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I’ve been told by Indonesians their style is to dive head first into the water, then check for rocks. Yes safety is a big issue there and causes a huge amount of needless suffering.

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If there is one thing spending time in SE Asia has taught me is that the value of human life is just different in some places.

Good or bad, from scooters to skyscrapers. It’s just different.

Yes life is cheap there, people get sick, injured and die for preventable reasons all the time. Life expectancy is 10 - 15 years less than in developed countries as a result. The west I think mixes up politics with their world view which makes them think everything is equal somehow, it’s then surprising when they see such foolishness that leads to such suffering first hand.

I think causality goes the other way.

When life expectancy is low and you may die at any time for all sorts of reasons, it is rational to take a lot more risks than if you'll very likely live past 80.

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