I was watching some Korean drama and it's about this guy who is dirt poor and his girlfriend is like the daughter of Bill Gates, but his girlfriend never told him the truth even though she knew he's dirt poor but she's always like our love will endure and she totally believes in him and will be 100% behind him (except for money), because she feels if she just told him like 'I can ask my dad for all the venture capital you need' that'd somehow be, er, tainted, or something. This is a fairly common scene in Asian stuff. Heck, in Bleach there was a scene where Rukia was going to help her lieutenant but the captain said just let him die because helping him would hurt his diginity. I'm wondering if this is an Asian theme? This kind of stuff is pretty common in Asian culture. I remember Gou Long's martial arts fiction had a pretty good caricature on this in a dialogue between Lu Xiao Feng, a super rich martial artist, with some princess that went like:
Lu: "Deliver this letter to my friend soandso and he'll help us on this mission impossible where no sane man would ever attempt."
Princess: "But this is just a check for one million dollars?"
Lu: "Yeah, I said this is a mission impossible that no sane man would ever attempt."
Princess: "Wouldn't your friend feel insulted? Isn't friendship priceless and cannot be bought?"
Lu: "None of my friends have ever gotten mad at me for giving them money."
But honestly, why would anyone assume this isn't the case? Every time there's a big lottery jackpot you can find articles advising people to try to remain discrete if you win because you'll have friends you've never heard of asking you for money if you win. Are Americans just that different from Asians? But corruption/bribery is considerably worse in Asian countries compared to America, so it's hard for me to imagine that while bribing people for an advantage is considered perfectly normal, that people would somehow be insulted if you could get the same stuff without the bribe (because that guy is just super rich, for example). Or is it because the culture is more corrupt that people would like to believe they'll be saying "Take your million dollars back!" even if you're dirt poor and definitely can use the money? I'm not talking about maybe you feel embarassed for asking for help, or that you have to sell out for money. It's literally like Bill Gates offer you a million dollars with no strings attached and you'd say 'NEVER!' even if you're unemployed, starving, and homeless. I really don't know what kind of audience they're trying to sell to. I don't know of anyone who's ever gotten angry for getting free stuff.
Lu: "Deliver this letter to my friend soandso and he'll help us on this mission impossible where no sane man would ever attempt."
Princess: "But this is just a check for one million dollars?"
Lu: "Yeah, I said this is a mission impossible that no sane man would ever attempt."
Princess: "Wouldn't your friend feel insulted? Isn't friendship priceless and cannot be bought?"
Lu: "None of my friends have ever gotten mad at me for giving them money."
But honestly, why would anyone assume this isn't the case? Every time there's a big lottery jackpot you can find articles advising people to try to remain discrete if you win because you'll have friends you've never heard of asking you for money if you win. Are Americans just that different from Asians? But corruption/bribery is considerably worse in Asian countries compared to America, so it's hard for me to imagine that while bribing people for an advantage is considered perfectly normal, that people would somehow be insulted if you could get the same stuff without the bribe (because that guy is just super rich, for example). Or is it because the culture is more corrupt that people would like to believe they'll be saying "Take your million dollars back!" even if you're dirt poor and definitely can use the money? I'm not talking about maybe you feel embarassed for asking for help, or that you have to sell out for money. It's literally like Bill Gates offer you a million dollars with no strings attached and you'd say 'NEVER!' even if you're unemployed, starving, and homeless. I really don't know what kind of audience they're trying to sell to. I don't know of anyone who's ever gotten angry for getting free stuff.
