Maybe it's just something about being an American, but even while I was in the Army I had a "fuck you" attitude about most everything that the brass (i.e. the leadership, if "brass" doesn't translate) made us do. Now that I'm a "civilian" again I still retain this attitude. A lot of important business leaders do too. I'm not really sure if this is a feature of American culture or not, but it's certainly a truism that has existed for a loooooong time.
I share that "fuck authority" idea with you, but I think it's important to remember that the context you grow up is very important in setting cultural norms. In many ways, even the things it's possible for someone to believe are based on socioeconomic circumstances.
If you're blasted with propaganda constantly, if the means and mode of productions are set up in a certain way which encourages certain behaviour, it becomes very difficult for people to even realise there are other possibilities.
This is a feature of every society, including in the West. We have a strong individualist "fuck you, I've got mine" tendency, but just like China and Russia, there is a large portion of the population that also lauds the people who exploit us because they are seen as something to aspire to.
Don't get me wrong, I'd rather live in the West, but personally I see many similarities when you look at the life of an average person.
I meant no disrespect to other cultures with my comment.
I agree with this point:
> We have a strong individualist "fuck you, I've got mine" tendency, but just like China and Russia, there is a large portion of the population that also lauds the people who exploit us because they are seen as something to aspire to.
There's a problem when "fuck you" is taken to scale and is the operative means for running a government. It's a hard problem to solve, since I want a responsible and competent republic to maintain a reserve of "fuck you" people because, and let's be honest here, they're the ones who fight wars.
My hypothesis is this attitude is one reason for the US’s economic success.
You can have some immigrant like Elon Musk tweet insults to the president and people complain but nothing happens. You can have companies create new businesses directly in violation of laws (Uber, AirBnB). There are very few sacred cows and we tend to root for the underdog.
From living in Asia, deference plays a big role in social relations - deference to parents, deference to elders and definitely deference to authority/government. And it’s often not for a rational reason but just because “you should respect your elders”.
I hear lots of people say it’s “well they are more group oriented and think about what’s best for everyone” but one look at the piles of trash randomly dropped or people shoving to the front of lines makes me think it’s not that.
It’s more of acceptance that what the government says is how it will be. They’ll bitch about it, happily break rules if they can get away with it, but if the government comes in and says “dont do that or you’ll be punished” they won’t push back and will defer to the governments authority.
Maybe it's just something about being an American, but even while I was in the Army I had a "fuck you" attitude about most everything that the brass (i.e. the leadership, if "brass" doesn't translate) made us do. Now that I'm a "civilian" again I still retain this attitude. A lot of important business leaders do too. I'm not really sure if this is a feature of American culture or not, but it's certainly a truism that has existed for a loooooong time.