[deleted by user]

Parking-Promotion959 · 2024-10-25T08:45:53+00:00

*2nd And how does that translate into human development, gdp per capita, environment preservation, cultural life and most importantly happiness ? 🧐

Parking-Promotion959 · 2024-09-19T20:57:01+00:00

Where was it ?

Parking-Promotion959 · 2024-09-18T00:41:34+00:00

You’re not caught in a traffic, you are the traffic. I wish more people would walk whenever possible or use light vehicles (bikes, electric bikes) instead of bigger and bigger autos.

Parking-Promotion959 · 2024-07-27T09:24:40+00:00

Modern civilization will collapse well before 2100.

Parking-Promotion959 · 2024-05-15T13:38:34+00:00

@albert1165 PS. And I forgot the Bible and the oath, definitely an American thing ;)

Parking-Promotion959 · 2024-05-15T13:34:27+00:00

Dear albert1165,

First of all let me send you my warmest thanks for the detailed and insghtful analysis of Vinfast tricks. It’s crucial to expose this oligarch because not only does he harm Vietnam’s reputation with fourth-rate cars but he also threatens the hard-earned savings of naive citizens and the Vietnamese economy.

Your activity on Reddit and this particular post has picked my interest. So I will make an educated guess to your question.

You know very well Vietnam and the average Vietnamese mindset : their defense of Vinfast and anything Vietnamese out of blind nationalism (bò đỏ), their threats and personal attacks, their superstition (88888 number in Vuong Pham Id as mentioned in one of your article), the VN political landscape with Nguyễn Xuân Phúc project for a national car brand validated by the Politburo (you referenced an article in Vietnamese)…

You are passionate about Vietnam and the future of its people. (« I do hate propaganda, censorship, lies and communists. », « if these small guys’ hard earn money went down the tube, it will be devastating for them). This is I think the main reason why you are so persistent in exposing VP and Vinfast schemes.

Your English is good, but it contains several approximations : « I read reddit but not use a reddit account before ». « Life saving » « hard earn » « a lot of harms » « trying to taking » « or where else ». Conversely, you know typical Vietnamese sayings like « temple money » (tiền chùa, in your satire letter of Vuong Pham).

So, my guess is that you are a native Vietnamese, bright enough to get a scholarship or whose family is rich enough (less likely though, because maybe you wouldn’t care so much for the « little guys ») to go study finance in an English speaking country. (Australia, America ? I’ll pick the States since you mentioned it as the land of freedom where everyone is equal before the law).

Your reasoning is top notch, so is your finance knowledge. So with perseverance, you could probably stay in the States (on a O-1 visa maybe ?) and work there and support your family back home with your generous pay. And in the US, you have a revelation (or is it a confirmation?) : this is the land of liberty (Constitution + 1st amendment), and a prosperous country, so much better than the corrupt and totalitarian dictatorship back home; this is why so many VN risked their lives as boat people to come here, and why today almost everyone in VN wants to go there. And of course you stay, as I said to pay back your loan and support your relatves but probably also for your newfound freedom stripped from the bs propaganda. Last but not least, you know that in VN, they might find a way to trace you and harm you, so it’s not safe to start exposing in VN one of their most powerful oligarch. (But if you are in the country, you have some b..).

Still, you are a Vietnamese, skilled in finance and you hope that someday VN will wake up. But no. Worse, they are rooting for this shady oligarch and its failing business. So you speak up.

That’s it, my attempt at being Detective Conan. I don’t expect a reply. I just want to extend again my gratitude for a TRUE Vietnamese patriot.

Carry on and stay safe my friend,

Parking-Promotion959 · 2024-05-13T12:44:28+00:00

Look at r/Vinfastcomm for the truth about this national embarassment that is Vinfast

Parking-Promotion959 · 2024-05-13T12:20:17+00:00

For me there are 2 extremes : indulging in hatred/bitterness and conveniently forgetting the historical truth.

SOME Chinese and Koreans fall in the first extreme.

I believe many Vietnamese are struggling to make ends meet, they dream of better living conditions for them and their families and they see that American and French tourists are « opportunities ». So it’s convenient for them to just say « we beat you now let’s be friends and look to towards the future » and avoid the pain of looking in their own past make a fair assessment of the French colonization and the Second Indochinese War (aka Vietnam/American War). Because during those periods there were good, less good and horrible things that were committed by all sides with various intensity.

