My escape from prejudice: a leftist travelogue
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- čas přidán 3. 08. 2018
- Traveling the world was pivotal to my political rebirth. But it's left me with more questions than answers.
The VIetnamese Bean Video:
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Non-Compete is a leftist blog and CZcams channel.
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This is why cities tend to produce left wingers. Meeting people of different backgrounds dispels a lot of prejudices and helps with empathy.
P.s. isn't coffee essentially bean juice?
Nope, juice is when you squeeze a juicy fruit - its what used to be part of the fruit.
Coffee is extract - you add solvent to extract soluble parts of the fruit. The solvent is added and not originally part of the fruit.
That would be like calling tea, "hot leaf juice."
@@juppppy mmm sip
The pit/seed of the cherry is the coffee bean, the fruit itself isn’t used to make coffee.
@@surrealchemist So coffee "beans" aren't actually beans? :o
We must seize the beans of production!
Honestly I would buy that tshirt.
*b e a n*
B E A N
This whole time Johnson was just building this channel and engaging with these ideas to advertise a brand of bean juice. I’m disgusted, disappointed, and unsubscribed.
Jk, I love you and want to try some bean juice one day
Curses! Foiled again, time to burn my CZcams channel and start anew at building my bean empire! :D
NonCompete you won’t fool us again!(but don’t leave until you have done your next lefty book club with the validation gang. Or don’t leave at all. Feed this parasocial relationship. With beans... ok, I’m done.)
Lololol
It definitely beats soft drinks.
The Conquest of Beans.
I get you completely. I was in the Marine Corps and my time in southeast Asia plus not having to worry about housing, healthcare, food or a steady job that paid me a living wage made me a socialist before I even knew what to call it.
I had a whole section in this video that i cut for time about how great it was growing up as a child with Navy healthcare! Probably a topic for a future video :D
For those who can't travel, I recommend learning a foreign language. Most language classes have a cultural component that not only helps inform your understanding of why people say what they say, but it can also sharpen your perception of how they live. It's not the same as immersing yourself directly in the culture, but it can help poke a few holes in your intellectual bubble. Taking Spanish and learning about the various struggles across Latin and South America helped cement my leftist ideals.
This is great advice, and for native English speakers will also give you perspective and sympathy regarding how difficult it is for immigrants to learn OUR language! Also, learning a language has a high likelihood of opening doors for you and exposing you to travel opportunities you wouldn't otherwise have, as well as giving you opportunities to volunteer and help people who speak that language in your home country.
Can I suggest considering Esperanto? For speakers of most European languages it's easy to learn, there's evidence it helps in learning a different language after it, it has some nice internationalist ideals behind, the community is nice and welcoming, and though it's not a national language and it has a rather short history of only over a century, it has its own culture too.
Also it's a fun language when you start inventing words and playing with the rules. And it's been growing faster with the aid of the Internet.
@@frechjo internationalism = / = globalism
This is really important, a lot of working-class people don't have the money to travel. learning a language is the closest thing a lot of them have to authentic (more or less) cultural immersion.
Venceremos!
Man talks about beans and tears up
I'M NOT CRYING YOU'RE CRYING
Person on internet watches man talk about beans and tears up
thinking about thos beans
So I want to say that this video spoke to me because travel also made me reconsider my political stance, I'm a Mexican student from a fairly privileged background, I considered myself a centrist and I approved of neoliberalism because I am doing okay under it and I believed that so called first world countries were superior to mine because of their free market policies, that was until a year and a half ago I went to study for a semester in Canada, I was hosted in Montreal by a working class family, a lady and her adult daughter, that was really my first meaningful interaction with how capitalism functions for most people, the lady's daughter worked two jobs at Walmart and at a hospital, I realized that I had been fed this propaganda that effort is the only factor in a person's success, and I realized that I was only able to be where I was because of systemic privilege, like my parents being able to pay expensive schools, and that people that didn't have it as good as I did only did so because they didn't work hard enough, it also pushed me to question my worldview that I was a Mexican teen for the first time far from home when Trump had just taken office and I was looking for an explanation on how that happened
Very interesting perspective, and it's a bit comforting to know that it's not just us ignorant, arrogant ol' privileged Americans who can get set into attitudes like this! I'm glad we both escaped from such limited perspectives and I wish you best of luck on all your future travels. Thanks so much for watching and for sharing your experiences here :)
"If wealth were there inevitable product of hard work, every woman in Africa would be a millionaire."
Sorry, but I don't recall who said that.
@Gaming Dude dishwashers unite 😊
@@NonCompete Oh noooo.... While I have to admit, it is a lot more common in the USA, there are privileged people who think Ayn Rand is gosper in a lot of countries, if not all.
