Contemporaneous American youth as a consequence of the United States successful stratification of society into rulers and serf peasantry via education

There’s a lot of things that you can say about all the changes going on in America today. I have written about this extensively. But one area that I hardly touched upon is the way that the American public education system has been geared up to produce peasants.

Yes, you read that correct. Peasants.

The rulers, and the wealthy (aren’t they one and the same?) send their children off to private (for profit) expensive schools for education. Everyone else, by law, must attend “public” schools, where the government decides what will be taught, when and how.

These “public schools” indoctrinate. They train young youth to become reactionary (as opposed to free-thinking), and to obey authority without question. They learn that they must work within the systems provided, pay taxes because it is necessary, and conform at all costs.

Which results in some really stunning changes to the population…

Now, this subject has been covered elsewhere by other authors on both sides (heck, all sides) of the political spectrum. Neither side likes it.

  • The traditional conservatives are horrified at what is being taught, and want to eject their children from the educational system and home-school them.
  • The progressive liberals are concerned that the schools are not progressive enough, and that real change is necessary given how messed up the United States is today.

Now…

Don’t get confused.

American peasants. These are the under-employed strata of the peasant class.

Please, it’s easy to get confused, but don’t.

I live inside of (so called) “Communist China”, but China hasn’t been “communist” since the late 1970’s. Instead, it is a single-party, traditional, social republic, internally policed with membership by merit. Which is think is light-years of improvement over the fiasco that Mr. Mao setup back in the 1940’s.

And America…

That “land of the free”, of “democracy” and “liberty” is only a myth perpetuated by the ignorant. America ceased being “free” with the passage of the 11th amendment, and has has six major reorganizations of governmental structure since. Today it is a Military Empire, serviced by American tax-paying serfs, for the well being of the ruling oligarchy.

I argue that the changes to the American population is NOT random or a natural evolution. I argue that it is intentional.

Just like the former Soviet Union tried to remake the Russian population into loyal serfs, so has the United States tried to do so.

Here is an interesting take on this matter by a woman who used to live inside Russia while it was hard-core communist. She teaches inside America and is shocked how little the student understand history and what hard-core Marxist Communism is. Of course, the reader might think that all this has to do with political ideology. I argue something different…

I argue that this is what you see when there is an overt attempt at the stratification of society into separate and distinct classes of people; The rulers, and the ruled.

So don’t look at the following article as “communism being indoctrinated inside of America“, instead look at it as an attempt by the American oligarchy to create a nation of serf-peasants by using the same techniques that successfully operated within the former Soviet Union.

The following is a direct reprint of “A Russian Woman Working as a College Professor in the US Writes About the Sovietization of Amerika” by Rod Dreher Sat, Feb 29, 2020. It was edited to fit this venue, and all credit to the writer.

A Russian Woman Working as a College Professor in the US Writes About the Sovietization of Amerika

I’m in the editing and rewriting stage of Live Not By Lies now, but I couldn’t pass up the opportunity to talk yesterday with a woman I’ll call “Clarissa,” whose stories were so good that I’m weaving them into the book’s narrative.

Clarissa is a college professor who emigrated to the US from Russia as a young woman, a few years after the fall of the Soviet Union. She is yet another ex-Soviet bloc person who is extremely anxious about the emergence of soft totalitarianism here. Of course she can’t use her real name, because she fears professional retaliation. It should tell us something that not a single academic from a former communist country that I interviewed for this book was willing to speak using their own name — this, in the Land of the Free. Why not? Because they were afraid of facing professional consequences for speaking out against identity politics and the “social justice” regime. Below, some quotes from our interview:

I have the feeling of extreme frustration. Our stories of  people in the former Soviet space are constantly dismissed. I have no  idea why. 

I think it happens because people still think that the ideas  that existed in the Soviet Union are basically good – that it was the  execution that was at times excessive. 

My father says what happened to  us was not about the economic system. The economic system was just an  excuse. This could happen anywhere – even under capitalism.
The American serf-peasant class buying necessities at a store.

Totalitarianism is something that takes away from people the  unbearable burden of freedom. It allows many people to hound and  persecute with impunity. That is pleasant in many senses. 

There was a  practice in the Soviet Union where people would be told to get together  in groups at work and write letters to the newspaper to denounce famous  poets or artists. 

