Films/DVD Asylum

Posted by RGA (R) on February 16, 2021 at 03:02:19

In Reply to: RE: So, RGA - how do you judge success or failure? Amount of money? [nt] posted by Wojciech on February 15, 2021 at 17:36:30

I get the humor - :)

I think some misread me - America to me should be able to "do it all" but has become corrupt beyond reason. America can be the world power and it can also look after its people.

Whenever I see a so-called third-world country doing things a LOT better than both America and Canada it frankly makes me puke in my mouth. How the Frak did we get to a point where bloody Norway or Finland or Hong Kong or South Korea or New Zealand can afford to operate on the neighbor's kid with needing a bloody Go-Fund page begging for money!

It's freaking pathetic when Hong Kong can do it but America can't. Then the excuses get trotted out but what are we a bunch of whiners making excises or can we not actually "outdo" those countries?

I had a finger infection. I live in HK which is very high on the economic income index (ultra-capitalist and ranks ahead of the US for economic freedom) which is why so many Americans open shop here. No sales tax, no import duties and a maximum income tax rate of 17%

I have no medical insurance. I go to the hospital - I was in the hospital for 10 full days. 2 operations - 12 doctors decided how to proceed and save my finger. All drugs, meals in the hospital, physiotherapy, all drugs during and after the operation. My total payout was $350 and 6 of the doctors graduated from Harvard medical and 2 others from Oxford - this was at St. Margaret's hospital one of the best in the world.

$350US total. If I was poor they could get most of that back.

China - third-world nation! FFS - we MUST be BETTER than this. Why do they care about their citizens more than we do about ours? I am not even one of their citizens and they care about me!

If China can do it (now I grant you Hong Kong is a lot different than China) but still it is two systems and one country.

America should be a better beacon - it can't just be words and constitutions and advertising hype and propaganda. I can walk down any street in Hong Kong - and so can any gorgeous woman at 3 am anywhere - and in South Korea and in Tokyo and there is next to ZERO chance she will be accosted - or mugged - nothing. Part of being free is always feeling SAFE and in the US (or Canada) there have been times where I have said - "Richard you're in some trouble here mate" - start putting the key between some fingers in case you have to defend yourself. That isn't "good living."

The feeling of needing a gun to defend yourself at all isn't "good living."

The age thing and dating is kind of funny - I remember watching an Episode of Fraisier - and Frasier is 40 and a 22-year-old is interested in him and he turns her away in part due to "how it will look" to others. A concept not really a concept in Asia. Roz tells him that it's hard enough to find someone without putting obstacles in the way. Fraiser teaches life lessons lol.

I am 47 and my girlfriend is 40. So it's not like that's much of a gap. Still, I would have no problem dating someone significantly younger. And you know well that a lot of women prefer older men for all sorts of reasons from security, wealth, maturity, experience etc.

And from my perspective - I like the fact that some younger women have shown interest in me. More now than when I was young.

And Hong Kong offers a LOT in this regard than living in some small town in Canada or the USA where pickings were slim. When I taught in Port McNeil British Columbia a town of 4,000 people or so - one of my roommates and I, were attracted to the same woman. And as he pointed out, of course, we were - she was the only one in the whole town worth being attracted to LOL. She was a crude redneck lout so we both avoided her in the end. Both roommates married women from Mexico on E-Harmony! Bloody hell they had to import! And no they were not poor - one of them was a banker and the other ran a clothing store chain - made more money! wow.

You live your life - it's not all nation-state politics at "theoretical levels" - it's your day-to-day living IMO that matters.

Mention Singapore and people freak that it is some kind of dictatorship - but on the ground living well yes - you are not free to chew gum and throw it on the road - you will get punished - but then so what? Follow the rules - be considerate of the land and your fellow citizens and you will never have a problem there. I don't have to look down when I walk to make sure I don't step on drug needles or gum or pop cans or whatever other crap is on the road. I don't have to read graffiti everywhere because some ass decides to vandalize something with little punishment. Whip their ass with a Caning. You're free - but not free to be an ass. I see no problem with common sense.

I lived in Mainland China for a year - no problems - work make money go to restaurants pubs site-seeing. Watch movies and TV etc. Just like anywhere. Day-to-day living was free - with the exception of internet sites being blocked. Okay so not good - but still - it's not like it was a gulag or something. Besides we had people who knew how to get proxy servers or whatever and so we always managed to get google and the like.

To read the Western media though it makes it seem like living there would be a true horror show. There is something like 70,000 Americans living in China. And that is in spite of media inducing fear tactics 24/7. It's just not that bad. People need to travel more - not just rely on American news and TV. Go to these places. See it first hand.

Maybe get a drop-dead gorgeous 30-year-old wife. Your friends may talk shit but they'll be envious deep down. LOL.