We the people of the United States have a lot of work to do if we're ever going to fix the problems that permeate almost every level of our society. And I mean a lot of work. That's not even including what Mother Nature has in store for us.
As someone who used to be an ardent supporter of nationalism and capitalism this video spoke to me unbelievably well. I supported those ideas because I thought they were the best models to bring about happiness, freedom and justice for the most amounts of people. I was born into a stable upper-working class home in the UK to a right-leaning family, and as a result I had an incredibly sheltered upbringing. For me it super easy for me to either avoid or not even identify the issues facing my friends, family, peers and people I interact with on a daily basis. It took a lot of realisation and exposure to the real world outside of my little bubble to push me to where I stand today and it's nice to see that there's hope for leftists to convince even the most ignorant and indifferent in our societies. I'm currently starting up a channel of my own and I'll probably do a video on it at some point and it's been great hearing your story. Thank you for this, it was great.
I totally feel you. I'm Dutch and, well, on a lot of metric we are one of the best countries on earth (let's ignore the last 10 years of neoliberal rampaging for a second). We're also very rich, and if you never really think about economic system, or history, or geography, or anything like that, from here, it really does seem like capitalism (and statism) produce amazing results and totally works. What most people don't realize is that so much of our wealth is - and has for hundreds of years - from over the backs and the graves of millions of black and brown people all over the globe, not only our previous colonies in the past, but now still because of capitalism. But it's so hard to convince anyone of this when it all seems so great from here if you just don't think very hard about it.
AliceDiableaux hello im brown myself and im not fully convinced its happening because of capitalism, im trying to challenge that opinion . Whats the main arguments for this view? And what sources can i check?
The lower life, on youtube there are a lot of videos that explain modern capitalist imperialism. I don't remember the titles but I'm sure I have seen a lot of them. Look up about the world bank and the international monetary fund as they're the most important instruments of imperialism. The way they work broadly is they give loans to developing countries but in exchange the country has to accept some policies like allowing more freedom to western corporations on their territory.
Also think about how things that are produced in Africa and south America like cocoa, bananas, sugar, coffee, cobalt for microchips... are so cheap in the west. It's because they use slave and child labor to extract the wealth from poor countries and funnel it to the west.
Luisa thanks
@@ElectricQualia Hey, sorry to bump an old comment but if you're still interested I recommend checking out Mexie. A lot of her videos cover how capitalism exploits developing nations.
@@ElectricQualia I am also Dutch and the things we did to asian and black people were definitely rooted in capitalism. In Indonesia we started with trading with after a while we started occupiyng the land and using the native people for slave Labour. Also certain islands in Indonesia didn't want to be taken over by the V.O.C (the united east-india company) so what would often happen is that we would kill everyone until they surrendered. This is what started the dutch golden age (17th century) during which we accumulated a lot of your wealth. With africans we did what others europeans did, trade goods for slaves in africa, place them on somewhere in the carribean and just get rich from all the sugar and tabacco (and weed I guess). We definitely contributed to the racism is south africa, apartheid is even a dutch word literally meaning seperatism. Basically all these atrocities were commited by the trading companies, which wouldn't happen under (or at least much less) in countries that aren't capatalist. A lot of these things don't get adressed in Dutch schools but I was Lucky to have a pretty progressive history teacher.
As someone living in a country where legally I will never have to spend more than roughly $200 on healthcare expenses (medication I need to function well included) in a year, hearing about my friends in the US who go without healthcare because they simply can't afford to be treated for various things they struggle with has always been surreal.
I've, all my life, taken it for granted that I'll be OK if I get sick, injured, or have other medical issues, and it's one of the main reasons I always considered myself a SocDem until I became a communist.
Yeah when I think back to my life in America it's just mind-boggling! I had so much cognitive dissonance and willful ignorance to think the US had "the best medical system in the world." But it was just repeated to me so many times from such an early age, I just took it for granted. Now every time I go back to visit my family I am just utterly terrified that I'll break an arm or something and end up losing all of my life savings!
You have healthcare because you love in a developed nation. America is not a developed nation. We're basically the wealthiest third world nation.
Vietname beat us at war. It makes sense, them being chill.
Don't forget about those war crimes and heavy bombardment
Beans: an allegory for preconceived notions of other cultures. This is genuinely delightful and insightful, Emerican!
My story is similar to yours. I was a fascist in my former life. Many things helped me get away from those horrible beliefs. And I too am fortunate and lucky to live here in Hanoi. I am glad I found your channel. Keep up the good work.
