-arching culture. Japanese culture is about as much related to Filipino cultures as American cultures is to Chilean or Uruguayan culture. They're completely different countries with completely different societies.
As a rule of thumb, north east Asia (China, Taiwan, Macau, South Korea, Japan etc.) tend to be quite materialistic because many of these countries were unimaginably poor just 50 years ago. South Korea used to be one of the poorest nations in the world, along with Ethiopia and Burkina Faso. So it is understandable that people there care a lot about good education and getting a well-earning job. My Korean girlfriend's grandparents still remember what it was like to beg strangers on the street for a bowl of rice.
And even in this north east Asian region, there are differences and exceptions. For example Japan is certainly less materialistic than South Korea or China because Japan has been a wealthy, developed nation for quite a bit longer. Also, North Koreans are not materialistic at all because they grow up in a system where being materialistic is considered evil.
South east Asia on the other hand is completely different yet again. Laos and Cambodia are good example of countries that are not materialistic at all. Thai people are probably somewhere in the middle. So you can't just generalize everyone by some stupid race-term. There are HUGE differences within the Asian continent and I mentioned only a few of them.

[0112358]

Sounds right.

[G-Daz]

I'm very familiar with Asian cultures but yeah, some more so than others. China is a mostly secular country with a different framework of ethics that many westerns find alien. There is an influence of buddhism but this was largely attached as a cultural relic without any major influence practically.

Of course not all are like this and for example, South Korea used to be more secular. It rapidly became one of the fastest Christian growing countries in the world. There is often a big cultural divide between the grandparents and new generation that have less of a cultural need for material goods than their grandparents value. It really depends

[Anonymous]

I'm Asian and I'm definitely not materialistic. I'd say it totally depends on the person. If anything, Asian culture is very conservative and strict.

[AynonOMouse]

I don't think they are any more materialistic than any other race.
I do think that more Asians look at a relationship more like a business deal. Not in the sense of how much money the person makes, but more like who will be doing what in the relationship, what are the expectations for raising kids, house work, family time spent together, and other things. They just want to work things out earlier in the relationship to figure out if they are compatible with the person long term.
I like that about them. Too many people don't discuss expectations early for a lasting relationship once they would be living together. It is better for both people to know up front what would be expected in the relationship.

[Rawrzz]

What? Western culture is way more materialistic and shallow. Asian culture is very rich. They also have much more of a group, collective mentality: caring for society as a whole, whereas Western culture has a more "Me and fuck everyone else." mentality. Individualist vs collectivist.

What is the argument? You can't just say "this is this, because it's this". There needs to be reasoning behind it.

[Cosytoasty]

Thing is though, self worth and character almost always go hand in hand with financial success. When was the last time a low-key drug dealer who lived in a trailer was content with life and was considered "of good character"?

As for black people being subhuman, that part can be considered true for quite a few Asians who have never met a decent black person in their life.

[OrdinaryGentleman]

We are studying this in Intercultural comms class. I am originally from hawaii which has a very high Asian culture. Dated 2 Asian girls.
To answer your question yes, they do tend to be very shallow. This is due to them coming from a very miscued masculine culture that centers around progressively constictive western ideals. Very materialistic and very shallow. However in the country side it is less so compared to the cities.

[ibodi]

It should have been but they did not see other race as subhuman just one standard.
Buddhist is in a position that should be
if they feel pain in the relationship of use and be used

[Anonymous]

All cultures are this way now. We live in Modernity, where our spiritual and traditionally cultural values have been degraded as a result of hedonism, materialism, consumerism etc. There are very few countries/cultures on earth that have retained their sense of Tradition.

[Saoirse_Nua]

I think you can get people who love money from all races and most others are cool about it.

[Thrifty]

I think I was materialistic until I found Jesus and was taught to keep my treasures in Heaven.

[Phoenix98]

Modern culture yeah but not the ancient culture.

[Bandit74]

I have heard that too.

[WhaChaChaKing]

From what I've seen in Japanese culture, yes.

[BigBallerSodaPop]

Japanese are a bunch of copiers.

They were the only ones smart enough to copy Europe to the extent. that they didn't get taken over.