We see that today in Twitter. People love that because  it allows a little person to completely destroy somebody who has done  something great.

This is very human. Once you have removed any moral or religious obstacles to that behavior, what’s to stop anybody?

When I was nine years old, I had a teacher of Russian literature. I  really admired her. 

What we didn’t know was that her father was a high  ranking KGB officer. 

He found out that a little girl in our class,  Masha, was attending church with her parents, and not only that, but was  singing in the choir. The teacher one day pulled that little girl out  in the class and for an hour unleashed a torrent of abuse on this child.  

For what? 

The feeling of power of persecuting that child in front of  the rest of us. This is not happening right now in the US, but it’s conceivable.

(On American vulnerability to totalitarianism)

It’s American exceptionalism. 

You all think you’re such special people that you’re going to do it right. 

If socialism comes here, don’t  worry, we’ll make it happen in the correct way. 

Not true! Ten years ago  if you had told me I would be seeing this in the US, I would have  laughed in your face. But now it’s happening. I’m seeing it happening to  my friends. 

It’s like their minds are disintegrating.
American peasant serfs are not taught discipline, care, concern, morals, or basic behavior. Instead they are taught to be automatons for the state. In much the same way that the former Soviet Union instructed unyielding obedience and a squashing of independence. You can see this lack of discipline throughout America today.

Once your religion is taken away, you still have a need for an  overarching moral law. 

You’re going to look for it somewhere else, even  outside religion. We’re seeing it now with this identity politics. … 

In  the Soviet Union when I was young, cynicism was everywhere. Nobody  believed in anything. Everybody just went through the motions. 

I used to  think that cynicism was the worst thing in the world. It’s not. The  worst thing in the world is the lack of cynicism and critical  difference, and accepting everything uncritically. 

These people today,  they really believe all this woke ideology. And that’s what’s really  scary.

I have a friend who is very woke. The woke ideology is the belief is  that if somebody departs from the dogma, even by an inch, that person is  an evil, hate-filled bigot. 

When I disagree with her, I can see that  she genuinely can’t comprehend that I disagree with her. She knows I’m a  good person, but here I am disagreeing with her. She can’t understand  it. And she’s an educated person! A college professor.

The intellectuals are playing a dangerous game. They think they can  control it. They think that once their ideas are imposed on society,  they can control it. That’s ludicrous. They’re going to be the first  ones the system turns on, because as intellectuals, they can be the  first ones to spot the flaws in the system.

Nobody is going to be safe. Nobody can pledge enough allegiance to this kind of system to protect themselves.

I mentor early career academics. I used to enjoy it, but not anymore.  These graduate students are not producing scholarship. They’re just  turning in collections of woke slogans. 

I don’t even know what to do  with that. When we start talking to the younger academics, they don’t  understand what we want for them. They were taught this way, and they’re  reproducing it. 

I see this from students who come to college. 

It seems  like all they get in the schools is dogma. They are blank slates. They  have no real knowledge of anything – they just repeat slogans, and when  you ask them to explain it, they turn blank.

In the Soviet Union, when you were a student and assigned to write a paper, you knew that the thing to do was to go straight to the correct books in the library and copy the relevant articles, word for word, with  no deviations. 

That was your paper. 

When my family left, we arrived in  Canada, and I entered the university there. When I was assigned my first paper, I found it impossible to believe that the teacher really did  want me to think for myself. It was an incredible feeling! 

To think  about something, and to say what I really thought about it! It was so  weird, but so liberating.Now, I’m seeing young people who are just like we were in the Soviet  Union. 

They are afraid to think for themselves. They only want to know  what the “right” answer is, and repeat it. It’s depressing.

The problem is that many people still associate totalitarianism with  an all-powerful state, and if it doesn’t come from the state, it’s not  totalitarianism. 

What we’re dealing with now is not coming from the  state. None of us are afraid that the government is going to send secret  police and take us to the dungeon. 

That’s not going to happen. 

No.  We’re afraid of being humiliated and deprived of a living. Of being a  pariah, of being marginalized, unpersonned, cancelled. 

You don’t need  the government for that, especially in the age of social media. It  wasn’t the government hounding those Covington Catholic boys, or J.K.  Rowling.