Great video as always. The bean analogy was pretty good, too, heh.
Also, you gotta love how there are always a few neo-McCarthyists in these comment sections. Apparently, they just can't stay away, but refuse to actually learn anything. To the surprise of absolutely no one.
I do think it's odd that I seem to have a handful of "anti-fans," you'd think they'd have bigger fish to fry, but I don't mind people sticking around who disagree with me as long as they're respectful and don't say anything that's outright hateful, I suppose!
Thanks for the kind words :D
NonCompete Heh, yeah; and you're very welcome! Been loving your videos, and your anti-sectarianism. As a non-anarchist socialist (identify a little more with ML, specifically, but not sure if I'd call myself one at this point) it's really nice having another leftist channel to watch that happens to be anarchist, but doesn't shit on Marxists or call everyone "tankies" all the time, heh
Another gentle, thought provoking video. I think we all grow up being told our county is the greatest, although Americans do tend to believe the whole world thinks it! We haven't kept up with the extraordinary advancement of the Asian people after they were able to throw off the colonialism of the past. I adore Vietnamese stories. Their incredible endurance under vicious regimes and their ability to regain autonomy with their distinctive character and culture intact just blows my mind. They are a tough and beautiful people. I was very young during the Vietnamese War (as named in Australia) and remember our horror at what was unfolding. It was the first war we saw in our lounge rooms and I couldn't imaging that happening in my country, or the courage and tenacity it took for them to stand up to the mighty US (with a little help from us) army.
In my opinion, most people just want to be moderately well-off and to be able to give their children a safe and healthy upbringing. Some cultural differences, but basically the same. It is only when that is threatened that they rise up against their oppressors. It is why capitalists have spent great effort to convince us they have the fast track to prosperity. It is only now, with capitalism failing and threatening our future that we are able to openly discuss other ways of doing things.
We definitely need to change, and we need to unite on the left and give a unified meaning to what all the different terms mean. The argument about what socialism/communism/anarchy actually means is just playing into conservative hands. If we can't agree on what these terms mean, or need to do a political science course in order to understand them, we will never get the anyone else to listen. We need to go slowly and not 'scare the horses'. Convince people that we are not 'reds under the beds' and that we don't want to take away their choices and freedoms. Only then do we stand a chance of bringing the majority with us. If we force the issue or rush it, we will fail.
BTW no need to apologise, you're worth the wait.
Thanks so much for sharing your thoughts and for your kind words. I absolutely agree that pretty much everyone everywhere I've traveled want pretty much the same things in life. I don't think most people are very greedy, and I think most people are quite generous and want to help other people. I really think that when most people "do bad things" it's because of the alienation, anxiety, and stress that comes from being oppressed and feeling helpless beneath the weight of these unbalanced power structures.
I absolutely agree, we need to take back control of our optics and show that we love freedom and liberty and that's precisely WHY we've come to believe what we do. I think we're getting there, slowly but surely. I feel like this burgeoning leftist movement is really only just beginning to build up some steam and I can't wait to see where it takes us!
If you're in the states and don't have a lot of cash. Fly to San Diego. Take the 2 dollar electric trolly to the Mexico Border and cross. Tijuana is a great city. And with things like Yelp and uber has really opened it up for tourists to explore. It will change your life.
Topdamagewizard sure, only *if* you have a passport. Otherwise you might have trouble coming back to the U.S.
@@unclebanana yes it would behoove you to have a passport when going to another country. #noshit
And they have FOOD although you have to really work at finding some real local food instead of something geared toward tourists.
Mexicali... only spent $20 and got completely wasted where here in the states I would’ve spent $20 on a couple of beers. I tipped a large amount as well
As a fellow bean enthusiast, I really appreciated how much time in this video was dedicated to talking about beans.
🍛
HAHAHAHA. "Dear God, these beans are SWEET! What is wrong with these SAVAGES?!"
Ahhhh this video was awesome. I'm so curious about sweet bean juice right now. LOL
I thank anime for introducing me to a vastly different culture to mine during my tween and early teen years. If it wasn't for anime I wouldn't have become interested in Japan itself and wouldn't have learned about its culture, language, and history (I did my own research, I didn't learn much from the animes themselves). It got to a point where I was more interested in Japan than anime and it helped reignite the wonder of the world I had as a child. Anarchism has also helped in that sense. The idea of no borders has reinvigorated my imagination and I now have a permanent sense of wanderlust, but I wouldnt have it any other way.