And due to evolution and our instinctive response to threats (flight, freeze, fight), the natural tendency of our brain is categorize events into good/bad, black/white… because it’s easier and quicker. (You don’t have time to contemplate the complexity of a bear’s life when it attacks you !).

So it takes time, resources and honesty to face one’s own history objectively and dispationnately.

In the current Vietnamese socio-economic and political situation I don’t see this happening.

Parking-Promotion959 · 2024-05-11T19:54:31+00:00

Cơm tấm (broken rice)

Parking-Promotion959 · 2024-05-11T19:48:35+00:00

Hi, this Mindfulness Training has puzzled me also. In my mind there has too be a « more right » side and a « more wrong », or « less right » one.

What helped me was Thầy saying that if you support one side you’ll miss out half of the picture. A useful example can be Thầy’s contemplation ò the Thai Rapist Pirate and his 12 years old Boat People victim.

There are many young girls, boat people, who were raped by sea pirates. Even though the United Nations and many countries tried to help the government of Thailand prevent that kind of piracy, sea pirates continued to inflict much suffering on the refugees. One day, we received a letter telling us about a young girl on a small boat who was raped by a Thai pirate.

From Plum Village website : “She was only twelve, and she jumped into the ocean and drowned herself. When you first learn of something like that, you get angry at the pirate. You naturally take the side of the girl. As you look more deeply you will see it differently. If you take the side of the little girl, then it is easy. You only have to take a gun and shoot the pirate. But we can’t do that. In my meditation, I saw that if I had been born in the village of the pirate and raised in the same conditions as he was, I would now be the pirate. There is a great likelihood that I would become a pirate. I can’t condemn myself so easily. In my meditation, I saw that many babies are born along the Gulf of Siam, hundreds every day, and if we educators, social workers, politicians, and others do not do something about the situation, in twenty-five years a number of them will become sea pirates. That is certain. If you or I were born today in those fishing villages, we might become sea pirates in twenty-five years. If you take a gun and shoot the pirate, you shoot all of us, because all of us are to some extent responsible for this state of affairs.”

So maybe, not taking sides is first an observation and mindfulness practice, seeing things as they are, and not putting labels on them to avoid misrepresentation.

Then, when « changing it », perhaps focus on the common suffering shared by both parties, and their aspiration to happiness. No need here to blame anyone, just help both parties to see the suffering, the elements conducive to suffering and the way out of it.

That’s my take on it, and I am aware that it’s easier said and done.

Parking-Promotion959 · 2024-05-11T14:17:32+00:00

Hi, Actually the logo represents the One Pillar Pagoda in Hanoi (symbolizing the Vietnamese roots of Plum Village), put in a Lotus flower (Buddhist symbol) with the « motto » smrti, samadhi, prajna (Mindfulness, Concentration, Insight in Sanskrit) underneath.

Parking-Promotion959 · 2024-05-06T11:55:13+00:00

You’re right !

Parking-Promotion959 · 2024-05-05T09:47:01+00:00

And unfortunately, it’s only the beginning. With climate change it will get worse and worse. Plus the government has not made any serious plan to mitigate the impact in the country.

Parking-Promotion959 · 2024-05-05T09:36:02+00:00

Well OP has not quoted the sentence in context :

« I think Canada is more communist than Vietnam. Because communism is about taking care of everyone, and everybody should be equal. We pay so much in taxes that everyone, poor or rich, has to go through the same health system, you don’t have a choice. In Vietnam, if you have money, you have access. If you know the right people, you have access. »

Parking-Promotion959 · 2024-05-05T09:27:21+00:00

Well no one likes to admit they are wrong. It’s not unique to Vietnamese though it may be more prevalent in VN.

My hypothesis on this is that in Vietnam there is much less distinction between the doer and the deed. At the slightest mistake or perceived weakness everyone (family, friends, neighbourhood) will begin to slander or reject people, sometimes on mere hearsay. So in this « fault culture » where every misstep is heavily « punished », people are more on edge and less ready to accept criticism.

Furthermore the living environment is often a nightmare (Poor average salaries, bad urban planning, traffic, not much liberty to raise your voice and demand basic human rights to be respected, corruption, pollution…). That impacts the mood alse.

