wow what a giant mess of ignorance and generalizations.
I can write an entire article refuting every point he attempted to make.. there are so many Western "innovators"
in the artistic field who were "inspired" by Eastern "copycats." Then again, their innovative works were partly
influenced by previous artists who were, interestingly enough, Western. Point being, there's no difference in the willingness of one to be innovative, East or West. There are standardized social constraints in any culture but to those with the will to innovate they are irrelevant in making their decision to execute.. results and consequences are a different story. Sorry if this sounded like a rant.. I was just upset by the reality that people with this kind of uneducated views are still abundant. New York City with slanty eyes?? come on
I don't like the tone of this article, especially the first half (it was bordering on being racist...) - but I agree with the author. While there are exceptions, Asian culture is about obeying and following either your parents, your teacher, your government, or whoever else is above you (your boss).
It's so strong that even some American Asians today are trapped by it (fortunately not many to my knowledge). I actually experienced this when I first moved to the SF bay area. My gf (now wife)'s adherrence to her parent's wishes (even though she didn't agree with them) nearly drove me insane... even though I'm Asian myself, I guess I just can't relate anymore to certain aspects of our culture since I grew up where there were virtually no other Asians....