Yeah! I think "foreign media" is a great way to explore and travel without leaving your home, especially if you can find some friends online who come from the country you're interested in and get their authentic perspective on things. I love anime but only on a surface level, honestly the more anime I watch the more I realize that I'm really only "seeing" the tip of the iceburg and there's sooooo much more going on beneath the surface :D
If you enjoy foreign media/film watch french films they can be weird, and arty but stuff like delecotesant (think thats the right spelling) is really interesting. I had the same experience with Anime, it doesn't teach you about foreign culture, it inspires you to learn yourself.
I am so weirded out that in my country majority of kids who watch anime have far right ideas and I cannot wrap my head around it. And they want to live in Japan because they "admire Japanese prejudice towards foreigners". There's so much hypocrisy I cannot fathom
@@LovelyAngel. this has been my experience with anime lovers. I was very surprised at this comment lol. They love the racial purity in Japan.
2:41 Yes Seoul Korea, the famously underdeveloped rural town 😂
Thanks for talking about your personal life and your transition on world views. I think this type of narrative is very powerful, and indeed, very much a necessity for others to watch and ultimately learn from.
Thanks for the kind words, Peace :D Looking forward to our interview!!!
Yeah, haven't decided on a topic yet. Possibly my transition from conservative military asshole to far-leftist fighting against the ruling elite, specifically anti-imperialism.
I remember being asked if we have ice-cream in Spain. Really. I spend a month living with a family in Michigan when I was 17 (Now I'm 32) and I clearly remember being asked that. So. I'm not surprised by any lack of knowledge about foreign countries coming from an American person.
Your experience that changed your view of the world is very inspiring. Amazing how travelling abroad can enrich you so much...more people should step out of their bubble, travel and experience other cultures...it is so rewarding.
I recently discovered the joy of drinking beans when eating some of my family's ham and bean soup for dinner. I realized after a certain point that spooning the broth out was going to take an eternity, and spooning the beans out before drinking the broth was more trouble than it was worth since the liquid was opaque.
It's hot and savory, so that's a separate experience unto itself, but boy the beans go down smooth.
Your concept of Beans is Inferior!!
(flatulates in Vietnamese)
Comrade GoodBoy as much as I respect your adding of value to the left I must inform you that dissent will not be tolerated on this point.
The left was always ahead with beans.
I am an Australian. I am very sure that more Australians travel a lot more, than Americans do.
There are a few reasons for this. Most Australians know very well, that we are NOT the centre of the world, although there are some right wing reactionists do see Australia, as part of the US/UK Empire.
I have not been to Korea, but I have been to 7 Asian countries, including Vietnam.
Travelling to America actually does scare me a little though. The mass shootings problem is out of control.
There are a lot of reasons many Americans don't travel, though I can't say it is because of the ethnocentrism. The vast majority of people I have known here have not been able to travel for financial reasons. For some it is the matter that they are barely scraping by so the idea of saving up any money let alone enough to take an international flight is a ludicrous idea. For others even if they could save the money their job gives them a small handful of unpaid days per year they can use for sick or vacation time, and typically every use is scrutinized and discouraged to the point that taking off multiple days in a row is a hard sell. Furthermore most of these people are working multiple jobs that would need to get approval from all of them while hoping you don't get sick despite being malnourished and working 60+ hours a week around toxic chemicals and airborne particulates while hearing your boss say that if you want that time off you'll be out of the running for a raise come review time because of your lack of work ethic/loyalty. For the first time in my life I don't have these restrictions, but even now I can't travel because of some anomaly with my birth certificate is preventing me from getting a passport until I pay a lawyer and lose wages to appear in court several times. On the otherhand I know a few people who had the luxury of travel, but most come from families who are at least middle class, and are arguably some of the more ethnocentric people I've known (not all of them, but a higher representation). This is anecdotal to be sure, but I have known a lot of people because I've had to move a lot to find work.
That's pretty much how we feel in Canada. Funny how a bunch of commonwealth countries have a better understanding of this than the supposed "best country on earth", America 😅
Your story is truly remarkable. You are actually a critical thinker, and despite your sheltered life before travel, you opened your mind to new experiences, and you took those experiences and reshaped your ideology to account for new truths. Kudos to you! I wish there were more people like you.
Thank you for this video. I'm Australian, from a migrant family, learn to question from a young age, have travelled, and have had a variety of life experiences and known a wide variety of people. (I'm not saying that I don't have room to grow or I'm incredibly wise or anything, just that I haven't been in a bubble.) I've sometimes found it difficult to understand where the American conservatives/right-libertarians I know and come across online are coming from, why they seem so closed to other perspectives and why they insist on strange things that are evidently not true (American exceptionalism, for instance), and the strange defensiveness against anything that suggests that the US is not the greatest country in the world beloved by all. This video helped me to gain some insight and perhaps some more empathy. Thanks.
