"What’s the main thing one learns visiting Asia?" That’s the first question that comes to my mind when reading Megan McArdle’s travel thoughts from Vietnam (one example here, note it is my stupid question, not hers, another more humorous example here). Almost every word in the question is stupid — "main"?, "thing"? — or it is easy to point out that Asia is a huge, diverse and many-splendored place.
We nonetheless do most of our thinking in terms of stupid questions, whether we like it or not. It is important to turn stupid questions to our advantage, because in fact that is the main thing we’ve got. While visiting Asia I have learned:
1. Population density really can simply crush the environment, and such density is a more common state of mankind than even a New Jersey boy might imagine,
2. Asians are in general far, far friendlier in their home environs, which is perhaps a question of emotional security,
3. It is possible to have billions of people, and massive stretches of land, both urban and rural, with virtually no major problems of street crime (what is in fact the most dangerous Asian country to wander around in?), and
4. A mere collective act of will could make the food better in many, many (non-Asian) countries.
I might have read these points in books, but I would not have learned them had I not been to Asia and asked myself some stupid questions. Most of all I’m impressed by just how much population density matters.
2. Asians are in general far, far friendlier in their home environs, which is perhaps a question of emotional security
To rich foreigners, maybe.
“Asians are in general far, far friendlier…”
Yes, because of your status as a white male, which is partially due to
cultural hegemony, and a foreigner that makes then want to welcome you.
To put it differently, would you find Asians as welcoming as you did if
you were a black, or perhaps Asian American? Either way, your
observation bothers me since it seems to suggest that you implicitly
find “Asians” in America unfriendly.
Tyler’s point 3 gave me a chortle: 3. It is possible to have billions of people, and massive stretches of land, both urban and rural, with virtually no major problems of street crime (what is in fact the most dangerous Asian country to wander around in?), and
(Trying to channel Steve Sailer) Hmmmm… what factor could *possibly* account for the fact that Japan is much safer than the US? Perhaps the fact that it’s populated entirely by japanese people? Heck, we know that east asians in the US commit crime at far lower rates than whites. But that would be a racist assertion, so it must be wrong. Dang, I guess we’ll never know the answer.
Most of all I’m impressed by just how much population density matters.
Have you ever felt that after visiting Holland?
Try the markets of UlaanBaatar in Mongolia if you want to encounter some pretty fancy and frequent pick-pocketing in Asia.
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Most of all I’m impressed by just how much population density matters.
Have you ever felt that after visiting Holland?
What my time living in Honduras (low national pop density compared to my native Rhode Island) showed me is that population density is the result lack of a tranportation rather than …..er well…population density.
So, has Tyler’s discovery that “population density can crush the environment” taught him anything he might like to pass on to Julian Simon-worshiping economists about, say, immigration policy?
Tyler hasn’t been in any rush to speak up in protest against the crushing of the career of America’s most prominent man of science, James Watson.
But then, who has? Richard Dawkins, Pat Buchanan, Edward O. Wilson, and John Derbyshire stood up and were counted, but not too many more have had the courage to speak up.
“A mere collective act of will”
Reminds me of my favorite phrase from politicians: “All we have to do is…”
Population density crushes the environment. Glad Tyler sees that. A few points:
1) Industrialization will amplify that crushing of the environment. Picture affluent Chinese people buying more meat which requires more land to grow the food. Picture affluent Chinese people building bigger houses that have bigger footprints. Picture huge numbers of highways and massive shopping center parking lots for hundreds of millions of cars.
2) The crushing will get worse due to population growth.
3) I echo Steve Sailer’s point about Julian Simon and the Panglossian economists. Humanity is wrecking huge habitats of other species.
4) We need world population control.
5) America should stop immigration. I’ve had Indian friends try to argue to me to make sure I understand this. One who grew up on Bombay wants to get his green card and then close the door. He’s seen what happens with very high population densities and wants no part of it.
There are enough places in South Asia that you would not want to walk in after hours, and I suspect an ample number of places in the Middle East, Thailand, ,etc.
As someone who’s lived in three countries (India, US, Vietnam), for substantial lengths of time, all I can add is that generalizations don’t work. The situation is far too complex to be attributed to simply density of population etc. Even within a country as large and diverse as India, it’s hard to generalize.
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