b) I've seen the whole "face saving, kowtow to authority" thing in asians. Indians have it worse – can't get off a fucking script to save their goddamn lives, and can't fucking admit things are going badly with the plan, much less they fucked up.

c) Asian "unquestioning obedience to authority"? Hell yeah. OK – I view the 47 ronin as a perfect example of dealing with the consequences of violating one oath to protect another, dialed up to 11, but look at Chinese cinema. Especially the original non-US endings to Jackie Chan movies, The Hero, Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon, etc.

Every time a man has to step outside of or beyond his roles to challenge authority, even for the greater good, his life is sacrificed. He's not a good hero unless he's a _dead_ hero.

I cannot say the same for Islamic culture, even though Malaysia is a rather functional place. I will tell you that the Overseas Chinese are largely responsible for the economic performance and development of the Southeast Asian countries. Their comparative level of development correlates with the percentage of Chinese in their populations.

I am essentially one of those "Ayn Rand" libertarian types. But at heart I am more of a "producerist" than anything else. The reason why I fit in well with East Asian societies despite their penchant for authoritarianism is because at the end of the day they are functional societies comprised of a productive people. This is a very big deal for me.

Deplorable and damn proud of it.