Subscribed.
Bean juice? That sounds awesome.
Yay, a new non-compete video!
Yay, a new The Blue Lizard comment!
What an enlightening video, dude!
This video makes me sad and happy, talk about being conflicted, that’s me. I feel so sad that you held those beliefs, happy that you’ve since shed them. I’m a liberal, I wear that proudly, glad to have you on our side.
LMAO the bean story at the end. so beautiful
I did not believe that a Cause which stood for a beautiful ideal, for anarchism, for release and freedom from convention and prejudice, should demand the denial of life and joy. I insisted that our Cause could not expect me to become a nun and that the movement would not be turned into a cloister. If it meant that, I did not want it. "I want freedom, the right to self-expression, everybody's right to beautiful, radiant things."
- Emma Goldman
This is some excellent grade A material. Your honest and self-effacing story of political development is both touching and inspirational. It should be getting many more views.
This video was beautifully done and has finally made me go from a fence sitting Berniebro to a total leftist. Your emotionally honest storytelling was incredibly moving. Thank you so much :)
3:27 "..it seemed like they had better technology"
Honestly my only response is "well no shit, Samsung is a Korean company"
This was beautiful EJ, beans and all.
Hope you are doing well. It touches my heart whenever I know of an experience like this. Somehow I also had to go through a reprogramming. Maybe it was not so drastic in my case, because though I didn't consider myself a libertarian, it was very attractive to me. I had the luck to know a lot of different people throughout my life and I learnt how to listen and analyze them with their problems. Then at some point I realized, damn... there are too many people unable to handle their own lives, they are not well educated to do so and there are too many things that oppress them or don't allow them to evolve. I also realized in less degree the same happened to me. I also love freedom, but a liberatarian system implemented in our society would only perpetuate cultural problems and people "slavery". I understood all of this as the libertarian trap.
Thank you for sharing your experience with us.
this was heartfelt
this was SUCH a powerful video. you are such a kind-hearted & open-minded soul. you made so many great points in this video, and i wanted to add that many americans who DO travel go to traditional vacation places & go on cruises and only stay around their hotel resort confines. it’s so important that we open our minds up and really get a feel for other people’s culture and way of living and learn something from it rather than deem it as inferior, as i think a lot of americans tend to do. thank you for this great video! 💗
_"It never occurred to me beans could be a sweetened beverage(...) I have since learned to enjoy drinking beans."_
- _Emerican Johnson, 4 August, MMXVIII_
This is the awesomest honest video I have seen all week.
A bit late, but glad I found this nonetheless. This was my first exposure to your channel, and you've definitely earned a new sub.
Hey NonCompete, I just recently discovered your channel maybe a week or so ago. I have watched a view videos, liked and subscribed but i have to say this is my favorite one so far. This is such a important topic and so intensely personal to me as well because when i was 19 i sold most of what i owned and traveled, It completely transformed my life. A year later i had a apartment in Thailand.
My life will never ever be the same again for the better. It's incredibly hard to explain to many people, or at least difficult for me to explain it so eloquently. I might end up in Vietnam although most likely Hanoi soon, wish i could buy you a beer or better yet bean juice. You are doing really important work and i really appreciate you. I hope you can cover this topic more in the future, I am basically a travel evangelist at this point for all the reasons you said.
That was beautiful. I have watched your videos since video number 2, and this was one of my favorites. I wish we could be friends in real life, Emerican.
When are you gonna come check out Vietnam, conrad? :D
NonCompete haha, good point, but I've got a stable job in the capitalist economy in the US earning money to be able to live. Trying to find a different way to earn money to be able to live while also allowing me to travel and have time (and energy) off is difficult. I don't even really know how that could possibly happen. Sorry, I'm drunk as hell right now and typing this on my phone so I just wish I had leftist friends so I can actually talk about how much full time work sucks. Well, anyways, I hope you have a great night
Ha! I was right where you are not too long ago. Hope you can find a way sooner or later. Let me know if you ever wanna talk strategy, I know a few alternative avenues for traveling that you might enjoy :D
Jealous that you're drunk, pour one for me :D
NonCompete hah, yeah. Pretty lame I know, but I don't want to do anything crazy in the immediate future. Just started a new career and I kinda want to keep tricking them into thinking I'm a good employee by actually being a good employee you know? It's weird. I'm 25 as of a couple weeks ago, but adulting still seems super hard. I just hate everything now. Anyways, hoping it gets better soon and I hope you do more puppet shows soon cause that's great stuff
This was a beatiful video. Thank you for sharing your experiences 💜
Hey, if your travels ever take you to japan (or a japanese bakery anywhere else in the world) you may find Taiyaki, a kind of (pan)cake filled inside with a red azuki bean paste that is delightfully sweet and has a great texture. Just sounds like something you'd enjoy :3
Vid was great, and besides having a general parallel ideology with you, I also found myself agreeing with how liberating and broadening travel was. To quote Mark Twain, "Travel is fatal to prejudice, bigotry, and narrow-mindedness, and many of our people need it sorely on these accounts. Broad, wholesome, charitable views of men and things cannot be acquired by vegetating in one little corner of the earth all one's lifetime.” I also had the benefit of living in a multiracial home and in/around cities most of my young life, and I hope these are experiences that more americans learn to appreciate.
Seize the beans of production!
This is extremely effective communication. I would love to see more of this kind of introspection and puppets of course.
Good God man, this video is a damn inspiration! Seriously one of the best videos about leftism and how your world view can change through travel and exposure to new ideas. Beautiful work, you honestly had me teary eyed at the end there.
I always get a little choked up myself when it comes to beans
(I forget to chew)
srsly though thanks for the kind words :D
Me too, I understand that too well as a Brit. :D You're welcome, keep up the good work!
You absolutely deserve more views. You're a ray of hope that perhaps not all of capitalist society is a loss, that there's hope for redemption and that we can make things better.
Butterbeans and cornbread is the true way to freedom my dude. They can't be beat. Great video Emerican!
I can't argue with you about beans 'n cornbread, my meamaw made the best dang butterbeans ever! They were so ... buttery and... so beany!!!
Thanks for the encouragement :D :D
As a fellow traveler whose worldview was also completely changed and enriched by these experiences, I love this. ❤ See you on the road someday!
"we drink the bean juice in vietnam"
such a touching story, i'm a leftist now
This was very inspirational, thanks
Beautiful video!
the bean juice metaphor is just beautiful
I can't travel because A: finances and B: Being transgender does seem to affect where I can go. How does Vietnam and Korea view us? Because I'd hope to see both someday.
Korea is pretty conservative among Korean people but they have something called the "foreigner rule" which means they generally don't really give a crap about foreigners who are visiting/living there as long as we don't cause any trouble. Though if you are "Korean looking" you'll receive more scrutiny. As an example, no Korean person has ever objected to my tattoos but I have a friend who is Korean-American and wasn't allowed to go into any of the spas or public swimming pools because he had tattoos even though he's culturally American and speaks no Korean.
I have some trans friends in Vietnam, both local and foreigner. I don't claim to be an expert but from the conversations I've had Vietnamese trans people tend to have more problems with their families than with the public. Not so much a problem of public discrimination as personal pressure from their parents and aunts and uncles and such. There are some trans celebrities here and a lot of openly trans Vietnamese (mostly in the South).
Thailand is one of the trans capitals of the world and when I visited Phuket and Pattaya I met a few trans people who came from all over the planet to join the community, earn money, have surgeries, etc. Of course there's a lot of unsavory and problematic stuff associated with trans people in SE Asia but it seems to me (as an outsider) that there's also a very strong and thriving trans community. I could introduce you to some folks online if you'd like more of an "inside scoop!"
I’ve lived in Korea for about a decade and have quite a few lgbtq+ friends. I’m not Korean, but have had conversations with Korean people about these topics, so I’ll pass on what I’ve heard.
In Korea, among many people, there’s a psycho-cultural understanding of trans-ness apart from homosexuality, as opposed to the kind of nebulous mixing of the concepts that often happens in the US. It’s much more understandable for many Koreans that someone might be “born in the wrong body” and want to remedy that, than it is that someone would have a sexual attraction to someone of the same sex. By many, homosexuality is seen as unnatural, while transsexuality is viewed as an unfortunate circumstance. Transsexuality is a “medical problem” while homosexuality is a “mental health problem.” For this reason, I think transgender people who do not want to transition probably have a more difficult time.
If you ever do come to Korea, the Itaewon district in Seoul has quite a cosmopolitan scene and is generally quite accepting of all kinds of foreigners. (Though most of Seoul is going to be used to non-Koreans, too.) There’s a specific area in Itaewon commonly called “homo hill” that has a concentration of gay and trans bars where lgbtq+ people congregate.
a Vietnamese here: I think what's important is how you look, rather who you're inside.
generally speaking, the LGBT issue is not a big taboo (we openly joke that someone (who's straight) should go to Thailand and change his gender) but it does come with some degraded implication (the above example implies that changing your gender is bad). Physical or serious assault of transgender is very rare (from what i know in Saigon; sex workers and people who live in poorer parts may have it worse), but they won't be treated with the same respect as a straight person.