Voting for someone [as a protest against political correctness] is wonderful, but the government cannot solve this problem.

Since I started going to church a couple of years ago, I began to  understand what was taken from us. I feel incredibly angry that we were  deprived of something that’s such a huge part of our culture and  civilization, that it taken from us. I take my little girl to church and  Sunday school. I want my child to know this so she doesn’t have to  discover it in her forties, and feel clumsy.

I wish we had some form of a secret handshake [on my campus]. I know a  couple of other professors on campus who I suspect are one of us. But  everybody is so closeted, it’s impossible to talk about it.

We have this bias response team that prowls the campus looking  for signs of non-compliance, and to justify their existence. We had the  same thing in the Soviet Union. 

Right now they’re on campus, but  eventually, they’re going to be in every workplace. If you have  everybody in your workplace trained in diversity, then you can treat  your workers however you like, and nobody will care.

(On the culture created by diversity and sensitivity training in the workplace)

All your co-workers are enemies. Either they can get you in trouble,  or they are out to destroy you with an accusation. It destroys all sorts  of uncontrollable communities – friendship, families, church  communities. When you set people against each other, they are much  easier to control. This is what it was like under totalitarianism.

By the way, here is a link to Clarissa’s blog, if you’re interested. Here’s a post from a previous blog of hers, about her father’s life as a closeted Christian in the USSR.

Here’s a Clarissa post on teaching a class on totalitarianism. 

Excerpt:

The wall-to-wall propaganda that characterizes this new  totalitarianism isn’t state-sponsored either. It’s disseminated solely  through corporate channels. Traditional politicians are squeezed out by  TV and social media stars who represent this new form of power. The  complete dependence of their popularity on Twitter and Instagram means  they will do absolutely anything to avoid being deplatformed. It’s no  longer about courting rich donors to donate to your campaign. Now it’s  all about being a funny enough clown that attracts hits and likes to  enrich the owners of these platforms.

Every day, the power of these giant corporations to unearth a tweet  or a like on a tweet that can sink absolutely anybody grows. There is no  need for a state to keep a dossier of kompromat (compromising  material) on each citizen. This process has been completely  corporatized. And the worst part is that people who are wielding this  sort of coercive power honestly see themselves as powerless victims who  have to defend themselves from coercion.

You know, since I started writing this post, I went to look up the blog entry I posted from my first interview with Clarissa, a year or so ago. I couldn’t find it, except in my notes for the book. I wonder if I ever posted it. Sorry if you’ve already seen it, but I suspect I forgot to put it on the site.

Here’s the text:

Just got off the phone with a Soviet-born academic who teaches in a small state university in the American heartland. She blogs under the name “Clarissa,” but I got her real name, and checked her out. She’s REALLY excited about this book, and told me she would be a source, and introduce me to the emigre community. She’s teaching a class on totalitarianism this semester, and is unnerved to have discovered that every single one of her students thinks that socialism is a good thing.

“I teach in the heart of America, in what a lot of people think of as the Bible Belt, and this is how they think,” she said.

She got her PhD at a top American university (I checked this out), and said that it was a constant struggle there to be heard. Whenever Marxist topics would come up, she would talk about her experience in the USSR, and people would shout her down. “You wouldn’t believe the rage in their faces,” she said. “They did not want to hear it.”

She said that when she talks to her parents and tells her about things she’s seeing as an American academic, within academia, they’re shocked. They keep saying, “It’s like we had it back in the Soviet Union!”

She has learned to be very, very careful about what she says among her colleagues. She knows that nobody wants to hear it, and now she’s afraid of being identified and punished. She said, “I have to live my intellectual and spiritual life underground. I stay silent about so many things with my colleagues because I know that they would honestly and sincerely see me as some kind of monster because of the things I believe, which are in no way radical.”

Yesterday a tenured academic she knows in California wrote to her to say that he withdrew from publication a paper he had written that very mildly criticizes woke dogma (she didn’t say what it was) within the academy, because he lost his nerve. He’s tenured, so he wasn’t afraid of losing his job. He was afraid of becoming a pariah — of his friends turning their backs on him because of his views, and others being afraid to take his side out of fear that they would be seen as tainted.

“To be honest, I wouldn’t want anybody at work to know I read your blog,” she said.

