Ten months ago I began a journey of practicing mindfulness every day and we've reached day 309. Yesterday, I talked about how the way we live our life is reflected in everything we do. Today is a new day.
Unfortunately, this is something I'm harping on because I understand it very well. When I came to Japan on a high school trip with my friends I was kinda the same way. I remember going outside in my hotel pajamas and started running around screaming like a mad-man because I thought it'd be funny. I was that guy. It got some laughs, but from the perspective of the Japanese living there, they probably rolled their eyes and thought, "oh look, another foreigner making a fool of himself". Now that I've been living in Japan for almost two years I'm starting to understand both sides. Another youtuber, That Japanese Man Yuta, made a video about Paul and how foreigners like this are generally frowned upon and make some people not want foreigners visiting the country.
When it comes to visiting another country and experiencing a different culture, I think it's important to not let the hype get to our head and to remember that we're the guest, so we need to make the extra effort to being respectful of the rules and expectations of where we're going. Like if you went over to someone's house, do you just raid the fridge and do whatever you want? Unless you're super close, probably not. It's the same with visiting another country. A big part of being respectful is being mindful of what the rules and expectations are of a different culture and being mindful of your actions.
As a foreigner living in this country, I am a representative of my country and I don't want to give America a bad reputation. There are a lot of things I disagree with when it comes to how things are done here, but that's MY problem. I'm the foreigner, so it's on me to learn to respect the culture and do things their way, not impose MY way on them. If I don't like it, I should just move somewhere else. That makes more sense, right? Respect is a two-way street. So if you want your boundaries to be respected, you should respect others', too. Do unto others as you would have unto yourself.
We all make mistakes and should be given the benefit of the doubt, but in Paul's case, that's just his thing. Unfortunately, negative things tend to stick out more, especially when they're loud and obnoxious, and I don't think he really understands the implications and consequences of his actions. I just hope that he can learn from his experience (his apology video is horse shit btw. There's a body-language analysis that pretty much calls him out on his true nature) and mature from his mistakes.
Peace
"We don't need to share the same opinion as others, but we need to be respectful." - Taylor SwiftI recently heard about youtuber Logan Paul and his videos in Japan and while it was pretty cringe-worthy, I get it. Is it awesome that he managed to get to where he is today with his career? Absolutely. I can respect that. However, his actions in Japan represent the negative image many Japanese have toward foreigners and for someone as big as him, that stereotype just got reinforced ten-fold. All I saw was some obnoxious foreigner coming to Japan and letting the fame and attention get to his head. Looking through some of his past videos, that just seems to be his thing and people seem to like it. That's why he's famous now I guess. It's great that he had fun and all, but a lot of it came at the cost of disrupting peoples' lives and making them uncomfortable. It doesn't matter who you are, that's not cool, mate.
Unfortunately, this is something I'm harping on because I understand it very well. When I came to Japan on a high school trip with my friends I was kinda the same way. I remember going outside in my hotel pajamas and started running around screaming like a mad-man because I thought it'd be funny. I was that guy. It got some laughs, but from the perspective of the Japanese living there, they probably rolled their eyes and thought, "oh look, another foreigner making a fool of himself". Now that I've been living in Japan for almost two years I'm starting to understand both sides. Another youtuber, That Japanese Man Yuta, made a video about Paul and how foreigners like this are generally frowned upon and make some people not want foreigners visiting the country.
When it comes to visiting another country and experiencing a different culture, I think it's important to not let the hype get to our head and to remember that we're the guest, so we need to make the extra effort to being respectful of the rules and expectations of where we're going. Like if you went over to someone's house, do you just raid the fridge and do whatever you want? Unless you're super close, probably not. It's the same with visiting another country. A big part of being respectful is being mindful of what the rules and expectations are of a different culture and being mindful of your actions.
As a foreigner living in this country, I am a representative of my country and I don't want to give America a bad reputation. There are a lot of things I disagree with when it comes to how things are done here, but that's MY problem. I'm the foreigner, so it's on me to learn to respect the culture and do things their way, not impose MY way on them. If I don't like it, I should just move somewhere else. That makes more sense, right? Respect is a two-way street. So if you want your boundaries to be respected, you should respect others', too. Do unto others as you would have unto yourself.
We all make mistakes and should be given the benefit of the doubt, but in Paul's case, that's just his thing. Unfortunately, negative things tend to stick out more, especially when they're loud and obnoxious, and I don't think he really understands the implications and consequences of his actions. I just hope that he can learn from his experience (his apology video is horse shit btw. There's a body-language analysis that pretty much calls him out on his true nature) and mature from his mistakes.
Peace
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| You can still have a good time while respecting the culture you're going into. |
What's your opinion on the whole controversy?
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