However, i think what causes this "disdain" is the fact that trans don't fit into our "masculine" idea about men, rather than your actual gender (even guy with a ''Korean popstar'' flashy style can make some people harum). So if you are a "manly" gay, you won't have much trouble; but if you are a man wearing a dress - that will cause some . Many will feel uncomfortable, and many will make "harmless'' jokes (or at least that's what they think) about these trans; but ultimately, you won't be beaten or jailed like in some Muslim countries.
I'm not really much for traveling (and I have not traveled much), so I guess it'd take an extra bit of thinking for me to figure out how I came around to my current views. I can say right now that a big part of it is empathy born of suffering. Still, I definitely think it's something that would be worth me thinking about it. I'm also glad I get to hear more about your journey, and I certainly never considered bean-based beverages before!
On an unrelated, I've seen a couple things about a Non-Compete Discord, and I was wondering if that's still open to new people.
I'm hear for the bean talk
Love this video, your sincerity and vulnerability
Really happy I found this channel
your state of mind that you describe at the beginning of the video genuinely scares me.... i can't imagine not being driven my every waking second by the desire to travel, the _need_ to see and experience more of the world.
but then again, I'm from Australia, which is basically the opposite of America in many regards. We're pretty much told our whole lives that we're second best, we're on the borders of the world, and everything exciting is happening outside of our bubble and so we need to escape it.
You kno ur boi had to subscribe great vid bro
Man this channel is so underrated
Maybe the real beans were the friends we made along the way...
Funny, as an immigrant l was just thinking about this the other day. It's one thing to travel somewhere on vacation, but to live for months or years in a different culture kinda peels back a lot of assumptions. Certainly helped me reasses the whole "us and them" premise drummed into us since childhood.
This video feels human.
Your personal epiphany about the rest of the world is so encouraging to hear. During college in the eighties, I had a friend who, like you, was a nominal Reagan-admiring Republican, not really hard-headed, more regular US apolitical; her mother was a Republican, this friend herself was surrounded by Republicans in the business school she was in, and she just accepted the kind of thinking that that produces: "Democrats just want to take all my money with taxes!," etc, as if Reagan didn't also want her taxes. (This was before nation-wide right-wing media like Rush Limbaugh had been enabled by Reagan's late eighties deregulation of media, so she was less likely to be as brainwashed as your generation and later ones have been.) Anyway, then, she took a gap year in the UK, France, and Mexico and came back with completely different (improved) political and social views, was actually progressive. She was initially shocked, though, at how much the rest of the world hated Reagan. Just like during the Trump and Bush II years, it could be embarrassing traveling internationally as an American during the eighties because of Reagan's horrendous policies. This friend as an adult ended up living outside the US for years, coming back only to care for her aging mother and being a political organizer while she was in the US to try to improve the situation. (And I know you hate "liberals"/Democrats above all else, but moving that direction after being a right-winger is an improvement for a person.)
I don't hate libs and dems who are struggling to find their way, just the overtly ideological neoliberal types who are fully aware of the atrocities of capitalism and are fine with it... sounds like that's not your friend from your description! Glad we all made it out of the deeper darkness, thanks so much for sharing your story!
Thanks so much for making this! I grew up in a religious conservative house. We couldn't afford to travel out of the country, but we did travel the United States as I am lucky enough to have family all over the US. Just noticing for me when I was young the difference between different areas of the US was astounding to me and I feel like it was very influential on who I became. For me, what changed me was reading. I educated myself, because I felt that there was something off about the ideology that I was raised on. Particularly the church that I went to. I didn't like the idea that there were certain rules that you had to follow if you appear to be a certain way, if you were a woman, in particular. And so I educated myself. I read a lot of books. A lot. I read the Quran, and I found it not much different from the Bible that I was raised on. It was visually more beautiful, and more poetic. And I actually found that I liked it more than Christianity. And that I felt the same resonance and spirituality in it as I did in church. I no longer religious, but reading was so essential to my growth as a person, I was able to travel the world through books. And now, I'm able to travel the world in reality, in part thanks to my job as a stripper. Which is something that was extremely demonized as I was growing up, sex and gender had concrete places in the world that I was raised in and it was an extreme black and white binary.
I hope to see more of the world someday. For now seeing more ideologically is a nice treat.
