Happier Abroad Forum Community

Hi all,
Check this out. This new bar in Angeles called Forbidden City actually put a huge Buddha statue on the stage behind the dancers!

Buddhists and Chinese folks will be pissed and offended by this. My mom was when I showed her the photos from there.

Here is a video of this new bar. Look at what all those hot girls are doing in front of the Buddha!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7MnnWHs-c_I

Here's another one. Look at all the hot girls to choose from, right in front of the Buddha!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lDnQGLEmvWo

I wonder if Ladislav feels insulted by this, since he's a Buddhist.

Already, people are saying negative things about this bar for no reason. Perhaps it is accruing bad karma?

I know the owner of this bar too. He hangs out sometimes with another guy I know. He is a Chinese American who is arrogant and argumentive, who argues with me over things he knows nothing about, just for the sake of arguing. I hate that. If one is going to be opinionated or arrogant or argumentative, he/she should do so to support valid reasons or arguments, not just BSing with no valid point.

I am a Budding Buddhist and I don't think this is wise, but I am of the non-offended persuasion and let things be.

globetrotter wrote:I am a Budding Buddhist and I don't think this is wise, but I am of the non-offended persuasion and let things be.

I would hang with the "Non-offended" types. Various Icons are trampled on around the world. Moslems take the most affront, and others follow. The Philippines is a Catholic country by and large, and just maybe they do not care that much
about petty offenses. Besides, the Philippines has a love-hate relationship with the Chinese. They need their enterprising
ventures and capital, but widely resent them personally...so maybe they are getting in a few digs...of course it is complicated... with centuries of woven history at work...

I will go back to peeling some mangos and make some great shakes...

Nate wrote:

globetrotter wrote:I am a Budding Buddhist and I don't think this is wise, but I am of the non-offended persuasion and let things be.

I would hang with the "Non-offended" types. Various Icons are trampled on around the world. Moslems take the most affront, and others follow. The Philippines is a Catholic country by and large, and just maybe they do not care that much
about petty offenses. Besides, the Philippines has a love-hate relationship with the Chinese. They need their enterprising
ventures and capital, but widely resent them personally...so maybe they are getting in a few digs...of course it is complicated... with centuries of woven history at work...

I will go back to peeling some mangos and make some great shakes...

That's not true. Filipinos give Chinese great respect here. I am always treated with respect. Filipinos bow their heads toward me with respect and admiration in their eyes. I never get any looks of resentment, except when I don't leave tips in go go bars. I have never sensed any hatred or resentment from Filipinos toward Chinese. They treat me with far more respect than other races. But maybe it's also cause I have a kind face and I look intelligent and act refined.

That bar with the Buddha statue in it is owned by a Chinese American guy I know, who is very argumentative like I said, and also co-owned by the big Grand Lewis Hotel. It is not owned by some Filipinos that want to mock Chinese culture.

wow, those girls look so bored

I am not offended. They are not doing anything insulting such as spitting at the Buddha or singing songs that say that the Dharma is false. They are not giving lectures there that refute reincarnation and rebuke the sutras or slander the Supreme Law. If anything, they are celebrating it.

Winston wrote:

Nate wrote:

globetrotter wrote:I am a Budding Buddhist and I don't think this is wise, but I am of the non-offended persuasion and let things be.

I would hang with the "Non-offended" types. Various Icons are trampled on around the world. Moslems take the most affront, and others follow. The Philippines is a Catholic country by and large, and just maybe they do not care that much
about petty offenses. Besides, the Philippines has a love-hate relationship with the Chinese. They need their enterprising
ventures and capital, but widely resent them personally...so maybe they are getting in a few digs...of course it is complicated... with centuries of woven history at work...

I will go back to peeling some mangos and make some great shakes...

That's not true. Filipinos give Chinese great respect here. I am always treated with respect. Filipinos bow their heads toward me with respect and admiration in their eyes. I never get any looks of resentment, except when I don't leave tips in go go bars. I have never sensed any hatred or resentment from Filipinos toward Chinese. They treat me with far more respect than other races. But maybe it's also cause I have a kind face and I look intelligent and act refined.

That bar with the Buddha statue in it is owned by a Chinese American guy I know, who is very argumentative like I said, and also co-owned by the big Grand Lewis Hotel. It is not owned by some Filipinos that want to mock Chinese culture.

There is a long history of conflict throughout SE Asia between the Chinese and native populations.

In some countries the conflict is greater, in some , smaller. In the Philippines, any citizen is a Filipino. All of you too can be Filipinos if you become citizens and can speak Tagalog. There are some that think that a Filipino must be brown with a flat nose, but the majority will consider a Chinese person just another Filipino. In Thailand, any Oriental looking person who is a citizen is a Thai. Now, Indonesia, Vietnam, Korea, Japan, well, that is another story. Racism in the Philippines is tiny compared with other Asian countries.

ladislav wrote:In some countries the conflict is greater, in some , smaller. In the Philippines, any citizen is a Filipino. All of you too can be Filipinos if you become citizens and can speak Tagalog. There are some that think that a Filipino must be brown with a flat nose, but the majority will consider a Chinese person just another Filipino. In Thailand, any Oriental looking person who is a citizen is a Thai. Now, Indonesia, Vietnam, Korea, Japan, well, that is another story. Racism in the Philippines is tiny compared with other Asian countries.

Here at PinoyExchange is an extensive thread discussing relations between Native Filipinos and Filipino Chinese. Both have their say, good and bad..plenty of ethnic resentments to go around as well as those trying to move past it, but it clearly exposes the underlying tensions that exist for both. Thread is in Filipino and English.

http://www.pinoyexchange.com/forums/sho ... 045&page=5

ladislav wrote:In some countries the conflict is greater, in some , smaller. In the Philippines, any citizen is a Filipino. All of you too can be Filipinos if you become citizens and can speak Tagalog. There are some that think that a Filipino must be brown with a flat nose, but the majority will consider a Chinese person just another Filipino. In Thailand, any Oriental looking person who is a citizen is a Thai. Now, Indonesia, Vietnam, Korea, Japan, well, that is another story. Racism in the Philippines is tiny compared with other Asian countries.

Even if you're a citizen there are "tiers" at the highest levels. Just because your average white guy might be accepted as Filipino if they have lived there long enough doesn't mean they are universally accepted. The proof is in the politics as they say..how many white naturalized Filipino citizens are there in middle to high government positions? I'd bet that number is close to zero just like how it is in Korea, Japan, China, Thailand, etc..

"Citizenship" in those cases just means you were enough of a novelty to deserve the moniker but it sure as hell doesn't mean you will be able to ascend the class levels into something more than that.