She also said that she can’t stand Trump, but has come to see him as the only obstacle between herself and total progressive madness. “It’s the most frustrating thing!” she said, her voice rising. I told her I agreed with her, and we laughed about that.

The diversity commissars have everybody terrified at her university, she said. Recently the chief diversity officer publicly identified her as “transphobic.” Why? Because a student asked her about use of the term “Latinx.” It came up in class, and as a Spanish speaker, she mentioned that many Spanish speakers hate the term. For this, she was identified as “transphobic” by the diversity office. She said that she didn’t even express an opinion about the term, only noted that it’s not popular among Spanish speakers. So now she’s on the watch list.

Here’s something really interesting: she said that one of her research interests is how multinational corporations undermine the nation-state. She said that wokeness in corporate America is a weapon used by white-collar professionals to weed out competitors for increasingly scarce jobs. She said, “People find ideological purity tests useful to weed out people who compete for jobs you cover. Progressive forces are completely allied with globalist capitalism.”

She also said that people have no idea how vulnerable they are to this mindset, because of social media. “You will not be able to predict what will be held against you tomorrow. You have no idea what completely normal thing you do today, or say today, will be used against you to destroy you. This is what people in the Soviet Union saw. We know how this works. This is why people like me are so upset today. I’m so glad you’re writing this book. Thank you for calling me and letting me vent.”

Metallic comments…

It’s so easy to read this and fall into any one of the many “pigeon hole” narratives that we have been programmed to follow. Much like Pavlov’s dog, we must look at everything as political ideology. And that is the way that this professor looks at it. And that is the way that the author looks at it.

But that is not whats really going on.

What is actually going on is the [1] the system for social stratification used by the former Soviet Union,has [2] been ported and adopted by the United States and [3] it’s implementation has been through the American educational system.

It has created an environment that favors a Ruling Class that is served entirely by an under-educated peasant / serf class.

And we can see how this system has resulted in RADICAL changes to American society…

The following article is a complete reprint of “America 1950 vs. America 2020” by Michael Snyder on September 14, 2020. It was edited to fit this venue, and all credit to the author.

America 1950 vs. America 2020

If you could go back to 1950, would you do it?  There would be no Internet, no cellphones and you would only be able to watch television in black and white.  But even though they lacked many of our modern conveniences, people genuinely seemed to be much happier back then.  Families actually ate dinner together, neighbors knew and cared about one another, and being an “American” truly meant something.  Today, we like to think that we are so much more “advanced” than they were back then, but the truth is that our society is in the process of falling apart all around us.  Could it be possible that we could learn some important lessons by looking back at how Americans lived 70 years ago?

Of course there has never been any era in our history when everything has been perfect.  But without a doubt, things are vastly different today than they were back in 1950…

In 1950, Texaco Star Theatre, The Lone Ranger and Hopalong Cassidy were some of the most popular shows that Americans watched on television.

In 2020, a Netflix film entitled “Cuties” is so trashy and so disgusting that four states have sent a letter to Netflix asking for it to be removed because it is “fodder for those with criminal imaginations, serving to normalize the view that children are sexual beings.”

When an isolated ruling caste controls over under-educated peasants, there are apt to be conflicts and turmoil between the uneducated serfs.

In 1950, television networks would not even show husbands and wives in bed together.

In 2020, “adult websites” get more traffic than Netflix, Amazon and Twitter combined.

With social engineering comes a destruction of morals, when the government becomes the solution to all issues.

In 1950, people would greet one another as they walked down the street.

In 2020, Americans are too enamored with their cellphones to be bothered with actual human contact.

One of the first things to disappear during social re-engineering are societal manners.

In 1950, gum chewing and talking in class were some of the major disciplinary problems in our schools.

In 2020, kids are literally gunning down police officers in the streets.

With the collapse of the middle class, the PTB isolated themselves in enclaves, and the lower serf / peasant classes now merge with the unemployed and under-employed classes that are prone to violence.

In 1950, people would make an effort to dress up and look nice when they would go out in public.

In 2020, most of the population has become utter slobs and “People of Walmart” has become one of our most popular memes.

When you are a peasant, you don’t care about your public appearance.

In 1950, the typical woman got married for the first time at age 20 and the typical man got married for the first time at age 22.