Okay this reminds me of my first day in Mexico. My dad had been there for a few months to prepare the move, so when the rest of the family arrived he took us to a restaurant to eat Mole; mole is a kind of Mexican brown sauce, okay so we got to eat what we assume is a savory sauce turns out it's sweet because it's made of chocolate. My dad enjoyed our shock way too much, he could've warned us mole is sweet, but the jerk didn't. Eventually I learned to eat mole, it's not the best sauce but it's fine (it's sweet AND hot)
Mole is awessssommmmmmmme! Maybe eventually you'll love it as much as I love it (and bean juice)!
Roll that beautiful bean footage!
you explaining how your preprogrammed beliefs crumbling before you in an instant reminds me of my own life: growing up Mormon and having all of that dissipating in an instant once I started traveling, reading and questioning
Your experience with beans was mine with French toast-I was so shocked when I found that sweet was an option, because to me it was savoury. On the opposite end was pancakes-they were always sweet to me, so seeing savoury pancakes was a surprise.
Bean example is excellent :)
Great content
"Most Americans wish that everyone could be free; we want everyone to have liberty. Where we get confused is *how to best achieve liberty*"
That right there is one of the main reasons why I can't stand it when American armchair activists *shame* people who disagree with them instead of trying to *teach* them; to open their eyes to the reality of the world beyond their preconceptions rather than declare them terrible people for being misinformed.
And even when someone clearly *is* a lost cause, at least as far as your ability to change their mind by yourself is concerned, people gotta face up to the reality that haranguing these people does nothing to help the cause.
You are such a good person that it makes me want to cry
I wish I could live up to this very kind comment! Even though I know I don't, I still appreciate the kind words very much :)
I also call my grandmother “Maamaw”
HaHa! I had the opposite experience, grew up in Thailand with sweet beans and went to Australia - suddenly everyone is like EaT BeAnS WitH SauSagEs!! ALSO THEY MAKE YOU FAAARRRTT. Well, I braved it out and they grew on me. Love me some poot beans for breakfast now 👍👍👏👏
This made me legitimately laugh out loud, thanks for sharing!
*the bean line*
Thailand is where men go to do...uh.... “Thai things?”
Awesome story!
Now I’d like to try that bean juice.
I've lived in Japan for about 12 years (from the UK, teaching was my route here, too). I wish I could say that travel has broadened the minds of the people around me, but not so much in many cases. I'm sure it's had some effect. There are some good leftists here, too, and I'm with you on the beans - sweet bean cakes are something I've gradually gone from finding repulsive to really liking!
Thanks for sharing your story
It's crazy just how strongly the ideas of borders have been engrained into the public consciousness.
I used to be snobby about Americans never leaving the US, until I realised that I'd only left the EU once. But England and Greece feel a lot more different than Texas and California...
Im crying 😂 mans getting passionate about his beans uno
Travelling to Cuba was, for me, instrumental in shaping my socialist beliefs and learning to open my mind to different cultures. Though I was never a silly conservative like you were, I get where your coming from.
Hey man, your life resonates with me. I’m from North Carolina and moved to Thailand in 2009 to teach English. Same white/English speaking privilege. No visa needed to just show up in Thailand. Now I live in Taiwan. The socialized medicine and public transportation here are great. Also, I assume your name is Johnson, that’s my last name too. True fact, my plan was to move to Vietnam after a year, but I just loved Taiwan so much I just stayed. From a fellow leftest Johnson in Asia, cheers!
Cool beans.
“What is this?”
“Bean juice”
“It’s disgusting! It’s bubbly and cloying and happy, just like Vietnam”
“And do you know what’s really scary? If you drink enough of it, you start to like it. Just like Vietnam”
(reference for all the Trekkies)
Every now and then I go to a Vietnamese restaurant (the owner actually recognized me when she happened to be buying groceries at the same store as me one time). I was already used to the idea of sweet beans from Japanese pastries, but in the restaurant they make a delicious... sort of milkshake/ice cream, a cup filled with those beans and whipped cream, probably some coconut, I think. It's amazing.
I've had sweet red bean stuff from Japan and Korea but what was striking about Vietnam is they really just consider beans to be nothing but a resource for making sweetened drinks, they think EATING beans as a savory food is totally weird :D
What do you do with the beans once you've drunk the juice?
down with the bean ruiners!!!
It's not just about loving freedom. It's about loving it enough that there is no aspect of it that can scare you or turn you away. It's that desire to know everything about it, to be with it all the time and to tell the world about your love.
And I can see that you really are in love. All of this before we met Luna, too. Ah, it just gets better.
Imagine reading a few of the comments before viewing the video, and how confused I was about everyone talking about beans. :P
I'm an immigrant son of immigrants. Genuinely grew up thinking I was inferior to citizens. Took a long time to realize I was just as capable as the other kids. Just wanna say it's good to have you on our side comrade.