Bravia

Exactly, to put into perspective how ridiculous this claim is. Imagine you live in a rich place in the West. Let's say Manhattan New York or Central London... Would it make sense for people there to say shit such as "I use my kids as investments to secure my retirement?". The answer is clearly "no", because raising kids in Manhattan or Central-London is damn expensive. People in the West will call you crazy for investing in such a money pit. However, when we use the same arguments about a city that is equally expensive such as Tokyo, Seoul or Hong Kong, then suddenly all these Western people nod in agreement. That is because they live with this idea that Asia is some backwards continent where people have to walk 40 miles for water and that having lots of children means more manpower. Look, I am actually not really pissed about it if a commoner would say something like this, because I am also ignorant about lots of stuff. But these people are tenured professors. To the general public, they are considered experts on Korea. These professors should add nuances in the debate, but instead add even more stereotypes to Korea.

Another claim by these self-proclaimed experts was that one can only have a good career in Korea if you graduated from SKY (Seoul National University, Korea and Yonsei). I sometimes wonder how these people do their research? Do they straight up take their inspiration from the k-drama Sky Castle? Although Korea is extremely competitive, SKY is not necessarily a shoo-in for a good career. First of all, they compete with foreign universities and second of all universities such as KAIST, Postech and Ewha are held in the same regard. Although this might sound petty, but I hate it when these so-called experts make it even more dramatic than the real situation already is.

The feeling they might ignite with this kind of comments is that people in the West will sigh in relief that their country is so perfect, because it is so equal and that they could have it worse such as in Asia.

I have never said that South-Asia is part of the West? I said that Western entitled brats will lump the whole Asia together again. I never referred to India in my original post...

The fact that they refer to slow internet, selling organs for money and using kids as investments is because they think that the country is poor and a third-world country... The other day Saturday Night Live also made this shit joke about Korea being poor. But Korea has made huge developments after the war. No offense, but the West confuses East-Asia with South/South-East Asia, so my original comment is correct (when I referred to the whole of Asia). But even then, I am not sure whether this claim can be made about South/South-East Asia, as selling organs for money is just a bridge too far.

But that is because you are from India and the mentality is slighty different. Korea is so unaffordable that raising kids will put a huge financial burden on you. The low fertility in Japan, Korea and nowadays also China is directly related to the competitive environment: https://www.asahi.com/ajw/articles/14338131. The argument where people see children as investments in mainly in countries where there are limited availability to social security and where children can work instead of their parents. Not in extremely competitive environments where real estate prices are so incredibly high. Seoul, Hong Kong, Tokyo? - Not a chance that people will take kids until they received some financial stability.

By the way, the reason I mentioned Asia instead of East-Asia is the fact that people also misunderstand South-East Asia and South-Asia in the West. My initial arguments pertained mainly to East-Asia, because Squid Game is in South-Korea, but there are equally as ridiculous claims about India. Also, East-Asia and the rest of Asia is very different. East-Asia is more derived from the teachings of Confucius (although Japan and Korea made some alterations throughout history). This is clearly different from India or a Muslim country such as Indonesia. But most Western people think of Asia as dirty, loud, poor and with weird eating habits.

One thing I really hate about this whole Squid Game phenomenon is that it brings in a bunch of Western entitled brats that act as if they understand how Asia works.

So I was reading an article from a very reputable news agency where they tried to "analyse" the whole social message of the director. I read the most ridiculous claims out there. One professor specialised in Korean studies (a dude named Remco Breuker) claimed that debt levels are so high that selling organs are not unheard of in Korea... Another ridiculous claim was that parents see their children as investments so they can take care of them later... What the fuck... What kind of fallacious argument is this... It cost money to have children... Imagine you are dirt poor and you take kids as an investments... Well... Let me tell you something... It will cost you more than it can give you back. Especially, if the kid does not get an elite job.

Yes, Asia is tough, but Western media are stereotyping again and think Squid Game and Parasite are complete reflections of reality... The only often-used argument that I have not encountered yet, is that these journalists forget to mention that Koreans get plastic surgery for their 18th birthday, because without double-eyelids you will fail in life...

And for this reason, it bugs me a little bit that this show is so incredibly popular, because Western MSM will spread blatant lies about Asia again. The other day I saw another journalist claim that their internet infrastructure is one of the best in the world, so they do not have to worry about internet problems caused by Squid Game streams such as in SoKor... The sheer ignorance... Just go on Google and check which countries rolled out 5G the quickest... It ain't the US or an European country, but Korea, Japan and China.

I find this also a bit weird about Asian shows. If you watch a Japanese, Hong Kong or Korean show/movie and they are at a prestigious law firm or hotel, there are always a bunch of white guys.

No offense, but in the West it is actually the other way around. A prestigious university such as Harvard or Stanford is literally full with Asian people. We also see the same pattern with prestigious companies such as Google, Goldman Sachs or McKinsey - a big chunk are of Asian heritage. In fact, if I visit a 5-star hotel, the majority of the visitors are not white (Arab or Asian). But in Asia a lot of times the VVIP and rich people are white...

JRKY, you make some valid points. I find it however pretentious to go to Suzy's list and find some shows that contrasts what she says to strengthen your argument. I am new on this forum, but you have easily become one of the most annoying persons out here.