In 2020, the typical woman gets married for the first time at age 27 and the typical man gets married for the first time at age 29.

With societal change comes an evolution from a generalized behavior via the r/K theory.

In 1950, a lot of people would leave their homes and their vehicles unlocked because crime rates were so low.

In 2020, many that live in urban areas are deathly afraid of all the civil unrest that has erupted, and gun sales have soared to all-time record highs.

With a segregated and stratified society are large numbers of unnecessary people. Who resort to crime for entertainment and emotional escape.

In 1950, Americans actually attempted to parent their children.

In 2020, we pump our kids full of mind-altering drugs and we let our televisions and our video games raise our children.

Like the former Soviet Union, people use escape methods to leave a life that is stressful and that they have no control over.

In 1950, Baltimore was one of the most beautiful and most prosperous cities on the entire planet.

In 2020, Baltimore regularly makes headlines because of all the murders that are constantly occurring.  Of course the exact same thing could be said about many of our other major cities.

Along with the collapse of society comes the collapse of the infrastructure that supports the society.

In 1950, 78 percent of all households in America contained a married couple.

In 2020, that figure has fallen below 50 percent.
In 1950, about 5 percent of all babies in the United States were born to unmarried parents.

In 2020, about 40 percent of all babies in the United States will be born to unmarried parents.

A total breakdown in American society structure that favors both parents working in grey cube boxes, and not raising children as family units.

In 1950, new churches were regularly being opened all over the United States.

In 2020, it is being projected that 1 out of every 5 churches in the U.S. “could be forced to shut their doors in the next 18 months”, and the mayor of Lubbock, Texas just said that opening a new Planned Parenthood clinic is like starting a church.

America needs no moral compass. The government controls all. Thus, the oligarchy controls everything.

In 1950, we actually had high standards for our elected officials, and people actually did research on the candidates before they cast their votes.

In 2020, more than 4,000 people in one county in New Hampshire voted for a “transsexual Satanic anarchist” in the Republican primary, and she is now the Republican nominee for sheriff in Cheshire County.

American government has become a joke.

In 1950, children would go outside and play when they got home from school.

In 2020, our parks and our playgrounds are virtually empty and we have the highest childhood obesity rate in the industrialized world.

Children have become isolated, and easy to entertain with sedentary pastimes. Just like the former Soviet Union citizens became.

In 1950, front porches were community gathering areas, and people would regularly have their neighbors over for dinner.

In 2020, many of us don’t know our neighbors at all, and the average American watches more than five hours of television a day.

Americans have become isolated, and easy to control. Just like the former Soviet Union citizens became.

In 1950, Americans used words such as “knucklehead”, “moxie” and “jalopy”.

In 2020, new terms such as “nomophobia”, “peoplekind” and “social distancing” have been introduced into the English language.

Normal change is trivial. But when someone or some nation is involved in social change it will affect everything, including the language.

In 1950, the very first credit card was issued in the United States.

In 2020, Americans owe more than 930 billion dollars on their credit cards.

Americans are in debt and must work to stay alive. The consequence of not working is starvation and possibly prison.

In 1950, one income could support an entire middle class household.

In 2020, tens of millions of Americans have lost their jobs and filed for unemployment, and more than half of all households in some of our largest cities are currently facing “serious financial problems”.

An entire family must toil to pay the taxes and fees, and living costs. All of which benefit the wealthy elite.

In 1950, the American people believed that the free market should govern the economy.

In 2020, most Americans seem to believe that the government in Washington and the Federal Reserve must endlessly “manage” the economy.

Now, people expect the wealthy oligarchy to provide for their needs through a mechanism known as “the government”.

In 1950, “socialists” and “communists” were considered to be our greatest national enemies.

In 2020, most of our politicians in Washington have eagerly embraced socialist and communist policy goals.

From independence to dependence on government.

In 1950, the U.S. Constitution was deeply loved and highly revered.

In 2020, anyone that actually admits to being a “constitutionalist” is considered to be a potential domestic terrorist.

The original constitution supported independence from government. That is a dangerous idea today.

In 1950, the United States loaned more money to the rest of the world than anybody else.

In 2020, the United States owes more money to the rest of the world than anybody else.

