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Tony Chan - poster child for all that is wrong with HK

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  1. #21

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    Mat, in your travels in the West in recent years, have you noticed people praying to Madoff for money or setting little statues of him with one leg missing in their shop windows or on auspiciously-positioned tables in their offices? No, right?

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  2. #22

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    I have seen stampede around Thanksgiving and Xmas to get cheaper gifts: Wal-Mart fined $7,000 in post-Thanksgiving stampede - Los Angeles Times

    this in "civilized" America....

    Stop the comparison game DG and stop trying to label ppl - this usually leads nowhere except argument and in the worst cases: wars.


  3. #23

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    Mat, are you being deliberately obtuse or can you just not tell the difference between a handful of individuals or (in the case of the admittedly shameful greed of Wall Street) an industry and a cultural trait that is shared by society at large?


  4. #24

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    Quote Originally Posted by Mat:
    I have seen stampede around Thanksgiving and Xmas to get cheaper gifts: Wal-Mart fined $7,000 in post-Thanksgiving stampede - Los Angeles Times

    this in "civilized" America....

    Stop the comparison game DG and stop trying to label ppl - this usually leads nowhere except argument and in the worst cases: wars.
    Yes, they are trying to save money in order to buy more and nicer gifts for their loved ones. Usually, they are working from a list -- each gift being something that they either know or hope that the recipient wants or will like.

    In HK, people swap envelopes filled with cash. The closer the relationship, the more cash. The crisper / newer the banknotes, the better.

    Can you honestly not see the difference?
    Last edited by dear giant; 29-02-2012 at 03:05 PM. Reason: included quote for context, expanded my original comment
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  5. #25

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    For F*ck Sake DG stop I am almost shedding a tear.

    I am out of here.

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  6. #26

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    What one might ask is the motivation behind this post... Is it to discuss this particular case? If so then there's no need for this kind of title.

    More likely it's a little bait/troll from someone just a little too bored to spark the kind of silly debate that is going on... To make this kind of generalization from a story is ridiculous and greed is rampant across the world. Furthermore this kind of baiting title implies that somehow things are more wrong in HK than other places which again is somewhat inflammatory.

    Financial well being is certainly an important value in HK, so are education and family just like in any other societies. Certainly, there can be more emphasis on one as opposed to another but at the end of the day, a society is comprised of individuals and it's a huge cop out to somehow try to blame or tarnish everyone for the actions of a few.

    In the West, it's not uncommon to abandon the elderlies in homes and few are the children that would give an allowance to their elders. Some parents can't wait to boot out their kids out of the house... Can one say that HK have better family values because of the actions of a few? If I were to post a thread with a nice baiting title, I bet you that many posters here would feel insulted and come up with their very own caring success stories to prove it wrong.

    Now is it a western or chinese trait to use a shocking/baiting title to attract a little attention?

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  7. #27

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    I see I have to repeat myself, again, for those that either can't read or choose to ignore the obvious: "traits that embody the worst aspects." Not all of HK, just the sad state of affairs in this town when it comes to the unrestrained pursuit of wealth at the expense of everything else.

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  8. #28

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    Quote Originally Posted by Swannie:
    [...] In the West, it's not uncommon to abandon the elderlies in homes and few are the children that would give an allowance to their elders. Some parents can't wait to boot out their kids out of the house... Can one say that HK have better family values because of the actions of a few? If I were to post a thread with a nice baiting title, I bet you that many posters here would feel insulted and come up with their very own caring success stories to prove it wrong.

    Now is it a western or chinese trait to use a shocking/baiting title to attract a little attention?
    This is my comment where I agree with you that the state of elder care in the United States is deplorable and that the high incidence of elder abuse turns my stomach. Ditto for gun crime, in case that was on the tip of your tongue as well.

    If you bring up the West's history of slavery, I'm not going to point out that slavery is an ages-old institution and was not invented in the 16th/17th century in the West. I'm going to agree that it is a shameful part of Western (especially American history) and that the legacy of slavery continues to inflict suffering on America to this very day.

    It's possible to acknowledge faults in a culture.
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  9. #29

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    I wouldn't even try to categorize what american culture is... It is far from homogenous and any such attempt is full of pitfalls. Certainly there are those who love their guns yet there are also a very large percentage of people against it. According to survey, less than half of americans own guns. Is it fair to that majority albeit a small one to label America a "gun culture? Is it really a fault to own guns? The Swiss certainly don't seem to have a problem with it...

    Certainly many HK and Chinese people value financial well being perhaps more so than other cultures however is it necessarily or always a fault? Does it always lead to the Tony Chan of this world? One could say that freewheeling spending and amassing debt as is often done in the West can also be a fault. If it is done at the detriment of other values, it is certainly a problem. That's why it is very difficult to look at one particular value in a vacuum and without comparison.

    In any case, the point remains that it seems obvious by the baiting title that the motivation of the OP is to attract a little attention and spark silly childish debate since there's really nowhere else to go from there...

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  10. #30

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    Quote Originally Posted by dear giant:
    Mat, whether or not HKers hate him (if they do, I suspect it's because he is now losing and HKers hate losers), he does exemplify many HK cultural traits -- chief among them insatiable lust for wealth.

    HK Chinese society revolves around money and this has nothing to do with imported Western values having rubbed off on them. To pretend otherwise is to ignore reality.
    Couldn't agree more. Who said HK has no culture?

    The City pages of SCMP have nothing but the C listed models/celebs donning designer outfits appearing at garden variety of designer events. It makes Page Six pale in comparison.
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