is always the safe option...

Works for ISIS, why not America too? Nous sommes daesh. Huzzah!

Speaking of political correctness, here's what the mayor of Taipei said recently:

For [the world's] four Chinese-speaking regions -- Taiwan, Singapore, Hong Kong, and Mainland China -- the longer the colonization, the more advanced a place is. It's rather embarrassing. Singapore is better than Hong Kong; Hong Kong is better than Taiwan; Taiwan is better than the mainland. I'm speaking in terms of culture. I've been to Vietnam and mainland China. Even though the Vietnamese are seemingly poor, they always stop in front of red traffic lights and walk in front of green ones. Even though mainland China's GDP is higher than that of Vietnam, if you ask me about culture, the Vietnamese culture is superior.

I can see all the liberal thought / word police going "oh my god, colonization victim complex..."

From my perspective, I love what he said because it's brutally honest assessment of Asians in that area. The liberals would take it that he's praising colonization; whereas in reality, he's actually asking for a very in-depth / introspective assessment of Asians by themselves. The word "culture" isn't a good translation, but what he means is "cultured", i.e. not cutting in line, not spitting in the street, not being loud and annoying, not having conniptions by opening emergency doors in airplanes, etc. (I've seen some mainland Chinese pull off this sort of rude behavior in Hollywood and tourist spots in Taiwan). The context is "it's rather embarrassing." He's saying: why is it that we Asians can't get our shit together and need colonizers to teach us how to act appropriately and not like a bunch of curmudgeons? It's a pointed self-criticism / realistic self-assessment.

Of course being Taiwanese with rightful fear of PRC considering the recent events in Hong Kong, he's also shitting on PRC. There's also a belief among many Taiwanese that the mainland Chinese cultures (excluding HK) and the Taiwanese cultures (culture - not personal mannerisms) are too different. Keep in mind that Taiwan was a colony of Portugal, the Netherlands, and Japan. Also more nuanced is that some Kuomingtong lifers love to accuse anti-KMT people as Japanese collaborators or being part Japanese. For the most part, Taiwanese see Japan in a positive light - which is very very different from the PRC.

I'm use to these kinds of frank conversations happening all the time in Asian homes without self-censorship or word police. It's refreshing not to have a word filter on your back all the time (thankfully I'm bilingual - and only the English processor has the embedded censor chip.) And the views above, which I do personally subscribe to, do not prevent me from being friends with mainlanders, or trying to help individuals from the mainland get jobs to stay in the USA, etc. (after I verify they are not spies.)

I took me a while to understand why Americans are so nervous about this stuff. White people enslaved the black men, killed all the red men, and put the yellow men in concentration camps. Let's not even get into what happened in Europe. Hence I like what Anax had to say: white people shouldn't be allowed to comment on matters of race, gender, or sexual orientation unless it's something clearly mean-spirited.

Too frank of the discussion? Yeah - this is Changstar after all.

My ex-girlfriend was from Hong Kong. Even in the Netherlands there was a cultural difference between the Mainland Chinese and the Hong Kong Chinese and she sometimes talked about it.

Hong Kong Chinese seem to have something against the Mainland Chinese and it is complex. One thing I do understand based on friendships and work relations: the Mainland Chinese can be as rude as English tourists (which are some of the worst, personal experience) and not notice it all.

Disclaimer, I am Dutch and half Hindu. Among the Dutchies you have the cultured ones with manners and the "farmers" and "provincials" who behave like zombies craving beer and loud music. I grew up with both experiencing rudeness, discrimination, racism and stupidity. In the end you simply state your limits and teach them a lesson they remember. I had to do that several times... 

Somewhat relevant, and I absolutely love these: