Thread by @TheDailyMao

Why do Asians hate each other so much?

A: Because you hate what is most like you.

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2/ The root of this lies in Rene Girard's theories on human behavior and culture, namely one quite accurate insight: humans want what other people want, and the act of achievement itself spurs other people to strive. This can create conflict when the thing to be had is scarce.

3/ This shows up as a theme in literature. Dan Wang describes this very well using Game of Thrones as an example. To summarize, at the start, Robert Baratheon sits on the throne after he led a rebellion against the Targaryens... danwang.co/girardian-mime…

4/ ...who were a people with a disctinctive culture and insurmountable hard power advantages (dragons). The Targaryens had ruled for a long time - why? Because the throne had been 'taken off the table' as an object desire for Lannisters, Starks, Baratheons, and other houses.

5/ But when the Targaryens lost their distinctive culture, ability to breed dragons, and fire magic, they invited rebellion. Robert rebelled not only because the Targaryens grew weak, but because they grew more like the people they ruled. The throne was now 'in play'.

6/ But notice that Robert's rule is weak. Why? Because there is nothing that separates him from Ned Stark or Tywin Lannister or Jon Arryn. To them - and more importantly the ambitious men who serve them - the throne is 'within reach'. Hence it becomes an object of competition.

7/ You can apply this to postwar politics in Asia as well. From 1945 onwards, the US has had hegemony in Asia. Why has the US reign lasted so long? Like the Targaryens over Westeros, it has been because of power and disctinctiveness. The latter is much more important.

8/ First, the US has had a hard power advantage in Asia similar to the Targaryens over Westeros. Instead of dragons and the ability to summon fire, the US brought nuclear weapons, jet engines, semiconductors, and modern medicine.

9/ For a long time, this modern-day magic made the US militarily untouchable. The defining characteristic of US wars in Asia was razing traditional armies, cities, and even whole countries at will.

Arclight strikes are like dragons; Hanoi and Pyongyang, King's Landing.

10/ But this was not the only reason. The bigger reason is that US and Asian value systems do not align. For America, this is a blessing. By being stack ranked along a different value axis entirely, Americans make it hard for Asians to compare themselves against them.

11/ I'm reminded of what a HK banker friend said. "Things were peaceful when 'G' ran the region, because he was white, but as soon as he left, the Chinese couldn't stand being run by the HKers, the HKers couldn't stand the Chinese, period, and the Indians simply hated everyone."

12/ Once the Asian managing directors realized that AsiaPac could be ruled by one of their own, they incorporated the region head position into their social ladder, and mutual jealousies rose dramatically. The region head position became a source of instability.

13/ The same has played out across countries in Asia. Up until the Great Financial Crisis, Asian countries focused on industrial development and left media, financial, and military power - aka hegemony - to the US. But the GFC exposed the US as being not that different, after all

14/ Indeed, even in warfare, Asian countries have never fought for regional hegemony. Since 1945, the main conflicts have been Asians killing those Asians who are most like them so they can rule other Asians who are also like them.

15/ Since 1945, it has been: Indians killing Pakistanis and vice versa. Chinese killing Chinese. Koreans killing Koreans. Vietnamese killing Vietnamese. When they killed Americans, it was mainly because the US was dumb enough to get in the way of intra-Asian fratricide.

16/ Even today, the hate between Asians is directly proportionate to how alike they are. Japan vs Korea. HK/TW vs mainland China. Vietnam vs Cambodia. Indians vs Pakistanis.

Americans must find it funny when countries they can barely tell apart hate each other so much.

17/ Since 1945 in Asia, Americans have received a bare pittance of the hatred and violence Asians have dished out on each other. This is not out of some nefarious plot to divide and conquer. It is basic human nature to hate your own reflection.

18/ After all, knowledge that Winter is Coming and there are dragons and zombies roaming the land is not what bothers most of the nobility in Game of Thrones. Rather, they are most irritated by the thought that a human lord other than themselves could sit on the Iron Throne.

19/ This 'otherness' is why American hegemony in Asia has lasted as long as it has. But Asia is catching up to America now, a fact shown in a gruesome fashion by COVID-19. As such, my prediction is that Asia will become more fractious, because the throne is now in play.

20/ You can already see this happening: even though Asia by and large succeeded in COVID vs Europe and the US using many of the same techniques and technologies, they overwhelmingly prefer blaming each other for the disease instead of uniting at this moment.

21/ You can also see how, even though most Asian countries follow similar economic development patterns, they prefer to compete with each other for access to US tech and markets instead of forming a regional industrial policy to share IP and supply chains for global hegemony.

22/ What will it take for this to end? In both World War 2 and Game of Thrones, it was widespread devastation and the emergence of an unchallenged hegemon. In Asia, this hegemon will likely be China.

end/ We can wish that the devastation wrought by mimetic dynamics won't happen this time, but real and imagined history tells us this is likelier than not. If you want to lessen the chances of this occuring, then speeding the onset of Chinese hegemony over Asia is your best bet.