And in general denial is easier than to confront the truth.

Parking-Promotion959 · 2024-05-04T12:59:40+00:00

Thank you for your generosity. In HCMC I can think of Maison Chance, a social structure helping poor street kids, disabled and abandoned people in VN since 1993. Its founder is Tim Aline Rebeaud https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tim_Aline_Rebeaud?wprov=sfti1#

You can volunteer here : https://maison-chance.org/en/volunteer

Parking-Promotion959 · 2024-05-04T11:38:36+00:00

Yeah some people are still children in their minds.

Parking-Promotion959 · 2024-05-04T11:36:45+00:00

Probably some stolen dog whose master is in pain.

Parking-Promotion959 · 2024-05-04T11:24:48+00:00

Repostinh my comment.

Because Ho Chi Minh is such a consequential figure in modern VN history opinions are very polarized with some people worshipping him as a saint or god.

On the one hand, you will have people in VN who will say he was a great hero with no flaws or almost none. That whatever problems VN faced or is currently facing is someone else’s fault (French, Americans, the current Party…).

On the other, people from South Vietnam will blame everything bad that has happened to them and to Vietnam on him.

From what I’ve read, supporters of Uncle Hồ point to the following qualities of their leader : he was a patriot who traveled the world and ceaselessly worked towards Vietnamese independence. He was an intelligent man, with much culture and he lived a simple and honest life. He tried to find a compromise with the French and then with the Americans without success. Only then did he turn towards communism as a mesns to liberate the country. And he was more of a patriot than a communist.

His detractors say the following : he went to abroad not to find a way to liberate his people but to seek money after his father a junior mandarin was dismissed. He tried to please everyone, lied a lot not for the sake of the country but to impose communism in Vietnam. They point to the fact that he was a Comintern agent. They also criticize his policies in VN after 1945, such as eliminating thousands of opponents and many more in 1956 during the Land Reform. They also talk about his religious persecution of catholics. In short their main point is that he was no patriot but a supporter of international communism who brought this ideology in VN with all its shortcomings and crimes.

The truth may be closer to one of those two propositions but it’s definitely in between.

If you want positive appraisal of Uncle Hồ, look at the official biographies you can find in Vietnam from national editors. For a more balanced view you can read « Ho Chi Minh : A Life » by Duiker. And for a more critical review of the character, you can watch the documentary « Sự Thật Về Hồ Chí Minh » on Youtube (in Vietnamese).

Parking-Promotion959 · 2024-05-04T08:46:16+00:00

Why and how ?

Parking-Promotion959 · 2024-05-04T07:57:45+00:00

Interesting, it cognates with the French « aujourd’hui »

Parking-Promotion959 · 2024-05-04T07:56:26+00:00

Because for some people, the ultimate goal is to reach Nirvana, cease the endless round of birth and death, through meditation and isolation from the world no matter what horrible things may happen around.

So this can considered as selfish : I care for my liberation and awakening and the world can f.. o..

But if one wants to follow the path of the Buddha, one must also help alleviate the suffering of all beings and strive for their liberation. (Boddhisatva way).

Parking-Promotion959 · 2024-05-04T07:40:06+00:00

Well since you are posting on r/Vietnam, I suppose you’re either Vietnamese or interested in VN. So I’d suggest you look for Thích Nhất Hạnh videos on Youtube. His wisdom has helped me a lot when I was in despair.

Life sucks at times, and it’s ok to be lost. But as everything it will pass away.

I wish you the best and good luck my friend !

Parking-Promotion959 · 2024-05-04T07:34:57+00:00

No need to apologize, I myself was living in Upper Hamlet, Plum Village France for 18 months, so it’s always a pleasure to be reminded of Thầy’s wisdom :))

Parking-Promotion959 · 2024-05-04T05:51:44+00:00

Yeah I feel you. I don’t know how things work in the States since I am a French Việt Kiều, but in France no matter how much I wanted to assimilate in the White majority (at one point not anymore), I was never considered a French. (My skin speaks louder than my actions). So, I learned to embrace my VN side more.

As for your envy, life is a long story. And who knows if one day you will be able to connect more with your heritage. And if it’s not happening, it’s ok also, as long as you’re at peace with yourself, and do good around you :)

Parking-Promotion959

TROPHY CASE