America is in dept, as the ruling oligarchy operates above and isolated form the government that it controls. They are safe no matter what happens.

In 1950, the total U.S. national debt reached the 257 billion dollar mark for the first time in our history.

In 2020, we added 864 billion dollars to the national debt in the month of June alone.  In other words, we added over three times more to the national debt in that one month than the total amount of debt that had been accumulated from the founding of our nation all the way to 1950.

The wealthy oligarchy can drive a nation into the ground. It matters not to them. For they exist above and beyond the government.

In 1950, most Americans were generally happy with their lives.

In 2020, the suicide rate is at an all-time record high, and it has been rising every single year since 2007.

It sucks being a poor peasant.

Conclusion

Change is a natural part of life. When you get older, such as myself, you view change with a kind of nostalgia. You miss “the good old days”. But the fact is that most change is artificial.

Prior to the Industrial Revolution, most change was glacial. Entire generations would come and go with very little change in their lives.

So what was driving the change?

Technology?

Yah! Well, that’s the standard “boiler plate” answer.

And yes, it is true that “technology” was what advanced change during the “Industrial revolution”, but it is really only a small contributor. Something else happened at the same time…

It was the power, and the methodology of large government ruled by small groups of men.

Did you notice the changes since 1950? Did you notice what had changed? Yes, everything that changed favored the small elite Ruling Class of America at the expense of the working class. In fact, the working class had become serf / slaves. And that is why the Ruling class treats them like the peasants that they are.

I will say it again, and repeat. What changed everything was…

Large powerful governments ruled by small groups of men.

The major driver of change are governments, for they alone have the power to change society. And society, like it or not, is what drives all the changes in our lives. And the number one method that these governments use to enact social change is the education system.

Thus we have a situation where the United States government has adopted the very same stratification systems employed by the former Soviet Union.

The reason why America is currently “on fire” and such a mess right now is because the stratification process is nearly complete. There are large segments of the society that welcomes their new roles as serfs and peasants (out of ignorance) and large sections that do not.

Unlike the Soviet Union. In Russia, Stalin killed enormous groups of people, and anyone who would oppose him was rounded up, killed outright or sent off to die of starvation. When he implemented his stratification program, he had very little remaining opposition.

That is not the case in America today.

Thus,

The ruling oligarchy is looking at this situation and sees that the former Soviet Union system of control can only happen when there are large groups of opposition forces out of the way. In order to implement their segregation and stratification initiatives, they will need to devise a system to suppress these opposition forces.

What will happen is unknown.

  • Civil War
  • An external war of distraction.
  • A World War.
  • Nothing, just more of the same ratcheting up in severity.

But the PTB pretty much expect that all this to settle out eventually. One way or the other. And when the dust settles and the fires die out, and the survivors start to rebuild their lives, you can well realize that the world will be quite different going out, than what it is today; going in.

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Really Strange China (Part 4)

Let’s continue with our exploration of cute and unique China with these following examples…

Many people that I met were curious about China, but their impressions of China would end up with words like ‘communist,’ ‘pollution’ and ‘no Facebook.’ While many facts are true, the contemporary, living and multifaceted Chinese life is rarely heard of. 

-Tinyeyescomics

Please kindly note that this post has multiple embedded videos. It is important to view them. If they fail to load, all you need to do is to reload your browser.

Disco Swimming Party

The Chinese have a great love for being together and having fun and partying. Often they mix singing, dancing, and (of course) drinking with their other pleasures. As any other normal adult would. Here, we look at a typical swimming pool and their weekend festivities.

And, yes… this is TYPICAL.

I, myself, enjoy swimming. As a boy we would swim in the ocean and in the various pools around the community. This was true whether it was a private club, or at a friends house. I have always associated Summer with pools, and I think that all kids should have the same kind of fond memories attached to swimming and Summer as I have.

After all, who doesn’t want to go have fun?

Beach Scene
Photo from the late 1940s and early 1950s of some gals on the beach. You can well imagine a nice day, some fine food and friendship. Not to mention walking and swimming along the shore. Such memories I have of those times.

Back in my middle school days, all of us kids were part of the YMCA after-school swimming program. When ever they had one of these programs, my parents were the first to sign us kids up for the classes. I became quite good at swimming, and that later turned into an asset once I joined the US Navy.

