Korean Job Discussion Forums

[blackjack]

Okay this really bugs me, when people from the states/canada refer to NA as the west assuming that the rest of the western world i.e. England, Australia, South Africa, NZ and Ireland are the same.

Noticed this alot in the tipping thread. Posters referring to the tipping culture of the west. Most western countries do not tip unless it is amazing service.

Please, the states/canada = North America, not the "west"

[crusher_of_heads]

Oh yes it is

[laogaiguk]

[VanIslander]

[laogaiguk]

[canuckistan]

My little tangent:

I never used to think of Colorado as "the west." Maybe poisoned by too many John Denver songs.
But I was wrong--as evidenced by the multitudes of horse ranches, stetsons, cowboy boots, and (open carry permit) sidearms here.

[cbclark4]

East - West

Some use this term to define Europe;

east=Former Soviet Block ad certain neutrals
west=Nato and some neutrals

Other use it to delineate the world;

West - Europe, the America's, Australia

East - Arab World, Persia, Asia and Pacific.

Africa does not seem to fall into either sphere though most of north africa seems to fall into the Arab world.

So I guess it depends on the Euro-centric or whole world view.

THen there is the Mississippi view.

[Carlyles Ghost]

The West is a loose grouping of countries with a generally shared body of thoughts and ideas; it is not a geographical location.

[sojourner1]

It's a vague term that means several things, but all point to Caucasion English speaking cultures who love gourmet hot oven baked dinners. The international date line divides the world to identify what is East and West though food and language also shows us that in an upright in your face manner. While Europe used to be considered as far west as you could get and is what scholars traditionally called, "The West", the term loosely defines anywhere settled by European settlers such as America, Australia, and England. It technically is true that Hawaii is as far West as you can go and that America is the West.

[RedRob]

Most of these posters are right, "the west" is an ideological paradigm, not linked to geography at all.

Much current acedemic literature (pols/geog/anth) now refers to a North/South dichotomy to signify 1st vs 3rd world.

This is not perfect either for obvious reasons, but it is an attempt to move away from framing "the east" as the "exotic other" or examining the region in terms of Orientalism, which is a largely colonial construct.

Class over, you may now return to yr beers and soju

[SPINOZA]

[seoulunitarian]

[blackjack]

[Ya-ta Boy]

[Alyallen]