Tag:cleansing

Oh, darlings. Breathe. Drink some water. Put the phone down. I have been watching this Korea–Southeast Asia online brawl unfold like a messy family reunion where someone brought up politics after dessert. And honestly? Everyone needs to calm down. Yes, racist memes are ugly. Yes, stereotyping Southeast Asian women as jungle caricatures is disgusting. And yes, mocking Koreans as plastic, arrogant or culturally delusional is not exactly Nobel Peace Prize material either. But must we burn down the entire house because a few uncles got drunk on X? Listen carefully,...

Let me tell you something deliciously ironic: in some of the most patriarchal corners of Asia, the only woman everyone is afraid of is the one who talks to ghosts. You can deny her theology. You can mock her incense. You can roll your eyes at her trance. But when your business collapses, your daughter won’t sleep, your husband starts behaving strangely, or your house feels “wrong,” where do you go? Exactly. To her. Across the region—from Korean mudang shaking their bells in neon-lit Seoul apartments to Vietnamese lên đồng...

Darlings, here is something uncomfortable: every time a government says “national service builds character,” I instinctively check who exactly is being volunteered for this character-building exercise. Spoiler alert — it is usually 18-year-old boys who would rather be building a start-up, finishing university, or simply figuring out who they are. Across Southeast Asia, the old script says young men owe the nation two years of their lives. The newer generation is asking a very 2026 question: why? I’m not anti-defence. We live in a region of border tensions, maritime disputes,...

Let me tell you something about the so-called “good girl.” She exists in every Asian country, but in Vietnam she has been polished to near perfection. She is ngoan — obedient. She is hiếu thảo — filial. She smiles sweetly, studies hard, lowers her voice, keeps her skirt the “right” length, and never, ever embarrasses the family. She carries the invisible weight of tam tòng tứ đức — those old “three obediences and four virtues” that still float around dinner tables long after everyone pretends they are outdated. And now?...

Half of the girls in Ratanakiri are married before they turn 18. Let that sit with you for a moment. Not in 1826. Not in some dusty colonial archive. Now. In the same Cambodia that boasts luxury condos in Phnom Penh and five-star eco-resorts in Mondulkiri. Spicy Auntie has been on those red dirt roads in the northeast. I’ve seen the stilt houses, the forested hills, the long stretches where a secondary school is not a building but a distant idea. So before anyone jumps in with easy outrage —...