After school, we would hop onto a bus and it would carry us over to a nearby town for our lessons. I seem to recall that the trip would last around a half an hour, and the entire time at the YMCA might have lasted around three hours. I suppose that gave our parents enough time away from us kids for some private time. Heh heh.

The YMCA had an indoor pool, but we would also go use outside pools during the Summer months. I had friends who loved to swim in the rivers and lakes, but they were way too dirty for my personal sensibilities.

Swimming in the Summer
For me, my time around the pools pretty much looked like this. Even at the pool where we were a member, my parents would pay for me to take swimming and diving lessons. I learned well how to do many dives.

Being with friends and noisy kids is part of the swimming experience. And, you know what? I think that it is great. I really do.

There will be plenty of opportunities for other kinds of beach and swimming pool adventures in your future. That’s life. Some will be great. Some will be not so great. Some will have you walking on the beach hand-in-hand with someone you love and care for dearly. Some experiences will involve alcohol. Some experiences will involve a group of close friends, with music, food and other pleasures.

I think that the best thing about life is to enjoy it as it is happening.

What I mean is that time is short and it is fleeting. You need to know that if you are always goal oriented, you will miss out in the opportunities and adventures that lie all around you right now. There is a saying to “take the time to smell the flowers”, and that is very true, but the saying has become trite and over used.

Appreciate you life as it is happening TODAY right now. You might not get another moment exactly like this one in the future.

1960s swimming pool
What are your favorite moments when you grew up? Can you be evocative of them? Was your childhood like the movie “On Golden Pond”? Or, maybe it was like the movie “The Goonies”? Enjoy what you have while you are living it.

OK, now going back to China.

Yes there are all kinds of ways that you can have fun at pools and on the beach. Just like in the United States or in an exotic holiday resort. You can go to pools, public water and pool parks, and even have your own pool where you would invite your friends over for some fun and frolic.

Here is a micro-video of a Chinese public pool. There are some things to note.

Unlike the video above, this one isn’t so rambunctious. It is quieter and more peaceful. It is not designed for groups of people to party and have a good time at. It is, instead, designed to relax and have a nice spa-like experience with friends and family. You will also notice that there is a huge canvas awning overhead. This is typical in China and most gals do not want their beautiful white skin to get dark.

You will note that the water is not deep either, and that there is a bench all along the sides of the pool for people to sit up and rest within the water. In this pool it is sort of like a cross between a whirl-pool and a regular pool. It is a place to relax, while the other video was a place to get crazy and have fun in.

Studying with Roommates

Most colleges and schools in China are dorms where there are from four to eight students crammed into one room. It is cozy, and over time, everyone develops a very close bond together. I used to think that this was terrible, but once I started to make Chinese friends, I saw the advantages of this.

You form “tribes” or “families” what are self-supporting.

G-friends dorm room
It is common all over Asia to form close-knit “tribes” or extended family as part of close living conditions. Seriously, you cannot get much closer together than living in Tokyo or Hong Kong. Here is the dorm that the K-Pop group “g-friends” live in.

This is very important when you are away from home for the first time, and need to have friends and associations for support, emotional health and friendship. In China, having friends and family is of extreme importance.

Dorm room occupancy comic
The Chinese typically share a room with four to eight others. The American often shares with one other person, and the British get their own private rooms to themselves.
I’ve experienced student dormitories in three countries: In the U.K. I have my own private room with shared public space; In the U.S. I shared my dorm with one roommate; In China, I used to live with 5 girls in the same room. 

This lack of privacy must be shocking for some of you, but in a country with 1.3 billion population, space is always a problem. 

While there are many inconveniences for not having enough private space, on the bright side, sharing a room with someone also makes you learn quite a deal about communication, responsibilities and tolerance. 
 
-Tinyeyescomics 

Here is a typical dorm room scene.

You will note that the room is rectangular with beds on stilts that lie over the study desks. This is not everywhere, but seems to work well. I have seen other arrangements, of course. You will also note that, like college dorm rooms all over the globe, the students decorate it to their own personal tastes.

I particularly like the swing chair. It’s actually pretty popular in Chinese dorm rooms.

