For illustration only
Photo: Tuoi Tre
TuoiTreNews continues to publish Part 2 of an article submitted by Dr. Kim Huynh, a lecturer and researcher at the Australian National University. The views and opinions expressed herein are those of Kim Huynh and Tran Hoang Tuan, a freelance writer and translator, and do not necessarily reflect the position of VietNamNews.
Karaoke
Mr Stan’s Argument
My greatest fear in Vietnam is going on a business trip or attending a conference and being invited – or should I say ‘commanded’ – to sing karaoke. It is even worse when excessive amounts of vodka, cognac and call girls are involved.
It is not that I do not like music, quite this opposite. The problem is that karaoke, even when it is done competently, is not really music. It is, like glamour photography, inauthentic and kitsch. This notion of ‘kitsch’ seems to be unfamiliar to many Vietnamese, but is very prominent in the West. Singing karaoke is kitsch because it is about pretending to be a star rather than developing the skills and creativity necessary to be a professional performer. It inflates the egos of amateurs and celebrates the derivative. So on occasion when I sing and enjoy karaoke it is in a kitschy sort of way, which is to say that, in truth, I do not like it at all.
Mr Sơn’s Argument
Vietnamese language with its undulating tones is inherently lyrical. Everything from our salutations, to our poetry and cursing are sung just as much as they are spoken. Ưe like to fill our homes and sidewalks with song. Singing is the full and authentic articulation of what is in one's hearts and souls; karaoke is but an amplification of that process.
I do not like the proliferation of call girls and crassness in karaoke bars either, but as I understand it there is no shortage of prostitution, pornography or crassness in the West. Westerners should first focus on being exemplars in their own societies before casting judgment upon others.
So if Westerners think that someone singing with all their might in public is mad, that is their problem. If Westerners cannot enjoy karaoke without cynicism, that is their problem. And if Westerners cannot sing, that too is their problem.
Traffic Chaos
Mr Stan’s Argument
A quick glance at the traffic in Saigon or Hanoi suggests that Vietnamese are becoming less civilised by the day. The roads are more and more congested with people competing for every square inch of road, climbing onto the sidewalk, driving down the wrong side of the street and totally ignoring red lights, pedestrian crossings and pedestrians themselves. This is exacerbated at night when drink driving and young hooligans emerge in great numbers.
The road culture – or lack thereof – shows how increased wealth in Vietnam (which is a good thing) has not been accompanied by increased civility or high-mindedness.
Especially disturbing is the way that children are packed and perched upon motorbikes: cradled in their wobbly and feeble mother’s arms; propped up on the seat so that they can look over their father’s head; or crouching between the driver’s feet with their noses poking up over the handle bars. A society that treats its children with such ill-regard cannot be civilised.
Mr Sơn’s Argument
Road safety is a major concern for all Vietnamese. However, insufficient capital and poor planning are the culprits, not a lack of civility.
Despite the chaotic aspects, there is something magical about the traffic in Vietnam that makes driving and riding tolerable. Sometimes I am amazed that the traffic moves at all given the pressure placed upon the roads and infrastructure. But it does, and sometimes flows well. It is as if each driver and rider is a fish in a mighty school, a member of an un-orchestrated symphony. So once you delve a little deeper you can see that the traffic is just as much a sign of civility and harmony in Vietnamese society as it is backwardness and chaos.
Of course I care about our children and the future and am keen to take advice on how to better protect them.
What I will never countenance, however, is the view that Vietnamese do not value human life to the extent that Westerners do; or even that Vietnamese life is cheap and can be sacrificed without ceremony or remorse. This racist fallacy helped to justify the horrors of Agent Orange and so many other instances of mass murder and dislocation inflicted upon Vietnam by the West.
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The forums also included discussions about the lack of queuing, uncouth cell phone use, the sustained prevalence of public urination, along with the practice of pulling young boys’ penis’ in North Vietnam to show them that they are prized. Little agreement was reached on any of these topics within nationalities let alone between them.
But the objective of discussing whether Vietnamese or Westerners need civilising is not to change people’s views and fashion a consensus; but rather, to help us all become more comfortable with our differences and thereby gain a deeper understanding of ourselves.
Kim Huỳnh is a 2012 Asialink Literature resident and lecturer in international relations at the Australian National University. Kim has written a biography of his parents, Where the Sea Takes Us: A Vietnamese-Australian Story (HarperCollins 2008) and is the co-editor of The Culture Wars: Australian and American Politics in the 21st Century (Palgrave MacMillan 2009).
Trần Hoàng Tuấn is a freelance writer and translator whose fields of interests include literature, ethnicity, youth culture, gender and sexual identity. He has translated a wide range of articles from and for prominent journals and is working on a debut novel about gay life and culture in Vietnam.
