Category Archives: EastWest

short post about toilets

First let’s start with
1) i’m chinese-american
2) I’ve travelled around the world a lot. Europe, Asia, Africa, South America.

Anyway, just commenting on how being a little more open-minded and having a different cultural background / immigrant background than a lot of English-speaking people makes it easy to poke fun at English websites.

I mean, you’d think the writer on a website dedicated to toilets would be a little self-aware and think about how different people can be within a single “culture”. But take a gander at this quote:

toilets in guangzhou
toilets in guangzhou, source: http://toilet-guru.com/overview-intl.php

Chinese toilets, at least those in the People’s Republic of China, can be highly communal. There is no place for privacy in a totalitarian state striving for the completely collectivist society. These are in Guangzhou, the large city formerly known in the West as Canton.

–toilet-guru.com

That’s uh, good to know. I guess Amsterdam, the large city formerly known in the West as the “Venice of the North“, is just s*** out of luck (pardon the pun) :'(

Judging their entire culture and society by their toilets and how they void bodily fluids, the Netherlands must be a zero-privacy hellhole, ruled by a dictator, I guess….

Photo via: Jane Dutton Utrecht (http://janeduttonutrecht.wordpress.com/2012/01/14/a-dangerous-method/)
Photo via: Jane Dutton Utrecht (http://janeduttonutrecht.wordpress.com/2012/01/14/a-dangerous-method/). source: http://whenonearth.net/different-types-toilets-youll-see-around-world/

So, long story short, this is why I’m announcing my new startup idea, “It’s like Yelp but for Toilets.” Not only will we help millions of people with the toilet experience, but we will also promote open-minded and inter-cultural exchange. It is truly an idea for saving the world, being a social enterprise, and making bank.

Thank you. Please stop throwing money at me. I’m so goody-two-shoes, I can only tell you to throw money at watsan (water and sanitation) charities instead.

here just click here: https://www.wateraid.org/us/get-involved/donate

or if you want to just share links and do slacktivism / clicktivism instead go here: http://www.charitywater.org/

p.s. I bought this book and really enjoyed it; let me know if you want to borrow a copy: http://www.amazon.com/The-Big-Necessity-Unmentionable-Matters/dp/0805090835. You can read a summary of some key points on core 77.

http://www.core77.com/posts/12286/book-review-the-big-necessity-adventures-in-the-world-of-human-waste-by-rose-george-12286
http://www.core77.com/posts/12286/book-review-the-big-necessity-adventures-in-the-world-of-human-waste-by-rose-george-12286