Japanese Invasion

There is a movement toward wearing traditional Chinese clothing all over China. I personally love it, and enjoy watching girls wearing their really cute outfits. Well, girls (all over the world) enjoy dressing up and wearing different outfits. From time to time you will see these girls getting dressed up in period fashion and Japanese fashion. It’s all pretty darn cute.

Here we have some Chinese gals getting involved in some of the Japanese fashions in Shanghai.

Pretty Crazy, huh?

Of course, you do need to put this into perspective. Any “invasion” from Japan is not about displacing traditional Chinese culture. Rather it is about enjoying your own uniqueness within China. You see, in China there is no such thing as “cultural appropriation” that is a bunch of progressive hooey that is all the rage in the United States. In China you can pretty much be who ever you want to, and no fat overweight pink-haired feminist is going to scream in your face about it.

That enables the Chinese to enjoy their history, and their culture without any disdain or apologies.

And they do so. They are very proud of their culture and when given the opportunity, they will happily don traditional clothing and be themselves. Here we have a girl from one of the Southern regions of China. I believe (but am not sure) that her culture is from the Hainan island area. (Incidentally, the women have traditionally covered themselves in tribal tattoos. This is something that is NOT carried over with modern Chinese ladies. They prefer to leave their bodies unadorned.)

You can see the cross-cultural influences from other ethnic regions within China here.

The headdress is borrowed from some central Chinese cultures, and the flower in the hair is from the South Pacific with a relationship influence (flower on the right if married, on the left if single). In the Northern part of China, you will see the ladies wear long dresses with coverings on their arms. In the Southern sections (where it is HOT) you will find them wearing mini-skirts and loose clothing.

OK. At numerous videos for this part, let’s go and move on to the next past which covers even more strangeness inside of China this month…

Continued-graphic-arrow

If you want to go to the start of this series of posts, then please click HERE.

Links about China

Popular Music of China
Chinese weapons systems
Chinese motor sports
End of the Day Potato
Dog Shit
Dancing Grandmothers
Dance Craze
When the SJW movement took control of China
Family Meal
Freedom & Liberty in China
Ben Ming Nian
Beware the Expat
Fake Wine
Fat China
Business KTV
How I got married in China.
Chinese apartment houses
Chinese Culture Snapshots
Rural China
Chinese New Year

China and America Comparisons

SJW
Playground Comparisons
The Last Straw
Leaving the USA
Diversity Initatives
Democracy
Travel outside
10 Misconceptions about China
Top Ten Misconceptions

The Chinese Business KTV Experience

This is the real deal. Forget about all that nonsense that you find in the British tabloids and an occasional write up in the American liberal press. This is the reality. Read or not.

KTV1
KTV2
KTV3
KTV4
KTV5
KTV6
KTV7
KTV8
KTV9
KTV10
KTV11
KTV12
KTV13
KTV14
KTV15
KTV16
KTV17
KTV18
KTV19
KTV20

Learning About China

Pretty Girls 1
Pretty Girls 2
Pretty Girls 3
Pretty Girls 4
Pretty Girls 5

Contemporaneous Chinese Music

This is a series of posts that discuss contemporaneous popular music in China. It is a wide ranging and broad spectrum of travel, and at that, all that I am able to provide is the flimsiest of overviews. However, this series of posts should serve as a great starting place for investigation and enjoyment.

Part 1 - Popular Music of China
Part 3 -Popular music of China.
Part 3 - The contemporaneous music of China.
part 3B - The contemporaneous music of China.
Part 4 - The contemporaneous popular music of China.
Part 5 - The contemporaneous music of China.
Part 5B - The popular music of China.
Part 5C - The music of contemporary China.
Part D - The popular music of China.
Part 5E - A happy Joe.
Part 5F - The contemporaneous music of China.
Part 5F - The popular music of China.
Post 6 - The contemporaneous music of China.
Post 7 - The contemporaneous music of China.
Post 8 - The contemporaneous music of China.
Part 9 - The contemporaneous music of China.
Part 10 - Music of China.
Post 11 - The contemporaneous music of China.

Parks in China

Parks in China - 1
Pars in China - 2
Parks in China - 3
Visiting a park in China - 4
High Speed Rail in China
Visiting a park in China - 5
Beautiful China part 6
Parks in China - 7
Visiting a park in China - 8

Articles & Links

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